Passing down from the king and his nobles, to the body of the people, we find that the income qualifying a country gentleman to be justice of the peace was 20l. a year,[1] and if he did his duty, his office was no sinecure. We remember Justice Shallow and his clerk Davy, with his novel theory of magisterial law; and Shallow's broad features have so English a cast them, that we may believe there were many such, and that the duty was not always very excellently done. But the Justice Shallows were not allowed to repose upon their dignity. The justice of the peace was required not only to take cognizance of open offences, but to keep surveillance over all persons within his district, and over himself in his own turn there was a surveillance no less sharp, and penalties for neglect prompt and peremptory.[2] Four times a year he was to make proclamation of his duty, and exhort all persons to complain against him who had occasion.
Twenty pounds a, year, and heavy duties to do for it, represented the condition of the squire of the parish.[3] By the 2nd of the 2nd of Henry V., 'the wages' of a parish priest were limited to 5l. 6s. 8d., except in cases where there was special license from the bishop, when they might be raised as high as 6l. Priests were probably something better off under Henry
- ↑ 18 Hen. VI. cap. 11.
- ↑ 4 Hen. VII. cap. 12.
- ↑ During the quarter sessions time they were allowed 4s. a day. Ric. II. xii. 10.
payments, as much for purposes of state as for the King himself. The high play was confined for the most part to Christmas or other times of festivity, when the statutes against unlawful games were dispensed with for all classes.
