xiv               Letter of Transmittal.

           Charles Calvert, the Lord Proprietary, left the Province for England in
         1676. Thomas Notley then acted as Governor and presided as Chief Judge in
         Equity in the Court of Chancery. When Notley was not present in the court,
         as was frequent in 1678, Philip Calvert presided, but is always designated as
         Chancellor and not as Chief Judge in Equity. The Proprietary returned to
         Maryland in January, 1678/9, but retained Notley as Governor until the latter
         died in 1681. The Council was almost entirely changed by deaths in 1679, and
         when this volume closes, William Calvert, Vincent Lowe, Henry Darnall and
         William Stevens appear as the associate justices at the last session of that year.
           The Court of Chancery nearly always met at St. Mary's City. Of the forty-
         four sessions held from 1669 to 1679, the court met elsewhere on only two
         occasions, as on March 6, 1670/I, at Mattapany, and on June 26, 1673, in
         special session in Charles County.
           Of the lawyers practicing before the higher courts of the Province during
         our decade, Gov. Charles Calvert is authority for the statement that John
         Morecroft was the recognized leader in 1672 (The Calvert Papers; Number
         One, Md. Hist. Soc. Fund Public. No. 28, p. 264). His name frequently occurs
         in these records as the attorney in important cases. Nothing has been learned
         of his antecedents in England before he came to Maryland. He was sworn in
         as an attorney in 1666. After his death in 1673, it cannot be said with cer-
         tainty upon whom his mantle fell, although perhaps Notley represented the
         most important litigants. Three former clerks, or registers in Chancery, ap-
         pear with great frequency as attorneys before both the Chancery Court and
         the Provincial Court, and it is likely that such legal training as they had was
         largely gained in this very practical school during their service as clerk. These
         attorneys were Daniel Jenifer, Robert Carvile and Robert Ridgely. Other
         names which occur frequently of those handling important cases are William
         Calvert, Kenelm Cheseldyne, Thomas Notley, George Parker, Nehemiah Blakis-
         ton, Christopher Rousby, and John Rousby. The names of two attorneys be-
         fore the courts at this time who had received an English legal training, but who
         seem to have had few cases during our period, were Thomas Bland, who
         declared that he had studied law at the Inner Temple for six years (Prov. Ct.
         Proc. Liber I. I., 397), and Matthew Ward of Cecil County, who was almost
         certainly identical with the individual of the same name, son of Francis Ward,
         gentleman, of South Waisham, Norfolk, who was admitted to Gray's Inn,
         April 30, 1657 (Gray's Inn Register, 282). The names of other attorneys be-
         fore the Maryland courts at this time were Charles Boteler, Thomas Carleton,
         Henry Cox, Thomas Dent, Henry Johnson, John Jones, and Peter Sayer.
         A “Mr. Bisse” who was admitted to practice in the Chancery Court in June
         1669, but who is not mentioned again, may have been Thomas Bisse, who took