Oldal 119 [119]
THE CITY GOVERNMENT 97
sound argument. To give
an example: one of the
writers on the subject men¬
tions, I know not on what
erounds, that before the
Romans withdrew they (1)
nominated a comes civi¬
~~ wey bo SP Lee |.)
tatis, or count of the city ;
that (2) William the Con¬
queror found a " portgrave ”
ő , a
"
; ee a ,
at
|
in London; and that (3)
‘‘orave” is the German g7a/,
ENTRANCE TO THE RECORD OFFICE
and signifies a count. To
which the only objections are that (1) we do not know that the Romans
nominated a count of the city; (2) William I did not find a portgrave
there; and (3) the English word is reeve, not grave, and the portreeve
in his duties answers exactly to the shire-reeve in a county. When
therefore we trace back the mayor to a reeve we trace him to an ordinary
English officer, who
neither in name nor
in duty resembled a
Roman comes, but
was one of a number
of similar reeves who
among them answered
to the king for all
parts of his dominion.
William calls him a
eportreeve, not a
“portgrave — the