 thereupon with severity
by her Neighbours;
and that, if she was sound guilty, she was tied alive to a Stake and burned to Death. The very Law used in Britain,
by a Jury of Neighbours,
to this Day.
It is, hence, very obvious that our
Gothic
Ancestors either adopted what they judged excellent in the BRITISH CONSTITUTION, or rather superadded what was deemed to be excellent in their Own.
The People who went under the general Name of
Goths,
were of many different Nations, who, from the
Northern,
poured down on the more
Southern
Parts of Europe.
Their Kings were, originally, Chiefs or Generals, appointed to lead voluntary Armies, or Colonies, for the forming of new Settlements in foreign Lands; and they were followed by a free and independent Multitude, who had previously stipulated that they should share and enjoy the Possessions which their Valour should conquer.
Next to the General, in Order, the Officers or principal Men of the Army were attended, on such Expeditions, by their Kinsfolk, Friends, and Dependents, who chose to attach themselves to their Persons and Fortunes, respectively; and such Attachments gave these Officers great Power and Consideration.
On their Conquest or Seizure of any Tract of Country, a certain Portion thereof was allotted to the General, for the Maintenance of his Person and Houshold. The General then divided the Remainder among his Officers, to hold of him, in
Fief,
at the certain Service of so many Horse or Foot, well armed and provided,
&c.
and proportioned to the Value and Extent of the Land assigned. And the said Officers, again, parcelled out the greatest Part of the said Possessions, among their respective Followers, to hold of themselves, in like Manner and Service as they held of their General.
On the Conquest of a Country, they seldom chose to exterminate the Natives or old Inhabitants, but allotted to them also separate Remnants of the Land; and admitted them to the common and equal Participation of such Laws or Usages as they brought from their own Country, or chose to adopt.
Independant of the military Services above reserved, the Prince or Chief, further, reserved the civil Service or personal Attendance of his feudatory Officers, at certain Times and for certain Terms, at his general or national Court. This Court was composed of
three Estates,
the
Prince,
the
Nobles,
and such of the
Priesthood,
whether Pagan or Christian, as held in
Fief
from the Prince; and, from this NATIONAL COUNCIL our PARLIAMENT took its Origin.
The feudal Officers also, on their Part, reserved the like Service
