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jnd three Knights. Wherein the Things chiefly ob-fervable, we rank under five Heads.
For the Firft of thefe, their Number. Every Knight-Companion affembl’d in Chapter, is injoin’d to nameNine, neither more nor lefs. So alio faith King Henry V’sStatutes. Nor are King Henry Vlllth’s. any ways diflo-nant. And in this particular, the Statutes have beenhitherto inviolably obferved, except in one Cafe. As toNumbers, and the Myfteries wrapt up in them, we fhallnot further infill upon. But why our Royal Founderfele&ed this particular Number above all other, unlefshe had fome Eye, and tacit Refle&ion on the NineWorthies, or a treble threefold Cord and Symbol ofperfefl Stability and folid Amity, the Number Nine isaccounted to fignifie, can with no great Facility orCertainty be decypher’d.
As to the Second Point, they ought to be of un-fpotted Character. The Injunction in the Statutes oflnftitution takes Order, that the Perfons defigned forElection, fhould be free from all Reproach, and of untaint-and according to thofe of King Henry V-
iepntation j _
are to be tie beji andmoji fujfcient Knights, and freeft fromReproach. To the fame purpofe the Exemplar in theBlack-Book, Such as are fittejl, and whom they whoNominate Relieve to be free from Ignominy and Dishonour.And to this Act of Nomination belongs part of theSecond Article in Henry VHIth’s Statutes, That noKnight-Companion fhould name any Perfon whom he thinks orefteems in his Conference to have upon him any Spot of Reproach..But on the Contrary in another Place of the fame Sta-tutes it is Provided, That they be nominated and pro-pofed out of the Number of the mojl worthy and feleBKnights.
How tender the Knights-Companions were in prl-fline Times of infringing this particular, is provedfrom a notable Paflage which happen’d Ann. 39 Hen. VI.at a Scrutiny taken the 8th of February, in the Bifhop ofLondon's Palace, where John de Foix Earl of Kendal, aGafcoigner by birth, (which makes the Example moreeminent, that a Stranger fhould have fo great Regardto the Honour of the Order) not being acquainted withthe Quality and Merit of Knights and Honourable Per-