For
so they call it, though it differs from that of the commonwealth.
The orator or assistant to the lord mayor in holding of his
courts, is some able lawyer elected by the court of aldermen, and
called the recorder of Emporium.
"The lord mayor being thus elected, has two capacities: one
regarding the nation, and the other the city. In that which
regards the city, he is president of the court of aldermen,
having power to assemble the same, or any other council of the
city, as the common council or common hall, at his will and
pleasure; and in that which regards the nation, he is
commander-in-chief of the three tribes whereinto the city is
divided; one of which he is to bring up in person at the national
muster to the ballot, as his vice-comites, or high sheriffs, are
to do by the other two, each at their distinct pavilion, where
the nine aldermen, elected censors, are to officiate by three in
each tribe, according to the rules and orders already given to
the censors of the rustic tribes. And the tribes of the city have
no other than one common phylarch, which is the court of aldermen
and the common council, for which cause they elect not at their
muster the first list called the prime magnitude.
"The conveniences of this alteration of the city government,
besides the bent of it to a conformity with that of the nation,
were many, whereof I shall mention but a few: as first, whereas
men under the former administration, when the burden of some of
these magistracies lay for life, were oftentimes chosen not for
their fitness, but rather unfitness, or at least unwillingness to
undergo such a weight, whereby they were put at great rates to
fine for their ease; a man might now take his share in magistracy
with that equity which is due to the public, and without any
inconvenience to his private affairs.
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