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Anno 38 Henry VIII. and in the fame Form ran all theYVarrants of Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth.

Over and above thefe, there is a Warrant and Schemeprepared for the Sovereign to Sign, wherein is defcribedthe Order of the Stalls of Windfor, as he wou’d have them(band at the ^nfuing Eledlion ; by the Virtue of which,the Garter is impowered to Shift or remove the Platesand Achievements of the prefent Knights-Companions, fothat room may be made for the eiedt Knight,'or Knights,and to fix the new Plates and Atchievements within, andover the Stalls, in fuch order as they are rank'd in theScheme. As foon as the Sovereign’s Pleafure is knownconcerning an Inftalladon, Garter brings to the Chancellorof the Order, the Names of the prefent Knights-Compa-nions, placed in the order they then fit in their Stalls, tothe intent he may prefent them to the Sovereign ; who,upon obferving the feries wherein they {land already, he.may eaiier determine how to alter and place both them,and the new eiedt Knights. Anno 17 Elizabeth, the Of-fice of the Garter bong vacant, this employ was put uponthe Clarenceux, and the Sovereign’s Warrant for removaland placing of Plates and Atchievements, was deliveredto him, five Days before the Inftallation of the Earl ofJutland, the Lords Cobham and Scroop, who thereuponfixed them according to the diredtion given , upon whatGround this alteration and removal came to be made,and continues fliil in Vogue, though it was otherwife acthe Inftitution of the Order, wherein we mutt, have re-courfe to the Statutes, and the antique Pradlice groundedupon them .• Among the Statutes, thofe of the Inftitutiondid ordain, That if any Earl, Baron, or Knight-Batchellor,Ihou’d depart this Life, he that fucceeded in his Place, ofw hat Condition or State foever, (hou’d poffefs the fameotall which his Predeceffor held before, without changing:So that it might happen for an Earl, or a Duke, to fuc-cee d a Knighr, and, vice verfa, it was thus ac firftconftimted by Edward 111 . that it might be kjiown who werethe firft Founders of this mojl Noble Order.

Now how pundtually this Article of the Statutes hathueen obferved, that none Chofen along time after the In-ftuution of the Order, fhou’d interrupt or change thisoourfe, we (hall demonftrate, conceiving it very materialt0 e yu thofe Tables, yet prefevved in the Chapter-Hcufe

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