law, and at the same time kept no monuments of it,—­which if they had done, there is no doubt but many things of great value towards determining many questions relative to the laws, antiquities, and manners of this and other countries had been preserved.  But it is clear, though it has not been, I think, observed, that the ascending collateral branch was much regarded amongst the ancient Germans, and even preferred to that of the immediate possessor, as being, in case of an accident arriving to the chief, the presumptive heir, and him on whom the hope of the family was fixed:  and this is upon the principles of Tanistry.  And the rule seems to have taken such deep root as to have much influenced a considerable article of our feudal law:  for, what is very singular, and, I take it, otherwise unaccountable, a collateral warranty bound, even without any descending assets, where the lineal did not, unless something descended; and this subsisted invariably in the law until this century.

Thus we have seen the foundation of the Northern government and the orders of their people, which consisted of dependence and confederacy:  that the principal end of both was military; that protection and maintenance were due on the part of the chief, obedience on that of the follower; that the followers should be bound to each other as well as to the chief; that this headship was not at first hereditary, but that it continued in the blood by an order of its own, called Tanistry.

All these unconnected and independent parts were only linked together by a common council:  and here religion interposed.  Their priests, the Druids, having a connection throughout each state, united it.  They called the assembly of the people:  and here their general resolutions were taken; and the whole might rather be called a general confederacy than a government.  In no other bonds, I conceive, were they united before they quitted Germany.  In this ancient state we know them from Tacitus.  Then follows an immense gap, in which undoubtedly some changes were made by time; and we hear little more of them until we find them Christians, and makers of written laws.  In this interval of time the origin of kings may be traced out.  When the Saxons left their own country in search of new habitations, it must be supposed that they followed their leaders, whom they so much venerated at home; but as the wars which made way for their establishment continued for a long time, military obedience made them familiar with a stricter authority.  A subordination, too, became necessary among the leaders of each band of adventurers:  and being habituated to yield an obedience to a single person in the field, the lustre of his command and the utility of the institution easily prevailed upon them to suffer him to form the band of their union in time of peace, under the name of King.  But the leader neither knew the extent of the power he received, nor the people of that which they bestowed.  Equally unresolved were they about