aspect it was a military force, and was called out under the Sheriff to defend the realm in civil war or against foreign foes. It was only liable to serve in the kingdom, and, except in case of invasion, only in its own county. This was the only military system known to our early ancestors. After the Conquest the feudal system of military tenure threw the militia into the shade, added to which both William the Conqueror and early Angevin kings supplemented the feudal system by mercenary troops. The ancient national militia, however, still subsisted, and was completely resuscitated in 1181 by the famous "Assize of Arms" issued by Henry the Second. Thus the two military systems, the ancient and the feudal, continued to run together pari passu, but without coalescing. They were, however, amalgamated in 1217, during the minority of Henry the Third, the Sheriff of Berkshire being directed by writ to bring up the whole force within his county, both the feudal levy and the militia levy, or jurati ad arma as the latter were then called. The Sheriff of the county, it will be noticed, was in supreme command. By the Statute of Winchester (13 Edw. I. c. 6), 1285, it is commanded that "every man have in his house harness for to keep the peace after the ancient Assize, that is to say, every man between fifteen years of age and sixty years shall be assessed and sworn to armour according to the quantity of their lands and goods;" and again, "in every hundred and franchise two constables shall be chosen to make the view of armour, and the said constables shall present before justices assigned when they shall come into the county such defaults as they shall have found about armour;" and again, 'from henceforth let sheriffs take good heed, and bailiffs within their franchises and without ... that they shall follow the cry with the country and according as they are bounden do keep horses and armour so to do." Thus from very early days the Sheriff, succeeding to the Earl, was the chief officer under the

king in every county, deriving his title from the two Saxon words "shire" and "reeve," the bailiff or steward of the division; he kept the king's peace, and organized a sufficient force to protect the county against foreign invasion. But the Plantagenet and Tudor kings from time to time had commissioned officers for the purpose of "arraying" the inhabitants of several counties into a large body for the defence of the realm. The necessity of the case seems to have been the only justification for a sovereign to issue these commissions of Array. But these commissions undoubtedly were the origin of the present Lord Lieutenancy. We are not aware that a form of such commission has ever yet been published in the English language, and we therefore present the reader with our translation of a commission from Rymer issued by Henry VIII. in 1545. It is as follows:

"CONCERNING ARRAY, AND THE CAPTAIN-GENERAL AGAINST THE FRENCH.

"The King to his well-beloved cousin and councillor Thomas Duke of Norfolk Treasurer of England, Greeting.

66 Know ye that for certain causes and considerations Us specially moving Trusting in your fidelity prudence firmness and industry We have assigned to you and by the tenor of these Presents We give and commit to you full power and authority to call together and collect all and singular our lieges and subjects within our counties of Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Hertford, Cambridge, Huntingdon, Lincoln, Rutland, Warwick, Northampton, Leicester, and Bedford as well within liberties as without.

And to array and try them, and them well and for purposes of defence to cause to be armed and safeguarded, and to take and supervise views and displays of them in suitable places according to your sound discretion from time to time And also

We assign depute and ordain you by these Presents Our Lieutenant and Captain-general of all and singular captains, vice-captains, men at arms, armourers, bowyers, and of all others whomsoever in the aforesaid counties being retained or to be retained by you, against our enemies the French to be disciplined and armed, to be led ordered and governed, and to fight and to wage war with these French men.

"And to ordain, enact, and establish ordinances and statutes for the good rule of the army and armed force aforesaid, and to make proclamations, and decree execution in due course.

"And to chastise and imprison whomsoever you shall find disobedient and contravening and to consider the freeing of those imprisoned and to do and fulfil all other things for the good rule of the armed force and army aforesaid according to your sound discretion.

And therefore we command you that concerning the aforesaid matters you shall diligently consider and do and carry them out with effect.

And we give firmly our commands to all and singular our Dukes, Marquises, Earls, Barons, Knights, justices, mayors, sheriffs, bailiffs, stewards, constables, captains and vice-captains of soldiers, and other Our officers ministers and subjects whomsoever within liberties as without, by the tenor of these Presents, that they shall be forwarding and assisting and aiding likewise and diligently obedient in all things to you in doing and carrying out the matters aforesaid.

"In witness whereof &c. "These Presents are to be in force Michael the Archangel next ensuing. Greenwich, the 14th day of June."

until the Feast of St. Witness the King, at

A similar commission was directed, dated the same day as the preceding, “To our well-beloved cousin and councillor, Charles, Duke of Suffolk," Lord President of the King's Council and Grand Master and Steward of the King's House

hold, with regard to the counties of Kent, Sussex, Surrey, Southampton, Wilts, Berks, Oxford, Middlesex, Bucks, Worcester, and Hereford, and the City of London, as well within liberties as without. And the same, also dated the same day, and directed "To our well-beloved and faithful councillor, John Russell, Knight, Lord Russell," Keeper of the King's Privy Seal, with regard to the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Devon, Cornwall, and Gloucester, and the Principality of South Wales and North Wales, and the Marches of the same, as well within liberties as without. It will be observed that these commissions of Array indirectly undermined the power of the Sheriffs of the respective counties mentioned in the commissions, for they supplanted the old constitutional authority, originally elected by the freeholders, by a new officer entirely dependent on the king, and who was empowered to levy and command the able-bodied men of the county in lieu of the legitimate head, viz. the Sheriff.

But it was reserved for Edward the Sixth to go a step further. By an Act (3 & 4 Edw. VI. c. 5) passed in this reign (1549), "An Act for the punishment of unlawful assemblies and risings of the King's subjects," after enacting that it should be high treason for twelve persons or above, being assembled together, to attempt to kill or imprison any of the king's council, or to alter any laws, and to continue together by the space of an hour, being commanded by a justice of peace, mayor, sheriff, etc., to return, and it should be felony for twelve persons or above, to practise to destroy any park, pond, conduit, or dove-house, or to have common or way in any ground, or to pull down any houses, barns, or mills, or to burn any stack of corn, or to abate the rents of any lands, or the prices of any victual, and to continue together an hour, being commanded by a justice of peace, sheriff, bailiff, etc., by proclamation to return, proceeds to declare (s. 7) that "it shall be lawful to any person or persons

having the king's commission or letters from his highness or his privy council to raise and assemble the king's loving subjects in manner of war to be arrayed . . . to suppress, apprehend, and take the said persons unlawfully assembled." And again it declares (s. 13) "that if the king shall by his letters patent make any lieutenant in any county or counties of this realm for the suppressing of any commotion, rebellion, or unlawful assembly that then as well all justices of peace of every such county, and the sheriffs and sheriff of the same, as all mayors, bailiffs, and other head officers, and all inhabitants and subjects of any county, city, borough, or town corporate . . . shall, upon the declaration of the said letters patent and request made, be bound to give attendance upon the same lieutenant to suppress any commotion, rebellion, or unlawful assembly."

We here have the county Lieutenant by name. Probably such Lieutenant was not appointed for every county, nor was the office of necessity for life; but, so far as we are aware, this Act is the first Statute in which the Lieutenant of the county is spoken of.* It will also be noticed that similarly to a commission of Array the appointment of the King's Lieutenant in a county is by letters patent. Blackstone † says: "About the time of King Henry the Eighth, or his children, Lieutenants began to be introduced, as standing representatives of the Crown, to keep the counties in military order; for we find them mentioned as known officers in the Statute 4 & 5 Ph. and M. c. 3, though they had not been then long in use, for Camden speaks of them in the time of Queen Elizabeth, as extraordinary magistrates constituted only in times of difficulty and danger; but the introduction of these commissions of Lieutenancy, which contained in substance the same powers as the old commissions of Array, caused

* Strype, in his Memorials, says that Lords-Lieutenant were first appointed in the above year (1549).

† Vol. i. c. 13.