nor could he by any means quit it without license from the head of the
tithing; because, if he was guilty of any misdemeanor, his district was
obliged to produce him or pay his fine. In this manner was the whole
nation, as it were, held under sureties: a species of regulation
undoubtedly very wise with regard to the preservation of peace and
order, but equally prejudicial to all improvement in the minds or the
fortunes of the people, who, fixed invariably to the spot, were
depressed with all the ideas of their original littleness, and by all
that envy which is sure to arise in those who see their equals
attempting to mount over them. This rigid order deadened by degrees the
spirit of the English, and narrowed their conceptions. Everything was
new to them, and therefore everything was terrible; all activity,
boldness, enterprise, and invention died away. There may be a danger in
straining too strongly the bonds of government. As a life of absolute
license tends to turn men into savages, the other extreme of constraint
operates much in the same manner: it reduces them to the same ignorance,
but leaves them nothing of the savage spirit. These regulations helped
to keep the people of England the most backward in Europe; for though
the division into shires and hundreds and tithings was common to them
with the neighboring nations, yet the _frankpledge_ seems to be a
peculiarity in the English Constitution; and for good reasons they have
fallen into disuse, though still some traces of them are to be found in
our laws.

[Sidenote: Hundred Court.]

Ten of these tithings made an Hundred. Here in ordinary course they held
a monthly court for the centenary, when all the suitors of the
subordinate tithings attended. Here were determined causes concerning
breaches of the peace, small debts, and such matters as rather required