it is in his power without great harm to postpone the day,—if he have summoned a sheriff of the lord king in the person of his vassal, indeed, the latter shall not be bound to come, for he can not then be excused from the exchequer. Likewise if that same lord, oppressed by the weight of illness, wishes to make a will in the presence of his people, and have called him in for this purpose with his other faithful men, he shall be excused. Likewise if his lord or his wife or his son shall have paid the debt of the flesh, and he shall have seen to the necessary funeral arrangements, he shall merit to be excused. There are also many other excuses for the absence of a sheriff, necessary, indeed, and determined by rule, which we do not deny or exclude; nay, when they shall seem sufficient to the greater barons, we willingly receive them; but, for the sake of example, we have given those which at present have occurred to our mind, they being, as it were, the more frequent ones,
D. I seem to gather from the aforesaid that a knight or other discreet person may be made a sheriff or other bailiff by the king, even though he hold nothing from the king, but only from others.
M. This prerogative belongs to the dignity of a public function, that no matter whose vassal any man in the kingdom is, no matter for whom he may do military or other service,-—if he be found necessary to the king, he can be freely taken and deputed to the royal service.
D. From this, indeed, I can see that that is true which is said:
"Dost thou not know that of kings the hands are extremely lengthy?"
! But now already, if it please thee, do not delay putting thy hand to the occupations of the sheriff; for on these matters. warned by thee, I have concentrated the whole zeal of I my attention; knowing that in them, as has been said,; the higher knowledge of the exchequer should be sought.
M. I congratulate thee on being mindful of what has, been said; by which, I confess, thou hast added a stimulus! to my almost languishing pen. Know, then, that the sheriff, unless a test has first been made and the debts for
