“And the electors of the first band or order, being six, shall each
of them name to his respective magistracy in the left such as are not
already elected in the hundreds, till one competitor be chosen to every
magistracy in the list by the ballot of the electors of the first order,
which done, the list with the competitors thereunto annexed shall be
returned to the lord high sheriff by the clerk attending that order, but
the electors shall keep their places; for they have already given their
suffrage, and may not enter into the ballot of the tribe. If there
arises any dispute in an order of electors, one of the censors or
sub-censors appointed by them in case they be electors, shall enter into
the tent of that order, and that order shall stand to his judgment in
the decision of the controversy. The like shall be done exactly by each
other order of electors, being sent as they are drawn, each with another
copy of the same list, into a distinct tent, till there be returned to
the lord high sheriff four competitors to every magistracy in the list;
that is to say, one competitor elected to every office in every one of
the four orders, which competitors the lord high sheriff shall cause
to be pronounced or read by a crier to the congregation, and the
congregation having heard the whole lists repeated, the names shall be
put by the lord high sheriff to the tribe, one by one, beginning with
the first competitor in the first order, thence proceeding to the first
competitor in the second order, and so to the first in the third and
fourth orders. And the suffrages being taken in boxes by boys (as has
been already shown) shall be poured into the bowls standing before the
censors, who shall be seated at each end of the table in the pavilion,
the one numbering the affirmatives and the other the negatives, and he
of the four competitors to the first magistracy that has most above half
the suffrages of the tribe in the affirmative, is the first magistrate.
The like is to be done successively by the rest of the competitors in
their order. But because soon after the boxes are sent out for the first
name, there be others sent out for the second, and so for the third,
etc., by which means divers names are successively at one and the same
time in balloting; the boy that carries a box shall sing or repeat
continually the name of the competitor for whom that box is carrying,
with that also of the magistracy to which he is proposed. A magistrate
of the tribe happening to be an elector, may substitute any one of his
own order to execute his other function. The magistrates of the prime
magnitude being thus elected, shall receive the present charge of the
tribe.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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