[added as modern,] Richard, father of Moreton, Bishop of Durham, being the first of that trade, at least in the North of England. Fuller's Worth. York. 229. Thoresby, Duc. p. 517. A note of the particulars of the properties of the stageplay played at Lincoln in the month of July, ao 6 regine Elizabethe, in the time of the mayoralty of Richard Carter; which play was then played in Broadgate in the said city, and it was of the story of Old Tobit in the Old Testament. Lying at Mr. Norton's house, in tenure of William Smart : First, Hell mouth with a nether chap. Item, A prison with a covering. Item, Sarah's chambre. Remaining in St. Swithin's church: Item, A great idol, with a club. Item, A tomb, with a covering. Item, The cyty of Jerusalem, with towers and pinnacles. Item, The cyty of Raiges, with towers and pinnacles. Item, The cyty of Nineveh. Item, The king's palace of Nineveh. Item, Old Tobye's house. Item, The Israelite's house, and the neighbour's house. Item, A firmament, with a fiery cloud and a double cloud, in the custody of Tho. Fulbeck, alderman. We see here the origin of our stage-plays, which were at first only those pageants which after-ages levelled to the decoration of a lord mayor's show. 1784, Feb. Q. XCVII. Original of the Offices of Lord High Constable and Earl Marshal. Feb. 26. MR. URBAN, TITLES of honour, as well as those of office, frequently lie so far back in the memorials of antiquity, that it is sometimes difficult to discover the genuine meaning of their appellations; partly owing to the obsolete state of the language in which they are conveyed to us, and partly to a long series of investigation, to be pursued in a variety of authors, many of whom differ in their sentiments upon etymologies. Thus it often happens, that the village, which we want to arrive at, seems to the eye to be at a small distance: but many turnings and windings, many unfre quented paths, are very often to be passed, before we can reach it. The two most ancient, and most puissant officers of this state, were the constable and marshal; originally two offices in one and the same person. There are many authorities which must be examined with attention, before we can command the true signification of these words. Say some, the word constable owes its origin to the ancient Teutonic cunning, king, and stable, firm; so that according to this idea, the constable was an officer who gave strength, firmness, or stability, by his office, to the king. Verstegan, indeed, is of this opinion; but many other authors differ from him. But when we find, that this officer is styled Constabularius, the true construction must be, that such officer was the person who took care to provide stabling, and other necessaries, for the king's horses. Thus in the Register* 88, the marshal is said to be, Constabularius exercitus nostri, Fitzherbert Nat. Brev. 84. The word marshal, after much travel over etymological ground, seems to be derived from the Teutonic Mare, an horse, now a British word, and Scale in the same language, which signifies an overseer, guardian, or curator; and Verstegan, upon consulting his work, seems to coincide with this etymology. The first parliamentary acknowledgment of this officer is in an Act 13 Rich. II. where these words are the prefatory part of that statute: "Because the commons do make a grievous complaint, that the court of the constable and marshal hath incroached to him, &c." Now, these two last words are sufficient evidence, that at this juncture the office of constable and marshal was one undivided office, in one and the same person. In the 20th year of this king's reign, the office was severed; and by grant to Thomas Earl of Nottingham, who was by this grant the first Hereditary Earl Marshal, the constable and marshal became two distinct officers.This grant is thus expressed :-" Rex, &c. Sciatis quod cum nos de nostra speciali gratia concesserimus dilecto consanguineo nostro Thomæ Comiti de Nottingham officium Mareschalli Angliæ, habendum ad totam vitam suam. Nos jam de ulteriori gratia nostra concessimus præfato consanguineo nostro officium prædictum una cum nomine et honore Comitis Mareschalli, habendum sibi et hæredibus *The Register is one of the most ancient authorities in the common law; which contains a copious assemblage of all the original writs at that time It is not quite clear, in what reign this compilation was formed. See Coke on Litt. 159 use. suis masculis, &c." Rot. Cart. 20 Richard II. Nu. 3. Anciently, before the Conquest, and since that period, to the time above mentioned, the office of constable and marshal passed by grants: when the severance was effected, the office of constable became an hereditary office in families, by a tenure of particular manors in grand serjeantry. See Lambard, Hoveden. The office of marshal always passed by grants, whether an united or a distinct office, whether a single honour, or united to that of constable, which grants may be traced up to 1 John Rot. Cart. part 2. nu. 85. The grants of constable go no higher than Henry V. Rot. Pat. part 1. Henrico Comiti North pro vita sua. So that after the grant made 20 Rich. II. of a separate hereditary marshal, the office of marshal became hereditary by grant, and that of constable by tenure. It appears from records before the Conquest, that the marshals were called Heretoches, from the Saxon here, exercitus, and teon, ducere: so that they were leaders, superintendants, or directors of the royal army. "Mareschalli exercitus, seu ductores exercitus, Heretoches per Anglos vocabantur." Fitzherbert, Nat. Brev. 85. Thus speak the laws before the Conquest. The office of constable, which was by hereditary right of tenure in Edward Duke of Buckingham, in the reign of Henry VIII. became extinct by his attainder, upon the forfeiture of it to the crown by such attainder; and ever since has been an appointment by the crown, only upon grand occasions, such as a coronation, &c. and it is usual at this day, to revive the office of Lord High Constable pro hac vice, upon the celebration of such solemnities. On the other hand, the office of earl marshal, which descended to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, by hereditary grant, in the reign of Henry VIII. was surrendered by this duke into the hands of the king, in the 25th year of his reign; and was granted to the Duke of Norfolk, who was then vice-roy of Ireland; from whom it descended either lincally or collaterally to the present Norfolk family, who still continue in the possession and enjoyment of this honourable distinction. The powers vested in these two great officers of state, appear from the words of the statute 14 Rich. II. "To the Constable and Marshal it appertaineth to have conusance of contracts, and deeds of arms, and of war out of the realm, and also of things that touch war within the realin, which cannot be discussed and determined by the common Jaw." Before these two officers, as judges, and other judges of the court, where the appeal was brought, was determined the ancient trial by battle: where gladiatorial ferocity passed for an inductive proof of innocence, and the very dregs of Gothic superstition assumed the sacred majesty of law; while the murder of one person was to be proved by the murder of another. In these appeals of murder, upon the day appointed by the constable and marshal, the parties made their appearance armed with clubs or battoons, and before the conflict began each of them took the following un-solemn oath, "that they had neither eat or drank on that day, nor done any thing else, by which the law of God might be depressed, or the law of the Devil exalted." Then the combat began, which consisted of wounds and bruises, oftentimes occasioning immediate death, secundum legem baculi. It was singular that this bloody conflict sometimes lasted the whole day. Now, how the combatants could maintain such a long and severe interchange of blows without intermission, for nothing of this kind is mentioned, is difficult to determine. If the appellee yielded before the close of the day, he was sentenced to be immediately hanged; but if he could support the blows of the assailant till that time, he was then quit of the appeal: on the contrary, if the appellant declined the contest, he was sentenced to outlawry, and to pay damages to the appellee. Glanvil. lib. 14. Bracton lib. 3. Smith de Repub. Angl. lib. 2. Britton c. 22. In the book of entries, belonging to the abbey of St. Edmund's Bury, Suffolk, fol. 87, is a record or register of a writ directed to the sheriffs of London, in the 8th year of Henry VI. to provide lists and bars for a duel, that was to be fought between John Upton and John Down. The form runs thus: "Rex Vic. London, præcipimus vobis firmiter injungentes quod quasdam listas et barras de meremio* fortes pro quodain duello inter Johannem Upton et Johannem Down, secundum legem Armorum, die Luna prox' futur' apud Smithfield, in suburb' civitatis prædicta, Deo dante, perficiend' contra diem prædict' nostris sumptibus et expensis erigi, construi, et fieri fac', et quod terra infra listas prædict' cum sabulo sufficiente co-operta, ita quod aliqui lapides grandes aut arena infra easdem listas minime inveniantur, et de omnibus et singulis pecuniarum summis quas circa præmissa applicaveritis nos vobis in computo *The idiom of this word is of Gallic structure. The word in the original is merèsme, which signifies any sort of wood used for building. Claus. 16. Edw. II. m. 3. vestro ad Scaccarium nostrum per præsens mandatum nostrum debitam allocationem habere faciemus." This is the only writ, now extant, upon record, which throws light upon this subject; and is therefore a matter of curiosity to those, who wish to be informed what the legal usage was upon the appeals of murder, so frequent in for mer times. The last joinder of issue, in a process of this kind, was between Lord Rey, appellant, and David Ramsey, appellee, both Scotchmen (Orig. Judicial. 65.) This combat was ordered to be tried before the Earl of Lindsey, high constable, and the Earl of Arundel, earl marshal, in the 6th year of Charles I. But the king rather shewing a dislike to the measure, a reference of the case was made to the lords, who at last submitted the matter to the king for his determination; who being of opinion, that Ramsey was unjustly accused, the matter was compromised, and at length finally adjusted, without the intervention of a jurisdiction, which from its cool and sedate, attention to this legally bloody conflict, may be said to have set all the laws of humanity at defiance. 1784, March. REUBEN D'MOUNDT. XCVIII. The Word CERCELLA, in old Deeds, explained. March 3. MR. URBAN, THE ingenious communicative author of the History of Reculver and Herne, in a note to a grant of three acres of land, (dated A. D. 1357,) a part of the covenanted rent of which was one quarter of barley palmal', has suggested a doubt, whether the word palmal may be rightly copied, but observes, " if it is, it cannot be in any sense applicable to barley, unless it means, large sized grain." The justness of this surmise is confirmed by Cowel, who, in his Law Dictionary, says that "Palmarium Hordeum-Palm Barley, is the Sprat Barley called in some parts Beer Barley, and in others Battied Barley, and that it is fuller and broader than common barley." A query is also proposed by Mr. Duncombe in another note, respecting a word in an account of the rents paid for divers tenements secured to the hospital at Herbaldowne, by a mortmayne grant from Henry VI. I will transcribe the passage I refer to-It" de Wil Yoe, &c. quatuor solidates et sex denariatas ac |