accompanied with a Presbyter and Deacon, who assisted him, came near to
me, and said, Peace be with thee, Brother, be not afraid, thou shalt not
die until thou return in Prosperity to thy own See. Rise and be healed,
and dedicate this Altar to the Honour of God, and the Apostles St.
_Peter_ and St. _Paul_, whom thou seest standing before thee, with
Masses of Thanksgiving. Whereupon I was presently made whole. And being
about to accomplish that which I was commanded to do, they that were
present said I was mad. So I related all that I had seen, to them, to
the King, and all his People, and how I had been cured; and I fulfilled
all that I was bid to do. These Things happen'd in the 753d Year, from
the Incarnation of our Lord on the Ides of _August_; at which Time being
strengthned by the Power of _Christ_, between the Celebration of the
Consecration of the above-mention'd Altar, and the Oblation of the
Sacrifice, I anointed King _Pipin_ and his two Sons, _Charles_ and
_Carloman_, Kings of the _Franks_. Moreover, I laid Hands upon, and
blessed _Bertranda_ the King's Wife, cloathed with her Royal Mantle, and
the Grace of the Sevenfold Holy Spirit: And the Nobles of the _Franks_
being sanctified by the Apostolical Benediction, and the Authority
delivered by _Christ_ to St. _Peter_, obliged themselves solemnly, and
protested, That neither they, nor any of their Posterity, wou'd at any
Time hereafter, presume to constitute any Person, as King over them, but
only such as were of the Race of King _Pipin_."

* * * * *

CHAP. XIV.

_Of the_ Constable, _and_ Peers _of_ France.

Besides the great Office of _Mayor_ of the _Palace_ before spoken of,
there was another which we must take Notice of; because it seems, in the
Memory of our Forefathers, to have succeeded in Place of the former: And
that was the Office of _Count_ of the _King's Stable_; called at first,
_Comes stabuli_; and by Corruption at last, _Connestabuli_. Now all
those who enjoy'd any extraordinary Honours or Employments in the King's
Court, and assisted in the Administration of the Commonwealth, were
commonly called _Comites, Counts_; which was likewise the Custom of the
Ancients, as I have in some other of my Works demonstrated. So _Cicero_,
in many Places, calls _Callisthenes, Comitem Alexandri magni_. This
_Comes stabuli_ was in a Manner the same with the _Magister Equitum_
among the _Romans_, that is, _General_ of the