n to the
Dignity of _Mayor of the Palace_. _Herchinold, Mayor of the Palace_,
being dead, the _Franks_ conferr'd that Dignity upon _Ebroinus_, and
appointed him to be _Mayor_ in the King's Court." Also--"They chose
_Hilderick_ for their _King_, and _Wolfold_ for _Mayor of the Palace_."
Which Quotations of ours might indeed have been made as properly in out
foregoing Chapter, where we proved that the greater Employments were not
usually given by the _Kings_, but appointed by the Yearly _General_
Council, and conferred upon Men of the greatest Fidelity and Probity.

But in this Magistracy, the same Thing hapned, which _Plutarch_ tells us
(in his Life of _Lysander_) came to pass when _Agesilaus_ was appointed
by the _Lacedemonians_ to be _General_ of their Army, and _Lysander_ to
be Legate or Lieutenant-General: "Even as in Stage-Plays, (says he) the
Actors who represent a Servant or Messenger, have better Parts, and are
more regarded than him that wears the Crown and Scepter, who scarce
speaks a Word in the whole Play: So the chief Authority and Command was
lodg'd in _Lysander_, whilst with the _King_ remained only a naked and
empty Title."--Just so it fell out in our _Francogallia_; Fair
Opportunities of increasing the Power of these _Mayors_ of the Palace,
being offer'd by the Sloth and Negligence of our _Kings_; among whom we
may reckon _Dagobert, Clodoveus, Clotharius, Childericus, Theodoricus_,
&c. For the Author of the History of the _Franks_, often cited by
_Venericus Vercellensis_, tho' without naming him, writes, That during
the Reign of _Clotharius_, Father of _Dagobert_, the Kingdom of the
_Franks_ began to be administred and govern'd by some which were called
_Provisores Regiae_, or _Majores Domus_. The same says _Godf. Viterb.
parte Chron._ 16. Whereupon, whilst those _Mayors_ of the _Palace_
executed all the important Affairs of the Commonwealth, and commanded
all the Armies in Time of War; and the Kings (spending their Days in
Sloth and Idleness) tarried at Home, content with the bare Title of a
King; Matters at last were brought to such a Pass, that during the Reign
of _Childerick_ the 18th _King_, Pipin, _Mayor of the Palace_, (who in
the King's Name had waged great and long Wars, and had overcome and
reduced the _Saxons_ to Terms of Submission) finding a fit Occasion to
assume the Regal Title which was offer'd him, did not let it slip:
Especially seeing himself at the Head of a great and victorious Army,