The Assembly, or House of Burgesses, at first consisted of all freemen, but they gradually gave place to delegates. The influence of the proprietary, however, decided the selection. In 1650 fourteen burgesses met as delegates or representatives of the several hundreds, there being but two counties organized, St. Marys and the Isle of Kent. Ann Arundel, called at times Providence county, was erected April 29, 1650. Patuxent was erected under Cromwell in 1654.—Bacon’s Laws of Maryland, 1765.
Note 25, page [47].
Things had changed when the Sot Weed Factor appeared, as the author of that satirical poem dilates on the litigious character of the people.
Note 26, page [47].
The allusion here I have been unable to discover.
Note 27, page [48].
The colony seems to have justified some of this eulogy by its good order, which is the more remarkable, considering the height of party feeling.
Note 28, page [48].
Halberdeers; the halberd was smaller than the partisan, with a sharp pointed blade, with a point on one side like a pole-axe.