orgot this obligation, they forfeited their
office._ In both countries, a price was affixed on kings, a fine
expiated their murder, as well as that of the meanest citizen; and
the smallest violation of ancient usage, or the least step towards
tyranny, was always dangerous, and often fatal to them."--_Ditto_, p.
139-40.

"They were not allowed to impose taxes on the kingdom."--_Ditto_, p.
146.

"Like the German monarchs, they deliberated in the general assembly
of the nation; _but their legislative authority was not much
respected_; and their assent was considered in no better light than
as a form. This, however, was their chief prerogative; and they
employed it to acquire an ascendant in the state. To art and
insinuation they turned, as their only resource, and flattered a
people whom they could not awe; but address, and the abilities to
persuade, were a weak compensation for the absence of real power.

"They declared war, it is said, and made peace. In both cases,
however, they acted as the instruments of the state, and put in
execution the resolutions which its councils had decreed. If, indeed,
an enemy had invaded the kingdom, and its glory and its safety were
concerned, the great lords took the field at the call of their
sovereign. But had a sovereign declared war against a neighboring
state, without requiring their advice, or if he meant to revenge by
arms an insult offered to him by a subject, a haughty and independent
nobility refused their assistance. These they considered as the
quarrels of the king, and not of the nation; and in all such
emergencies he could only be assisted by his retainers and
dependents."--_Ditto_, p. 147-8.

"Nor must we imagine that the Saxon, any more than the German
monarchs, succeeded each other in a lineal descent,[35] or that they
disposed of the crown at their pleasure. In both countries, the free
election of the people filled the throne; and their choice was the
only rule by which princes reigned. The succession, accordingly, of
their kings was often broken and interrupted, and their depositions
were frequent and groundless. The will of a prince whom they had long
respected, and the favor they naturally transferred to his
descendant, made them often advance him to the royal dignity; but the
crown of his ancestor he considered as the gift of the people, and
neither