If I did I might be able to throw some light on the matter, but I own to being a little in the dark as to caps of maintenance. If, as Gwillim says, the cap of maintenance is a mark of freedom, its association with the swordbearer (the sword denoting criminal jurisdiction) may mean freedom from all extraneous criminal jurisdiction. If this is so, I would suggest to the powers that be to lay down the following rules:-- That every mayor may and should have a mace; the mayor of a borough with a separate commission of the peace--a mace and a sword. If, in addition, his borough has quarter sessions of its own, then he should also have a cap of maintenance. The Corporations of Colchester, Dover, Southampton, Norwich, Beaumaris, Preston, Great Yarmouth, Poole, Rochester, Boston, Waterford, &c., possess SILVER OARS, the symbol of the maritime jurisdiction once enjoyed by those places, but abolished by the Act of 1840, placing all creeks and rivers in Great Britain under the High Court of Admiralty. The origin of this symbol is not known, but it is a natural one, and is, or was [for the Court is merged, I suppose, into the High Court of Justice] the badge or mace of the High Court of Admiralty, and was laid before the Judge, as the great mace used to be laid before the Chancellor, when he presided in Chancery. The one belonging to the High Court of Admiralty is said to be 130 years old, but an older one with the arms of Queen Elizabeth thereon was once in existence. That belonging to the Admiralty of the Cinque Ports is older still. One belongs to the Governor of Bermuda, who has Admiralty jurisdiction. These civic oars, like the maces, divide into two classes: large ones, like that formerly at Boston, or that now at Great Yarmouth, meant to be carried as maces before the mayor; small ones, as at Colchester and Dover, the badges of authority of the water-bailiffs, who showed them, when executing process, as the sergeants-at-mace did their maces. That at Dover is 6 in. long, and is contained in a brass cylindrical box. The Colchester one is 10 in. The one which was sold by Boston in 1832 is 3 ft. 3 in. long, and was carried as a mace; it is of the date of Queen Elizabeth, and is now in the possession of Lord Brownlow. That at Yarmouth is 4 ft. long, and has the Royal arms and those of the borough on the blade. It was presented in 1745, and is of silver gilt. It is carried before the mayor and behind the maces. Rochester possesses both a great and small silver oar. Much information as to silver oars will be found in the 30th and 31st volumes of the Institute’s Journal.