representatives: subject to the expence of maintaining the infant, (a duty, the enforcing of which was not very carefully provided for by our law,) the guardian received all the profits accruing out of the land of the ward, for his own emolument. Madox has collected from the records of the Exchequer, numerous instances of trafficking for the King's wards: It appears from the Great Roll of Henry III, that twenty thousand marks were given for the marriage of Isabel, Countess of Gloucester. (Madox's Exchequer, 221 et seq. 322. and see Coke's Comm. on Magna Charta, c. 4.) The Paston Letters exhibit many of the evil consequences, arising out of the guardianship in chivalry. So precious were wardships considered in former times, that the conveyance of the ward from place to place, was often a matter of considerable danger; we read, on one occasion, of a child being dressed up in a manner to resemble the ward, and being dispatched with a retinue, whilst the real ward was carried privately by another route. The Sheriff was sometimes called upon to take the ward out of the hands of the guardian, who used to detain him beyond the legal period, under a pretence that he was not of age. (Paston Letters, Vol. II. Lett. 51, 54, 55, 56, 64. Vol. IV. Lett. 59. ad finem.) The importance which the feudal lords attached to their wardships, is apparent from the numerous fluctuations in the law respecting them, observable in the early Charters, and the articles of Charters. (See Blackstone on the Charters, passim.) It will not fail to occur to the reader, that most of the advantages pointed out by Fortescue, as resulting from the guardianship by Knight Service, are inapplicable to the case of female wards: whilst the severities to which they were subjected by the Feudal Law of this Country, exceeded those to which the male heir was liable. (Glanville, lib. vii. c. 12. Lord Lyttleton's Henry II. Book II. p. 204. Hallam's Middle Ages, Vol. II. p. 165. On the Antiquity of Wardships, Hallam, ibid. Spelman on Feuds, cxv; and see ibid. on the Expression in St. Merton, "Si parentes conquerantur." 2 Inst. 191. On the Court of Wards, 4 Inst. 188. And further on the Topics adverted to in this Note, Hargr. Co. Litt. 88 b. particularly as to the Guardianship by Nature, and its Interference with that of Chivalry. Reeves's History of the Law, Henry VI, Edw. IV. Ley on Wards and Liveries. Sir T. Smith de Rep.

lib. iii. c. 5.)

The numerous inventions which were practised for the purpose of evading the guardianship in chivalry, prove, that it was looked upon by the nation as a severe burthen. An attempt was made in the time of James, to give a compensation to the King, in lieu of his revenue arising from wards and liveries. (See Coke's Remarks on this Transaction, 4 Inst. 202.) And in the reign of Charles II, the abolition of these and other feudal oppressions, was accomplished on the terms of conferring

upon

upon the Crown a perpetual excise. (For some curious particulars, relative to the debates on this occasion, Harris's Life of Charles II. p. 369. et. seq. Rose's Observations on Fox's Historical Work, p. 28. Heywood's Vindication, p. 94.) Fabian Phillips has argued with some plausibility against the abolition of feudal wardships; and he dilates with considerable eloquence on the mischiefs which must accrue from the loss of "a seminary of honor, a standing, noble, and more obliged militia." (Ligeancia Lugens, and Tenenda non Tollenda.) Mr. Brodie suggests, that the Law of Wardship had the effect of preventing the aristocracy from acquiring a pernicious influence in society, by accumulations during long minorities, at a period when the other ranks of the community were not able to form a counterpoise to them. The reader will probably think that the institution of the guardianship in chivalry merits his study and attention, not more on account of its effects upon the education and manners of our ancestors, than of its influence on the progress of the domestic liberties of the Country, during a considerable period of our history, by the organizing of an armed population, in the absence of mercenary forces, or even of royal guards.

CHAP. XLV.

Prince. It is so; for in the first instance (as you observe) it provides with greater care and caution for the preservation of an orphan, than the Civil Law does: but I am much more pleased with the other part of it; because, by this means, our young nobility and gentry cannot so easily degenerate; but will rather, in all likelihood, go beyond their ancestors in probity and courage, and in every thing that is virtuous and praiseworthy, being brought up in a superior and more honorable family than that of their parents: nay, though their fathers may have had the good fortune to be educated in the like manner before, yet the father's house, even with this advantage, cannot be compared to that of the superior lord; to whom both, in their turns, have been in ward. Princes of the realm, being under the same regulation, like as other lords, who hold immediately from the king, cannot so soon run into debaucheries, or a downright ignorance: because, during the time of their minority, they are brought up at the court. Upon which account I cannot but highly commend the magnificence and state of the king's palace, and I look on it as an academy for

a

It was anciently a very common practice for people of condition, to procure their children to be admitted into the house of some great person, in which they discharged menial offices, and procured in return superior advantages of education, and the prospect of future patronage: Sir Thomas More gave an early promise of his extraordinary talents, during the time he waited at the table of Cardinal Morton. Many curious par

ticulars

the young nobility of the kingdom to inure and imploy themselves in robust and manly exercises, probity and a generous humanity. All which

ticulars are related of the domestic establishment of Wolsey, to which there belonged nine or ten lords, fifteen knights, and forty squires: Lord Percy, the admirer of Anne Boleyn, was of this number. Traces of the same custom, are to be seen in the familiar letters of the period when Fortescue wrote. (Paston Letters, Vol. III. Lett. 34, 35. Vol. IV. Lett. 14.) And it appears from Sir G. Wheeler's Protestant Seminary, cited in Dr. Wordsworth's Ecclesiastical Biography, that the practice was not obsolete in the time of Charles I. The restraint upon the marriage of the nobility, exercised by some of our Sovereigns, seems to have arisen from the personal submission, which was voluntarily yielded by the children of distinguished families, owing to the limited openings, then existing, for talent and enterprise.-The Dutchess of Newcastle, in the life of her husband, mentions, that he possessed a singular knowledge of the use of weapons, which he communicated to no person excepting his own sons, and the Duke of Buckingham, his ward: The martial sports, by means of which the youth of this Country were formerly instructed in the art of war, are detailed with great minuteness by Strutt. The tournament was a general name applied to these warlike games; under which was comprised the quintain, tilting at the ring, tournaments, or combats of several knights, justs, or combats between individual knights: from the exercise of the two last species of diversion, all persons below the rank of an esquire were prohibited. These occupations were considered of so great importance, that a Statute was made in the reign of Henry V, prescribing regulations for the conduct of them. (Strutt's Antiq. Vol. II. Strutt's Ancient Sports. Madox Bar. Ang. 202. 3 Inst. 160. Journal of Edw. VI, 2 Burnet. Hist. Ref. p. 62. Archæol. Antiq. Soc. Vol. XVIII. Gloss. Mat. Par. v. Torneamentum. Nuga Antique, p. 1.) In Henry's History are detailed the particulars of a grand tournament held in Smithfield, A. D. 1467. (Henry, Vol. V. p. 536.) And in the Paston Letters, mention is made of a Spanish knight having come to England with a scarf round his arm, offering to run a course with a sharp spear for his fair mistress' sake. (Vol. I. Lett. 2.) It is true, that the reign of Henry VI, is not a distinguished period in the annals of English chivalry; and proclamations of that time were sent round to the Sheriffs of the different counties, "De fugitivis ab exercitu, quos terriculamenta Puellæ exanimaverunt, arestandis." (Rymer, Vol. X. p. 459, 472.) The attention given by our ancestors to these exercises, which exhibit the lively image of war, has contributed in no immaterial degree to our

national

greatly tend to the reputation and prosperity of the kingdom, both at home and abroad; and make a great part of its security against invaders, and render it formidable both to its allies and enemies. This advantage could not accrue to the state, if the young nobility and gentry were to be brought up under the care and inspection of their own friends and relations, who are but persons of the same rank and quality with themselves. As to the sons of the burghers, and other freeholders in socage tenure, it cannot be prejudicial to the publick good, if they be brought up among themselves, with persons of their own degree, and though they be not bound to perform any military services; as, to any one who considers aright, may very plainly appear.

national glory. And, it is in the splendid tournaments of the Court of Elizabeth, that we trace the sources of that chivalrous enthusiasm, which instigated the achievements of Lord Herbert of Cherbury; and signalized the last moments, even more than the life of Sir Philip Sidney. (Account of the last Hours of Sir P. Sidney, Harl. Manuscripts. Vitellius, C. xvii. 302. His Military Funeral, Ellis's Original Letters, Vol. III. Spenser's Astrophel. Comparison between Sir P. Sidney, Lord Herbert of Cherbury and the Chevalier Bayard. Lyttleton's Henry II. Note to Book II.)

The obligation of military service, arising from tenure, is enforced by the laws of the Conqueror: although the principle upon which the extent of the duty was regulated has been the subject of controversy among legal antiquaries. (Selden's Tit. Hon. Part II. c. 5. §. 17. Spelman on Feuds, c. 27, on the question whether a Knight's Fee was limited by any definite portion of Land, as two Carucates. See concerning Voyages Royal, and the terms "Intrinseca" and "Forinseca" applied to services, Hargr. Co. Litt. 69. b. n. 3. from Hale's Manuscripts. 74. a. n. 1. 107. a. n. 5. Madox, Bar. Ang. p. 226. Reeves's History, Henry III. Bracton, p. 35. b. Arguments in the Case of Ship Money.) The Norman Chronicle expresses with clearness the motive and the manner of levying the first general scutage in this Country, which was on the occasion of the expedition against Toulouse, in the reign of Henry II. A levy of this nature had been before assessed, in the second year of the same King, upon Bishops and Abbots holding in capite. (Chron. Norm. p. 995, Madox's Exch. c. 26.) The equivalent of scutage does not appear

to