Early  With  regard  to  early  English  kingship,  that  it  was

English  ^^^  strictly  hereditary  by  the  law  of  primogeniture,
is  well  known.  But  it  must  be  borne  in  mind,  that,
although  the  right  of  election^  and  deposition  rested
with  the  Witan,  they  could  only  exercise  their  right
within  the  limits  of  the  royal  family.     The  case  of

1  The  non-juror  Leslie  is  very  angry  with  Burnet  for  declaring
that  the  theory  of  Divine  Right  was  the  product  of  the  Reforma-
tion. "  None  knows  better  than  his  Lordship,  that  the  notion  of
Kings  having  their  power  from  God,  was  long  in  the  world  before
either  the  Reformation  or  Popery.  All  the  ancient  Fathers  are
fuU  of  it.  And  they  took  it  from  the  Holy  Scripture,  where  it  is
abundantly  testified"  {The  Good  Old  Cause,  §  2).  As  to  the
developed  doctrine  there  is  no  doubt  that  Burnet  was  right  and
Leslie  wrong ;  but  Leslie  is  quite  right  as  to  the  notions  out  of
which  it  grew,  as  is  shewn  by  the  passage  cited  on  page  19.  That
the  Fathers  would  have  been  astounded  could  they  have  seen
their  phrases  about  obedience  to  the  Emperor,  taken  as  proof  that
they  held  the  theory  of  the  non-jurors,  is  true  enough  ;  that  the
non-jurors  had  the  least  notion  that  their  theory  was  in  any  way
different  from  the  sentiment  of  antiquity,  there  is  no  reason  to
suppose.
2  Cf.  for  the  development  of  these  doctrines  in  the  Fathers
and  Early  Middle  Ages,  Carlyle,  History  of  Political  Theory  in
the  West.  Mr  Carlyle  shews  by  many  instances,  that  the  attribu-
tion of  the  origin  of  kingship  to  the  fall  is  in  no  way  incompatible
with  the  behef  that  obedience  is  a  religious  duty.
