"Houfe, for I have knowne the like to have bredd a question. And yt is good that the be<< gynning and first season be cleere and without "fcruple. In refpect whereof, if you elect for "this time fome Profeffor of the Civil Lawe, or "any other that is not of the Convocaçon House, yt is the fureft way.

sc

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5. The Vicechancellor, for that he is Gover"nor of the University where the choife is to be "made, is not eligible.

6. There is also a new wrytt provided for "this present eleccon. When you have made sc your eleccon of your two Burgeffes, you must certifie the fame to the Sheriffe, and he shall "retorne them: or if you fend your eleccon to me "under your feale, I will see them retorned.

"And thus ever refting to doe you any service, "with all willing readynefs I comytt you to the "bleffed proteccon of the Almighty. From the " Inner Temple, this 12th of March, 1603. "Yo' very loving frind,

"ED. COKE."

"You fhall alfo receive the

"lettres patents under the

greate feale to you and yo' fucceffors "for ever, and likewise a

"writt for this pfent eleccon."

"To the right worshipfull

" and his much efteemed ffrend the Vicechancellor of the Universitie of Cambridge give these."

The

The "Inftitutes" of Sir Edward Coke have ever been regarded as the moft excellent Commentaries on our Laws and Conftitution. Yet the learned Bishop Gibson fays, in one of his MS. Letters in the Bodleian Library,

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Many of our Laws (as they are derived from "thofe of the Saxons) foe they contribute a great light towards the true understanding of them. "Besides, it will be no little pleasure to observe "the affinity between those Saxons * and our pre«fent

"Saxon," fays Sir John Fortefcue Aland," is the "Mother of the English Tongue. A man cannot tell twenty, 66 nor name the days of the week in English, but he muft "speak Saxon.

"Etymologies from a Saxon original will often prefent you with the definition of the thing in' the reason of the name. "For the Saxons often in their names exprefs the nature of

the thing: as in the word Parifh; in the Saxon it is a word "which fignifies the precinct of which the Prieft had the care. "Throne, in Saxon, is expreffed by a compound word, which "fignifies the feat of Majefty. Death is expreffed by a com"pound word, fignifying the separation of the foul from the "body, one of which fignifies foul or fpirit, and the other "feparation."-Preface to Fortefcue on the Limited Monarchy of England.

The Saxon language now appears likely to be cultivated with that diligence to which it is entitled, as the basis of our language, and as containing the firft elements of our laws and the ground-work of our happy conftitution, in the statutes enacted by our free and intrepid forefathers. The late learned

Dr.

"fent customs, in which matters our Common Lawyers are generally in the dark. You have "heard me also mention the Life of Sir Henry "Spelman. One principal part whereof muft "be to prove, what that learned Antiquarian "always infifted upon, that this method of ftudies "was the true foundation of the Common Law, " and that Coke and the reft run into many vif" fible and even fcandalous errors for the want of "it."-Dr. Gibson to Dr. Charlett, Sept. 17, 1700.

GONDEMAR,

THE SPANISH AMBASSADOR AT THE COURT OF
JAMES THE FIRST.

KING JAMES took great delight in the converfation of Gondemar, because he knew how to please the King, who thought him an excellent tutor and scholar. The Ambaffador used to speak bad

Dr. Rawlinson has founded a Profefforfhip in the Saxon language in the University of Oxford; and the choice the Univerfity has made of a person of learning and ingenuity to read the lectures, will furely ftimulate the young and the ingenious to become acquainted with a language without which they cannot cither speak or write with propriety, or act as it becomes thofe who have fecured from their ancestors the nobleft bleffing that one generation can procure for another, manly and rational liberty.

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bad Latin before him, in order to give his Majefty an opportunity of correcting him. Gondemar had, by bribes and penfions, paid many of the first perfons about King James's court, in the interest of that of Spain; yet, to infure that intereft, fays Wilfon," he caft out his baits not

only for men, but if he found an Atalanta,' "whofe tongue went nimbler than her feet, he' "would throw out his golden balls to catch them "alfo; and in thefe times there were fome Ladies, pretending to be wits (as they called them,) or had fair nieces or daughters which "drew great refort to their houses; and where "company meet, the difcourfe is commonly of "the times (for every man will vent his paffion). "These Ladies he fweetened with prefents, that they might allay fuch as were too four in their expreffion, to stop them in the course if they "ran on too fast, and bring them to a gentler "pace. He lived at Ely House, in Holborn; "his paffage to the Court was ordinarily through

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r Drury Lane (the Covent Garden being then an "inclofed field,) and that lane and the Strand "were the places where most of the Gentry lived; " and the Ladies, as he went, knowing his times, "would not be wanting to appear in their bal"conies or windows to prefent him their civilities, "and he would watch for it; and, as he was car"ried in his litter, he would ftrain himself as "much

"much as an old man could to the humblest

pofture of refpect.

"One day paffing by the Lady Jacob's house « in Drury Lane, the expofed herself for a falu. "tation; he was not wanting to her, but fhe "moved nothing but her mouth, gaping wide << open upon him. He wondered at the Lady's incivility, but thought it might be happily a "yawning fit took her at that time; for trial "whereof, the next day he finds her in the fame place, and his courtefies were again accofted "with no better expreffions than an extended "mouth; whereupon he fent a gentleman to her, "to let her know that the Ladies of England "were more gracious to him than to encounter, "his refpects with fuch affronts. She answered, "It was true that he had purchased some of their "favours at a dear rate, and she had a mouth to be stopped as well as others. Gondemar, finding the cause of the emotion of her mouth, "fent her a prefent as an antidote, which cured "her of that distemper."

EXTRACT FROM THE KING OF SPAIN'S LETTER TO HIS AMBASSADOR, DATED NOV' 5, 1622.

"The King my father declared at his death, "that his intention was never to marry my fifter "the Infanta Donna Maria to the Prince of Wales,

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