xii Introduction.

hanna Indians, and to join Virginia and New York in making a treaty with the
Five Nations in New York (Archives XV, 149-153), so that he was out of
the Province. Benjamin Rozer, appointed to the Court in April 1677 (Archives
LXVI, 424), was no longer receiver general of the Proprietary or sheriff of
Charles County. He came to Court regularly, and he also appeared on the other
side of the bench as attorney for clients. He died in 1681.

Thomas Notley was governor of the Province at the time these proceedings
open, and he was therefore chief justice, but he does not come to court. He got
along harmoniously with the Assembly, so much so that they wanted to give
him a present. "This [Lower] howse having taken into their Consideracon the
greate Trouble & Charge the hono^ble the Gou^rno^r is at in Coming to St Maryes
about the Country busines are desirous as a Token of their love Respect and
Esteeme for his hono^r to p^rsent him w^th somewhat that might be acceptable fo
his hono^r but w^th all considering the Poverty of the Country, & the greate
Charge this yeare, This howse thinke that to p^rsent his hono^r with any thing
worth his acceptance the Country is not able now [to do] it, but in the meane
time ..... [this hojwse humbly desire his hono^r to accept of 20000' of Tob:
out of the pu[blic] leavy this present yeare, and desire the concurrence of the
upp how [se in this] vote." The Upper House readily concurred. Governor
Notley thanked the Assembly: he believed it came from cordiality "and out
of a true Respect unto my pson" and he would put on it a value higher than its
intrinsic worth (Archives VII, 47-48). When Governor Notley died, in
April 1679, ^me Proprietary was in Maryland, and he himself took over the
governorship (post, 113) as captain general.

This year three justices of the Court were sworn in, Col. Vincent Lowe,
Lt. Col. Henry Darnall and Col. W^m- Stevens (post, 5, 136, 240). Lowe was
surveyor general, and he had been attorney general and also sheriff of Talbot
County. He was also party to several suits before the bench on which he later
sat. But that was not unusual. One of the suits was brought against his bond
as sheriff., and the Proprietary, by the attorney general, made out such a good
case that Sheriff Lowe could find nothing to say in bar (post, 119-120). That
was March 14, 1678/9, yet less than three months later, on June 3, 1679, he was
sworn in as justice (post, 156), and he sat on the Court for the only session
after that (post, 240). Of course, Vincent Lowe was brother-in-law of the Pro-
prietary, and uncle of later Lords Baltimore. Col. Henry Darnall was sworn in
at the same time as Col. Lowe, and at the October 1679 session, Col. William
Stevens of Dorchester County, naval officer of the Pocomoke District, joined
the Court. He had been sworn in as a member of the Council on October 7,
1679 (Archives XV, 260), so that he was automatically a justice. He had been
doing yeoman service on the Eastern Shore against the Indians (ibid., passim).
Thomas Taillor, also of Dorchester County, who had been councillor and justice
since 1673 (Archives XV, 23; ibid., LXV, 91), was present in Court on
March 6, 1678/9 (post, 8o). He was also in Court on the other side of the
bench by attorney on June 6, 1679, to answer the suit of John Burnham (post,
159-160). And the councillor-justice lost the suit.

Of these ten men, the most that attended any one session is five (post, 80.