The shrievalty of the County Palatine has always been esteemed the blue riband of shrievalties. Unlike his compeers elsewhere, the Lancashire sheriff is specially nominated by the King, whilst the office has always been maintained in circumstances of considerable splendour, and entails upon the sheriff the arduous duty of attending eleven assizes in the year, occupying on an average 130 days. The hospitalities attached to the office are also considerable, for the sheriff has to give a dinner to the grand jury and members of the bar at each assize. Much deference has to be paid to the Judges of Assize, and many points of old-world courtesy and etiquette have to be observed, which add to the interest attaching to the office; and there can be little doubt that the sheriff's turn-out--a coach-and-four, with trumpeters and javelin men in their handsome liveries of dark blue and old gold--serves to impart dignity to the administration of the law, and to impress the multitude with its majesty and power. The High Sheriff is the representative of the King, and takes precedence of everyone in the county, except the Judges of Assize and the Lord Lieutenant. I was nominated to the office in 1893, and again in 1896, but, there being no one to take my place at Quarter Sessions, I asked to be excused. It was, however, a position which appealed to me--it seemed to me to be the coping-stone to my long devotion to judicial work--and when I was again nominated in 1908, I accepted, and was duly "pricked" by the King. I appointed the Rev. Canon Armour, D.D., as my chaplain, and my son Miles as the under-sheriff. The Shire-reve, or high sheriff, was in the old Saxon days a position of great authority and power. He not only was the criminal judge of his shire, but also collected the King's exchequer, and the office was one which brought considerable profit to the holder. All this has been changed, the judicial functions and the collection of the King's revenue have long since been transferred to others; but theoretically the sheriff has considerable powers left in his hands--the power of arrest and the charge of the jails in the county, while the empanelling of juries and all legal processes of every kind are made in his name. He is also the returning officer at all elections; this in Lancashire involves considerable work, as the sheriff is responsible for parliamentary elections in twenty-three divisions, but fortunately for him, the detail work is discharged by the under-sheriff or acting under-sheriff, of whom in Lancashire there are three.