Encyclopaedia Britannica, or, a Dictionary of arts, sciences, and miscellaneous literature : enlarged and improved. Illustrated with nearly six hundred engravings > Volume 6, CHI-Crystallization

CON [ 5^7 ] CON
abl& by the fame authority that appoints them. The prtttj Constables to ’juJUces of (ho Peace, in Scotland, CwifUhH
confables have two offices united in them, the one an- are the proper officers for executing their orders. ^onf,..nc^
cient, and the other modern. Their ancient office is They have powers to fupprds tumults, and to ap-
that of head-borough, tithing-man, or borffiolder ;
which is as ancient as the time of King Alfred : then-
more modern office is that of conflable merely } which
was appointed fo lately as the reign of Edward III.
in order to affift the high condable. And in general
the ancient head-boroughs, tithing-men, and borffiold-
ers, were made ufe of to fervc as petty con Rabies j
though not fo generally, but that in many places they
ftill continue diftindh officers from the conftables.
They are all chofen by the jury at the court-leet; or,
if no court-leet be held, are appointed by trvo jullices
of the peace.
The general duty of all conftables, both high and
petty, as well as of the other officers, is to keep the
king’s peace in their feveral diftridls j and to that pur-
pofe they are armed with very large powers of ar-
refting and imprifoning, of breaking open houfes, and
the like: of the extent of which powers, confidering
what manner of men are for the moft part upon
thefe offices, it is perhaps very well that they are ge¬
nerally kept in ignorance. One of their principal
duties arifing from the ftatute of Winchefter, which
appoints them, is to keep watch and wrard in their re-
fpedlive jurifdi&ions. Ward, guard, or cnftodia, is
chiefly intended of the day-time, in order, to appre¬
hend rioters, and robbers, on the highways $ the man¬
ner of doing which is left to the difcretion of the juf-
tices of the peace and the conftable : the hundred be¬
ing, however, liable for all the robberies committed
therein by day-light, for having kept negligent guard.
Watch is properly applicable to the night only (being
called among the Saxons wachPt or voadu) } and it be¬
gins when ward ends, and ends w’hen that begins :
for, by the ftatute of VYinchefter, in walled towns the
gates ffiall be ciofed from fun-fetting to fun-rifing :
and watch ffiall be kept in every borough and town,
efpecially in the fummer feafon, to apprehend all
rogues, vagabonds, and night-walkers, and make them
give an account of thernfelves. The conftable may
appoint watchmen at his difcretion, regulated by the
cuftom of the place j and thefe, being his deputies,
have, for the time being, the authority of their prin¬
cipal.
There are alfo conftables denominated from parti¬
cular places, as conftable of the Tower, of Dover
caftle, of Windfor caftle, of the caftle of Caernarvon
and many other of the caftles of Wales wffiofe office
is the fame with that of the caftellani, or governors of
caftles.
Constables of London. The city of London is di¬
vided into 26 wards, and the wards into precin&s, in
each of which is a conftable. They are nominated by
the inhabitants of each ptecinft on St Thomas’s day,
and confirmed, or otherwife, at the court of wardmote.
After confirmation, they are fworn into their offices
at a court of aldermen, on the next Monday after
Xwefth day. Such as are chofen into the office, are
obliged to place the king’s arms, and the arms of the
city, over their doors; and if they refide in alleys, at
the ends of fuch alleys toward the ftreets, to fignify
that a conftable lives there,’ and that they may be the
more eafily found when wanted.
prebend delinquents and thole rvho can give no good
account of themielves, and carry them to the next
juftice.
CONSTANCE, a ftrong town of Germany, in the
circle of Suabia, with a bifhop’s fee, wffiofe bilhop is a
prince of the empire. It has a handfome bridge, and
feveral fine ftrudlures, as well facred as profane. It
Carries on a great trade, and is rvell fortified : and
though it pretends to be an imperial town, the Auf*
trians keep a garrifon here. It is famous for a coun¬
cil held here in 1514, when there were three popes-,
but they were all depofed, and Marlin V. was elected
in their room. This council caufed Jerome of Prague
and John Hufs to be burnt, tbcbgh the emperor Sigif-
mund had given them a fafe condudt; ; in purfuance of
this maxim, “ that no faith is to be kept with here¬
tics.” They likewife condemned the dodfrine of
Wickliff, and ordered his bones to be burned 40 years
after he was dead. However, the inhabitants now are
Proteftants. It is feated on a lake of the fame name.
E. Long. 9. 10. N. Lat. 47. 38.
Constance, one of the mott confiderable and beau¬
tiful lakes of Switzerland, which feparates it from Sua¬
bia, except that part where the city of Conftance is
feated on its fide. - It is divided into three parts} the
upper or largeft part is called Boden fee, the middle
Bodmer fee, and the lower part Zeller fee. The firft:
is 37 miles long, and its greateft breadth 15 miles, it
is deeper in fummer than in winter.
CONSTANCY, in a general fenfe, denotes immu¬
tability, or invariablenefs. In ethics, or when applied
to the human mind, the term implies refolution or
fteadinefs, particularly under lufferings and the trials
of adverfity.
It w?as the faying of a heathen philofopher, That
there cannot be imagined upon earth a fpeflacle more
worthy the regard of the Creator intent on his works,
than a brave man fuperior to his bufferings. Nothing
indeed can be more noble or honourable than to have
courage enough to execute the commands of reafon
and confcience j to maintain the dignity of our na¬
ture, and the ftation affigned us ; and to be proof
againft poverty, pain, and death itfelf, fo far as not to
do any thing that is fcandalous or fmffil to avoid them.
To be thus, is to be great above title or fortune. This
argues the foul of a heavenly extraction, and is worthy
the offspring of the Deity.
Of this virtue the following example, related in
Engliffi hiftory, is here feleCted, as fuperior perhaps,
all circumftances confidered, to any other upon re¬
cord.
Sir William Affiew of Kelfay, in Lincolnffiire, had
feveral daughters. His fecond, named Anne, had re¬
ceived a genteel education ; which, with an agreeable
figure and good underftanding, rendered her a very-
proper perfon to be at the head of a family. Her fa¬
ther, regardlefs of his daughter’s inclination and hap-
pinefs, obliged her to marry a gentleman who had no¬
thing to recommend him -but his fortune, and who was
a moft bigotted Papift. No fooner was he convinced
of his wife’s regard for the doftrines of the reformair.
tisn from popery, than, by the inftigation of his