n obedience to a single
person in the field, the lustre of his command and the utility of the
institution easily prevailed upon them to suffer him to form the band of
their union in time of peace, under the name of King. But the leader
neither knew the extent of the power he received, nor the people of that
which they bestowed. Equally unresolved were they about the method of
perpetuating it,--sometimes filling the vacant throne by election,
without regard to, but more frequently regarding, the blood of the
deceased prince; but it was late before they fell into any regular plan
of succession, if ever the Anglo-Saxons attained it. Thus their polity
was formed slowly; the prospect clears up by little and little; and this
species of an irregular republic we see turned into a monarchy as
irregular. It is no wonder that the advocates for the several parties
among us find something to favor their several notions in the Saxon
government, which was never supported by any fixed or uniform principle.
To comprehend the other parts of the government of our ancestors, we
must take notice of the orders into winch they were classed. As well as
we can judge in so obscure a matter, they were divided into nobles or
gentlemen, freeholders, freemen that were not freeholders, and slaves.
Of these last we have little to say, as they were nothing in the state.
The nobles were called Thanes, or servants. It must be remembered that
the German chiefs were raised to that honorable rank by those
qualifications which drew after them a numerous train of followers and
dependants.[55] If it was honorable to be followed by a numerous train,
so it was honorable in a secondary degree to be a follower of a man of
consideration; and this honor was the greater in proportion to the
quality of the chief, and to the nearness of the attendance on his
person. When a monarchy was formed, the splendor of the crown naturally
drowned all the inferior honors; and the attendants on the person of the
king were considered as the first in rank, and derived their dignity
from their service. Yet as the Saxon government had still a large
mixture of the popular, it was likewise requisite, in order to raise a
man to the first rank of thanes, that he should have a suitable
attendance and sway amongst the people. To support him in both of these,
it was necessary that he should have a competent estate. Therefore in
this service of the king, this attendance on himself, and this est