FORMS.

§ 1. Introduction.

BEFORE we begin our inquiry into the history of the forms of regal ordination, it may not be improper to define the kingly title, and to compare it with some others which are attributed to the possessors of sovereign power.

EMPEROR, the Latin Imperator, signifying a commander, is the proper designation of the successors to the Roman sovereignty. Originally a title of mi

litary power used by the chief generals of the army, it became in the person of Augustus Cæsar the highest title of authority, and equivalent with the style of royalty. On the division of the Roman empire both the eastern and western sovereigns continued to use the title of emperor, though the Greek word Basileus1 more properly distinguished the former. Both these titles have been used by kings of England in the earlier ages of the monarchy. The office of emperor hath always been elective; at first by the army, and in the later German empire by the electoral princes3.

REX, a ruler, the old title of supreme power

1 Supposed to be compounded of Basis and 2a, prop of the people. Æthelstan is called basileus in the royal book of the Gospels used at the coronation of the Saxon kings. In a charter of the abbey of Malmesbury made in 974 the style of the king is "Ego Edgarus totius Albionis basileus, necnon maritimorum seu insulanorum regum circumhabitantium." And in another of 964 the subscription is "Ego Edgar basileus Anglorum et imperator regum insularum." Æthelred II. is styled "Anglorum induperator;" and the following titles are found in the Historia Eliensis,-“Ego Ædgar rex totius Britanniæ,” “Ego Knut basileus totius Albionis gentis." The title basileus had been assumed by Lewis II. emperor of the West; it is probable therefore that it travelled this way to the court of our Saxon kings. The last instance of its use in England which I have met with is in a charter of the Confessor.

3 "At first the emperor was chosen by the people at large; the right of election was afterwards confined to the nobility and principal officers of the state: insensibly it was engrossed by the five great officers, the chancellor, the great marshal, the great chamberlain, the great butler, and the great master."-Butler's Emp. of Charlemagne, p. 104.

4 The Latin rex is of kindred origin with the Gothic KEIKS, and had the same signification. The nearness of their derivatives is very re

among the Romans, though banisht from the practice, of their constitution was retained in their language, and hath ever been used in the Latin style of Europæan kings. It is also the parent of the Italian re, the Spanish rey, and the French roi; and though radically different and distinct from our English title king, hath been commonly used as synonymous with it, our sovereign being styled rex and le roi according as he is described in the Latin or French languages.

KING (formerly cuning, cyning, cyng3) is a cunning, wise, and potent governor. The same title, under different forms of orthography, is found in most of the northern nations of Europe. From the

markable: peccan, ɲeczan, regnare; ɲixode, rexit; ɲicetere,rector. REIKI, the Saxon ɲice, is preserved in the German könig-reich and the English bishop-rick : king-rike was in use amongst us so late as the reign of Elizabeth. The abbot Ælfric says that "rex is gecpeden a regendo, ir, fram ɲeccendome." The etymology of a word found in so many languages it is very difficult to ascertain. There is perhaps more reason to suppose that the Latins borrowed their rex from the antient Gothic tribes than the reverse, as stated by the learned editor of Fortescue; but it is likely that both derived from an elder stock, perhaps

. An ingenious Scottish writer gives the word a Celtic origin :"The Teutonic riech and riki, a kingdom,.... which is synonymous with the Scots or Irish righe and rioghachd, has its origin in the Celtic righ, which is the Scots or Irish for king, as rhi and rhûy are the Welsh, ruy the Cornish, and rue the Armoric.”—Report of the Committee of the Highl. Soc. on the Poems of Ossian, p. 267. The similarity of the Gothic and Celtic words is curious, and they may possibly have had the same remote origin: but I cannot agree in the supposed derivation of the one from the other.

5 The same word with the Cimbric FANFA, the Danish konge, Teutonic koningh, and Franco-Theotisc cuning, and probably derived

earliest date of sovereign power in England we find it described by the title KING: may so venerable a distinction be handed down to the reverence of unborn ages!

§ 2. Of the English Monarchy.

THE English people having been establisht in this island by the successful enterprise of different leaders, they naturally formed themselves into separate states. Seven or sometimes eight independent kingdoms continued to exist in England during about 400 years. Their respective kings were all derived from the family of Woden, the great hero of the North; and none but his descendants were chosen to the regal dignity".

This principle of adherence to the blood of a royal line, which appeared as one of the first rays in the dawn of civil government, was so constantly and re

pir

from the Gothic KONNAN, whether in the sense of knowlege or power, which are connected not physically alone, but etymologically. This derivation receives great countenance from a passage quoted in the notes on Fortescue (p. 9.) "Cyning gerist rihtpýrnesse dome; him is nama zejett of soþum ɲeccendome, † he hıne rÿlfne, rippan his leode, mid pisdome pissiz i pel gerihtlæce.”—Serm. Cathol. à doct, Beda Histor. editore citat. p. 167. The following of Elfric (from his Grammar) has the same meaning implied: "Se cỷning sceal mid micclum pirdome hir leode pirrian, bepeɲian mid cpæft." Parkhurst conjectures a derivation of this word from the Hebrew ; perhaps our Oriental scholars may connect it with the Persian or Tartar a title of sovereignty.

خان

ligiously preserved, that we cannot refuse to infer from it a right of regal government in the descendants of the first kings in preference to other men, which would be incorrectly termed divine, but is nevertheless sacred, by antiquity and establisht use. Besides, this original preference was not without a cause. The scattered barbarians of the east and north could enjoy few of the privileges of man and none of the relations of citizen till some leader arose of mind and conduct sufficient to establish them in the rights of an independent nation. Such a leader, when successful, would deserve as well as attain a sovereignty over those whom he had benefited: and it is natural that the preeminence should remain among his offspring. The religion of our heathen ancestors was mixt with hero-worship; and hero-descent would confer a nobility demanding reverence from their superstition, and attachment from their gratitude,-an hereditary gratitude due to the founder of the nation'.

6" Fram dan Podne apoc eall uɲe cyne-cynn.”—Chron. Sax. an. 449. Consult the genealogies in the same book.

"Reges ex nobilitate, duces ex virtute sumunt."-Tacitus De Mor. Germ. c.7. An old author cited by Spelman has the same thing of the Longobards; "Omnes reges fuerunt adelingi, id est, de nobiliori prosapiâ, quæ apud illos dicitur adelinga.”—Gloss. p. 10.

7 I have been anticipated in these remarks by Sir William Davenant;-" So vast a design as that of leaving one's own and invading a remote country must fall into some bold and great mind, that could first conceive, and then be able to go through with such an undertaking; and he who was thus qualified with courage and conduct easily obtain❜d supream authority over all the rest; from whence came that