Page:A History and Defence of Magna Charta.djvu/311

Rh as magiftrates, and the freemen. All the laymen are ſworn in the preſence of the biſhops into a mutual covenant with one another, into their fealty to the Kiing, and to preſerve the rights of the kingdom. They conſult of the common ſafety, of peace, of war, and of promoting the public profit.”

follows in the next words, “Beſides, a Folkmote is uſed in every ſudden danger, and likewiſe if neceſſity require it, under the alderman (that is, the earl) of every county.”

laſt is plainly a provincial Folkmote in time of neceſſity; but the former part of the ſentence ſeems to intimate, that upon a ſurprize, when the King had not time to call a parliament, the laſt Folkmote met; as the laſt Weſtminſter parliament did, to give the prince of Orange the adminiſtration, before it was poſſible to have a parliament elected.

the former deſcription of the general and not the provincial Folkmote is our preſent buſineſs. And at firſt ſight it looks like a full