APPENDIX I.

269

Tnentioned in the reign of the king of that name,who is called alderman of all England, and issaid to be half-king ; though the monarchhimself was a prince of valour and abilities’.And we find , that in the later Saxon times,and in these alone , the great offices went fromfa'her to son, and became, in a manner, here-ditary in the families’.

The circumstances, attending the invasions ofthe Danes, would also serve much to increasethe power of the principal nobility. Those free-booters made unexpected inroads on all quarters;and there was a necessity , that each county shouldresist them by its own'force, and under the con-duct of its own nobility and its own magistrates.Eor the fame reason, that a general war, managedby the united efforts of the whole state, commonlyaugments the power of the crown; those pri-vate wars and inroads turned to the advantageof the aldermen and nobles.

Among that military and turbulent people, soaverse to commerce and the arts, and so little

’ Hist. Rames. § 3. p. 387.

’ Roger Isoveden, giving the reason why William theConqueror made Cospatric earl of Northumberland, says,Nam ex materuusanguine attinebat ad enm honor illiuscontitatus. Er at enim ex matre Algiiha , filia Uthredicontitu. See also Sim. Dun. p. 205. We see in those in-ltances, the some tendency towards rendering offices here-ditary , which took place, during a more early period , onthe continent; and which had already produced there itsfull effect.

Appendix

I.