.^J YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY A SUMMARY VIEW IX KEEEREXCE TO THE USAGES OE Vii: ijtlJlttttt y aiid the o-eneral econoinj^ of- the ^ ^Wi SYST^AI A- with /•^J;^>- the Univerfity and Marifchal Col lege, Aberdeen. The Library of the Faculty of Ad vocates. The Earl of Euchan, Prefident, for the Society of Antiquaries. Duke of Buccleugh. l->ufchefs of Buccleugh. Marijuis of Bath. Earl of Buchan. Countefs of Buchan. Earl of Balcarras. Earl of Br-radalbane. Earl of Bute. Lord Balgonie. Lord Banff. The Hon. George Baillle of Jervif- wood. The Lord Chief Baron. The Rev. Doftor Hugh Blaii-. Robert Blair, Efq. Solicitor General, Charles Brown of Goalfton, Efq. Burnet Bruce, Efq. Advocate. Mr. Robert Baillie, Giafgow. William Macleod Bannatyne, Efq. Advocate, Sheriff of Bute. ]>ugald Bannatyne, Efq. Giafgow. Rev. Dr. William Burnfide, Dumfries. John Euchanan, Efq. Greenock. George Buchanan, Efq. Giafgow. Rev. Dr. George Barclay of Mid- dleton, Haddington. Captain David Barclay, W. L, F. Re giment, Mr, Robert Bogle, Greenock. Rev. Robert Balfour, Giafgow. Bavid Balfour, Efq. Clerk to the Signet. John Boyle, Efq, younger of Shew? alton, Efq. IV SUBSCRIBERS. Mr. William Humphray, ftr the Library of Greenock. Duke of Hamilton and Brandon. Duchefs of Hamilton and Brandon. Earl of Home. Earl of Hadinton. larl of Hyndford. Countefs Dowager of Hyndford. Earl of Hopetoun. Hon, Robert Lindefay Hamilton of Bourtreehill. Lord Hailes [Sir David Dalrymple, Bart.] Senator of the College of Juftice. Lady Hailes. Right Hon. Sir W, Hamilton, K.B, Sir Archibald Hope of Craighall, Bart. Sir Samuel Hannay of Mochrum, Bart, Sir John Henderfon of Fsrdell, Bart, Sir Robert Herries. John Hamilton of Bargeny. Mrs. Hamilton of Bargeny. John Hamilton of Sundrum, Efq. Mrs. Hamilton of Sundrum. Charles Hamilton, Efq. Holyrood- houfe. Gavin Inglls Hamilton of Murdi- fton, Efq. Rome. Major General Hamilton. Mrs. Chriftian Hamilton. William Hamilton of Wifliaw, Efq. Alexander Hamilton of Grange, Efq. Advocate. Gilbert Hamilton, Efq. Giafgow. William Hamilton of Craighlaw, M.D. Hugh Hamilton of Pinmore, Efq. He v. James Hall of Bogtoun. Mr. John Hall, Giafgow. Alexander Harvey of Broadland, Efq, John Hawthorn of Caftlewig, Efq, Andrew Houfton of Jordanhill, Efq. William Hannay of Bargally, Efq. John Hannay of Rufco, E To. Johnfton Hannay of Tors, Efq. William Hofier, Efq. Giafgow, Robert Bruce Henderfon of Earls- hall, Efq, Advocate, Xobert Henderfon of Cleughheads, Efq. 1 Mr. James Hill, Giafgow. Patrick Heron of Heron, M. P. John Dalrymple Hay of Park, Efq. Alexander Hay of Cocklaw, M. D. Charles Hay, Efq. Advocate. James Hopkirk of Dalbeath, Efq. Thomas Hopkirk, Efq. Giafgow. Lord Juftice Clerk. Sir William Jardinc of Applegirth, Bart. Charles Innes, Efq. Clerk to the Signet, John Irving Efq. London, Peter Johnfton of Carnfalloch, Efq. Earl of Kellie. Thomas Kennedy of Dunure, Efq. William Ker, Efq, Secretary to the General Poft Office. Robert Ker, Efq, Surgeon, Mr, James Knox, Greenock. Patrick Heron of Heron, M. V.fat the Library of Kirkcudbright. Mr. Robert Nichol,yir the Library of Kelfo. Earl of Lauderdale. Earl of Leven and Melvile. Lady Mary Lindefay. Benjamin Langlois, Efq. John Lowes of Ridleyhall, Ef(|, Northumberland. Robert Langlands, M, D. Major Logan, W, L. F, Regt. Capt. Linn, 35th Regt. Mr. Andrew Laurie. Robert Lee, Efq. Greenock. Mrs. Lockhart of Lee. Rev. Dr. William Lockhart, Giaf gow. Rev. John Lockhart Cambufnethan. .\llan Lockhart of Cleghorn, Efq, Capt, William Lockhart of Biikhill; Duke of Montrofe. Duke of Montagu. Earl of Morton. Earl of Moray. Earl of Mcath. ' SUBSCRIBERS, Earl of Moira. Lord Vifcount Mountmoris. Lord Montagu of Boughton. Hon. William Ramfay Maule of Panmurc. Lord Monboddo [James Burnet, Efq.J Senator of the College of Juftice.Lord Methven [David Smyth, Efq.] Senator of the College of Juftice. Rev. Sir Henry Welwood Moncrieff of TuUiebole, Bart. Sir William Maxwell of Monreath, Bart. Sir John Maxwell of Pollock, Bart, Sir William Maxwell of Springkell, Bart. Sir Henry Hay Macdougal of Ma- kcrfton, Bart. Lady Miller of Gleenlee. Dowager Lady Miller of Glenlee. Mrs. M'Ghle of Balmaghie. William Macdowall of Garthland, M. P. Mrs. Macdowall of Caftlefempill Mrs. Macdowall of Walkinfhaw John Rofs Macfcie of Polgoun, Efq. Allan Maconochle, Efq, Advocate, Sheriff of Renfrewfhire, Profef for of the Law of Nations in the Univerfity of Edinburgh, Robert Dundas M'Queen, Efq. younger of Braxfield. Edward M'Cormick, Efq. Advo- aate, Sheriff of Ayrfhire, Mr, James Mathie, Giafgow. John Menzies of Pitfoddels, Efq. Mr. Colin Menzies, Greenock. Peter Murray, younger of Ochter- tyre, Efq. Advocate. James Murray, Efq. Crieff. John Murray of Murraythwaite, Efq. Mungo Murray, Efq, Ifle of Man. Col. Hugh Montgomerie of Skel- morlic. Mrs, Montgomerie, Alnwick Lodge, Capt. Montgomerie, Guards, William Montgomerie, M. P. younger of Stanhope. James Montgomerie, Efq. Advo cate. Mr. Neil Macbrayne, Giafgow. Mr. Robert Macbrayne, Giafgow. Mr. Donald Macbrayne, Giafgow. James Macrae of Holmains, Efq. Bernard Macallum, Efq. Thomas Macgrugar, Efq, Advocate, John Macmillai), Efq, Greenock. Donald Maclauchlan of Maclauh- lan, £fq. Mr. Ebenezer Milligan, Surgeon, Caftlc Douglas. Rev. Dugald Macdougal, Loch- gollhead. Rev. John Macaulay, Claybrook, Leicefterfhire. David Martine, Efq. Painter, iEness M'lntofti of M'lntofti, Efq. Robert M'Intofh, Efq, Advocate. William M'Intofli of Aberarder, Efq. Peter Murdoch, Efq. Giafgow. Colin M'Kenzie, Efq. Clerk to the Signet, Mr, John M'George. Rev, James Stewart Monteath of Clofeburn. Major General Norman M'Leod of M'Leod, M. P, William Haggerfton Conftable Max well of Nithfdale. David Maxwell of Cardonefs, Efq. John Maxwell of Terraughty, Efq. Hugh Maxwell, Efq. Dumfries Mr. David Greig, for the Library of Moffat. Duke of Norfolk, Earl Marfhal of England. Lord Napier. Hon. Fletcher Norton, one of the Barons of the Exchequer. Michael Stewart Nicholfon of Car.i nock, Efq. Mr. William Nicol. George Ofwald of Scotftown, Efq, Richard Ofwald of AuchincruivCi Efq, Mrs, OAvald of Auchlncrulve. Mr. Profeffor Ogilvie, Aberdeen, a iij VI SUBSCRIBERS, Duke of Portland. Lord Portchcfter, Lord Prefident of the College of Juftice, Lord Polkemmet [William Baillie, Efq.] Senator of the College of Jul! ice. Sir James Pringle of Stltchel, Bart, Sir ^\^l^lam Pulteney of Wefterhall, Bart, Mifs Pollock of Pollock. Mark Pringle, M. P. Rev. Dr. William Porteous, Giaf gow. Andrew Plummer of MIddleftead, Efq. Advocate, Sheriff of Selkiik- fhire. Mr. Profeffor Playfalr. Mr. George Paton. Mr. Thomas Pinkerton, London. Duke of Queenfberry, Duke of Roxburgh, Countefs Dowager of Rothes. Lord Rivers. Sir James RIddell of Ardnamurchan, Bart. James Ritchie of Eufbie, Efq. Gavin Ralfton of Ralflon,E!q. James Ramfay of Ochtertyre, Efq, Mr. James Robb, Giafgow, Mr, Andrew Reid, Giafgow. Patrick Robertfon, Efq, Clerk to the Signet. Mr. William Robertfon, Greenock. Mr, William Rofe, Lefwalt. i^'illlam Reeplie, Efq. Surgeon, W. L. F, Regt. • Marquis of Stafford. Earl of Strathmore. Lord Vifcount Sydney. Lord Blfhop of Sahfbury, Lord Saltoun. Lady Baronefs Saltoun. Lord Sempill. Lord Stonefield [John Campbell, Efq,] Senator of the College of Juftice, Lord Swinton [John Swinton, Efq.] ' Senator of the College of Juftice. Sir Alex. Stirling of Glorat, Batt. Sir John Stuart of Caftlemilk, Bare, Sir John Sinclair of Ulbfter, Bait. Mrs. General Stewart. Andrew Stuart, M, P. John Shaw Stev;art of Greenock, M. P. Robert Hawthorn Stewart of Phyf- gill, Efq. Mr, Profeffor Dugald Stewart, Mr. Alexander Stewart. Henry Stewart of Allanton, Efq, Charles Sharpe of Hoddam, Efq. Adam Smith, LL. D. Mr. Hay Smith, Haddington. Francis Strachan, Efq. Clerk to the Signet. Mr, John Swanflon, Giafgow. George Skene of Skene, Efq. Rev. Dr. James Scott, Twyneholm. Archibald Speirs of Elderflie, Efij. Peter Speirs of Culcreugh, Ef^. Mr. Robert Speirs, Giafgow. Lieut. Col, Spens of Stonlaw. Dr. James Gillefple, Ke&oi, far the Univerfity of Et, Andrews. John Davidfon, Efq, deputy keep er of his Majcfty's Signet, ybr the Society of Writers to the Signet, Marquis of Tweedale. Lord Torphichen. Thomas Thomfon, Efq. Advocafc, William Trotter, Efq, Mr. William Tennent, Greenock. Mr. Alexander Tait, Greenock. Theophilus Tyre, Efq. Lieutenant in the Royal Navj'. Earl of Wemyfs, Sir John ^\'hitefoord of Whitefoord, Bart. Sir George Warren, K. B. William Wemyfs of Wemyfs, M. P. Peter \\'right, M. D, Giafgow. John Wilfon, Efq. one of the Town Clerks of Giafgow. John White of Bennochie, Efq, Ad vocate. Mr. William White, Greenock . John Wright, Efq. Greenock. SUBSCRIBERS. va Mr. Alexander Wood, Greenock. The Lord Archblfhop of York, James Yeamau of Murle.Efq. Mr. Archibald Young, Surgeon, Giafgow, Count Zcnobio of Venice, Should tlie names of any of the Subfcribers be omitted. It is owing to fome of the Subfcription Papers not having been returned, As fevcral names were without any addition, it is hoped the omiffion of the proper Style will, in fuch inftances,be excufcd. CORRECTIONS. Page 6. line 12. for warded, read awarded— P, 24. 1. 18,, P. 32, 1, 15,, P. 33. 1, 20, for BontainviUiers, &c, read Boulainvilliers — P, 34. 1. 10. for warriors, read warriors who fought on horfeback — P. 64. for counts, read counts of — P. 69. 1. 19. for giron, read a giron — P. 70, 1, 17. for traverfely, read tranfverfely — P. 7I' 1. 15, for lonzengy, read lozengy — P. 73. 1, g. for Batter, read Butler — P. 90. 1. 12. for powers, read -pTovieh — P. 104, 1, 3. for Fen- vis, read Fenris — P, 153. 1. 15,, P. 187. 1. 17. for Pllium, read Pi- leum — P. 160. 1. 9, for domlnum, read dominium — P. 169. 1. 21. for Ancora, read Ancona — P, 172. 1. 9. — the fraternities, or claffes of Friars, mentioned here, were not properly Monks — P. 185. 1. 10. /or nobles, read nobiles— P. 219. 1, 9. /o)- pre venting, read perverting. Page 117, IE is erroneoufly taken for granted, from an abridged dlf- fertation of the Count de Caylus, which feems to bear fuch a mean ing, that according to Turpin, Charles the Great had twelve peers. vol, xxiii. Mem. Acad. Inf. and Bell. Lettr, On confulting the Romance of Turpin, it does not affign twelve peers to Charles ; but reprefents, that as Chrift and his twelve apof- tles, and difciples, brought the world to receive Chriflianity, fo he and his great leaders triumphed over the Saracens, and caufcd them to fubmit to his government. This paffagc may probably have firft fuggefted the idea of ftyling twelve particular peers, the twelve Peers of France. —Some obfervatlons refpe that " thofe military youths were called, " in their language, knechts, as they are " in ours;" the author proceeds to re mark, that '* Hume reafons hypothetical- " ly, when he admits not of chivalry in " the Saxon times." Hume's Second Ap pendix does, indeed, reprefent chivalry, as though it had been a local fyftem, intro duced into England by the Normans, and totally unknown to their Saxon predecef- fors. The obfervation, that this is hypo- Biiij 24 view OF' HERALE'RY. CH. I. thetical, does not, however, elucidate the diftindion between the knighthood of former and of latter ages. The knighthood conferred on Lewis the Debonaire, at Ratifljon, and on Athel ftane, by his grandfather, king Alfred, was the fame that Tacitus himfelf proper ly charaderifes, by comparing it to the re ception of the Roman toga; which was not a mark of nobility, but a recognition of having attained the ftate of manhood. In this view, chivalry exifted from before the time of Tacitus, till about the termi nation of the Saxon period, that a new era arrived, whence knighthood no longer confifted merely in the public inveftiture with arms, but became a fpecific dignity. Bontainvilliers, in his fifth letter on the Ancient Parliaments of France, fpeaks of the knighthood then introduced, as if CH. I. VIEW OF heraldry. ^$ he overlooked, or tacitly difallowed, the claim of the former to the proper charac ter of chivalry. After exhibiting a de plorable pidure of the miferies of the country at the accefllon of Hugh Capet, " when the world feemed to be juft come " out of its infancy, and had but newly " quitted the food of acorns and leaves " of trees," — he proceeds to remark, that " this ignorant fimplicity, in which the " people appear to have been plunged, " during the four following centuries, had *' not even the appearance of virtue : Men " were neither lefs violent in opprefling " the weak and miferable, nor lefs artful " in betraying and over-reaching, than if " their ignorance had been lefs confpi- " cuous." The diforders were fo great, and the ruin fo univerfal, that good men judged no undertaking could be fo impor tant, as that of forming aflociations to fupprefs this dreadful licentioufnefs. Ac- 26 View of heraldry* cU. tl Cordingly, about the year m.xxv., certain prelates, induced by the abounding enor mity of the times, entered into an oath^ adopted alfo by many of the laity, for procuring peace and juftice. In purfu- ance of this objed, Haimon, archbifliop of Bourges, framed a fyftem of laws; adapted to the military profelfion, and univerfally received by that order. Hav ing pafled in the councils of Bourges, Li moges, and Clermont, they were amplified by the latter; which ordained, that every perfon who was noble, and above twelve years of age, fliould fwear to their ob- fervance, between the hands of his bifliop: And that none fliould be admitted to do homage for any fief, without renewing this oath: " To defend the Chriftian religion; " faithfully to pradife the morals of it; " to defend widows, orphans, and the " weaker fex ; not to make war on ac- " count of goods or eff"eds, but to let fuclj> CH. I. VIEW OF heraldry. 27 " disputes be decided judicially ; and to " keep the ' truces of God,' [not to com- *' mit hoftilities during the feafts and their " eves, nor between Wednefday evening " and Monday morning, under the penal- " ty of death, or of abandoning Chriften- " dom]."" From this fource," fays the hifto rian, " proceed the laws of knighthood, " and the honours attached to the title of " knight : " That is, this oath, in con nedion with certain appropriate honours, including military inveftiture, came to be reftrided to fuch as excelled in perfonal merit, and in the accomplifliments fuitable to the profeflion of arms. Hence the foundation of that Order iix fociety, known by the general name of Knighthood. But we have not here the ^ntire, nor even the primary, introdudion 3 28 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. I. of the high fentiments of generofity and honour, the inviolable friendfliips, the pie ty, courtefy, and gallantry, which diftin guiflied the reign of chivalry. As con neded with chivalry, the firft veftiges of thofe maxims and fentiments may be found in the Edda, or Syftem of Gothic Mythology, illuftrated in the " Northern " Antiquities." In the introdudory part of the fecond volume, the gallantry which afterwards made fo great a figure, is con neded with religion; and the rank held by the women, eftimated by that renown in arms, without which, it was impoflible to obtain their favour, any more than the countenance of Heaven. Early traces of the inviolable attachment which took place in certain relations, as infpired by the " fpirit of chivalry," fo called in af ter times, appear in the ninth chapter of the firft volume. The author reprefents, that " it was not unufual for the clients CH. I. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 29. " of a great lord, and all who inlifted " under a chief for fome expedition, to " make a vow, not to furvive their com- " mander ; and that private foldiers fome- *' times formed among themfelves a kind " of confraternity, in which the feveral " members agreed, at the expence of their " own hves to revenge the death of their " aflociates." The maxims derived from antiquity, the general fyftem of education, the in- difpenfible obligations above recited, and the habits and fentiments conneded with them, concurred in forming the peculiar charader of chivalry. In thofe ages, heralds, troubadours, and writers of romance, fupplied the world with fuch literature and fcience as were in xequeft. They all addrefled themfelves to the imagination ; and their common objed 30 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. n was, to difplay the heroic achievements of the brave, in proteding the defencelefs, refcuing the captive, and punifliing the proudeft oppreflors. With an enthufiafm congenial to early life, the youth viewed the emblazoned tro phies of the heralds, and liftened to the fongs of the troubadours, when celebrating thofe who had conquered, or glorioufly pe- riflied for their country. They were thus led to prize fame more than life, and to reckon upon it as a treafure which no oc currence could impair. To cherifli their love of glory, compaflion for the diftrefled, and all the nobler fympathies and aff'ec- tions of human nature, appears to have been the aim, as well as the tendency, of thofe fingular ufages of former times. In promoting this, the maxims of the Chrif tian religion, however imperfedly under ftood, had a very confpicuous fliare. CH. I. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 3! " Neither the Olympic games, which " humbled the vanquiflied," fay the Me moirs of Ancient Chivalry, " the wifdom " of Greece, nor the policy of Rome, ex- " hibited any fyftem more noble, or ufe- ful for forming brave partizans and de- " fenders of their country. The precepts " of chivalry infpired the vidors at the " tournament with the kindeft attention, " to foften the concern of the vanquiflied. " They afcribed their own good fortune " to the fate of arms ; and encouraged " thofe they had overcome, to exped, on '¦ fome future occafion, a fimilar advan- " tage over themfelves. Such was the re- " fult of examples of humanity, and lef- " fons of generofity, fo often repeated at " the tournaments, that they were not ** forgotten, even amidft the fury of war. '* The knights were compaflionate after, " as inflexible before, vidory. " c;2 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. I. At the Roman triumphs, philofophy did not withhold the moft affliding ag gravations that could heighten the cala mity of the vanquiflied. Captive mo narchs, in chains, furrounded by their children, had their place in the vidor's train, to receive ftudied infults, together with the derifion of the multitude, before they fuffered death. By the previous difcipline, the fworn obligations, and the appropriate honours, , of chivalry, knighthood, in the feudal times, became a fpecific order of the firft eminence. The clergy, as is remarked by Bontain- vilUers, having aflhmed the cognizance, and the right of punifliing the breach of an oath, attributed to themfelves the right of conferring knighthood, on account of tti. t. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 33 receiving the oath with certain ceremo nies, which enhanced the fplendour of the dignity. " Thence were derived the po- " Uflied armour [harnois blanc], the gild- " ed fpurs, the titles meflire and mon* " figneur" [fir, dominus]. The harnois blanc appears to be the Hauber, or woven coat of mail, which none but knights might wear ; as ftated in Du Cange's obfervations bn the hiftory of St. Lewis, under the word Haubert. It is defer ibed in the Encyclopedic, as a fleeved coat of mail ; " termed hauber, •' probably, on account of its being white " and fliining, from the polifli of the " rings or links [mailles du fer] of which " it was compofed." Considering knighthood as a diftinc- tion of rank, the commencement which Boulainvillars has thus afligned to it, Co- 34 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. 1. incides with the obfervations on the origin of ancient chivalry, in vol. xxiii. Mem. Acad. Infer, et Belles Lettres. It is here aflerted, from an examination of the ori ginal, in the royal library, that the Ro mance of Turpin, recording the exploits of Charles the Great, and his heroes, but written two centuries later, fays no thing whatever refpeding knighthood, or knights, as diftinguiflied from other war-^ yiors.w/vs ^«"g^t »^ k^^iik^' When received on the field of battle, or in other circumftances where the oath was not adminiftered, knighthood implied the fame duties and privileges, as when conferred with all the prefcribed folemni- ties. In fuch cafes, it was ufually confer-" red by a flight or formal ftroke of the fword. But, in certain inftances, this dig nity appears to have been granted in op- pofition to fome of the foregoing regula- CH. I. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 35 tions. Joinville relates, that the Turkifli fultan, Scecedun, had been made a knight by the emperor, Frederic II. ), whofe ar morial enfigns he afterwards bore. Du Cange, in his obfervations on this inci dent, and Vertot, in the life of the grand- mafter, Arnaud de Comps, advert to a fi milar occurrence, at the taking of Alexan dria, in M.c.Lxvii. The young prince, Sa- ladin, being, after a valiant defence, re duced by famine to the necefllty of fur- rendering the city to Amury, king of Je- rufalem, requefted, as he marched out at the head of his garrifon, that he might re ceive the honour of knighthood from the hand of the conftable, Humfrey de Tho- ron ; with whofe bravery he was fo charm ed during the fiege, as to declare him the moft gaUant knight he ever faw. Having obtained the king's permifllon, the confta ble of Jerufalem conferred on him the ho- Cij 35 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. I< nour of knighthood, with every mark of the higheft confideration. The ceremony of conferring knight hood by a ftroke of the fword, exprefled more than merely a public inveftiture with arms : For, ordinarily, the perfon thus honoured had already received arms, in the charader of efquire ; a degree in chivalry fomewhat fimilar to the ancient knighthood, which had confifted in fuch inveftiture. According to St. Palayae, the youth, in pafling from the condition of page to that of efquire, was prefented at the altar : Whence the prieft took a fword and gir dle ; which, after feveral benedidions, he put on the young man; who, from that time, conftantly wore them. This refers to efquires in general; who, iii the ftyle CH, I. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 37 of chivalry, were noble. But, in this country, when the king conferred the de gree of efquire on a perfon not already noble, it was ufual to inveft him with a filver chain or collar; which, with the filver fpurs, diftinguiflied efquires from knights, whofe collars and fpurs were of gold. The inveftiture of efquires with the ccfllar, may be feen in Selden, under that title. The term page denoted the youth at tending in the courts or houfeholds of the great, previoufly to their inveftiture with arms ; as the title efquire diftinguiflied fuch as had received this inveftiture, whe ther they were, or were not, attendants on knights or lords. The more eminent efquires, fuch as muft eventually become knights, appear to have been ftyled bachelors ; a term im- Ciij 38 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. I. plying their being qualified to receive the honour of knighthood. Favine, on the " Orders of England," and elfewhere, calls thofe bachelors, that were eleded into fuch orders, but not inftalled. The appellation bachelor came to be applied to a particu lar clafs of knights, in contradiftindion, to fuch knights as were princes ; and to thofe, who, being great lords, had other knights, and foldiers of diff'erent ranks, ferving under their banners, and were themfelves thence ftyled bannerets. Bruf- fel, on Fiefs, under the word bachelor, fays, the fimple knights adopted that ap-^ pellation about the middle of the four teenth century. Besides the general divifion of knights into princes, bannerets, and bachelors, there were inftituted many fraternities, or focial orders of knighthood, varioufly dif-. tinguiflied ; as, the knights of the Tem^ CIt. r. VIEW OF IIERALDRY. ^^ pie, of the Star, of the Garter. There were alfo, as may be feen in St. Palayae, and other writers, many voluntary frater nities, confifting fometimes of two only, who were ftyled " companions in arms." The devoted attachment of thofe compa nions refembled the well-known inftance in the Jewifli hiftory ; with this diff"erence, that the narrative of the latter is a tran- fcript of the fimple energy of nature, not to be equalled in the memoirs of chivalry, nor in the hypothetical reprefentations of the poets. But the fpirit of chivalry, however ele vated, could not infpire ignoble minds. Hence, under the mafl^ of chivalry, the frivolous expofed their own infignificance, -in the extravagances of knight-errantry. Under the fame maflc, fuch as thirfted for plunder, felt, in common with other robbers, a profefllonal contempt of dan- Ciiij 40 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH, I, ger, the only fpecies of bravery with which they were acquainted. Such were thofe armed bands, defcribed by Froiflart, that, during the captivity of king John, enriched themfelves with the fpoil of France. Similar ideas of bravery and fpi rit appear to have infpired certain frater nities of knights, of the " Red Sleeve," of the " Horn," of the " Club ;" as mention ed by Putter, on the Germanic Empire, in the reign ©f Charles IV. CH. II. VIEW OF HERALDRY, 41 CHAPTER IL SECT. I, Of the Tournaments. — Armorial Enfigns the per fonal Decorations of thofe who performed at the Tournaments. — Received the Names " Arms," and •' Coat of Arms," from their immediate Relation to War, and as being exhibited on the Coat, or upper Garment ^The Objedl Regulations — Materials, and other Peculiarities, whereby Armorial Enfigns are diftinguilhed from the ancient Symbols. — Ar morial Enfigns proper to the Gothic and Celtic Na tions. — Inftances of the fimple Ornaments which are faid to have decorated the Apparel of the Ger mans and Gauls, being to this Day employed in Armorial Enfigns in different Parts of Europe Of the Armorial Figure of the Crofs, and the other Figures termed " Ordinaries." The pre-eminence of knighthood was confpicuoufly difplayed at tournaments, the Olympic games of chivalry ; though 42 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. II. it was the bearing of armories, or infig- nia of nobility, which gave admifllon to thofe exercifes. Their antiquity among the Gothic nations, appears, by the amufe- ments of the heroes in the palace of Odin. There, according to the twentieth fable of the Edda, they march out of the many hundred gates every day to battle; where fuch as fall are again reftored to life ; and all return to the palace in the evening, to enjoy the pleafures of the table. They al ways fight on horfeback, as none come to this palace on foot. From this, it is to be inferred, as in the notes on the forego ing fable, that tournaments, under fome form, had been pradlifed in the moft dif- tant ages, and by the fame nations, where arms were received by public inveftiture. In the courfe of fucceflive regulations; perfons of condition were feleded for per^ formers, from a principle fimilar to that CH. II. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 43 which direds epic and dramatic poets in the choice of their heroes ; and alfo, be- caufe thofe in humbler life had not the fame means of cultivating the accomplifli ments, nor appearing with the fplendour,- neceflary to attrad public attention. Per- fons of rank were ftyled noble ; and the badges of their nobility were armorial en figns ; at firft, a fpecies of decoration em ployed to embellifli the apparel and arms of the fuperior clafs, and more or lefs either fimple or hieroglyphical, according to the fancy of the wearer. The era when thofe embellifliments be came the appropriate enfigns of honour, has not hitherto been precifely afcer- tained; But it is probable, as remarked in the preface to Edmondfon's Heraldry, that, when fiefs became hereditary, the infignia under which the vaflals were led to battle, became diftindive badges of he- 44 VIEW OF HERALDRY, CH. II. reditary honour. It is equally probable, that when tournaments came to be cele brated under ftatutary regulations, the law which excluded thofe who could not pro duce coats of arms in proof of nobility, was one of the firft. Meneftrier, in his Treatife on Noblefle, mentions by name one of the German lords who afllfted at a tournament about the middle of the tenth century, the era in which the emperor Henry of Saxony had new-modelled thofe exercifes. But the account given by Mo- dius and Favine, of the armorial enfigns of thofe who attended the tournaments of that period, is to be confidered as altoge-> ther legendary. As the tournaments advanced towards perfedion, heralds attended, to regulate the proceedings, and to infped the fliields of arms, publicly difplayed on the bar riers, on pavilions, and on trees. Who-^ CH. II. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 45 ever touched any of thofe fliields with his fpear, challenged the owner to combat ; and was himfelf made known, by the ex hibition of his own armorial enfigns. When the exercifes were about to com mence, ladies fometimes led the comba tants to the lifts, by a filken band, or by a filver chain; as in a tournament at St. Denis in m.ccc.lxxxix., mentioned by Me neftrier, chapter iv. of the Origin of Ar mories ; and in another, defcribed by Froifllart, held at London in the reign of Richard II. Together with the difplay of arms on their coats, and on the caparifons of their horfes, fuch as enjoyed the dignity of knighthood repaired to the lifts in fliining armour, with golden fpurs and ftirrups, and attended by their efquires and pages, bearing the lance, fliield, he-lmet, and ban- lier. The heralds were habited in ta- 4^ VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. Hi bards, or mantles, adorned with the arms of the prince they ferved. Thofe of chief note, who at laft wore crowns, were ftyled kings at arms [roy d'armes] ; an idiomati- cal exprefllon, implying fuperior authority and flcill in whatever related to armories. It is reprefented, in the Encyclopedie, that the office of king at arms commenced in the reign of Lewis the Grofs. The ap parel afligned to thofe who held this rank, was more magnificent than that of other heralds, and correfponded to the ftate robes of princes. Such robes of ftate were worn by Richard I. at his coronation; as defcribed, from M. Paris, in Favine, on the Orders of England. " Two earls in- *' vefted him with the royal cloak, of " crimfon velvet, thickly powdered with " golden leopards," [the arms of Nor mandy and Aquitaine, now termed lions of England]. The imperial mantle of CH. II. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 47 Charles the Great, alfo, among the regalia at Nurenberg, is faid to be embroidered with eagles, the infignia of the empire, and bordered with pearls and diamonds. In the fecond volume of Nefliit's He raldry, is defcribed the ftate apparel of the king at arms of Scotland ; confifting of crimfon velvet robes, and a golden crown, in form of the royal diadem. Favine, on the Order of St. Michael, defcribing the entry of Charles VII. into Paris, relates, that Mon-joye, king at arms, was habited in violet velvet, adorned with golden fleurs de lis, embroidered with pearls. Heralds were facred in their perfons, as being conftantly employed in negoti ating aff'airs in the camps, and in the courts, of princes. Their tabards, bear ing the arms of kings and princes, were open credentials, known and acknowledg- 48 VIEW OF heraldry. ch. n. ed by all, at a time when few, except the clergy, could have underftood credentials in writing. The magnificent array of war was out- flione at the tournaments, by the prefence of kings and queens, amidft all the fplen- dours of their court. This enhanced the honour of vidory ; where every candidate was alfo noble by birth, or by knighthood received from the fovereign, adorned with many perfonal accomplifliments, and fti- mulated to excel by all that ambition could promife- Although they fought for honour, and without any animofity, as it was not dif- graceful to be overcome ; yet they charged fo furioufly, that their lances often yielded to the fliock, and flew in pieces again-ft their coats of mail. To be difmounted, or wounded, was not uncommon ; and if CH. II. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 49 even fatal accidents fometimes happened, it bore no proportion to the advantage de rived in battle, from addrefs in thofe ini tiatory exercifes. To fuch as were vidorious, prizes were awarded by the judges, and prefented by the hands of the ladies ; who alfo ho noured the combatants, by adorning their helmets with the wreath or chaplet, filken drapery, and other appropriate ornaments ; and by prefenting them with ribbands, or fcarfs, of chofen colours, called liveries. Thofe liveries are the ladies' favours, fpoken of in romance ; and appear to have been the origin of the ribbands, which ftill diftinguifli fo many orders of knighthood. The favours, including the prizes, which alfo confifted of wreaths and plumes for the helmet, fcarfs, and bracelets, were D so view of heraldry. worn at fucceeding tournaments, and in battle. Many of the greateft tournaments were held at the marriages of princes. Accordingly, the cuftom of giving fuch favours at marriages, continues to the pre* fent day. The enfigns of heraldry, fo confpicuous at the tournaments, received the name of armories, or arms, from their immediate relation to war, and as being exhibited on the principal parts of the armour. Be fides adorning the fliield and helmet, they alfo formed the ornaments of a fplendid coat, like the Roman tunica palmata, and were fo worn over the armour. Hence the appellation " coat of arms." Their exhibition in this form was the principal charaderiftic by which one man could be diftinguiflied from another, when com pletely covered with armour, and his face obfcured by the helmet. CH. II, View of heraldry: 51 Some of the modes in which armorial enfigns were exhibited, referred to the particular rank or condition of the bearer. They were worn above the helmet, as crefts, by knights, in contradiftindion to inferior nobles ; as appears, by an ancient ceremonial for the tournaments, copied from Colombiere, in the feventh diflerta- tion of Du Cange. If difplayed on a pen non or flag, rounded or fplit at the far ther end, it denoted the bearer to be a knight-bachelor; if on a banner or flag, of eqiial breadth throughout, the bearer was either a prince, or a banneret. Thus, alio, by the pennons or the banners which adorned the turrets of a caftle, was the rank of the owner announced from afar. From the earlieft ages, banners, fliields^ and helmets, belonged to the apparatus of war. They likewife bore fymboUcal de- £>ij 52 VIEW OF heraldry. CH- II. vices, correfponding to thofe of heraldry, and forming fignals to call the brave to the purfuit of military fame. The fliields, devices, and mottos, which ^fchylus afllgns to the warriors againft Thebes, might almoft be taken for thofe, which, in later times, diftinguiflied the heroes of chivalry. One bore a dragon ; another, a naked man, Prometheus, with a burning torch; a third, a nymph lead ing a warrior in armour, as if conduding a knight to the tournament. But, not- withftanding this coincidence, heraldry, when completely eftabliflied, diff"ered from all the hieroglyphic fymbols of antiquity : In its enfigns being granted by public authority; in their conferring hereditari ly the privileges of nobility, according to the more extenfive acceptation of that term; and in conftituting the diftindive badges of this nobility.. CH. II. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 53 Besides the fliields that the poets have adorned for their heroes, there were among the Egyptians, Greeks, and Ro mans, certain appropriate devices, or fym bols, which diftinguiflied communities and ftates. They ufually confifted of the re- prefentation of tutelary deities, or of the animals peculiarly dedicated to them ; and were thus exhibited, in honour of the dei ties to which they referred. But, in he raldry, the very fame figures would refer folely to the honour of the perfon, or fa mily, whofe armorial enfigns they were employed to form. A FARTHER diff'erence between armo ries and all other fymbols or devices, confifts in certain regulations refpeding the manner in which they are reprefent ed, and the materials whereof they are compofed. Diij 54 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. 11. In heraldry, there are only certain fpe cific " tindures," or colours, fo arranged under two clafles, that, although every coat of arms muft contain two tindures at the leaft, thofe tindures cannot be both of the fame clafs. Of the fpecific tinc tures, yellow and white form the firft clafs ; and are termed metals, as repre-r fenting gold and filver. In contradiftindion to the figures placed upon them, the furcoat or tabard, banner, and furface of the fliield, are refpedively termed the field ; becaufe; on thefe, as on a field or area, the infignia of honour were difplayed in battle. If the field be of any of the colours, properly fo caUed, the figure reprefented on it cannot be of any fuch colour ; but muft be either metal, or fur ; according to (SH. II. , VIEW OF HERALDRY. 55 the firft rule of heraldry ; which, to pre vent confufion, prohibits the tindures called " METAL," from being placed up on metal, — and thofe termed " colour,'^ from being placed upon colour. Agree ably to this rule, the red crofs of St. George, conjoined, on the union flag» with the white faltire, or crofs of St. Andrew, is not placed immediately on the blue banner of Scotland, which. forms this flag ; for that were to put one. colour upon another. It has, therefore, a ftripe or lift of white under it ; the former banner of England being white [filver], the tindure of the fliield of St. George. Either metal or colour may be placed up on the furs employed in heraldry, as they refpedively contain one of the tindures of either clafs. Thus, with a few exceptions, fuch as that of certain animals, painted fometimes according to their natural co^ jlpur, every figure whatfoever, togethe? 5 5 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. II, with the field on which it is placed, muft be reprefented by the foregoing appropri ate tindures [metals, colours, furs], other- wife it is no coat of arms. As every known inftitution or ufage of chivalry feems to have been, in a greater or lefs degree, modelled by the church, — it may, perhaps, throw fome fight on the appropriate tindures of heraldry, to view them in this connedion. From an early period, the church had confecrated to her own facred miniftra- tions, and impofed a fymbolical mean ing on the colours white, red, blue, green, and black. Thefe, with the addition of yeUow alone, are the whole colours and metals properly belonging to heraldry. They do not, of themfelves, bear any fymbolical meaning in heraldry ; except, perhaps, that, in thofe allegorifing times. CH. II. VIEW OF HERALDRY, 57 the metals gold and filver might have been thought to reprefent the ecclefiafti cal eftate, and the other colours the laity. If fo, this would account for the rule by which both metal and colour are made ef- fential to a coat of arms ; in as much as the fworn purpofe of chivalry was the de fence of the church, and of all the laity, whom duty, aff'edion, generofity, humani ty, or gratitude, required to defend, pro vided they were not at enmity with the church. At leaft, the feledion of certain tindures, fo much the fame with thofe fe leded by the church, and the employing fuch furs only, as were, either naturally or dyed, of fuch colours, m.ay indicate, that the latter pradice had fome reference to the former. On folemn occafions, efpecially thofe conneded with arms, the fame tindures were, no doubt, employed for fplendour, 5S View oi heraldry. ch. ir. previoufly to the interference of any parti* cular inftitution, reftriding them to a cer tain number. Moft of the tindures and furs, as is remarked in the firft differ ta- tion of Du Cange, are found in the habits of the princes and knights of the firft cru- fade, when prefenting themfelves before the emperor Alexis Comnenus ; and in the fumptuary ordinances of Richard, and Philip Auguftus, during the fecond. It was underftood, at this period, what tindures were appropriated in heraldry: For Meneftrier relates, in chap. iv. of the Origin of Armories, that, when Pope In nocent the Third gave abfolution to Go- don of Ravenfpurg, and Henry of Falken- berg, who had kiUed Conrade, bifliop of Wirtfljurg, he prefcribed, as a penance, their fighting againft the Saracens, and never appearing in the furs, ermine, vair, fX any other colour worn at the touma« CH. II. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 59 ments. The colours, in armories, were thofe worn at tournaments ; as none, but fuch as wore coats of arms, could bear a part in thofe exercifes, Ermine and vair are reckoned among the tindures ; ^wo of which are included in each of them. The former is white, artificially fpotted with black ; and de rives its name from Armenia, the coun try whence it was brought. The latter is chequered, or compofed of fmall ikins, or pieces, nearly in the form of beUs, blue and white alternately ; and thence termed vair [varied]. Books of heraldry mention, as tindures, purple, orange, blood-colour, and certain uncommon furs ; but thofe are feldom employed in armories. It is ftated, on the fubjed of heraldry, ghiefly from Meneftrier and Du Cange, in Co VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. II. the eighth volume of the book " Monde " Primitif," that the terms gules. Azure, siNOPLE [vert], sable, which denote the tindures red, blue, green, black, are, with fmall variation, the oriental names of thofe colours. The names of the other tindures, or [gold], aj-GENt • [silver], with almoft the whole phrafeology of he raldry, are French. S. Petra Sancta, an Italian herald, about two centuries ago, is faid to have been the firft who thought of exprefling the tindures by lines and points. Red is repre;fented by perpendicular, blue by ho rizontal, green by diagonal, black by crofs lines. Gold is reprefented by fmall points, filver by a blank furface. Thus may the feveral tindxires be exprefled on ftone, or any fuch fubftance, without employing any colour whatfoever. CH. II. VIEW OF HERALDRY. $1 In the firft diflertation of Du Cange, the tindures of Heraldry are confidered as re ferring to the gold and filver tiflue, and the furs of various colours which ufually compofed the furcoats of arms worn at the tournaments. While the placing ar morial ornaments of metal [tifllie] only upon colour [furs of certain colours], and thofe of colour only upon metal, is faid to have been originally direded with a view to give every combination of armorial tindures a proper contraft. Besides the various devices on helmets, fhields, and banners, common to early times, other prototypes of heraldry are found among the nations where it origi nated. The tabard or coat of arms itfelf, ap pears to be only a continuation of the an cient German fagum, a fimple cloak of 7 62 VIEW OF HERALDR'^. Cti. it the fl^in of a wild beaft, at firft the folc drefs of nations living in forefts. The fa-' gum was gradually improved by fpots, or Ornaments of diff'erent furs, and otherwife adorned according to the fancy of thofe rude and diftant ages. The " coat of " arms" was, as Du Cange, in his firft dif- fertation exprelTes it, " the ordinary drefs " of the ancient Gauls, by them termed " fagum, whence the French derive theii" " word faye, fayon," [coat]. Cluverius, book i. chap. xvi. and xliv; defcribes at large the diflPerent forms and ornaments of the fagum Vi^orn by the Ger mans, reprefenting, that it was a fort of cloak clafped before, adorned with ftreaks and chequers of various colours, fome times even of filver and gold. He alfo, in fome degree, adverts to thofe fimple de» corations, as forming the firft armorial en figns. The invention, however, of the CH. II. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 6$ chequer, confidered as a fpecies of orna ment, is, by Pfiny, when fpeaking of the texture of cloth of gold, exprefsly afcrib ed to the Gauls. When the above cloak, or fagum, be came a coat of arms, the fame ftripes and chequers were retained, and with other ac quired embellifliments, were converted in-*' to the permanent infignia of families, and fovereign ftates. A habit adorned with chequers, fimilar to thofe mentioned by PHny, is at this day worn as the national drefs in that part of North Britain where the Celtic language prevails. Armorial enfigns abound with diff'erent chequers, correfponding to the ornaments of the fagum. Among thofe, the chequers in the arms of Croatia, and of the ancient 64 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. II, kings of Soiflons, with the counts Ver- mandois and Dreux, are in the common form ; in the arms of Monaco, each of them has an angle pointing upwards ; and in thofe of Bavaria, each has one of the angles pointing diagonally. Such chequers compofe an incredible number of armo ries throughout the feveral kingdoms of Europe. Several diff'erent armorial figures are frequently fo arranged as to become a fpe cies of chequer; particularly, girons or triangular fpots ; rhombular figures, term ed lozenges ; if narrow, fusils, the arms of the ancient kings of Aquitane ; and if pierced like the mefli of a net, mascles. An early inftance of the mafcle occurs in Ciaconius in the " Infignia Pia" of Pope Pafcal II. The ftripes of the fagum feem, in fome inftances, to h^ve been retained in habits as well as in armories. CH. II. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 65 Favin, from the Monk of St. Gall, de fcribes the Franks as ftruck with the gay appearance of the faga ftriped of various colours, worn by the Gauls ; and aflliming the fame habit, inftead of their own long mantles ; though thofe laft were refumed under Charles the Great. He reprefents knights as anciently habited at their crea tion, in a " coat of arms" ftriped with their liveries, fimilar to thofe formerly worn by the Gauls : And defcribes mi nutely the " cloak of honour" [the above long mantle] with which they were alfo adorned, " of like falhion with thofe of " kings and dukes." The robes of the Britifti peers corre-" fpond, in point of form, to his defcription of the latter, and, in refped of ornament, to that of the former ; on the upper part of them, the fcarlet ground being ftriped 66 view OF HERALDRY. CH. ir» alternately with gold and miniver [white fur]. Froissart relates, that robes of the above defcription were worn by the peers four centuries ago, at the coronation of Henry the Fourth, Among the fovereign ftates whofe armor rial enfigns are formed of fuch ftripes, are Cyprus, Hungary, Saxony, Auftrafia, Bur- gandy, Arragon, and Germany under the defcendants of Lewis the Debonaire. The private families who bear armories fo formed are innumerable, As in Architedure certain orders, or pe culiar modes of decoration occur more fre-* quently than other ornaments, fo, in he raldry, a certain clafs of figures predomi-^ nates, one or other of which, or fome re-j en. II. VIEW OF heraldry. 6f ference to it, is found in almoft all the ar morial enfigns in Europe. They are term ed " honourable ordinaries," not that they are more honourable badges than other figures ; but becaufe ordinarily, or more generally than others, employed in forming the infignia of honour. They are eight in number, and may be defcribed as ^follows : A single ftripe placed perpendicularly in the centre of the fliield, banner, or fur- coat, is termed a pale ; if placed in the centre horizontally, it is a fess ; if placed in the upper part of the fliield horizontal ly, it is called a chief. If the fame ftripe be placed diagonally, from right to left, it is termed a bend-dexter ; if diagonally, from left to right, it is a bend-sinister. When two fuch diagonal ftripes [a bend-dexter and ftnifter] are drawn from the oppofite Eij I 68 VIEW of heraldry. ch. il fides of the bafe, or lower part of the fliield, banner, or furcoat, till they meet in the centre, it forms a figure like the letter V. inverted, and is termed a cheveron, a. The arms of Namure and many others, are ftriped in this form ^, being compofed of one, two, or more cheverons refpedively, To form a coat of arms of one ftripe in-: ftead of many, was obvioufly a fubfequent pradice, yet it occafioned a plurality of ftripes in armorial enfigns, to be confider ed as derived from the fingle figures termed ordinaries, and diftinguiflied then^ by names implying fuch derivation : As, CHEVRONELS [fmall cheverons], bendlets, pallets. In addition to the chief, fefs, pale, bend, and cheveron, two crosses are included among the ordinaries. The one is in the common form +, compofed of the pale and fefs ; the other in form of the CH. 11. VIEW OP HERALDRY. ^g letter x, compofed of the bend-dexter and finifter, and is termed a saltire. Another clafs of figures confidered as ordinaries, or " sub-ordinaries," have alfo, with a few exceptions, a relation to the CROSS. They may be arranged as follows :, I. The quarter. Were the fliield divided into four equal parts, by fuppofed lines, in the form of a crofs, the upper divifion on the right would, if painted of a diff"erent colour from the reft of the fliield, form a quarter. II. The canton. It is of the fame form and pofition with the quarter, but of a fmaller fize, being only a third part of the chief. III. The giron. When .the fliield is divided by lines, in the form of the crofs, and of the faltire, it contain? eight triangular figures of unequal fides, each of which figures is giron. One or more of thofe figures, to the number of E iij 70 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. 1I> twelve or fixteen, may be placed in the fame fliield ; and they muft be of at leaft two tindures alternately. IV. The pile. This is a triangular figure, refembling the giron, but having two of its fides equal> and is fuppofed to reprefent a pafllon- nail of the crofs. When one or more piles form a coat of arms, they are ufually placed with the broad end at the top of the fliield ; but, in fome inftances, they are placed horizontally. V. The pairle. It is a fort of crofs refembling the letter Y. VI. The FRET. Were a fquare frame, with one of its angles pointing upwards, laid upon a faltire, the figure fo formed would be a fret. By placing more than two poles traverfely on the frame, it be- 'comes a kind of lattice, and is termed PRETTY. VII. The BORDER. This, as its name imports, is placed round the extre-r mities of the fliield. VIII. The orle. It SH. II. VIEW OF Heraldry. ^i; is an inner border, which does not touch the extremities of the fliield. IX. The TRESSURE. This is a diminutive of the orle, being narrower. There is, in the royal arms of Scotland, a double trefliire, ornamented with fleurs de lis, in memory of ancient aUiance with France. X. The FLANCH. This figure refembles the feg- ment of a large circle, placed on the fides of the fliield, the projeding fides of the fegment inward. XI. The lozenge. It is a fohd fquare figure, with one of its angles pointing upwards. When the fliield is fill ed with lozenges, they are of two tindures alternately, and termed lonzengy. XII. The MASCLE. This is a fquare Frame, of the fame figure and pofition with the lo* zenge; The ordinaries and their diminutives being bounded by ftraight fines, admit of E ijij 72 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. II. certain alterations in thofe fines, which, without materially aff"eding either the form or dimenfions of the figures, ferve to diftinguifli diff"erent families. When a crofs, a pale, a cheveron, or other figure, has its fides like the edge of a faw, it is faid to be indented. When the fcallops are fmall, femicircular, and the points outwards, it is faid to be ingr ailed. When the points are turned inward, and the femicircles outward, it is faid to be in-^ VECKED. When a figure is bounded by an undulating line, it is termed waved, or WAVY, as reprefenting the waves of the fea. When the waves are deeper, and more curved, it is called nebule, as reprefenting clouds. When the inequalities on the edge of !iny figure reprefent the battle ments of a caftle, it is faid to be em battled. CH. II. VIEW OF heraldry. ^J Sometimes the fliield is divided in pale, in fefs, in bend, in cheveron, by lines in dented, ingrafted, invecked, waved, ne- buled, or embattled. At a period fo early as the beginning of the fourth century, the Eagle difplayed on the Imperial ftandard of Rome, had given place to the Labarum, or banner of the crofs. The labarum is defcribed in But ter's Lives of the Saints, as a crofs plated with gold, having fufpended from the tra- verfe beam a purple veil, on which were reprefented the emperor and his children. The pole, or ftaff", was enfigned on the top with a golden chaplet, adorned with jewels, encircling a Greek monagram in this form ^ , and fometimes thus ^ , as in Gibbon's Hiftory of the Empire. It was exprefllve at once of the figure of the crofs, and the initial letters of the name of Chrift. The emperor Conftantine alfo ^4 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. II. bore the monagram on his helmet, ahd eaufed it to be reprefented in the fliields of his foldiers. Referring to Eufebius, and to ancient inedals, refpeding the labarum, various authorities are adduced to fliow that the erofs was reprefented on the tombs of the primitive Chriftians : And that even the monagram was in ufe long before th^ time of Conftantine, being engraved on the tombs of St. Laurence, and many other martyrs. The emprefs Helena, during her pilgri mage at Jerufalem, in ccc.xxvi., is faid to have difcovered the true crofs, and to have *' depofited the feveral parts of it at Jeru-« ^' falem, Conftantinople, and Rome." In DC. XXIX., the emperor Heraclius obtained from the king of Perfia that portion of the erofs which had been carried away fron> CH. II, VIEW OF HERALDRY. 75 Jerufalerh. It is fpoken of in the plural number, being called " the pieces of the wood of the crofs ;" and St. Cyril is quot ed to fliow, that, " twenty-five years after " the difcovery by the emprefs, pieces of " the crofs were difperfed all over the " earth." The armorial figures termed ordinaries, feem to have been formed refpedively of diff"erent combinations of ftripes, and of fingle ftripes, placed in certain prefcribed diredions, in imitation of the crofs ; and of the feveral parts of the crofs above mentioned. That the principal ordinaries are all derived from the crofs, appears ex tremely likely, from their form ; and is exprefled as the opinion of Niflbet, where he treats of thofe figures. Whether the formation of the ordinaries was previous, jor fubfequent to the eftablifliment' of h?.- d *jS VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. II, raldry as a fyftem, it is obvious, that aft of them are exhibited in the conjoined cy phers, or monagrams of the labarum ^ . By the figures of St. Chryfoftom, and fome of his cotemporaries, in the Bolan- difts Lives, it appears, that facerdotal veft ments were varioufly decorated with a pro- fiifion of croflfes, at that period when the crofs was firft difplayed on the fliields and banners of the Imperial armies. Under the word Pallium, Chambers ftates, from Tertullian, that, in the primitive times, even the laity, who were Chriftians, had their mantles adorned with a like variety of crofles. Thus, m common with many other ar morial figures, was the crofs employed in perfonal decoration, and in the difplay of military grandeur, before the era of he* CH. II. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 77 raldry, when it became fpecifically appro priated to thofe purpofes, as a diftindive badge of nobility. 78 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. 11, SECT. II. Of the Crufades The Ufage of Armorial Enfigns pro. moted by thofe Expeditions Several Armorial Fi gures introduced by the Crufades. — Of various other Armorial Figures, borne in War, and at the Tourna ments. IN the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth eenturies, the crofs became the moft dif tinguiflied of all armorial enfigns, by means of the crufades, which alfo greatly promoted the general ufage of armories. Here arms ferved to point out the birth and rank of the illuftrious perfons, who, from every quarter of Europe, aflembled, in pilgrimage, to vifit the holy places, and to refcue them from the power of the Infi dels. This univerfal zeal broke forth at the requifition of the church, who pro- mifed to reward it, in the prefent world, CH. II. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 79 with pardon of fin, and, in the next, with endlefs feficity. Even kings liftened to the call, and laid afide their fceptres, to receive the ftaff" and baflcet. According to Vertot, book i. of the Hiftory of the Knights of Malta, the Turks, who had wrefted Judea from the Saracens, treated the Chriftian pilgrims with fuch rigour, that many of them pe- riflied at the gates of Jerufalem, without being permitted to fee the fepulchre ; be caufe they could not difcharge the excef- five tribute now impofed on them. This infpired Europe with the refolution finally determined on in the council of Clermont, to recover the Holy Land by force of arms. As every individual engaged in the cru fades, bore upon his clothes the figure of jhe crofs, it became neceflTary to diftin-^ 80 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. II. guifli the feveral divifions of the army in various ways ; particularly, by the diffe rent forms and colours of their refpedive crofles. Hence is the figure of the crofs, under fome of its forms, in fo incredible a num ber of armories. Several armorial figures, bearing no refemblance to the crofs, were alfo intro duced into heraldry by the crufades : Pas sion-nails of the crofs, palmer-staves and scrips, escallop-shells, cusheons, cres cents, WATER-BOUGETS, and BESANTS. By carrying palms, in token of having overcome the dangers oppofed to the per forming of their vows, the pilgrims from the Holy Land were termed palmers: Hence palmer-fcrips and ftaves. Princes, and perfons of diftindion, who formally CH. II. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 8 1 affumed the crofs, previous to the expedi tions, were at the fame time invefted with the ftaff" of pilgrimage, and fometimes with a bafljet, inftead of the fcrip or bag. Under the article " Scarf," in Menard's obfervations on the hiftory of St. Lewis, is remarked, that the Roman ritual ftill retains the benedidions employed at the inveftitures for the crufades. " Staves and " little baflcets were blefled by a new rite." Inftances, alfo, are adduced, of the fon of Lewis the Grofs receiving the pilgrim's ftaff" at St. Dennis ; of Philip Auguftus re ceiving a bafl^et, and Richard I. a fcrip, together with the ftaflf, from the refpedive archbiftiops of Rheims and Tours. The ESCALLftp or cockle-fliell was affixed to the hats and cloaks of the pilgrims in Spain ; which, as Vertot remarks, was, fince the invafion of the Saracens, become 82 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. IL the theatre of a continual crufade ; where the braveft of the European nobility ordi narily repaired, to make their firft eflfay in arms. Like the pontifical ufage of fealing with the fiflierman's ring, it was probably in allufion to the former occupation of the apoftles, that fuch as went in pilgrimage to the flirine of St. Peter at Rome, or to that of St. James at Compoftella, were diftinguiflied by efcallop-fhells. Cushions, diftindive charaderiftics of eaftern manners and luxury ; of fuch ac count, as to have place in Mahomet's pa- radife. They appear to be borne in he raldry, as trophies feleded from the fpoils of the Infidels. " Water-budgets," leathern veflels for fupplying armies with water in the eaftern deferts. CH. II. VIEW OF HERALDRY, 83 Crescents [half-moons], the prevailing badges among the followers of Mahomet ; as crofles, among the Chriftians, were af fumed in armories, as general emblems of vidory over the Saracens. Whitaker, in chap. iv. fed. ivi. of his Treatife on Arian- ifm, deduces Mahomet's appropriation of the crefcent, from its having been former ly employed by the Arabians, as the fym- bol of their goddefs Urania, or Venus. He likewife confiders a head with a cre fcent, which was liiarked on the black ftone in the temple of Mecca, as a deci- five proof, that this ftone had been ori ginally a reprefentation of the goddefs* Besants, money ftruck at Byzantium [Conftantinople]. Though properly of gold, they are reprefented of all colours ; and appear in heraldry, for the ranfom of VANQUISHED KNIGHTS, and CITIES REDEEMED FROM PLUNDER, Fij 84 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. II. Various armorial figures, fuch as the following, frequently occur in heraldry, and may be confidered as forming a fepa rate and mifcellaneous clafs. Garbs [corn-flieaves], fiflies, trees, wild beafts, and birds of prey, or the heads of thofe animals, were fometimes refpedively aflfumed in armories, for the poflefllon of fertile territories, and of fuch as abounded in rivers, lakes, and forefts. The heads of ftags and wild boars fometimes refer to the chafe. Favine relates, that they were pre fented from all parts of Gaul, in the tem ple of Diana, at Auxerre. But though the heads of lions, bears, and wild boars, as they are reprefented in heraldry, cut or torn off', might, in certain cafes, denote the having killed fome of thofe animals, they are, in other inftances, to be under ftood aUegoricaUy, as trophies of vidory CH. ir. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 85 over OPPRESSORS and ravenous destroyers of mankind. Roses and ftars were employed as mili- tary ornaments in diftant periods and na tions. Stars adorned the fliield of one of the heroes that aflTailed Thebes; and Er- minfull, the Mars of the Gauls and Ger mans, was reprefented holding a banner with a rofe. Castles were emblematical of ftrength ; fliips, of maritime pofleflions. Caftles and fliips were alfo frequently borne on a feu dal account : The former, to denote, that the bearer was, by tenure, obliged to de fend fome caftle for his lord; the latter, that he was obliged to furnifli a fliip or galley. RosES, alfo, were fometimes borne for a fimilar reafon ; fome feudal tenures re- Fiij 86 VIEW OF HERALDRY CH. II. quiring only fo flight an acknowledgment, as the delivery of a rofe. Military inftruments and utenfils were fometimes borne, on account of feudal te nures ; but more frequently, as comme morative of fignal feats of war. They confift of portcuUifes, a fort of great iron harrows, hung over the gates of caftles and cities, and let down, to keep out the enemy ; battering-rams ; fpear-refts, attached to the coat of mail, to keep the butt end of the fpear fteady during the charge ; fliields, helmets, gauntlets, ban ners, fwords, fpears, arrows ; together with the heads of arrows, darts, and fpears ; buckles, for holding together the feveral parts of the armour, and thence confidered in heraldry as emblems of jurifdidion; moletts, or fpur-revels, the principal part of the fpur — a particular emblem of chi valry. CH. II. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 87 Billetts, oblong figures, like bricks ; faid, by Meneftrier, chap. xxii. of the Ori gin of Armories, to reprefent pieces of golden or filver tifliie, or other ornament, placed at intervals on the ancient habits [coats of arms]. Manches, antique loofe fleeves, refer to' the tournaments. The manch was a dif- l:inguiflied " Favour," beftowed on fome knights ; being part of the drefs of the la dy, or princefs, who prefented it. Such trophies, with many others in heraldry, have likewife been acquired by vidory in battle over thofe who bore them. In the " Book of St. Albans," an an cient inftitute of heraldry, appended to Mr. Dallaway's learned and elegant work on the Origin and Progrefs of Heraldry in England, are ftated, p. Ixxiii., the feveral ways in which a man may acquire nobili- Fiiij 88 VIEW OF heraldry. CH. II. ty [become a gentleman]. " A yoman " criftenyd, yif he kyU a gentylman" [in war], fliall wear his armories ; " yif he " kill a Sarfyn, he may were the Sarfyin's " cotarmure" [device, or other ornamen tal badge whatfoever]. This appears to have been a common mode of obtaining armories in all the crufades. Favine, on the Teutonic Order, fays, that the king and people of Lithuania, with all the *' Idolaters and Pagans " of Tartary and Livonia, were denominated Saracens. CH. III. VIEW OF heraldry. 89- CHAPTER IIL Of Romance. — Defcriptive of the Manners of Chivah-y. —Its Heroes diftinguilhed by Armorial Enfigns, and by the Denomination of Knights-Errant. — Exhibits Inftances of a Practice whereby Arms have given Rife to various Surnames. — Introduced GriiEns, Dragons, and other fabulous Animals, into Heraldry Symbo lical Meaning of thofe Figures. — Remarks on the hif torieal Origin of the Arms of particular Families and States. XV OM ANCE exhibits the manners and fpirit of chivalry, as the Iliad and Odyf- fy difcover thofe of the heroic ages of Greece. The heroes of romance were charaderifed individually, by their refpec- tive titles of chivalry, and the blazon or defcription of their armorial enfigns: A pradice, in like manner adopted in hifto ry; as appears by Joinville, Froiflart, and other writers of thofe times. In reference 50 VIEW" OF heraldry. CH. IIL to their general profeflion, they were ftyled " KNIGHTS-ERRANT," or knights employed in fearch of arduous undertakings; who not only triumphed over lawlefs force, but even braved the infernal power of magic, to releafe from captivity the innocent vic tims it had inthralled. When Chriftianity baniflied Odin, Thor, Frea, and the other gods and goddelTes, who held fupreme dominion over the Go thic world, the Romancers, anxious to dif play the marvellous powers of their heroes, the knights-errant, retained all the giants, ENCHANTERS, FAIRIES, and DWARFS ; toge ther with many hideous serpents, dra gons, GRIFFINS, and other formidable mon- .STERS. It is impoflible to defcribe the compli cated diftrefs in which this involved the fairer part of the creation j of -which, ma- CH. III. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 9 1 ny were fliut up in enchanted caftles, be longing to forcerers, and guarded by one or more of thofe furious dwarfs, giants, griflans, or dragons. But they were deli vered by the aftonifliing achievements of the knights, and their fuff'erings in fome meafure compenfated by the conftant ado ration of thofe conquerors ; to whom, alfo,. heraldry is indebted for the many trophies^ it obtained by this hazardous warfare. As often, therefore, as heraldry exhibits DRAGONS, griffins, wiverns, and tigers or WOLVES, which, like the wolf, fprung from LoKE, chief of the evil genii, have flames of fire iflliing out of their mouths, ears, and noftrils, their appearance fuffi- tiently befpeaks the region of which they are indigenous. Heraldry employs form and colour, to j^eighten the reprefentations of romance. p2 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. III. like the fcenery and exhibitions of the drama. During the reign of chivalry, atten dants at the tournament, watching the pendent fliields, to fee who fliould give the challenge, by touching them with a fpear, or other weapon, appeared, according to Meneftrier, under the form of griffins, ti gers, bears, and lions ; others reprefented dwarfs, favages, and giants. Hence were fo many of that clafs of armorial figures termed supporters, feleded from the ma chinery of romance. When romance had borrowed from the Gothic mythology many monfters, of un paralleled form, and infpired with the fpi rit of demons, it found no diflaculty in procuring others of fimilar defcription : And the whole were direded by the gi ants, dwarfs, and other enchanters; who CH. III. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 93 could at pleafure metamorphofe them felves, and fometimes others alfo, into any form neceflTary for the better carrying on- of their defigns. Froissart gravely fpeaks of a lord, who, under the form of a bear, had been killed by Sir Peter of Beam, brother to the count of Foix ; and illuftrates the fad by what befel Adeon ; " a knight," who, he fays, was turned into a ftag. He likewife mentions, by name, a fpirit that ferved the lord of Corafle, and affumed occafionally a diverfity of forms. This fliows, from no vulgar authority, the power of enchantment, fo late as the beginning of the fifteenth century. Froif- fart was familiar with the firft charaders on the theatre of Europe, which fie drew from the life with a prompt and artlefs energy. 94 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. Ill, So greatly in requeft were miracles of aft forts, that the marveUous, in its utmoft eff'orts to amufe or aftonifli, could fcarcely go beyond the bounds of credibility, Thence were many of the legendary oc currences of romance received according to their literal acceptation, without any modification, or any allegorical reference whatfoever. It is reprefented, in the ad mired Letters on Chivalry and Romance, letter x., that, in " fuch defcriptions, not ' hiftorieal, but only poetical truth is to ' be looked for ; which, tO adopt the lan- ' guage of Hobbes, is fomething much ' beyond the adual bounds, and only ' within the conceived pofllbility of iia- ' ture. The more creative poetry, ad^ ' drefling itfelf principally to the imagi- ' nation, a young and credulous faculty, ' which loves to be deceived, has no need ' to obferve thofe cautious rules of credi- ' bility, fo neceffary to be followed, when CH, III. VIEW OF HERALDRY, 95 " it is the objed to reach the heart, not " through the imagination, but through " the paflions. The reafon is ; in the lat- " ter cafe, we muft firft beheve, before we *' canbeaff'eded." To fuch as fought for an allegorical meaning, the fame fpecies of allegory might, according to circumftances, require diff'erent explanations. Sometimes fierce favages, giants, griffins, ferpents, dragons, did not appear in their own right only, but were underftood to indicate men of a ferocious and brutal nature ; and, on other occafions, they referred merely to inani mate objeds. To allegorife too minutely the machine ry of romance, is to diffolve the charm that aftoniflies and captivates ; although, in certain inftances, they may be fufcepti ble of allegorical illuftration. g6 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. IIL The fourth letter on Chivalry repre fents " oppreftlve feudal lords, who had " caftles, and inferior imitators of then " violence, who had only lurking-places, " as the giants and favages of romance: " The firft, fo called for their power ; the *' laft, for their brutality." According to Mallet, in the ninth chap ter of the Northern Antiquities, " The " thick misfliapen walls winding round a " rude fortrefs, on the fummit of a rock, ' were often called by a name fignifying ' serpent, or DRAGON. Womcn of dif- ' tindion were commonly placed in fuch ' caftles, for fecurity. Thence the roman^ ' cers invented fo many fables, concern-' ' ing princeffes of great beauty, guarded ' by dragons, and afterwards delivered by ' young heroes, who could not achieve ' their refcue, till they had overcome ' thofe terrible guards." CH. III. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 97 Without attempting to purfue the ver- fatility of poetical imagination, through the various fcenes in which it may have placed, or after the forms it may have im pofed on fuch machinery, there is un doubtedly one other general 'view, under which they appear equally in heraldry, and in romance. When an enemy was fubdued or flain, who bore on his fliield a DRAGON, a GRIFFIN, a WOLF, or a BEAR, the narrative of the occurrence often ftated, that a dragon, wolf, or bear, had been killed : And one or other of thofe, or, perhaps, the head only, was fometimes ex^ hibited on the fliield of the conqueror, as a trophy of vidory. The mode of exprefllon by Which the arms were taken for the perfon, was not peculiar to romance. Favine, on the " Order of Hungary," remarks, that the 98 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. Ill, French hiftorians fpeak of Philip Auguftus " CONQUERING THE DRAGON," whcu he Over came Otho the Fourth, who bore a dra gon, as the ftandard of the empire, at the battle of Bovines. On a fimilar principle, the term dra goon, applied to certain divifions of the modern armies, is, by fome etymologifts, derived from the Imperial ftandard of the dragon. A PARTICULAR inftance of the armorial enfign being metonymically put for the bearer of it, occurs in the hiftory of the Troubadours ; the firft of whom was called the DAUPHIN, or knight of the dolphin, becaufe he bore this figure on his fliield. In the perfon of one of his fucceffors, the name dauphin became a title of fovereign dignity. CH. III. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 99 Many other furnames were in this man ner taken from arms ; as may be infer red, from the ordinary phrafeology of ro mance ; where many of the warriors are ftyled knights of the Lion, of the Eagle, of the Rofe, according to the armorial fi gures they bore on their fliields. Among King Arthur's knights of the Round Table, enumerated under the Or der of Scotland, are feveral whofe armo rial enfigns in fome meafure correfpond to their refpedive titles : As, the griffin, borne by Armont [knight] of the Green Serpent ; the hydra with feven heads, by Dizier the Fierce ; two hunting horns hung over the branch of a tree, by the [knight] Forefter; a fpring throwing up water, by Brunon, of the Fountain ; a red deer, by Soline, of the Wood ; an ele phant, the fymbol of fuccefsful adventures, by the Fortunate knight of the Ifles. Gii 100 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. IIL Menestrier, chap. iv. of the Origin of Armories, fays, that, at the tournaments, the combatants were called knights of the Swan, of the Eagle, of the Dragon, of the Sun, of the Star, according to the feveral figures, which they bore as arms or de vices. But the pradice of taking furnames from arms, came at laft to be inverted; fo that armorial enfigns were fometimes framed according to certain eftabliflied furnames. In the Britifli peerage, are feveral in ftances of the furname and arms being the fame, or nearly fo.- Lion, Earl of Strath more, bears a lion : Primrofe, Earl of Rofeberry, three primroses ; Frafer, Lord^ Saltoun and Lovat, three frases, or ftraw- berry flowers ; Arundel, Lords Arundel, Count of the Empire, and Arundel of CH. III. VIEW OF heraldry. 1 01 Trerice, six hirondelles, or fwallows ; Cranfton, Lord Cranfton, three cranes ; Herris, Lords Herris and Malmefbury, three herissons, or hedge-hogs ; De Loup, anciently Earls of Chefter, a wolf's head. Falconer, Lord Halkerton, and Foref ter, Lord Forefter, are faid to derive both the furname and arms from offices held by their anceftors. The former bears a HAWK, or FALCON, as having been grand falconer ; the latter, three bugle-horns, as grand forester to fome of the kings of Scotland. The device, or cognizance, a fort of subsidiary arms, occafionally afllimed, was alfo, in fome inftances, exprefllve of the name, or gave rife to it. In Lord Lyttle- ton's Letters, is the ceremonial of a judicial combat, awarded by the peers, in the reign G iij I02 VIEW OF heraldry. CH. IH. of Richard II. , between the Dukes of Nor folk and Hereford ; where the Duke of Norfolk is defcribed as " mounted on a " barbed horfe, with a furqoat of arms of " crimfon velvet, embroidered with lions " of .filver, and mulberry-trees ;" the lat ter, a DEVICE referring to his furname of Moubray. The royal family of England, of th© houfe of Anjou, derived their furname, Plantagenet, from the cognizance or de vice of Count Geoffry, who wore on his helmet a branch of the planta genista, or broom flower, as is remarked in the Hif tory of Henry IL, p. ccsii. of the prelimi nary divifion. Lions of various forts, as well chime rical as natural, borne by fo many heroes, were chofen to exprefs magnanimity; a« CH. III. VIEW OF HERALDRY. I03 were alfo eagles, fometimes with two heads, in imitation of the Roman eagle, which, according to Meneftrier, chap, xxiii., on the Origin of Armories, was borrowed from the eaft, where it had been employed in armorial enfigns, to denote the conjund reign of two emperors. Certain other birds of prey, termed alerions [eglets], if their wings be expanded ; martlets [mer- let-hawk], if clofe, are reprefented without beaks and talons, to commemorate, in he raldry, the fubmifllon of difarmed ene mies ; GRIFFINS, a compofition of the lion and eagle, to indicate accumulated veloci ty, ftrength, vigour, and courage ; hypo- griffs, a compofition of the horfe and grifl&n; wiverns, of the griffin and dra gon, which, with others of fimilar defcrip tion, fometimes united the qualities refult-^ ing from their compound exiftence, to a, certain demoniac, or ethereal power. G jilj 104 VIEW of heraldry. ch. hi. No lefs formidable are the wolves and tigers, difgorging fire, like the great. wolf fen vis, defcribed in chap. vi. of the Nor thern Antiquities, who, with fire flafhing from his eyes and noftrils, fliall, at the laft , day, break from his chains to devour the fun. I By the variety of imaginary animals, and by ufually reprefenting fuch as are real, not according to their natural appear-* ance or colour, but according to certain fpecific tindures of blazon ; heraldry, as al lied to romance, exhibits unnumbered me- tamorphofis and chimeras. Cattle with golden horns and hoofs, or wholly of gold ; lions, one half blue, the other green ; fome with human faces, others v/ith wings. This metamorphofis extend-^ ed alfo to inanimate objeds. By the rule which prohibits the metallic tindures of 1 CH. III. VIEW OF HERALDRY. J05 heraldry from being placed upon metal, befants, or money of Byzantium, if borne on a field of gold or filver, muft change their nature, and become blue, red, black, or green. It were impoflible to enumerate all the romantic figures ever employed in coats of arms, or to afllgn to many of them any other meaning than that of hereditary badges of honour. Yet the figures of this defcription, moft frequently occurring in heraldry, appear to have had originally a fymbolical meaning, more or lefs obvi ous. Almost every kingdom and ftate has two coats of arms, the one more peculiar, the other fubfidiary, confifting of a crofs of fome particular colour or form, ufually taken from the hiftory of the tutelary faint of the country, or of the principal order I06 VIEW OF HERALDRY, CH. IIL of chivalry which may have place in it. Thus the conjoined croffes of St. George and St. Andrew form one of the royal en figns of Great Britain, diftinguiflied by the name of the Union Flag. St. George is reprefented in the cha rader of an armed knight on horfeback, bearing a red crofs on a filver fliield, and overcoming his adverfary, who appears un der the form of a dragon. His being thus exhibited as a conqueror, recommended him to the choice of a martial people. In Butler's Lives, he is defcribed as a perfon totally different fram the hero of the fame name, whom Gibbon mentions in the hif tory of the empire. The tutelary faint of Scotland is St. An^ drew, the apoftle. His crofs exhibited on the union flag, in form of the letter X, is the fame with which he appeared in vifion CH. III. VIEW OF HERALDRY. I07 to Hungus King of the Pids, in the ninth century. The hiftorieal origin, whether legenda ry or more corred, of the arms of particu lar families and ftates, is often not to be traced. But fome inftances may be men tioned as a fpecimen of the manner in which the acquifition of particular armo ries is accounted for, In the battle of Secour againft the Nor mans, King Louis III. dipped his fingers in the blood of the Count of Barcelona, who was wounded ; and drew four ftripes or pallets on his golden fliield. Thofe ftripes became the arms of Arragon, when the Counts of Barcelona were advanced to the throne of that kingdom. In a battle againft the Danes, a fimi lar incident gave rife to the red ftripes I08 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. III. or pallets, borne by Keith, Earl Ma- rlfhal of Scotland ; as the three fliields, borne by Hay, the Lord High Conftable, commemorate a vidory over the fame people, obtained by means of a father and his two fons, who ftopped the flight of their countrymen, and infpired them to renew the charge. The enclofure, or pallifade, borne as a compartment, under the arms of Lord Douglas, feems to refer to the grant of Jedburgh foreft by King Robert Bruce to James Lord Douglas, called the flower of CHIVALRY. During the firft crufade, Otho, Vifcount or Governor of Milan, killed, in fingle combat, under the walls of Jerufalem, f .Saracen Emir, who had defied the Chriftian army. The emir's golden helmet, retain ed as a trophy by the conqueror, bore a CH. III. VIEW OF HERALDRY, IO9 crowned ferpent devouring a child. Hence did this ferpent become the armorial en figns of the Vifconti Dukes of Milan, In the ninth century, a valiant knight undertook, at the earneft requeft of the inhabitants of Florence, to deliver them from a proud and cruel giant, who carried an iron mace, whereat hung five great Tjalls of the fame metal. Having over come this monfter, and defpoiled him of his mace, the knight affumed for arms the five balls, tinged with the blood of the giant ; and tranfmitted them to his de fcendants, the Medici, Grand Dukes of Tufcany. The filver ftripes in the arms of liun- gary, have been fuppofed to refer to the principal rivers of that country, the Drave, Nyfs, Save, and Danube. ltd VIEW OF HERALDRY; CH. Ills The Duke of Norfolk, and the other de- fcendents of the Earl of Surrey, who, at ^the battle of Floddon, killed King Jameis IV., with the greater part of the nobihty of Scotland, bear in their arms the upper half of the Scottifh lion, pierced through the mouth with an arrow. The Earl of Delaware bears the chape of a fword, which his anceftor received from John, King of France, when he yielded himfelf his prifoner at the battle of Poic- tiers. The princefs of Cleves, being perplexed by a threatened invafion of her territories, faw from her caftle of Niewbourg on the Rhine, a fhip in full fail, in which there ftood a young knight, armed at aft points, his helmet fliaded with plumage of many- colours, and bearing a white fwan. Oij CH. III. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 1 1 1 one of the wings, was a fliield with a double crofs of eight fceptres, and one of the feet held a golden fword. The prin-* cefs, ftruck with the appearance of this knight, whom flie had lately beheld in a dream, defcended from the caftle as the fliip approached, when the youth courte- oufly announced himfelf as the " Knight " of the Swan ;" and made a humble offer of his fervice againft all her enemies. The princefs afterwards accepting this knight for her hufband, he received inveftiture from the .emperor, when the eight con joined fceptres became the arms, and the white fwan the creft of the principality of Cleves, The daughter of the Duke of Aquitane^ Lady of Melle and Lufignan, whom the romancers called " Melufina," and report ed to have been changed into a fairy, was reprefented, the upper half a fyren, the I 1 2 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. tilt lower a ferpent ; and borne as the creft or cognizance of the royal family of Ltifig- nan. Kings of Cyprus. The origin afligned to the foregoing arms is in moft inftances legendary. But neither truth nor verifimilitude are always indifpenfible in heraldry ; for when even a fabulous origin of particular arms inci dentally proves either the luftre or anti quity of the family to which they belong, it concedes one of the greateft honours, that armorial enfigns can beftow. The grotefque, and feemingly heteroge neous affemblage of uncouth figures which armorial enfigns prefent to thofe unac quainted with heraldry, will, no doubt, ap pear to others, who can refer them to their proper fources, fimple, orderly, and per- fpicuous. Individual coats of arms are all framed agreeably to certain general rules) CH. III. VIEW OF HERALDRY. II3 and almoft univerfally confift, more or lefs, of fuch figures as the forementioned croflfes, ftripes, checkers, and of fierce ani mals, which feemed to have a natural, as the others had an arbitrary, but eftabliflied relation to war. As enfigns of hereditary honour, the fame coats of arms, with certain minute differences, belonged to all the branches of the moft numerous, and extenfively efta-* bliflied family; A FAMILY fometimes changed their fur name, while they continued to bear the arms of their anceftors; Thus the Earls of Wemyfs, taking their furname and title from the caftle and barony of Wemyfs, fo called on account of the caves on that part of the coaft, retain the lion, the arms of the ancient Earls of Fife* H 114 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. HI. Another general ground of fimilarity among armories, was the ufage whereby fuch as were vefted with armorial enfigns^ but who fought under the banners of the great hereditary chiefs in the feveral king doms, were honoured with a part of the arms of thofe chiefs, or affumed them in token of attachment. To give an inftance, in one of the nor thern counties, Renfrewfliire, almoft all the ancient families, of whatever furname/ bear fome chequered figure in their arms, referring tO thofe of the Lord High Stew ards of Scotland. This pradice appears to have derived its origin from the military retainers of princes, and fuch as ferved under diftinguiflied leaders, bearing their arms and liveries ; as efquires and pages in the fervice of knights bore thofe of their patrons. CH. III. VIEW OF HERALDRY. II5 Joinville relates, that each of the three hundred mariners, in the galley of the Count of Jaffa, When he arrived at the army of the Crufade, bore a target and pennon, difplaying the arms of the count, a red crofs on a field of gold. When the Prince of Wales marched through Navarre to reinftate Peter, furnamed the Cruel, on the throne of Caftile, as is mentioned by Froiffart, in the van of the army were twelve hundred pennons bearing a red wedge, or pafllon-nail, on a filver field ; the banners of Sir John Chandos, Con ftable of Aquitane. There was the fame attention to the rules of heraldry in the armorial bearings of the knights of Romance, that hiftorieal writers obferve with regard to thofe of real perfonages. As conneded with heraldry, romance was not reftrided to that branch ©nly which relates to the formation and Hij 1 1 6 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. III. exhibition of armories, but likewife ex tended to that which refpeds different claffes of honorary diftindion. It was con neded with the former, by introducing, and affording an illuftration of many bear ings or figures, employed as armorial en figns ; with the latter, by its influence on the general economy of chivalry. In this view, the romancers were a fort of legifla- tors^ in chivalry, as the inftitutions and tifages, which they afcribed to their own heroes, were many of them afterwards im plicitly adopted. In the Chronicle of Bourbon, quoted by Favine on the Tutonic Order, is defcribed- the " table of honour," inftituted by the grand master of the Order, in imitation of the " round table" of [King Arthur] " of England." At this table were feated, with the fovereign, fuch as had acquired fuperior renown in arms. The twelve CH. III. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 117 chief knights of different nations, belong ing to the crufade, which came to the af- fiftance of the Order againft the kings of Lithuania and Norway, were feated at the table of honour, in the palace of Marien- bourg, and prefented with golden mottos, to be worn relatively to this diftindion. It is related, in the Memoirs of Chi valry, that John, King of France, held an annual feaft, at which nine of the braveft warriors, in imitation of the " nine wor- " thies," were feated at a round table, ad mitted into his new Order of the Star, and chofen from the three classes of knights, PRINCES, bannerets, and bachelors. . Perhaps even the twelve peers of France were never heard of before the romance of Turpin, on which that of King Arthur, with his knights of the round table, was ififterwards modelled, as is ftiown in the H iij II 3 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. III. Differtation on Chivalry and Romance, formerly quoted from the twenty-third volume of the Mem. Acad, Infer, et Belles Lettres. When certain fpecific enterprifes were voluntarily undertaken by knights, or im-i pofed on them by the ladies, the terin ufually allotted for their accomplifliment was a year and a day. Such were the eur terprifes of the Marechal Boucicaut, who went to the Holy Land, as a knight er-r rant, to fight againft the Saracens ; and of the Lord Galeas of Mantua, who vowed to prefent two conquered knights to the Queen of Naples, The knights errant were habited in GREEN, to announce, fays St. Palayae, " the " verdure of youth, and the vigour of " courage." This may be nearly the ori ental idea of the colour green, which, in CH. III. VIEW OF HERALDRY, II9 common with many of the other appen dages of chivalry, feems to have been ori ginally commemorative of achievments in the crufades. At the tournament at St. Dennis, in m.ccc.lxxx., as ftated in the Memoirs of Chivalry, two and twenty knights, having green ftuelds, embofled with devices in gold, were conduded to the lifts by as many ladies on horfeback, habited in green, embroidered with gold and pearls. In the palaces of princes, in like manner, the hangings, and other "apa- ratus of ftate, were alfo of this colour. Green had long been admired in the eaft, from its contraft to their parched de- farts ; and feems, on account of this pre ference, to be mentioned in Solomon's Song. At a later period, it was adopted as the favourite livery of Mahomet, who ufually wore it ; and, in the eighteenth and fifty-fifth chapters of the Koran, propofes Hiiij 120 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. Ill, cufliions and veftments of this colour, among the luxuries of Paradife. The ftandards of the Mahomedan na-, tions are green, adorned with filver qref-, cents ; and the defcendants of Mahomet, with fuch others as the Grand Signior per-, mits to wear this livery, are ufually deno minated from it. Thus the great prince, who, in M.CC.XII., was defeated at Tolofa, by the kings of Arragon, Navarre, and Leon, was ftyled the green Miramamolin, or Emir, of Africa. The King of Na varre, with prodigious flaughter, forced the chains and palifades of his camp ; hence, according to Favine, and other writers, the chains which form the royal arms of Navarre, together with thofe of many illuftrious famihes, whofe anceftors diftinguiflied themfelves at Tolofa. CH. IV. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 121 CHAPTER IV. The Form, and various Modes in which Arms are ex hibited. — Several Coats of Arms may be borne in the fame Shield. — The exterior, or concomitant Orna ments attached to Armorial Enfigns As, the Hel met — Creft — Supporters A particular Clafs of ex terior Ornaments employed to denote fpecific Orders and Degrees of Dignity. — As, Collars of Knighthood Miters — Coronets — Diadems Recapitulation and general Obfervations refpefting the Organic, or Sym- ^3olical Part of Heraldry. The fliields on which armorial enfigns ^re reprefented, are of various forms, as, round, oval, or fomewhat refembling a heart ; which laft is the moft common form. Excepting fovereigns, women un married, or widows, bear their arms on a lozenge fliield, which is of a fquare form, fo placed as to ha^'e one of its angles 122 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. IV. upwards, and is fuppofed to refemble a diftaff. Several coats of arms may be borne in the fame fliield, on account of various forts of alliance, or of different fovereign ties, dignities, or offices to which arms are annexed, as may be feen in Nifbet's Eflay on the Ancient and Modern Ufe of Armories. The arms of feveral princely fiefs are borne by different families, who have had fuccefllvely the poffefllon of them : As, the arms of Annandale, GaUo- way, Man, Orkney. The firft are even become the paternal arms of the Bruces, the former lords, and of the Johnftons,, Marquifes of Annandale. The arms of Ulfter, a red hand on a white field, are borne as arms of dignity, ?ind in addition to their paternal arms, by the Englifli and Irifli baronets, who were CH. IV. VIEW OF HERALDRY. I23 formerly obliged to maintain; a certain number of men for the defence of that province, As arms attached to their office, arch- bifliops, and bifliops, bear thofe of their re fpedive province, or diocefe. The crown of Charles the Great is borne on the royal fliield, as arms of office, for the hereditary dignity of arch-treafurer of the empire. Marriage is the moft common caufe of bearing a plurality of arms in one fliield. The fliield being divided in pale [by a perpendicular line], the arms of the huf band are placed on the right, thofe of the wife on the left fide; unlefs the latter be an heirefs, or the reprefentative of a fa^ mily, in which cafe, her arms on a fepa-» rate fliield, are placed on the centre of the hufband's fliield. 124 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. IV. Since the union of the kingdoms, the arms of England, impaling thofe of Scot land, conftitute the arms of Great Britain; as may be feen, on public edifices, on the coin, and on the royal ftandard. The conjoined croffes of St. George and St. Andrew form another royal enfign. They compofe a national badge, or device, referring to thofe tutelary faints, and to the two principal orders of chivalry, in the united kingdom. A COMMON mode of placing two or more coats of arms in one ftiield, is, by making a line in pale, and another in fefs ; which forms a crofs, dividing the fliield into four quarters. The fame arms may be put in both the firft and fourth quarters ; and, in like manner, a different coat of arms may occupy the fecond and third quarters. CH. IV. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 125 The royal fliield exhibits a different coat of arms in each of the four quarters. In the firft quarter, the arms of Great Bri tain ; in the fecond, the arms of France ; in the third, the arms of Ireland ; in the fourth, the arms of Brunfwick. When the fliield is divided into four quarters, one or more of the quarters are fometimes alfo quartered in the fame manner ; which is termed counter-quar tering. Were each of the quarters to be counter-quartered, fixteen different coats of arms might be placed in the fame fliield, without any intricacy whatfoever. Sometimes arms are quartered by lines in faltire [by a crofs, in form of the letter X] ; as the arms of Arragon and Sicily, borne by the kings of Spain and Naples. There are various other modes of ar^ ranging feveral coats of arms in one fliield ; but, excepting the laft inftance, 126 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH; IV: thofe mentioned above are the moft com mon in this country. When any addition is made to a coat of arms, as a reward of merit, or a mark of royal favour, it is ufually placed in the upper part of the fliield, in the right fide of it, or in the centre. Thofe additions generally confift, either of fome part of the royal arms, or other infignia of ftate ; or they are compofed of figures that allude to fome tranfadion which has diftinguifli ed the perfon who obtains them. " Marks of Cadency," fpecifically treat ed of by Nifbet, are placed within the fliield. Thefe are certain figures, added to the paternal arms, to denote, that the bearer is a younger branch of the family.- The mark of cadency for the eldeft fon, is a " LABEL OF three POINTS." CH. IV. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 1 27 It fomewhat refembles the letter E, with the points turned downwards, W ; and is faid to reprefent the fringe, or or-^ namental part of a fcarf, tied round the neck, to diftinguifli, in battle, the young men from their fathers, who wore the fame coats of arms. All the princes and princeffes of the royal family bear labels, as marks of ca dency. That of the Prince of Wales is plain, having three points: Moft of thd others have different figures placed on them, for diftindion; and fome of them have five points. A CRESCENT [half moon], a ftar, a mart let [bird], a ring, a fleur de lis, are, in other families, ordinary marks of cadency for the younger fons, according to their feniority. 128 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. IV Marks of illegitimacy are, in like man ner, placed within the fliield. The mofl common is termed a baton-sinister ; which is a ftaff, or rod, placed diagonally, with the upper end towards the left corner of the fliield. Another ^ is a fort of bor der, furrounding the arms, and ftriped acrofs, of any two colours. Such a border did not formerly denote illegitimacy; efpecially, if it had two rows of chequers, Thofe borders have become marks of ille-^ gitimacy, by the cuftom of fome families bearing them, inftead of the baton-finiiler.- A chequered border, of three rows, is, in no inftance, a mark of illegitimacy. No figure, except thofe within the fliield^ is eflential to a coat of arms. Other ar^ morial figures are placed on the outfide of the fliield, either as concomitant orna ments ; as badges of oflGicial, perfonal, oi' CH. IV. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 129 hereditary honours ; or of princely, royal, or imperial dignity. A coat of arms, with its exterior and concomitant ornaments, is a fort of reprefentation pf the pofleffor, ac cording to the place he occupies in fo ciety. During the time of mourning for per fons of rank, their coats of arms are fet up in churches, and over the principal en trance of their houfes. On thofe occa fions, the arms, with their exterior infig-^ nia, are always placed in the centre of a large black lozenge. If it be an " impaled'* arms, the lozenge is alfo impaled; black under the arms of the deceafed, and white under thofe of the furvivor. The fliield is placed within a lozenge, as being; the moft proper figure for admitting the coats of arms of fixteen anceftors to be placed around it, four on each of the four fides of the fquare. In fome places, it is cufto-^ 130 VIEW OF HERALDRY, CH. IVi mary to put fo many fliields round the principal arms. This is termed a funeral efcutcheon. In England, there is gene rally but one fliield placed on the lozenge^ This is called a hatchment. The ordinary concomitant ornaments of a coat of arms, are, the helmet, " mant- " LINGS," " wreath," crest, and motto: The extraordinary, are, the " compart- " ment," and the supporters. The -badges of dignity ufually borne on the outfide of the fliield, are, helmets of a particular form, collars of orders of knighthood, swords, batons, maces, banners, hats, mi ters, coronets, imperial crowns. The helmet is placed immediately above the fliield, Efquires, and other gentlemen of inferior degree, have their helmets reprefented in profile, with the beaver clofed ; becaufe, iii battle^ the em- Ch. IV. VIEW OF HERALDRY. I3I ployment of the " men at arms," as thofe who fought on horfeback in complete ar mour were called, was not to give com mand, but to combat fuch as were op pofed to them. They therefore had the beaver of their helmets clofe, that their faces might not be expofed to the enemy. The cuftom, however, of placing over coats of arms, helmets of different fpecific forms, arofe from the fancy of heralds, ra ther than from adual war. The : mantlings were a fort of covering, to defend the head from the weather. They are reprefented a§ cut into orna mental foliages on each fide of the hel met, in reference to the ornamental mant lings worn at tournaments, which were of filk, difplaying the colours of the " live- " ries." All who bear arms, have alfo certain appropriate colours, termed live ries ; which are either the principal tinc- 132 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. IV. tures of their armorial enfigns, or fuch other colours as they may choofe to prefer. Thofe were generally preferred, which had diftinguiftied the prizes, or " favours," re ceived at the tournament. In the fifth differtation of Du Cange, is fliown, that the fplendid habits which the royal houfehold anciently received at the great feftivals, were called " liveries," be ing delivered or prefented from the king. The " WREATH," compofed of two filk cords, twifted together, - of the two princi pal colours of the liveries, or of the prin cipal tindures in the arms, went round the head, to faften the mantlings to the helmet. Sometimes a fmall open coronet fupplies the place of a wreath : But with the following exception : A coronet, if placed below the creft, is not a badge of dignity. The crown is placed immedi- CH. IV. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 1 35 ately on the royal helmet, without any wreath : And the princes of the blood place their coronets alfo below the creft. The crest was a reprefentation of fome animal, or other figure, worn in war, and at the tournaments, by fuch as had re ceived the dignity of knighthood. Being placed above the helmet, it was the moft diftinguiftied of all the apparatus of chi valry. But there is not now any family that bears arms, without having alfo a creft. The motto is a word, or fliort fentence, on a fcroll, attached to the arms. States, and great families, had a word, or fliort fentence, which was repeated, in battle, to animate their followers ; and was termed the " cry of war." Conformably to this pradice, every family which has a liij 134 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. IV, coat of arms, has alfo fome particular mot to. In fome inftances, the cry of war is retained as a motto ; in others, the motto alludes to fomething peculiar in the hiftory of the family ; as, in the families of Bruce and Courtenay ; the former of which fat on the throne of Scotland, — the latter, on that of the eaftern empire. The firft has for motto, the word " Fuimus." The •motto of the other feems intended to ex cite inquiry: " Ubi lapfus ? Quid feci?'' By the cuftom of this country, no wo men, except fovereign princeffes, attach to their arms the helmet, mantlings, wreath, creft, or motto. In addition to the above armorial orna ments, fome few families, as thofe of Dou glas, Drumraond, Dundas, bear " com- " partments." The ordinary compart ment cannot be confidered as an armorial CH. IV. VIEW OF HERALDRY. I35 figure, being only a kind of fcroll for the fupporters to ft and upon, and fometimes contains the motto. Special compart ments reprefent fome particular animal, or other figure, placed below the fliield, as a COGNIZANCE, emblematical of fome achieve ment, occurrence, or ufage, which it is in tended to commemorate. The compart ment of the royal arms has two cogni zances, or devices : On the right fide, a rofe, — on the left, a thiftle ; two of the badges of the united kingdom. The supporters reprefent real or fidi- tious animals, ftanding on each fide of the fliield, as if holding it up. In fome in ftances, other figures occupy the place of fupporters. Thus, the arms of Spain are fometimes exhibited between two columns, • reprefenting the pillars of Hercules, the device or cognizance of the Emperoy Charles V. I jiij 1^6 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. IV. By a fpecial grant, or by prefcriptipn, many particular families are entitled to. bear fupporters, befides peers ; and fome of the higher orders of chivalry, to whofe dignity they are ^ concomitant. They do not, with the coat of arms, and its ordi^ nary exterior ornaments, defcend to the cadets, or younger branches of the family, Excepting knights of the Garter, knights-bannerets, and knights of the Bath, the Englifli college of arms can not, without a royal warrant, grant fup-. porters to any below the rank of peerage ; not even to baronets, although they pre^ cede the fecondary clafs of bannerets, and alfo knights of the Bath. Here, the kings, heralds, and purfuivants, at arms, are fub-. ordinate to the earl marflial. The " Lord Lyon, king at arms " of Scotland, as the principal herald of tha| CH. IV, VIEW OF HERALDRY, 1 37 country is ftyled, holds his office, as an immediate fief of the crown ; to which, in the feudal times, according to Bankton's Inftitutes of the Law of Scotland, there was attached a high jurifdidion, both civil - and criminal, over the officers of his own nomination, the heralds, purfuivants, and " meffengers at arms" [a kind of ferjeants at arms, refiding in all the different dif trids of the kingdom]. He is empowered, by ad of parliament, " to give arms to " virtuous and well-deferving perfons," " and to matriculate them in his regifter ; *' which ftiall be refpeded, as the true and " unrepealable ftandard of all arms and '¦ bearings in Scotland." The forfeiture of Lord Drummond, by the parliament, in the minority of James v., for ftriking this officer, may be re garded, as an evidence of the confideration in which he was held. It alfo appears, 138 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH, IV. that no other herald in Eutope was ever vefted with fuch authority, or poffeffed fo high a rank. The office became here ditary, in confequence of an incident, re lated in the life of Carftairs, private fecre- tary to King William, and principal of the univerfity of Edinburgh. Having, in the earlier part of life, before the Revolution, been imprifoned in the caftle, and put to the torture, a youth, named Erlkine, who was fon of the governor, ftruck with his goodly appearance, and commiferating his fufferings, came often to a chink in the dungeon, and adminiftered every confola- tion his ingenuity and kindnefs could fug- geft. The firft favour the fecretary re quefted of the king, was, the office of king at arms, for his young benefador; which his majefty was pleafed, not only to grant, but to confer it hereditarily on his family; though it afterwards reverted, by fQi'feiture, to the crown. CH. IV. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 1 39 The Lord Lyon, by his own authority, grants fupporters to fuch as by the cuftom of the realm are entitled to obtain them, Particularly to baronets of Scotland, and to the chief branches of ancient and diftin-^ guilhed families, " On many old feals, the Ihield is re- " prefented with only one fupporter, and '^ hung by the one corner ; fhields having " been ufually fo exhibited at the tourna- " ments,'' La Roque, in chapter ix. of his Trea tife on Blafon, relates, that the kings of France came to attach to their arms, by way of fupporters, the badges they had re fpedively borne as perfonal devices ; and mentions a feal of Philip of Valois, where there was a fingle fupporter, a lion under the fhield, in the manner of the compart ment before defcribed ; alfo a feal of 140 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. IV. Charles V., with a dolphin fupporting the arms ; and one of Charles VIL, having two ftags for fupporters, Menestrier, on the Exterior Ornaments of Armories, reprefents the arms of the Count of Saxony attached to a tree, and guarded, or fupported by two lions ; as ex hibited at a tournament in m,ccc.xlvl He alfo ftates, as already mentioned, that efquires, pages, and attendants, watching the fliields at the tournament, were fome times covered with the fkins of tigers, bears, and lions : Some were giants, dwarfs, favages : Others reprefented grif fins, and different chimeras. Hence the origin of the various kinds of fupporters. The author likewife confiders, as a kind of fupporters, the trees and columns on which fhields were exhibited at the tournaments ; and men in armour, with fliields hung about their neck, reprefent- CH. IV. VIEW OF HERALDRY. I4I ing knights and warriors, who often bore their fhields in that manner. In chapter xi. of the Origin of Armo ries, is mentioned, that Emmanuel, King of Portugal, alluding to the bull-fights ex hibited at tournaments in that country, eaufed the freize of the great hall, in his palace of Sintre, to be decorated with bulls heads, having the arms of the nobility, on fliields, fufpended from the neck. It became a cuftom at great feftivals, to exhibit, between the courfes, different ani mals, bearing about their necks, fhields of arms of thofe whom it was intended parti cularly to compliment. In the Order of the Star, Favine defcribes a magnificent entertainment given by the Prince of Na varre, at Tours, when he was made a knight, and affianced to the daughter of Oiarles VIL One of the exhibitions was 142 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH.lVs a ftiip, in which ftood a peacock, bearing about his neck the arms of the queen; while the flags and ftreamers exhibited thofe of the ladies of the court. Another was a huge tiger, difgorging flames of fire from his mouth and noftrils, and having round his neck a colar or chain, from which was fufpended the arms of the king. This cuftom feems to have occafioned fo many fupporters to be reprefented with chains and collars. Sometimes the fupport ers bore collars of orders of Knighthood, as thofe- of Louis XL, and fometimes crowns, as the Roman eagle, the fupporter of the Auftrian arms, which, on its two heads, has fillets reprefenting the diadems of the ancient emperors. The next clafs of exterior armorial en figns includes fuch as denote fuperior honours. Firft, The various orders ot KNIGHTHOOD : Secondly, The dignity of CH. IV. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 1 43 BARONETAGE : Thirdly, dignified offices : Fourthly, princely, royal, and imperial dignity. Knighthood, as fuch, is denoted in heraldry by certain fpecific badges ; and its various focial orders, by different infig-^ nia, which, at their commencement, were appropriated to them by their refpedive founders. One order had for its device a crescent, another a star, a third had a SWORD ; but far the greater part of thofe orders had for their devices different forms of the CROSS. A GOLDEN chain, or a ribband of fome particular colour, with the device or badge appended, was worn round the neck, and fo came to be reprefented as furrounding the coat of arms. " Knights bannerets" of the more modern order, are diftinguilhed by having a banner of their arms held up by the fupporters on each fide of the Ihield. Knights of every order, and likewife all 144 view of heraldry. ch. iv> baronets, are alfo diftinguilhed by bearing over their arms an open helmet. In ad dition to this, the baronets whofe patents are under the great feal of Great Britain, of England, or of Ireland, bear within the fhield, a red hand [the arms of Ulfter], as the device or badge of their order. The baronets, whofe patents are under the great feal of Scotland, wear, as the badges of their dignity, an orange rib band, to which is appended, a medallioi* bearing their device, St. Andrew's cross, with the arms of Scotland under an impe rial CROWN. Thofe infignia are alfo re prefented around the coat of arms. Knighthood being a perfonal dignity^ of a military nature, the ladies, and wi dows of knights, do not adorn their arms with their hufbands collars, or other badges of knighthood. But baronetesses attach CH. IV. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 1 45 to their arms whatever ornaments or badges belong to that dignity, as baronet age is an hereditary honour. Hence thofe of Scotland, not only furround their arms with the orange ribband and medal lion, but may alfo wear them perfonally, in the fame manner that peereffes wear the enfigns belonging to their dignity. Sub- fequently to the royal warrant for thofe infignia, Mary Bolles of Ofburton in Not- tinghamfhire, was, in m.dc.xxxv,, created A BARONETESS OF SCOTLAND, IN HER OWN RIGHT, as appears from the public regifter at Edinburgh, by an inftrument of fafine, founded on the patent, reciting her privi leges and titles, particularly that of lady ; and invefting her in the barony [manor] of Cudworth in Nova Scotia, Selden, part ii. chapter ix. has fome what miftaken the dignity of baronetage, in afllmulating it to the military honour 146 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. IV. of knighthood, without fufficiently advert ing to its being an order of hereditary NOBILITY, fo confiderable, as to confer on their eldeft fons a right to the dignity of knighthood, when they attain the age of majority. Hence he reprefents, that wo men are incapable of it, except in fo far as it is attributed to them " by conse- " quent" of its belonging to their huf bands. Dignified offices, are, in fome inftances, diftinguifhed by a fort of armorial badges, or enfigns, as, swords, batons-, banners, ufually placed behind the Ihield, Thofe infignia generally denote offices of a mili tary nature, as. Earl Marfhal, Lord High Conftable, Great Standard Bearer. Mitres, and hats of different colours, placed above the fhield, denote various de grees of ecclefiaftical dignity. A sworG CH. IV. VIEW OF HERALDRY. I47 alfo is fometimes placed behind the arms of ecclefiaftics, along with the pastoral staff, to denote a fovereign^ or Palatine jurifdidion. The arms of princes, kings, and em'pe-- rors, are refpedively diftinguifhed by co ronets, or open crowns ; and royal, or IMPERIAL DIADEMS, HELMETS, and " MANT- " lings" of A PARTICULAR FORM, are alfo fometimes employed. Peers have helmets of fteel, or filver, with five golden bars ; thofe of the king, and the princes of the blood, are wholly of gold, with fix bars. Many of the princes and nobility of Germany bear eight or ten helmets over their arms, and a creft On every helmet* according to the principal arms within the fliield, and to the number of fiefs by which the bearer is entitled to vote in the circles of the empire. Some of the hel-* 148 VIEW OF HERALDRY CH. IV. mets are adorned with coronets, or open crowns ; and many of the crefts are com pofed of banners, horns, plumes of fea thers, and wings. The coronets are inftead of wreaths. The banners employed as crefts are fome times " charged" with entire coats of arms ; others of them, termed pennons, are of a fmaller fize, rounded, or fplit at the farther end, and borne either with or with out devices. The wreath being a fort of fillet, or dia dem, worn at tournaments, is thence, ac cording to Meneftrier, reprefented in the form of a golden crown, and fo borne on the numerous helmets placed over the arms of the German princes, and famiUes of diftindion, to indicate, that their an ceftors had the honour to bear a part in the more ancient tournaments. CH. IV. VIEW OF HERALDRY. I49 In fome of the fiefs, inveftiture is given by defivery of a banner : a fmall banner, or pennon, alfo, was affixed to the lances at the tournament ; cuftoms to which the banners placed on helmets feem to allude. Wings, and plumes of feathers, were frequently employed as crefts ; and horns are faid to refer to the trumpets which were founded when the knights repaired to the lifts. Such is the more immediate origin of the German crefts ; but they feem alfo to refer to an earlier period, from the ftriking refemblance to thofe which were worn by that people when they fought againft Marius. From the foregoing fummary account of heraldry, it contains a fyftem of regula tions, according to which, certain Devices were framed, conferred, and tranfmitted as hereditary badges of honour. In this vjew, K iij 150 view of heraldry. CH. IV. ARMS, originating in the habits and orna ments of the SUPERIOR CLASS, termed no^ ble, and more immediately in the insig^. NIA OF THE FIEFS, wcrc advanced by the TOURNAMENTS and CRUSADES, aiid intimate ly conneded with all the inftitutions and ufages of the feudal ages. The rank and PRIVILEGES attached to the bearing of ARMS, formed a part of the law of nations, univerfally underftood, in common with the privileges of knighthood, and othej (iiftinguiflied charaderiftics of chiv^alry. With reference to the formation of ar-^ mo ries, the fimple garment, conftituting the original drefs of the German nations, and gradually adorned, with chosen co lours, FURS, SILVER, and GOLD, became at laft a COAT OF ARMS ; and the furs, me tals, and colours, became the exclufive materials of which all arms were compofed. Any fingle figure formed of fuch materials, CH. IV. VIEW OF HERALDRY. I5l and depided on a shield, banner, or sur- coat of the fame ; even a fingle line di viding the fliield or banner, formed a coat of arihs, provided the Oiie divifion were " metal," the other " colour," or fur. It were needlefs to enumerate the fin gular inftances which occur in books of heraldry, of enfigns borne as arms, though wholly of one tindure ; and of others, where arms are compofed of one metal or colour placed upon another : But the rule againft this mode of exhibiting armorial enfigns, does not extend to the figures termed brisures or " marks of cadency", and illegitimacy. By exemption from the ordinary rules of blazon, Jerusalem, the pecuhar region of chivalry, bears five golden croffes on a field of filver, in allufion to the five wounds of Chrift,; and composed of me-^ Kiiij 152 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. IV, TALLIC TINCTURES ONLY : Undoubtedly, to diftinguifh thofe from all the armorial croffes of other Chriftian powers, whofe banners were difplayed in the eaft. In Menard's observations, under the words CROIX NoiRS, is ftated, from Hoveden, that at the crufade, in m.cxci,, the French bore RED [croffes], the Englifh white, and the people of Flanders green. No figures, except thofe within the fliield, are effential to a coat of arms, con fidered as a diftindive cognizance of the nobihty of chivalry, To this, however, as a kind of concomitant armories, are added the helmet, mantlings, wreath, creft, and fometimes fupporters. Though there were no infignia univer fally underftood, to denote nobifity of blood, before the exiftence of chivalry, properly fo called, and of heraldry its or-> CH. IV. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 1 53 gan ; there were various eftabliflied fym bols of honour, power, and dignity, fo congenial to the purpofes of heraldry, that they were adopted among the exterior or naments of arms, and thus became a fe condary fort of armorial enfigns. In the fecondary clafs of armorial infig nia, may be reckoned the papal keys, and the TIARA, ENVIRONED WITH THREE CROWNS, the CROziERS, HATS, and mitres of digni fied ecclefiaftics, the collars and badges OF KNIGHTHOOD, the MACES and caps of cer tain great magiftrates, and others of official and profeffional rank, invefted with the cap or pilium, the crowns of kings at ARMS, and the coronets and diadems of PRINCES. Swords, sceptres, verges or rods, ba tons, and maces [a kind of military ftaves and clubs], are alfo among the armorial 154 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. IV^ emblems or infignia of fovereignty, and of civil and criminal jurifdidion. The fword and mace, diftinguilhed implements of war, were in fuch eftimation among the ancient Goths, as to form the refpedive attributes of their gods Odin and Thor, which are fo charaderifed . in the fixth, feventh, and ninth chapters of the Nor thern Antiquities. CH. V. view of heraldry. 155 CHAPTER V, Political Department of Heraldry.! — Comprehends all the Diftinflions of Rank belonging to the Feudal Syf tem, — Orders and Gradations of Chivalry in connec tion -with Feudal Tenures, — The Hierarchy, analagous to the different Gradations of Secular Dignity and Power. — ^Ecclefiaftical Orders of Chivalry. — Academi cal Honours. — ^Enumeration of the Diftinftions of Chivalry. — Gentlemen — Efquire — Knight. — General Order of Princes — Diftinftions of Rank Charafterif- ed, as Civil — Military— Ecclefiaftical. — ^Prefent State and Acceptation of fome of the Inferior Diftinftions gnd Titles derived from Chivalry. All infignia whatfoever, exprefllve of diftindions of rank, belong to the orga nic, or SYMBOLICAL part of HERALDRY, But there is alfo a political department OF HERALDRY, whcrcof rank itfelf is the objed, and to which it belongs to difcri minate, charaderife, and arrange, accord ing to their nature and degree, all the Ho-r I_56 VIEW OF HERALDRY, CH. V. NORARY DISTINCTIONS having place in the feudal ages. Such was the predominating martial ge nius of the feudal fyftem, that even thofe diftindions v/hich were not properly mili tary, partook of the fpirit, or fhared in the fplendour of chivalry. Of this fplendour, armories, and armorial fymbols, were the principal charaderiftic. Symbols, fuch as in the abfence of written language, had been introduced to fandion the tranfmif- fion of property, were employed at the in auguration into perfonal, official, and pro feffional honours, in forms of inveftiture, borrowed from the orders of chivalry, and from the ceremonial of the fiefs. The fief de Haubert, fo called from the haubert, or knightly coat of mail, was, in Normandy and Bretagne, a feudal eftate of a certain determinate value, and confidered CH. V. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 1 57 as an adequate recompence for the military fervice of a knight. Such fiefs, introduced into England by William the Conqueror, were, accordingly, called knight-fees ; and thofe who poffeffed them were called " te- *' nants - in chivalry," or knights by te nure, as being bound to perform knight- fervice to the lords of whom they were held. According to Du Cange, p. xlix, Obfervations on the Hift. St. Lewis, they were alfo obliged to be made knights, when they had attained the age of majori ty. The fervice of two efquires, or of a certain number of men at arms [armed horfemen], might be accepted for that of one knight, as is ftated in Madox's Ba ronage, which gives an account of the principal Englifh tenures. A defcription of the fief de Haubert, with its fubdivi- fions, occurs in Bruffel's general Ufage of Fiefs, vol. i. chap. vii. 158 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. Vi In reference to their vaffals, tenants by knight-fervice were alfo called lords. The vernacular term " laird," ftill in ufe in the northern part of the kingdom, ex- preffes this acceptation of the title lord. Knights by tenure poffeffed none of the peculiar privileges of knighthood, unlefs adually invefted with that order. Smaller eftates than knight-fees, to an eighth part of the fief de Haubert, were faid to be held in chivalry as being. held by military fervice; and greater eftates, confifting of feveral knight -fees, were termed baronies^ The poffeffor of fuch an eftate was called a LORD, a BARON, or a banneret ; the laft; on account of his right to difplay in the field a flag of a fquare or oblong form, termed a banner, in contradiftin6tion from the pennon, which was rounded or fplit at the farther end, and from the guidon, CH, V. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 1 59 which was only a pennon of larger fize. Bannerets had alfo pennons, and guidons ; but none of inferior degree were permitted to difplay a banner, becaufe they had not a fufficient number of vaflals to fight un der it. Favine, book i. chap, ii,, defcrib ing the different forts of flags, remarks, that bannerets had, at the leaft, twenty- four gentlemen under their banner, each with one or more fergeants, or armed at tendants. In fome places, fifty gentlemen [men at arms], with their attendants, were confidered as the fmalleft force fuitable to a banneret, as is ftated, together with many other particulars refpeding this dig nity, in the ninth differtation of Du Cange. Some confiderable fiefs were held by no other tenure than the performing certain honourable fervices or duties, which did not always relate to war ; and feveral great l6o VIEW OF HERALDRY- CH. V, offices were alfo held in the fame manner, Thofe offices of the more dignified ekife, were, by analogy, confidered likewife as lordfhips, becaufe the poffeffors had a do- minum, or property in the diftinguiflied honour wherewith they were conneded* which placed them on a footing with the greater lords. By a like analogy, the title lord was at tached to high birth ; but, if conneded with knighthood, the titles fir [meffire] and lord, feem to have been applied indif ferently. Thus Froiflart applies both titles to the Prince of Navarre, calling him Sir Philip of Navarre, and the Lord Philip of Navarre, He fpeaks alfo of the Earl of Douglas, conferring knighthood on his own fon, " Sir [Meifire] James," and on Sir Robert and Sir David, fons to the King of Scotland ; of the " Lords Sir John of " Hainault," and " Sir Robert of Nar Ch. v. ' VIEW OF HERALDRY. l6l " mure ;" and of the Lord Thomas, fon to the King of England. This application of the title lord, is, with us, reftrided by cuftom to the younger fons of fuch as be long to the two firft degrees of the peer age. Feudal offices, in an inferior degree honourable, were each a kind of " grand " fergeanty" [fervice] ; a fpecies of tenure refembling that of knight-fervice ; but dif fering from it, in not being neceffarily re lative to war, Correfponding to this te nure, in contradiftindion to that of " pe- " tit fergeanty," the term fergeant is re tained, as an honorary title ; as, fergeant at law [ferviens ad legem], " fergeant at " arms" [ferviens ad arma]. The firft qualified as a fervant, or counfel, of the crown, in the common law ; the fecond, an efquire, as fuch, and a kind of purfui- vant, attending great perfonages, and bear-r' 1 62 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. V. ing the fymbols or infignia of their dig nity. Brussel, vol. i. chap, vi., defcribes two claffes of fergeants, both noble, " fergeants " of the king," and " fergeants at arms of " the king : " The former, bound, by te nure,, to fummon the inferior barons, when their attendance was required ; the latter, to perform military fervice, accord ing to the extent of his fief. " The great " lords had, in like manner, gentlemen, " who held of them by fergeanty." Favine, on the " Order of the Broom " Flower," defcribes the inftitution, by St. Lewis, of a guard, confifting of an hun dred gentlemen, called " efquires of the " body, and, in the language then ufed, " fergeants of the king." They carried battle-axes ; and their habit was adorned with broom flowers, and other devices of CH. V. VIEW OF heraldry; 163 that prince. Philip Auguftus firft infti tuted fuch a guard,- as a defence againft the machinations of the affaffin-prince of the Mountain. Another clafs of diftindions which had place in the feudal world, called forth the exertion of talents of a more peaceful de fcription, and rewarded them with honours ftill more elevated than the higheft order of chivalry. This was the papal hierarchy^ analogous, in a great meafure, to the higher gradations of fecular dignity and power. By authorifing, in the church, political diftindions of rank, correfponding to thofe of the ftate, Conftantine the Great laid the foundations of a fpiritual empire, which, in the feudal ages, rOfe above the power, and-outfhone the fplendour, of every civil iij i 64. VIEW OF heraldry. ck. V. eftablifliment. As foon as the bifliops of Rome had acquired the diredion of this community, its pretenfions became alto-* gether boundlefs, and its predominating power univerfal, extending even over kings and emperors. In the internal eco nomy of every ftate in Europe, a part of the clerical order was advanced above the higheft of the fecular nobles ; and the fo vereign himfelf, in fome degree, fubjeded to the head of the univerfal church. At Corinth, the faithful had been up braided for going to law with each other before the heathen magiftrates, as if none could be found among themfelves of fuffi cient wifdom to adjuft their jarring claims. In confequence of this, as is remarked by Gianone, who, in the Hiftory of Naples, traces the progrefs of ecclefiaftical authori ty, the decifion of difputes among the pri-* CH. v. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 1 65 mitive Chriftians, was often referred, by way of arbitration, to the church, and be came the bafts of her univerfal jurifdic- tion. It is afferted, in book ii. chap, viii,, that although the conftitution of the church had been fettled in a ftate of external fplendour by the Emperor Conftantine; " yet, in thofe days, and down to the " reign of Juftinian, it had no jurifdidion " in civil nor criminal caufes." On the other hand, all priefts and bifhops were fubjed to the fecular power ; and the pa trimony of St. Peter, like that of other churches, was only a private eftate. About the beginning of the fixth century, as is ftated in book iii. chap, vi,, Symmachus and Laurentius, being both eleded to the popedom, had their caufe brought before the king of Italy, at Ravenna, The deci- L iij 1 66 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. V, fion was in favour of the former ; but, through the intrigues of the fadion which had at firft oppofed his eledion, he was acrr cufed of feveral crimes, and again cited before the king, who appointed a commif- fioner to try thofe charges. In confe quence of this, a fentence of deprivaRon was paffed againft him ; which being con fidered as unjuft, Theodorick called a na-; tional council, by whofe judgment it was repealed. The popes, as mentioned in book iv. chap, xii., being fubjeds to the emperors of the eaft, could not, though eleded by the clergy and people, be or-r dained, without the permiffion of the em peror. In D.LXxvii., Rome was fo clofe-: ly befieged by the Lombards, that none could go to requeft, at Conftantinople, the imperial affent to the eledion of Pelagius II. ; who was thereupon ordained, without the ufual mandate. CH. V. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 1 67 In analogy to the diftribution of civil power in the empire, when the church was recognized by law, the higher grada tions of ecclefiaftical rank included an au thority over the inferior, throughout the feveral diftrids. Thus, the patriarch, or bifhop, whofe refidence was the metropo lis of a great fecular jurifdidion, compre hending many provinces, was vefted with authority over the primates, or chief bi fhops, of thofe provinces ; while the pri mates had a fimilar jurifdidion over the bifliops of the inferior divifions.! The Go thic conquerors, having themfelves em braced Chriftianity, confirmed thofe dif tindions, and incorporated them with their own feudal dignities. The old Roman empire, which ftill fub- fifted in the eaft, not only retained, as above, its authority over the city of Rome, L iiij l6S VIEW OF HERALDRY, CH. V, but alfo over the territory or exarchate of Ravenna. By the eftablifhed ecclefiaftical econo^ my, the bifhop of Rome was patriarch of the weft, as his city had been the metror polls of the weftern empire, He had, far ther, a claim to an univerfal fupremacy, from St, Peter, his predeceffor in the bi- fhoprick, who was alleged to have been vefted with a vicarious power from Hea ven, Armed with fuch prerogatives, and fupported by the prevailing opinion, he rejeded, as heretical, and to the utmoft of his power oppofed, the imperial edid of Leo Ifauricus, for demolifhing the imager which had been fet up throughout the churches. Left fuch an oppofition fhould prove ineffedual, he fent a magnificent embaffy, " with many relicks," to Charles, mayor of the palace, regent or viceroy of CH. V. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 169 France, -entreating his protedion againft the attempts of the emperor. This re queft being granted, the authority of the pope increafed, as that of the emperor de- chned ; till, by a new tranfadion, founded on the former, it gradually acquired a fta- bility which bafHed the attempts of every adverfe power. In confequence of a pre vious negotiation with his confederate, he abfolved the people from their allegiance ; formaUy depofed Childerick, king of France ; and authorifed the mayor, Pepin, fon of Charles, to affume the crown : A new experiment, afterwards fuccefsfully re peated, to vacate, and to fill many of the thrones of Chriftendom, Pepin, in return for the crown he had thus obtained, drove the Lombards out of the exarchate of Ra venna, lately wrefted from the Greek em pire ; and conferred the fovereignty, toge ther with that of the Marca d'Ancota, on ^he APOSTOLIC SEE. This monarch, Charles 170 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH, V. the Great, his fon, and fome fucceeding princes, retained, over the papal state, a fhort-lived fupremacy, which did not m^erely ceafe to exift, but was converted into fo humble an inferiority, that the em perors were at laft reduced to hold the ftir- rup of the Roman pontiff. The clerical princes and lords, with all the other clergy of Europe, held them felves bound, by a more immediate and more facred allegiance to the head of the church, than to any of their temporal fu- periors ; whereby was fecured, at once, their own independence, and his univerfal dominion. The domains, or ifcmporal baronies, an nexed to the bifliopricks and other prela cies, were dignified fiefs, in virtue of this union. Some of the more eminent were CH, V. VIEW OF HERALDRY. I7I diftinguifhed alfo by the titles of coun ties, dukedoms,, and eledorates. Some, which had no fecular title, were yet entire fovereignties : Others, with or without fe cular titles, were great jurifdidions, ap proaching to fovereignty, The facerdotal honours of the feudal fyftem were, in many refpeds, different from the temporal. None of the ecclefir aftical dignities were hereditary ; nor were any of them, as fuch, including even the fupreme pontificate, conneded with nobi lity of blood. The gallantry, alfo, which diftinguifhed the courts of the other feudal princes, was here excluded, by the eccle fiaftical canons : And war, the favourite bufinefs of chivalry, feemed, of all things, the moft diflbnant from the charader of the minifters of religion and peace. Ne-? verthelefs, many of the clerical order oc- 172 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. V. cafionally aded as warriors ; and even chivalry itfeff was introduced into the church. For the defence of the pilgrims who reforted to the holy fepulchre, Baldwin, king of Jerufalem, with his fucceffor, Baldwin II. , in the beginning of the twelfth century, converted feveral frater nities of monks, of the orders of St. Au- guftine and St. Benedid, into fo many claffes of knights. Hence the origin of the different orders of chivalry, under a grand mafter, or fovereign ; and diftin guifhed by a particular habit, and by cer tain ftatutes or rules, like the regular cler gy. Thofe knights were, at the fame time, by their affociation, " companions " in arms :" A fpecies of fraternity of re mote antiquity. Hence the title " knight- " companion." 7 CH. V. * VIEW OF HERALDRY, 173 In addition to the ordinary badges of knighthood, as may be feen in Favine, on the Orders of the Holy Land, there were prefcribed, for the devices of the refpec- tive orders, certain forms of the crofs ; which, in war, were difplayed on fcarlet furcoats, as armorial infignia,. above their coats of mail; and, in peace, were worn embroidered on their clerical mantles, on the left fide, near the heart. The mantles were of different colours, according to the difierent rules of the monaftic orders. That of the knights of Malta was in imi tation of the garment of camel's hair, which their patron, St. John, wore in the defert. The crofs of Malta, fplit at the extremities into eight points, to reprefent the eight beatitudes, refembled a ftar, ra-- ther than a crofs : And, at the fame time, croffes were often reprefented as furround ed with rays. Hence the origin of the 174 ^^^"^ ^^ HERALDRYi CH. V; ftars which ftill diftinguifli fo many orders of knighthood. La Roque, chap. Ixxxvii. of his Treatife on Nobleffe, fays, that the title meifire [fir], as applied to the clergy, was at firft inferior to that of mafter ; the latter being. given to dodors, — the former, to non-gra duate curates. But when the title fire came to be appropriated to the king, that of meflire became more illuftrious. An inftance of the title sir being ap^ plied to our clergy, occurs in Froiffart; who, in fpeaking of fome of the earl'of Douglas's knights that kept by him after he fell at Otterburn, mentions, alfo, one of his chaplains, that fought vahantly^ " Sir Wftliam of Norbernych" [probably North-Berwick]. The clerical application of the title became common with us, whe- CH. V, VIEW OF HERALDRY, 1 75 ther derived from the cuftom of France, from fome pontifical grant, or from the eftablifhment which the eaftern monaftic kiughts, particularly thofe of St, John, had acquired in this country. At the beginning of the Reformation, as related by Spotfwood, Ann. m.d.lviii., Mill, a prieft, being apprehended by two others, " Sir George Strahan" and " Sir " Hugh Torry," and brought into the court of the archbiftiop of St. Andrew's, he difclaimed the title " Sir Walter " Mill ; " by which he was arraigned of herefy, before the primate, the archbi- Ihop of Athens, and fevvcral other bifliops, abbots, and dodors ; adding, that he had been too long one of the " pope's " KNIGHTS." A title thus employed judi cially, and difclaimed as charaderifing the pope's knights, appears to have had fome other foundation, than mere courtefy. It 176 view of heraldry. CH, V- was, about the fame period, in like man ner, applied to the monks. The proprie tor of Crofs-Ragweft abbey. Sir Adam Ferguffon, has a copy of a teftamentary deed, dated m.d.xxx, ; wherein a number of monks, to whom it relates, have each the title fir [dominus] prefixed to his name. Some more recent inftances of this title being applied to the clergy, occur in Malone's notes on Shakfpeare, [charader of " Sir Hugh Evans]." In the ecclefiaftical branch of the feudal fyftem, may be ranked the degrees of ho nour eftablifhed in the fchools, diftinguilh ed by the titles bachelor, and mafter or dodor ; and conferred, after a proper courfe of difcipline, by an inveftiture, like that of chivalry. Though thofe honours flourifhed under the Ihade of the church, they were not confined to theology, but extended to the various fciences. Here CH. V. VIEW OF HERALDRY* 1 77 the dignitaries, as they may be called, formed a kind of chapter, refembling the court of an ecclefiaftical princedom ; and vefted, in many inftances, with an exten five jurifdidion, beftdes the power of con ferring academical honours. When the Emperor Frederick IL, in M.cc.xxiv., inftituted the univerfity of Na ples, as ftated by Giannone, he fupplied it with able profeffors in all faciftties ; con ferring many ample privileges, befides the cognizance of civil caufes, and the right of granting to candidates letters of approba tion. But he referved to himfelf, and his fucceffors, the prerogative of conferring the degree of mafter or dodor, at that time fynonymous. With us, the degree of dodor, in any of the faculties, together with that of fer geant at law, has always been held fupe- M 178 VIEW OF HERALDRY, CH. V. rior to the rank or degree of efquire, and next to the honour of knighthood ; as may be feen in the firft volume of Blackftone's Commentaries, on the article Precedency. La Roque [chap. xlii.J fays, that, at the council of Bafle, in m,cccc.xxxi., the Em peror Sigifmond ordained, that dodors fhould precede knights. The moft diftinguilhed rank or degree belonging to the academical department of the feudal fyftem, was, according to a peculiar acceptation of the term, ftyled " COUNT palatine ;" an anomalous literary dignity, of the clafs of higher nobility, and conferred chiefly by the pope and the emperor. Selden gives a copy of the pa tent by which the redor of the univerfity of Helmftad, and his fucceffors in office, were advanced to the dignity of counts palatine, by the Emperor Ferdinand II. CH. V. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 1 79 Among their other prerogatives, thofe counts were empowered to grant academi cal honours ; particularly; to beftow on the poets that higheft prize of ambition, the LAUREL CROWN; In volume x; Mem. Acad, Infer; et Belles Lettres, is a difquifition concern ing the '* crowned poets," by M, L'Abbe du Refnel ; who fays, that, from the floral games, inftituted at ToUloufe in M.ccc.xxiv.j arofe the ufage of conferring degrees in poetry, in imitation of thofe re ceived at the univerfitieS; which had been introduced about the beginning of the thirteenth century; The reception of aca demical degrees being termed receiving the bachelor's or doctor's laurel, he adds, that, in the famous Medical College of Salerno, doctors were inaugurated with the LAUREL CROWN, Mij 180 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. V. Another, and earlier order of literati, belonging to this clafs, were diftinguilhed by honours, which they received at the hands of the ladies, fimilar to the prizes of the tournament. Thofe were the trouba dours, or poets, of Provence ; whom, ac cording to Meneftrier and St. Palayae, the ladies adorned with crowns, interwoven with peacock's feathers ; a plumage in great requeft, and equivalent here to the laurel of the academic bards. Differing, perhaps, little in intrinfic value, but fupe rior in beauty and permanence, and more confonant with the decorations of chival ry, crowns, compofed chiefly of thofe ma terials, were fo far preferred to laurel, * They were not reftrided to the trouba- xlours ; for fuch a diadem, ornamented with gold, was fent by Pope Urban IIL to Henry II, , wherewith one of his fons was to be crowned king of Ireland; a^ Cir. V. VIEW OF HERALDRY. l8l mentioned by Selden, under the title Lord, — and by Lord Lyttleton, under the year m.c.lxxxvi. The troubadours, whofe firft appearance was in the eleventh century, were only a particular order of the bards or minftrels, which, from the earlieft times, are found among all the Gothic nations. The fol lowing account of thofe poets occurs in Seattle's " Elements of Moral Science." " That part of the fouth of France which " was anciently called Provincia Romana, " and ftill bears the name of Provence, *' was, about this time, the moft civilized " country in Europe. It, no doubt, re- " tained fomething of the old Roman dif- " cipline, and probably of the Greek too ; " MarfeiUes, a great city in it, having " been a Grecian colony. Here it was *' the firft fpecimens appeared of compofi- M iij l8'2 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. V. " tion in a modern tongue. They were " made in verfe, by perfons, who, in the " language of that country, were called *' troubadours, that is, poets ; for the " term has the fame etymological fenfe " with the Greek word poet ; both being *' derived from verbs fignifying, to makq •' or invent." From the preceding enumeration of feu-, dal dignities, and the variety of honorary inveftitures by different charaderiftic fym bols, it appears, that the honours of the ages of chivalry were far from being con fined to nobility of blood. The junior clafs of this nobility, or primary order OF CHIVALRY, coufiftcd of two degrccs. The firft included thofe whofe merit had been rewarded by armorial enfigns, toge ther with their fons, both ftyled " gentle- " men of- coat armour." The fecond in- CH. V, VIEW OF HERALDRY. 1 83 eluded their grandfons, and more remote defcendants, who were called " gentlemen " of blood," The proper armorial diftindion of the former feems to have been a coat of arms without any creft, wreath, helmet, or other " tymbre" [any armorial ornament placed above the fhield] ; that of the latter, a coat of " arms, tymbred," Though, ahcient- iy, none but knights could wear helmets at the tournaments, they were afterwards borne on armorial enfigns, to denote " no- " bility of race." Meneftrier on No bleffe, chap, vii, gives an ordonnance of the Archduke Albert, prohibiting, in the low countries, thofe who were not noble by defcent, from bearing " tymbred-arms." Favine, in book i. chap. ii. fpeaks of the creft and mantle as expreffive of " nobi- '* lity by defcent." M iiij l84 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. V. The coat of arms was a diploma of he reditary nobility, in contradiftindion to the nobihty or dignity attached to high office, or to any other merely perfonal fta-i tion of eminence. Analogous, in point of eftimation, to this rank of nobility, were official honours of the fecondary clafs. The fecond order of chivalry was that of efquire. Such were all gentlemen, who being initiated in the military profelfion, had alfo, by a public inveftiture, received arms [implements of war]. Such, like wife, as had been advanced to the rank of efquire by the fovereign, though not pre vioufly gentlemen, Persons of the higheft rank, who had not received knighthood, were, in that view, termed efquires, Favine, on the Order of the Ship, recites part of the cere^ CH. V. VIEW OF HERALDRY. I 85 monial employed in conferring knight hood on William Count of Holland, about to be crowned King of the Romans at Aix la Chappelle, where he was ftyled " ef- " quire" by the King of Bohemia, when prefenting him to the Cardinal Legate to be knighted. In this country, efquires were diftin guilhed from the fimple nobijes, or gentle men, by wearing a silver collar. Thofe collars are ftill worn by heralds, and fer geants at arms, who are created efquires by the inveftiture into their refpedive of fices. Certain offices of magiftracy, and other honorary ftations, were analogous, or equi valent to the rank of efquire. The third, and more appropriate order OF CHIVALRY, was that of knight : diftin- x86 VIEW OF heraldry. ch. v. guifhed from each of the foregoing by an inveftiture which implied fuperior merit and addrefs in arms — By the attendance of one or more Efquires, by the title Sir, by wearing a creft, an helmet of pecuhar form, apparel peculiarly fplendid, poliflied armour of a particular conftrudion, gilded fpurs, and a golden collar. Such collars are, together with ftars, ftill worn by the knights of the Affociated Orders ; and > might be worn alfo by knights bachelors, as the fumptuary ordinances, it is believ ed, prohibited thofe only who were under the degree of knighthood from wearing golden collars. Persons of condition, who had not at tained the honour of knighthood, came to be permitted to wear the " harnois blanc," or polifhed armour, and to be addreffed by the title meifire, a confiderable time before the difcontinuance of the tourna:^ GH, V, VIEW OF HERALDRY. T87 ments, and other diftinguifhing ufages of chivalry. The creft has long fince ceafed to be a mark of knighthood, and become common to all who bear coats of arms. Several magiftrates, and other perfons in eminent ftations, are put fo far on a footing with knights of the refpedive or ders, as to be alfo diftinguilhed. by wearing golden chains, or collars. The doctorate, or higheft degree in the Academies, is, in point of rank, analogous to knighthood, and, with us, clafted next to it. This DEGREE, like others belonging to the fchools, is diftinguifhed by a parti cular habit, and by inveftiture with the t;ap or piltum. 1 88 VIEW OF heraldry, ch, v. Knighthood being conferred on per fons belonging to different general claffes in fociety, thofe claffes came to be con fidered as particular ranks of knighthood. The fimple nobles or gentlemen, honoured with knighthood, were ftyled knights ba chelors. The poffeffors of great eftates, who could bring into the field above four and twenty gentlemen, or knights of their own vaflals, each with one or more per fonal attendants, were ftyled ba^tnerets, and knights-bannerets, after receiving knighthood, in allufion to the fquare flag or banner in which their arms were dif played, to diftinguifh them from thofe of inferior rank and power, whofe armorial enfigns were exhibited in rounded -or ta pered flags, termed pennons and guidons. When the fortunes of fuch as were nearly on a footing with bannerets increafed, they were advanced to that dignity, fome-- CH. V, VIEW OF HERALDRY. 1 89 times by the delivery of a banner, fome times by the ceremony of having the ta pered part of their pennon torn off in pre fence of the army. An inftance occurs in Froiflart, who defcribes the ceremony, giv ing the banner to Sir John Chandois, by Edward Prince of "Whales, called the Black Prince, and Peter King of Caftile. One of the armorial diftindions belong ing to the third clafs of nobility, termed bannerets, or knights bannerets, was the WREATH, confidered as a kind of diadem, and reprefented, not in the ufual form of a filken chaplet, but of an open golden CROWN or CORONET. A badge, fays Menef trier, in chap. iv. of the Origin of Armo ries, derived from the tournaments, where fuch as had diftinguifhed themfelves were crowned by the hands of the ladies, with wreaths, which, in the old romances, are called " chaplets of honour." that is. igo VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH., Vi " caps of dignity, garlands, or crowns." In chap. iii. on exterior ornaments, he remarks, that Froiffart, vol. i. chap, xxix.', fpeaks of the Lords of Germany, and of the Low Countries, who made a league with the King of England againft the King of France, ftating, that each of them had a certain number of men at arms with HELMETS AND TYMBRES COURONNEZ. " OH- " ver de la March fays, that none ought " to adorn the tymbres of their armorial " enfigns with a Golden Crown, but gen-^ " tlemen of name, arms, and cry" [gen* tlemen of noble anceftry, having arras, and a " cry of war]." " Hence on fo ma-, " ny feals of arms of ancient lords, and " knights-bannerets, are crowns reprefent-* " ed upon the helmets." Such as are converfant in heraldry, eafily diftinguifli the above crowns from the co ronets borne on coats of arms, to mark €H. V. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 191 the dignity of baron, viscount, earl, MARQUIS, or DUKE. The former are attach ed to the helmet ; are of a fmall fize, and all of one kind, — a circle with trefoils raifed on the upper edge. The latter are larger ; of different fpecific forms, accord ing to the different gradations of the higher or princely nobility; and on ar morial infignia, in this country, are not reprefented as attached to the helmet. In later times, when armies were no longer levied on the footing of the feu dal conftitutions, the dignity of banneret ceafed to be in any meafure territorial, and became entirely a perfonal honour. Thenceforward, knighthood conferred un der the royal ftandard, difplayed in open war, was held to be the dignity of ban- neretfhip, and gave precedency of knights bachelors, and of knights of the Bath, Thofe bannerets confift of two clafles ; 192 VIEW OF Heraldry, cif. V, the firft includes fuch as are knighted by the king in perfon ; the fecond, fuch as are knighted by his lieutenant [the com mander in chief]. There can be no doubt that the king could difpenfe with the circumftantial qualification of being created on the fcene of adion, fhould he think proper to confer the dignity without it. Thofe two claffes of bannerets differ only in precedency, the one being ranked before, the other after baronets, and the younger fons of barons and vifcounts. They are both diftinguifhed by bearing SUPPORTERS, with a BANNER OF THEIR ARMS on each fide of the fhield. Knights bachelors, or fimple knights; knights bannerets, in the more modern acceptation of the title ; knights of the Va rious focial orders, as thofe of the Temple, and of St. John, including the chiefs or prefidents of fuch orders ; are all the claffes ch. v. view of heraldry. 193 of knighthood properly fo called. But fo eminent was knighthood of the latter de fcription, that the chiefs of certain affoci- ate orders, were, in that charader, and under their military title of " grand ma- " STER," recognized as sovereign princes. The two general clafles or ranks where in knighthood was united to a condition of greater eminence than that which was common to the knights bachelors, the later knights bannerets, or to the knights- companions of the focial orders above mentioned, were the more confiderable feudal Lords, together with fuch as held the dignity of Princes, Both were exter- naUy diftinguilhed from all the inferior or ders of chivalry, by difplaying their arms on the BANNER, while the arms of Gentle men, Efquires, and Unbannered Knights, could be difplayed on no large flag, but N 194 VIEW OF HERALDRY, CH. V, the tapered enfign called a pennon or guidon. The princes and chief lords were not generally known under the title banneret, but by the particular title pf dignity be longing to their refpedive territories. The general order of princes, or the higheft rank to which knighthood was or dinarily annexed, confifted of various par ticular claftes and degrees, externally di ftinguilhed by CROWNS and purple robes ; the one, from diftant ages, the chief badge ; the other, the favourite livery of royalty. In the infancy of the arts, while moft nations were in a ftate of barbarifm, the Phoenicians difcovered the Tyrian purple. The beauty of the dye was enhanced, as CII. V. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 1 95 the rudenefs of thofe times could not imi tate it ; it was chofen to diftinguifh the apparel of royalty, and continues to do fo to this day. The modern royal purple is fomething between the fapphire and amethyft ; the ancient was, according to Du Goguet, a kind of dark blood colour : it is now call ed crimfon, and worn chiefly by inferior princes. The State Robes of the Britifli and Irifh Peerage, and the cap or tiara of their Coronets, are crimfon velvet furred with ermine. By a natural affociation, the vifible ex cellence of material objeds becomes fym- bolically expreffive of that which is ab- ftrad and invifible. Hence were crowns of various forts chofen to adorn the head, in token of fuperior merit or eminence ; hence alfo did golden crowns become fo N ij 196 VIEW OF HERALDRY, CH, V. univerfally emblematical of royal power and dignity, Such charaderiftic objeds in- ftantaneoufly addrefs the imagination with an ^mphafis beyond the powers of language, The general order of princes, includes independent fovereigns, as, the Pope, the Emperor, moft Kings ; and, incidentally, fome of inferior title, as, the Prince of Be- nevento, before he fubmitted to the em pire ; and the Duke of Pruffia, before he affumed the name of king. It includes, fecondly, The clafs of dcr pendent fovereigns, as, the Kings of Naples and Bohemia. Inferior kings, as thofe of Majorca and Man, Potentates, who have neither the royal title nor dignity, as, the Eledors of the Empire, the Arch Duke of Auftria, the Grand Duke of Tufcany, Many other dukes ; alfo, the Grand Mafter of Malta, the Grand Mafter of the Teuto- GH. V. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 1 97 nic Knights, Archbifliops, Bifliops, Ab bots, Priors, Abbeffes, PrioreffeS, Mar quifes, Counts, Barons, belonging to the College of Princes of the Empire, with other fovereigns of like rank. It includes, thirdly. The clafs of-princes" who are neither fovereign nor indepen dent ; whofe titles and dignity, even royal dignity not excepted, correfpond to thofe of the fovereign princes ; as, the King of the Romans, prefumptive fucceflbr to the German empire ; the Doges, eledive chief magiftrates of the republics of Venice and Genoa, who, in the name of thofe com munities, were refpedively Vefted with an adminiftrative and titular royalty, on ac count of Cyprus, Candia, Corfica, king doms which belonged to the above com monwealths ; the prefumptive heirs, and other immediate branches of imperial and royal families ; the College of Cardinals ; N iij 198 VIEW OF heraldry; ch. v- the prefumptive heirs, and other immedi ate branches of fubordinate reigning fami- fies in Europe ; aU who poffeffed, or were raifed to princely dignity, without having any domain fufficiently important to hold the rank of a princedom, or a jurifdidion fo eminent as to conftitute fovereignty. From the moft diftinguifhed ranks in the clafs of non-fo vereign princes, it ap pears, that even the higheft political dig nity is not, with regard to the pofleffor, neceffarily conneded with fovereignty, nor with any eminent degree of political au thority and power. Great independent ftates have conferred various degrees of this dignity, and may confer all fuch de grees of it as are not inconfiftent with their own fupremacy, with the genius of their government, nor with the law and cuftom of nations. Princely dignity, in cluding Royalty, is the higheft they can ch. V. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 1 99 confer. Its fecular gradations are general ly diftinguifhed by infignia, modelled after thofe of Royalty ; and its ecclefiaftical, by enfigns, affimilated to thofe of the Pontifi cate. All degrees of the epifcopal order, to gether with fuch abbots and priors as are exempt from epifcopal jurifdidion, are dif tinguifhed by a mitre, fomewhat fimilar to the papal diadem. The Cardinals, Confifting of Bifhops, Priefts, Deacons, and forming at once the Confiftory or Chapter, the Supreme Coun cil, and the Eledoral College of the ponti ficate, are diftinguiftied by the title of EMINENCE, by purple ROBES, and a scarlet HAT, with pendents at the fides, fretted like the mefhes of a net, and ending in a number of taffels. Archbifliops and bi- N iiij 200 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. Vv (hops have green hats, with fmaller pen dents, of like form. Towards the end of the fixth century ,^ as ftated by Giannone, in book iv. chap. xii., " ftranger-priefts, deacons, and fub- " deacons, admitted into many churches, " as thofe of Rome, Milan, Aquileia, *' were termed incardinAti, or cardina- " LES : A title, which, at its rife, did not " denote any fupremacy; yet, in the fol- " lowing agesy made fo dazzfing a figure, " as of late to vie with the royal dignity." In book xvii. chap, iii., he relates, that, " at the council of Lyons, A, D, m.cCxlv. " Pope Innocent IV,, fitting on the " throne, with Baldwin, emperor of Con- " ftantinople, on his right-hand, " adorn- " ed" the cardinals with red hats, to " fhow, that they ought to flied their blood " in the fervice of the church, againft the CH. V. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 201 " Emperor Frederick IL, whom he there " depofed. At the fame time, were " granted, as farther marks of dignity, the *' train-bearer and the filver mace, when " they rode on horfeback, that they might " be regarded, as on a footing with kings. " This," it is added, " he did out of ma- " lice to Frederick ; who had faid, that " prelates fhould walk bare-footed, in imi- *' tation of Chrift and the apoftles." There are many prelates, of inferior power and confequence, who cannot be confidered as belonging to the order of princes. There is alfo' an intermediate clafs of nobility, having the titles of marquis, count, and baron ; whofe ' rank may be viewed, as fomewhat fimilar to that which is derived from knighthood. Though their titles are hereditary, and their armo- 203 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. Yi rial enfigns bear coronets, as badges of rank ; yet they are not fo eminent, as to be included in the princely order, Thofe belonging to the clafs of princes, are, in fome inftances, diftinguifhed by fuch fub fidiary titles, as that of eminence, grace, highness ; and in others, by wearing their refpedive coronets on the head, as well as on the armorial enfigns. Most of the ecclefiaftical degrees of princes have here been brought into view, with no reference to the orders of knight-' hood; but becaufe the curfory enumera tion of the feveral claffes of princes would have been altogether incomplete, had it not included thofe of ecclefiaftical dignity. Honorary fymbols have been particu larly fpecified, as expreffive of the various orders and degrees of rank, in contradi ftindion to formal armories, the general ch, v. view of heraldry. 203 infignia of hereditary nobility. The di ftindions to which honorary fymbols refer red, were many of them equal, fome of them fuperior, and others, as the pope dom, eminently fuperior, to any honour that could be derived from blood. Elec tive fovereignties, whether ecclefiaftical -or laical, conferred on the poffeffors a dig^ nity equal to that of hereditary fovereigns; of the fame clafs, who alfo were them-i felves greater by office than by birth. Among the honorary fymbols not necef farily conneded with birth, may be rank ed certain formal coats of arms, in imita tion of thofe which, by the law of chival ry, diftinguifhed particular perfons and fa milies, as enfigns of hereditary nobility. Such coats of arms, fo called in a feconda ry and lefs proper fenfe, were attached to empires, kingdoms, civil communities, high offices, and dignified ecclefiaftical 204 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. V» and fecular fiefs. They had a reference to the TERRITORY of the fiefs and independent dominions, and to the nature of the parti cular communities and offices which they reprefented, and ferved to diftinguifh. It has been ftated above, that the fpeci fic rank or DIGNITY of the refpedive com munities, OFFICES, PRINCELY HONOURS, and SOVEREIGNTIES, was more particularly ex prefled by SYMBOLS accompanying coats OF arms ; as, CAPS or hats, swords, mitres, CORONETS, diadems. Those obfervations are, in fome mea fure, illuftrative of the manner in which HERALDRY difcriminatcs and charaderifes the various honorary diftindions belong ing to the feudal fyftem. It views fuch diftindions generally, as territorial, offi cial, profeffional, perfonal, or derived from birth ; and, in relation to a particular CH. V. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 205 kingdom or ftate, it confiders them as po litical, civil, military, ecclefiaftical, or aca demical. The political dignities are thofe con neded with the fupreme legiflative or ju diciary power of the ftate, with fubordi nate fovereignty, or with a jurifdidion ap proaching to fovereignty over the refpec- tive great fiefs included within the territo ry of the ftate. The ecclefiaftical and fe cular poffeffors of fuch dignities, in Ger many, were ftyled princes of the empire ; in France, peers of the realm ; in Bri tain, the fecular were ftyled peers ; and the ecclefiaftical, spiritual lords of parlia ment. The DIGNITIES of constable, marshal, ADMIRAL, and other high military ho-' NOURS, ufually held as fiefs, or united, either incidentally or hereditarily, to great 2o6 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. V. territorial fiefs, were, in this view, a branch of the political department ; as were alfo other great offices, of a civil na ture, but generally held by military te nure, or, like the following, united to ter ritorial fiefs fo held. Such were the offices of HIGH STEWARD, CHAMBERLAIN, TREASURER, BUTLER, To thefe may be added the chan cellorship, or prefidency of the great na tional council ; an office, political, in re fped of eminence, and as conneded with the ftate at large, but, in its own nature, wholly civil, and, for the moft part, not even incidentally conneded with thq exer- cife of arms. The civil dignities, properly fo called, are thofe belonging to inferior gradations of authority or jurifdidion, in reference either to the whole, or to a part of the community. Such were the dignities pof feffed by judges, and other perfons of CH. V. VIEW OE HERALDRY. 207 rank, refpedively vefted with the admini- ftration of different branches of the autho rity of the fovereign ; or holding any ho nourable, official, or profefllonal ftation more immediately relative to peace than to war. The chief ecclefiaftical dignities, not in-r eluded in the political department, were certain inferior abbeys and priories, vefted with jurifdidions fimilar to thofe of higher rank, yet either not held immediately of the crown, or not fufficiently eminent to confer on the poffeffors a fe^.t in the na tional council. To this clafs alfo belong academical hot, NOURS, modelled after the orders of clii;- valry, but inftituted by the authority of the church. Some of thofe, as the degrees •of bachelor and dodor of theology, and of the canon law, were exprefsly clerical ; 208 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. V. and all of them were obtained on account of literary eminence, which was, at the fame time, a proper qualification for the higheft ecclefiaftical preferment. The military honours not included in the political department, were vavasories, or lordfhips, and banneretfhips not hold ing immediately of the crown ; and, in- confiderable fiefs in chivalry, which, though held of the crown, were not of fufficient importance to confer a feat in parliament. — The perfonal dignity of knighthood ; the rank of esquire, alfo per fonal ; together with the degree of gentle man, charaderifed by the pofleffion of ar morial enfigns, whether acquired perfonal ly or by inheritance. In the feveral European ftates, the pub lic mihtary force is now confolidated un der one general head, of whom aU ofl^qes CH. V. view OF HERALDRY. 209 conferring rank are immediately held. This rank, though not hereditary, is in other refpeds, equivalent to that which, in the times of chivalry, was conneded with the bearing of armories ; as the officers are gentlemen, and esquires, by their re fpedive commiffions from the fovereign. The higher gradations of mihtary rank correfpond to the higher orders of chi valry. In this country, field officers rank next to knights-bachelors ; and generals and admirals, though their rank is not ftated in the common order of preceden cy, may be regarded as equal or perhaps fuperior to knights. As war is no longer the principal occu pation, it has alfo ceafed to be in any meafure the exclufive path to advance-- ment. Eminence in many of the mecha-. nical, commercial, and liberal arts, leads. now to the goal of _ eftimation, and inde-^ o 21 0 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. V, pendence ; efpecially eloquence, when it finds its way to the fenate, is often crown ed with the higheft public honours. The ftatute of Henry V., requiring all perfons to be diftinguilhed, in legal pro-; ceedings, by fome particular addition, as that of their calling, profelfion, or ftation, has made the titles gentleman and efquire as familiar in the courts of common law as they formerly were in the court of chival ry. The title efquire is applied to all per fons of condition not diftinguifhed by fu perior titles, including refpedable citizens of the higher clafs. The title gentleman is apphed to perfons of liberal education, living in a reputable ftyle, without follow ing any employment which may detrad from it. In fociety, the term gentleman implies fomething additional to this de fcription : It fignifies a man endowed with probity, with generofity and delicacy of ch. v. view of HERALDRY. 2 1 1 fentiment, with a difpofition rather to re ceive, than be capable of doing an injury, and to entertain a due refped for others, without depreciating himfelf. In perfons of higher rank, thofe qualities are not ex- peded in a higher degree ; though they may, perhaps, be fet off with a fuperior external polifh. Education and refpeda- bility of ftation are, indeed, adventitious : And probity, the moft diftinguifhed of the charaderiftics above enumerated, is indif penfible in every rank, whether above or below that of gentleman ; while, at the fame time, it adds luftre to, all who pof- fefs it. At the Heralds College, a gentleman is, as formerly, one who bears a coat of arms. Oij CH. VI. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 213 CHAPTER VL Diftindions of Rank infeparable from the eftablifhment of Society — ^Neceffarily refult from the PofTefTion of Property. — From the feparate Adminiftration of the different Branches of Government. — Popular Govern ment. — Its neceffary Inftability. — Impoflible for it to exdude difttnftions of Rank. — Conclufion, — Recapi tulating fome of the Advantages derived to Society from the Feudal Government, and from the Spirit of Chivalry. IN fpeculation, it has fometimes been queftioned, whether it would not be con^ ducive to the happinefs of fociety to ex clude diftindions of rank. Yet nothing can be more certain, than that fuch di" ftindions are unavoidable. "Were it poffible to place men on an equal footing, and to enfure their contim^ O iij 2X4- VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. VI. ance in fuch a ftate, it would reprefs every important exertion, where there were nei ther motive nor hope of rifing above the common level ; nor any fear, becaufe no poffibility of finking below it. Wherever property is eftablifhed, all men endeavour to obtain it ; but as they are not all equal ly ftrong, healthy, nor endowed with the fame capacity, they cannot all be equally fuccefsful. • The poffefllon of property, by exempt- ing fome individuals from labour, enables them to obtain knowledge. This opens many fources of diftindion, by developing genius, or thofe fuperior energies of mind which lead to high attainments, and to the forming and aecomplilhing arduous defigns. Here the view of property may be loft in the love of fame, or public ho nour ; for there is in the human conftitu tion, an innate defire of eminence, which ch. VI. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 21$ public honours will allure beyond every mercenary confideration. An important effed of the eftablifhment of property, refults from the right where by it is tranfmitted and fecured in perpe tuity to the heirs of the poffeffor. This introduces, not temporary or perfonal di ftindions, as thofe of magiftracy, of mafter and fervant, rich and poor, which are alfo infeparable from the eftablifhment of pro perty ; but hereditary diftindions, con neded with hereditary influence. Affluence and fplendour come to be confidered as the birth-right of fuch fami-^ lies as have long poffefted an hereditary fortune. This is a natural confequence of the eftablifliment of property ; hence men born to thofe advantages, are in effed, and in common eftimation, as reaUy diftin- O iiij 2li^ VIEW OE HERALDRY. GH. Vis," guifhed by them as though they were in" herent, and not merely adventitious en^ dowments. Perhaps the younger branches of fuch families are not all poffefled of pro perty, yet they fhare in the refpedability of their connedions, and generally poflefs the means of heightening ordinary talents, by accomplifliments which refemble the, more immediate gifts of nature. Were the language of chivalry to be here employed, thofe families would be ftyled noble. But whether titles, or names of dignity, be, or be not fuperadded, the diftindion itfelf continues, and cannot be fet afide, fo long as property fhall continue to be fo powerful aii incentive to univer fal induftry and exertion. This fhows, that nobility of blood, of hereditary diftindions of rank, are by no CH. VI. VIEW OF HERALDRY, 217 means peculiar to chivalry ; but would alfo be found in the moft perfed demo cracy. If the republic Of Lacedfemon be held an exception to the poffeffion of property in the manner referred to, that ftate had many diftindions of rank, efpecially the moft odious, thofe of tyrant and flave, in unrivalled perfedion. In free ftates, there are ftill other di ftindions which neceffarily arife from the . feparation of the powers of government into the political or legiflative ; the judi cial, or that of adminiftering the laws ; and the executive, or that of enforcing the de crees of the legiflative, and the decifions of the judicial power. Those feveral powers of government are not indeed equally capable of being 21 8 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. VI. exercifed by the people over themfelves, efpecially the executive power. They may exercife legiflative power, through the me dium of a reprefentative body, which, however, muft be fo far limited in point of number, as diftindly to hear thofe who addrefs it, otherwife it would be a tumult, rather than a deliberative aflembly. The judicial power may be exercifed, in a very ample manner, by the people. By means of juries, they may judge and decide, without appeal, on the lives of their fellow citizens. The fupreme criminal judicature, thus ftated as retained by the people in their own hands, together with the concluding obfervations which follow, is here brought into view, on account of its connedion with the foregoing. It is indeed no di ftindion of rank ; but a branch of fove* ch. VI. VIEW OF HERALDRY. Sip reignty not lefs important than that of le- giflation. It may be added, that the executive power could not be adminiftered by means of juries. Were juries to have uncontrollable power of executing or fuf- pending fentences of condemnation, they would, in numberlefs cafes, be interefted in delaying, evading, or preventing juftice, from affedion, hopes of gain, fear, and other caufes. While diftindions of rank are infepa rable from fociety, there is an equality • alfo with which its happinefs and per fedion are infeparably conneded. This equality confifts in the common right by which each individual is equally entitled to acquire, poflefs, and enjoy, in the man ner moft agreeable to himfelf, whatever he 220 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. VJi can obtain without violating the very fame rights, in others, which he himfelf pof- feffes. This maxim is illuftrated by the laws of free and well regulated ftates, where the life, reputation, liberty, and property of the loweft fervant are equally facred with thofe of his mafter : Where all obftacles of a political nature are re moved, and every barrier open that may lead to a preferable fituation. The great end of government is to pro mote the health of the body-politic : But amOng mankind, the members which compofe this body, there is not only weaknefs, fallibifity, or liablenefs to err through miftake ; there is a depravity, fo malignant, as too often to require that the parts moft infeded by it be cut off. As this poifon cannot be totally expeUed, ap proved fl^ift, experience, and care, are ne* ch. vi. view of heraldry. 221 ceflary, in order to weaken and counterad its influence. Virtue, efpecially a fenfe of juftice, infpiring the community to adopt equal laws, which fhall give to all their due, is here the only antidote of fuffi^ cient efficacy. The celebrated political communities of antiquity, caUed, by a bold figure of fpeech, free states, were but penurioufly fuppfied with this anti-- dote. Hence was each of them divided againft itfeff; the depravity of the ftronger party, trampling on the weaker, claffing them with brute animals, and other com mon objeds of property; although they were innocent, endowed with reafon, and with all the exquifite perfedions and inef^ fable fenfibilities which accompany it» Besides the internal diforders incident to fociety, it is liable alfo to be aftailed by ftorms from without ; nor will it ever be Sjcempted from this danger, till injuftice^ 222 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. VI. i envy, covetoufnefs, and difhoneft ambition forfake the earth. To frame a new fyftem of government, capable at once of averting thofe evils, and procuring the utmoft attainable good ; of fecuring the fafety and liberty of indi viduals againft foreign hoftiHty, and elud ing the verfatile manoeuvres of unprin cipled ambition : To frame fuch a fyftem of government, is not a talk befitting the naked and untutored eye which views the political economy of fociety as it views the ftars, fatisfied with the clearnefs of the profped, yet unconfcious of the diftance, magnitude, and complicated evolutions, which the aid of the telefcope, and a due acquaintance with aftronomy would dif- clofe. In a government completely popular, tliere is not any permanent principle of CH. VI. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 22^ ftability, except, perhaps, the fyftem of municipal law, and the hereditary fuccef- fion of property ; which laft feems fome what diffonant from the fpirit of the con- - ftitution. The fupreme, as well as all the inferior powers of the ftate, is eledive. It is no minally lodged in the great national coun cil : But all its operations are accelerated, obftruded, or repelled, according to the fuperior confequence or addrefs of the ad verfe fadions, which are each of them eager and indefatigable to monopolize for the public good, the entire diredion of the community. The wefght of fuch a ftate in the fcale of nations is greatly diminifhed by the in ftability and fluduation which cherifhes internal ftruggles, and courts the inters ference of foreign powers, 224 VIEW OF HERALDRY- CH. VI,' Distinctions of rank, theoretically dil^ claimed, yet infeparably united to wealth, and to different portions or gradations of power, are purfued with that ftrong avi dity which refults from the united love of gain, authority, and pre-eminence. A government entirely popular feems thus but a prepoftrous expedient for the final abolition of rank. If it do not in- creafe, it is far from diminifhing the num ber of individuals fo diftinguiflied. It only concentrates all diftindion in riches, Kiid in official power. Thence arife two fituations, in them-« felves refpedable, but here in an efpecial manner open to the ungenerous and gro velling, who, in fuch fituations, never for-. get to difplay the proverbial infolence of office ; and the equally defpicable pride of fordid w^^^*^ , ch. VI. view of HERALi3RY. 225 Some men are born with intuitive fupe- riority to this meannefs ; fome efcape it, alfo, in confequence of a proper education. On the other hand, it is equally certain, that all adventitious diftindions, in com mon with thofe arifing from office or wealth, are liable to be abufed ; and may incur contempt, where the poffeffors are unreftrained by a fenfe of propriety, and deftitute of inherent worth. But if the diftindions infeparable from fociety are, by means of fome political arrangement, centred in riches, and in official power, without any regulation to counterad the effeds moft likely to fol low, the fyftem of manners refulting from the pride of wealth, and from a mercenary thirft of gain, will be apt to infpire grofs infolence of charader, with a contempt for every fpecies of excellence unconned- sd with the pofleffion of money. 226 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH. VI, The abufes which may be afcribed to adventitious honour, are, perhaps, moft effedually obviated or checked, where the diftindions of fociety are placed on a libe ral fcale, correfponding to that variety of eminence which flourifhes under the mpft improved political economy. All have the rank of freemen, without being pre cluded from any other to which either their exertions or talents may entitle them. The laws interpofe no barrier be tween the people at large, and that clafs which chivalry ftyled noble ; nor do they afford any advantage to the latter, who are neceftarily diftinguifhed by thofe circum ftances only, or chiefly, that are infepar able from the poffeffion of property, or by a certain cultivation, equally unconneded with legal privilege. In a comparative view of political infti tutions, that has a claim to be preferred,. CH. VI. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 227 , where the power and honours which dif tinguifh the higher ranks are a defence and ornament to the community, without either oppreffing, degrading, or being un attainable by fuch as belong to the infer rior orders ; where idlenefs is difcounte- nanced, violence reftrained, and encou ragement extended to every individual, to exert, for his own and the general good, whatever talents or capacity he may pof- fefs. But if the operation of political caufes counterad thofe purpofes, or the fupreme jiower fail to impofe an effedual reftraint on the unjuft and cruel propenfi- ties of human nature, or to encourage to the utmoft every laudable exertion, it fo far falls fhort, or is fubverfive of the end at which all government ought to aim. Accordingly, where political power has been employed in avowed and perfevering oppofition to fuch principles, as, in the 228 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH, Vl. cafe of innocent perfons doomed to flave ry, efpecially thofe who were under the ancient governments, this ufe of power is treafon againft our common nature. The feveral governments which Poly- bius defcribes as adopted in rotation, each with a view to corred the abufes of the foregoing, were alike hoftile to thofe who had been thus thruft beyond the verge of fociety. Neither the feudal, nor the fucceeding commercial fyftem can be entirely acquit ted of the fame charge ; though exalted generofity of fentiment muft be numbered among the charaderiftics of the former; and the latter occupies a period wherein the principles of jurifprudence, and the rights of humanity, are better underftood, than at any preceding era. CH. VI. VIEW OF HERALDRY. 229 It is at the fame time to be acknow ledged, that mankind are indebted to the spirit of CHIVALRY, in connedion with THE. FEUDAL SYSTEM, for the following dif tinguilhed improvements, in reference to their focial and to their political condition, as well as for another of ftill more diffi cult attainment, in reference to the ftate of reciprocal lioftility, fo frequently their lot, , It infufed into the general current of manners that courtefy, or mutual affability and deference, which added new charms to focial life, It rendered the ardent fen fibilities of youth, fources of the moft ge nerous and devoted attachments ; while it encouraged their paflloii for renown, to feek gratification in arduous enterprifes, for redreffmg the injuries of the oppreffed. To the external accomplifliments acquired in courts, and perfeded by addrefs in mi litary exercifes, it fuperadded a regard to Piij 230 VIEW OF HERALDRY. CH, VI. veracity, which contemned every fpecies of difllmulation, and made the flighteft promife or ground of expedation inviol able, even among enemies. It ereded 'the true bafis of liberty, trial by jury : And, by an achievement above the reach of the Greek and Roman philofophy, it infpired the nations with thofe magnanimous prin ciples, which firft affuaged the ferocity, and mitigated the calamities of war. A P.P E N D I X. Of the Diftindtions of Rank included in the Britifh Conftitution, — Of the King The Lords Spiritual, or Bifhops, — The Lords Temporal, or Peers, — The Commons, or People, — Severally vefted -with legif lative Power, and certain peculiar Privileges. — Form the general, or leading Diftindions which comprehend all Perfons of every Degree whatfoever. J. HE Britifli empire is fo far conneded with the other divifions of the great com munity of Europe, that its government is a compound of the three general forms of polity which have place throughout the European ftates. Accordingly, not only its legiflature, but alfo its internal economy, with refped to diftindions of rank, may be more eafily underftood, by keeping in view that of the particular governments to which it appears moft nearly affimilated. p iiij 232 APPENDIX. Among the circumftances which concur red in giving to Europe, Turkey excepted, the appearance of a great commonwealth, may be reckoned the once univerfal pre valence of the feudal fyftem ; the remains of that fyftem, in the divifions of territo ry, and in the judicial forms employed in the acquifition and tranfmiffion of territo rial property ; in the political diftindions of fociety ; and in the titles, infignia, and ceremonial belonging to fuch diftindions, The fame religion, though under diffe rent modifications ; the fame fyftem of mo rality, a conformity in manners, audi in jurifprudence ; a fimilarity of education, including the ftudy of the fcriptures, of natural and civil hiftory ; the feudal, ca non, and civil laws, together with the claffical authors, and all the arts and fci ences of ancient Greece and Rome. But iiotwithftanding fo many bonds of con- APPENDIX. 233 nedion, and fources of fimilarity in ideas, and in fentiments, the nations of Europe are feverally independent, as well as under various particular forms of government. In fome countries, the liberty, rights, and political influence of the feudal lords and tenants have been fwallowed up by the crown ; in fome others, efpecially in Britain, they have been regulated and im proved in fubferviency to the general in-^ terefts of the community. Sovereign .power being ufually denomi nated monarchy, ariftocracy, or democra cy, according to the particular mode in which it is adnriruftered, about half of the European governments may thence be termed monarchical, a fourth of them re publican [ariftocratical or democratical]; and the remaining fourth, a compound of monarchy and repubiicanifm. 234 APPENDIX. The monarchies are diftinguifhed from each other chiefly by their different efta- blifhments with refped to ranks in the community. As the true fpirit of a de mocracy feeks to conceal, and that of mo narchy to difplay the diftindions infepa rable from fociety; fo it is the genius of fome monarchical goveWments to confer even princely diftindions on their fubjeds. Others beftow only certain degrees of knighthood and hereditary nobility, with out advancing any to the rank of princes, as approaching too near the royal dignity, or not being conformable to their ancient cuftoms. Under the monarchical governments, the barons, whether princes or inferior lords, have no fliare in the fupreme power of the ftate, although they poffefs a fove reign jurifdidion over their vaffals. Durv APPENDIX. 235 ing the feudal ages, each of thofe govern ments was a fort of ariftocracy, whereof the king was head, while moft of the real power was engroffed by the barons. But, ever fince the decline of the feudal go vernment, monarchs who have affumed and retained the fupreme power, impart to their principal fubjeds only certain gra dations of dignity, all of which can be communicated without diminifhing the .fountain whence they flow. The monarchy of the Holy See retains moft of its pretenfions, though its power and influence are no longer formidable. It not only claimed, but exercifed a pa ramount fupremacy over all other ftates, even over thofe of imperial dignity. The fovereign is eledive ; his political capacity unites the higheft civil and facerdotal cha raders ; and he confiders himfelf as the vicegerent of God on earth. 236' APPENDIX. In the hereditary monarchies of Spain, Auftria, Ruffia, Sweden, Denmark, Portu gal, Naples, Pruffia, and Sardinia, the fu preme power is vefted more or lefs abfo-- lutely in the crown, The government of France was not wholly monarchical, either with regard to its legiflative or judicial power. In reference to the firft, the royal edids were not acknowledged [known] as law,. until regiftered by the parliaments, or fu preme courts of judicature. The laft was to a certain degree ariftocratical, in as much as the peers of France had a here ditary jurifdidion in the parliament of Paris. On the other hand, it was a re ceived maxim, that what was the will of the king, the fame was the law : and the king had a great ftanding army to enforce the prerogative he claimed, of fending the parliaments into banifhment, if they re- APPENDIX. 237 fufed to regifter his edids; though this was not always fufficient to prevent a re- fufal. The principal European republics are Venice and Genoa, which are ariftocra- eies; the cantons of Switzerland, and here tofore, the United Netherlands, partly arif tocratical, and partly democratical. The lefs confiderable republics are Ragufa, San Marino, and the feveral free cities which are ftates of the empire. The government of the royal republic of Poland was eledive monarchy, united with an hereditary ariftocracy, which had greatly the afcendant. The Imperial republic of Germany in cludes a very peculiar combination of fe veral forms of government. The mo narchy is limited and eledive ; the Elec- 23 S APPENDIX. toral College oligarchical ; the College of Princes is an ariftocracy ; and the College of the Imperial cities, a fort of democra cy. In the parliament, or diet of the em pire, which, including the emperor, Con fifts of thofe colleges, or of deputies who reprefent them, the two former have a de- cifive , afcendeiicy . Thus far the German conftitution is free: but the individuals who form the eledoral and princely col leges are monarchs in their refpedive ter ritories ; in fome inftances abfolute; in others limited by the power and privi leges of provincial ftates. The Britifli empire may, in like man ner, be confidered as a royal republic, but of a ftrudure more fimple than the fore going. It includes a regular fyftem of monarchy, ariftocracy aiid democracy, aiming to avoid the imperfedions, and to appropriate the excellencies of each. APPENDIX. 239 A monarch, an ariftocratical, and a demo- crarical fenate, have refpedively an equal fhare of the fupreme legiflative authority. The monarchy, with almoft the whole ariftocracy, is hereditary, and the fenate of the democracy eleded feptennially, or oftener, at the option of the king, to be the adminiflrator of the legiflative power of the people, and the peculiar guardian of their privileges. The monarch is vefted vdth royal au thority; his beneficent prerogatives are as numerous and abfolute as thofe of the moft defpotic fovereigns; but he is re ftrained from exercifing any power which might hurt or opprefs even the meaneft of his fubjeds. The ariftocratical fenate in its legifla tive capacity, in fome meafure corre- fponds to the College of Princes in the 240 Ain'ENi>ix- diet of the German empire ; and in its ju dicial capacity, to the former peers of France in the parliament of Paris", It confifts of two branches, the Bifhops, and! the Peers ; the latter of which have great ly the afcendency, as the former are not above a tenth part of this fenate. There is throughout all the ftates of Europe, ex cepting the united Netherlands, a corre fponding order of ecclefiaftics, vefted with various degrees of fecular dignity and power. The peers are hereditary ; their dignity correfponds to that of the princes, or firft clafs of higher nobility, in all fuch monarchies, and other ftates as con fer princely dignity. The other fupreme fenate confifts of re- prefentadves chofen under certain regula tions, by and from among the people, to exercife in their name a temporary and delegated fovereignty, and to profecute in 3 APPENDIX, 241 parliament fuch delinquencies againft the people as are confidered to be of too high a nature for the cognizance of the ordi nary courts of judicature. The whole le giflature is ftyled the Parliament ; the arif tocratical fenate, the Houfe of Peers, or Houfe of Lords ; and that of the demo cracy, the Houfe of Commons : Thofe Houfes alfo are, together with the King, popularly denominated the Three Eftates of Parliament. But, by the original- confti tution of the parliament, which ftill form ally fubfifts, there are four feveral eftates or conditions of perfons which compofe it, the King ; the Lords Spiritual or Bifhops ; the Lords Temporal or Peers ; and the Commons or People, The term estate admits of two accep tations, the one denoting a conftituent branch of the legiflature; the other^ an prder or condition in which men are 24^ APPENDIX. placed in fociety. According to the toi^' mer acceptation, the Houfe of Lords forms one estate, or conftituent branch of the legiflature : but, according to the latter, it forms two Eftates, or conditions of per fons, the Bifhops and the Peers, This acceptation of the term may be farther illuftrated, by the conftitution of the for mer parliament of Scotland, in which the Bifliops, Peers, and Commons, fat all in one houfe, and had each, individually, an equal vote : yet, they were not fo properly one eftate, as three diftind eftates or con ditions of perfons. In confidering diftindions of rank, the latter acceptation of the term Eftate comes of courfe to be attended to, and ought not to be blended with the former, or more popular acceptation in which it is gene rally employed by lawyers and pohtical writers, Confidered as leading diftindions APPENDIX. 243 of rank, the four eftates, the King, the Lords Spiritual, the Peers, and the Com mons, include all degrees of perfons in the Britifli kingdoms. The kingdoms of Great Britain and Ire land are each under its own independent parliament, while the crowns are federally and infeparably united in the perfon of a common fovereign. None of the eftates of parliament is in any degree fubordinate to another in its legiflative capacity : They all derive both their being and fupreme power from the fundamental laws of the community, and are effential to its very exiftence. The firft eftate, confidered as a branch of the legiflature, includes only the King, or fovereign Queen, who, in parliament, poffeffes a third fhare of the fupreme le- Q_ij 244 APPENDIX. giflative power, and prefides over all the members of the other eftates. Like the ariftocratical and democrati cal fenates in their fovereign colledive ca pacities, the king is legally incapable of doing wrong, or being fubjeded to punifli- ment : his minifters only are anfwerable for any error or mifcondud in his govern ment, unlefs he were to incur the forfei-, ture of the crown, by certain ads againft the furidaihental laws of the community. The king, being an eftate of parliament, is alfo legally incapable of fuch crimes as fubjed all the members of the other eftates to punifhment in their individual capaci ties ; and on this account likewife, his perfon is facred and inviolable. There is in parliament a fupreme judi ciary, as weft as legiflative power ; and it APPENDIX. 245 is the prerogative of the firft eftate to pre cede over, and dired the proceedings of this court, by his reprefentatives, the Lord High Steward, in criminal caufes of a ca pital nature ; the Lord High Chancellor, in civil caufes, and in fuch criminal caufes as are not capital. In reference to the parliament, it is far ther the prerogative of the fhft eftate to nominate all the ecclefiaftical members of the Houfe of Lords, to increafe, at plea- fure, the number of the fecular members, and to call, prorogue, and diffolve the par liament. As the king confers thofe high honours which are conneded with parliamentary power, he not only confers alfo inferior honours, but even inftitutes new orders and degrees of honour, incorporates foci- eties, and vefts them hkewife with vari-. 24^ appendix. QUS honorary diftindions, privileges, and powers of jurifdidion,. The executive power is wholly vefted in the king, and forms one of his moft dif tinguifhed prerogatives. As fupreme ex^ ecutive magiftrate, the king's authority is univerfal, all perfons of whatever rank be ing fubjed to it. In this charader, he maintains internal peace, by repreffing and punifliing violence, and by extending his protedion to every individual of the community. The king precedes in the high courts of law, by judges of his own appointment, whofe jurifdidions extend over the two di vifions of the kingdom of Great Britain, and over the kingdom of Ireland refpec^ tively. But, though the king's judges prefide, ftate the law, and pronounce fen-; tence in thofe courts, the fentence itfelf, appendix. 247 is, in capital cafes, previoufly determined by the jury, who are the real judges, and chofen from among the people. In Eng land and Ireland, juries determine like- wife in all other caufes cognizable by the municipal law ; but in fuch cafes, their decifions are fubjed to the revifion of the Houfe of Lords. In order to maintain the executive power of the king, and that the laws' may not be violated with impunity, he is .farther vefted, on behalf of the ftate, with the office of public profecutor; but in certain cafes of delinquency, chiefly of perfons in high office, the Houfe of Com mons, in name of all the Commons of Great Britain, profecute the accufed be fore the Peers and Lords of Parliament. On the other hand, it is the king's prero gative to pardon where the law condemns, even in cafes of parliamentary impeach- 248 appendix, ment. There are however, certain ex ceptions to the exercife of this important prerogative. No pardon previoufly granted to any perfon who is an objed of parHamentary impeachment, can prevent fuch impeach ment, or fufpend the fentence of condem- nation v-rhich may refult from it. All judges, and others who fhall, in violation o the Habeas Corpus ad, imprifon and fend out of the kingdom, any inhabitant of England, fo as to prevent his being ei ther releafed from confinement, or brought to trial, without undue delay, fhall be pu- nifhed with perpetual imprifonment, and certain other penalties, without being ca pable of the King's pardon. Murder, and certain other capital crimes, when tried on appeal of the private profecutor, are in like manner precluded from pardon- APPENDIX. 240 In England and Ireland, the king is fu preme head of the Church, as well as of the State. This high off.ce does not im^- ply the facerdotal charader; it impKes fupreme canonical authority over all the members of the hierarchy, both in their individual and colledive capacities; and in reference to all the caufes whereof they have cognizance, Agreeably to the maxims of the canon law, as ftated by Giannone, book x. chap^ ter viii. the power of jurifdidion in the church is fo diftind from the facerdotal office, that papal legates who were not in holy orders, have not only judged and de cided in the caufes of bifliops, and other dignified ecclefiaftics, but alfo in matters of faith. In the fame manner, even abef- fes, wearing the mitre and crofier, are vefted with epifcopal jurifdidion, which 2^0 APPENDIX, their archdeacons exercife over all thQ clergy within their feveral domains. As the church of Scotland is not hier-< archical, and does not acknowledge any head " on earth," the king has no cano-. nical jurffdidion over that church, in mat ters properly fJDiritual. But a variety of caufes which the canon law held to be fpi ritual, being in their own nature civil, are, in Scotland, feparated from the judicature of the church, transferred into the hands. of the king, and decided by judges [comr. miffaries] of his appointment. He alfo, by his " high commiffioner," prefides in the annual General Affembly, or convoca tion of the Scottifh church ; but this com miffioner has not even a deliberative voice in their proceedings. In both churches, the king has the difpofal of many of the benefices, particularly the dignified bene-^ APPENDIX. 251 fices belonging to the conftitution of the church of England and Ireland. All the clergy in Scotland are on an equal footing in point of rank and power. Their benefices are alfo nearly equal. None of them are fo fmall as many of thofe in England; and though none are great, a few are cafually augmented, by being held in conjundion with the chap- lainaries and deanry of the chapel royal, and with the principalfhips, and other of fices in univerfities, Universities partake of an ecclefiafti cal, as well as civil charader; they are conftituted by the king, and, together with the right of conferring academical honours, ufually poffefs various judiciary- powers , 252 APPENDIX. Over the Military and Naval depart-** ments, the king exercifes a fupreme exclu five authority, both in the nomination to offices, and in the courts of judicature, where even caufes of life and death are de termined without the intervention of a jury, Ther Commons in parliament, how ever, who hold the public purfe, keep this military jurifdidion fo far within their own reach, as to confent to the exercife of it only from year to year, by the fame ad which limits the number, and pro^ vides for the maintenance of the ftand ing army. Another prerogative belonging to this branch of the king's authority, is his ex clufive power of making war and peace ; reftrided only fo far as regards the not entering, without the confent of parlia,- ment, into war for the defence of any of APPENDIX. 253 his dominions, not belonging to the crown of Great Britain. Allied to the prerogative of inaking peace, is that of negotiating with foreign powers, treaties of every other defcription. But, in all fuch tranfadions, the king's minifters are accountable, and no treaty which interferes with any law, or alienates any territory, can be final, until ratified hj the parliament. Without proceeding to a more minute enumeration, the nature and extent of the royal prerogatives may be in fome mea fure eftimated, not only from the king's having fo diftinguiflied a fliare in the le giflature, but even poffeffing the right of conferring on others, perfonal and heredi tary powers of legiflation. Thofe, toge ther with fupreme powers of judicature, 254- appendix. he confers refpedively on the Peers, and Spiritual Lords of Parhament. He confers on other judges and magi ftrates, xarious kinds and degrees of jurif didion, and in his judical capacity, pre fides in the high court of parliament, as well as in all Other courts of judicature, whether belonging to the civil, ecclefiafti-- cal, military, or naval departments. On this account, in connedion with the power which, during the prevalence of feudal inaxims, the king more frequently exer cifed in conferring on individuals, and on communities, the right of civil and cri minal judicature, the king is faid to be the fountain of jurifdidion. From him, in like manner, are derived all hereditary^ perfonal, and officiary honours of every defcription. Hence, is the king declared to be the fountain of honour,' AtfENDIX. 255 That the king is the fountain of ho nour, and of jurifdidion, are maxims of the law; and the fenfe wherein they are to be underftood is prefcribed by the re fpedive cafes to which they refer ; and by fuch exceptions as have been ftated. If taken in an abfolute, or in an indeter minate fenfe, as principles of the conftitu-^ tion, rather than technical phrafes belong ing to the fcience of the law, they are apt ' to be fo far mifapprehended, as to in volve the fubjed in inexplicable difficul ties. The fupreme appellate jurifdidion in civil caufes, together with a criminal ju rifdidion in fuch cafes of parliamentary impeachment as are not capital, is vefted in the Peers, and Spiritual Lords of Par^ fiament. The Peers have alfo an exclu five criminal jurifdidion, in capital cafes,i ever all the members of their own order, 2^6 APPENDIX, whether impeached by the Commons in parliament, or accufed under the ordinary forms of law. This jurifdidion they pof fefs and exercife even when the parlia ment is not fitting. But, the moft im-^ portant jurifdidion known to the confti^ tution, is that which, by juries, the people at large exercife over themfelves. This fupreme and univerfally inherent jurifdic-^ tion is in no refped derived from the king; The jurifdidion alfo, and honours of the Peerage, and of the Spiritual Lords, though communicated to them immedi ately by the crown, are derived from the conftitution, the fame fource with the prerogatives of the king himfelf, and are in the fame manner effential to the ex iftence of the ftate. The dignity of the firft eftate refulting from fuch diftinguiflied powers and pre« APPENDIX. 257 rogatives, is equal to that of the moft illuftrious potentates. It is difplayed with peculiar magnificence in the Houfe of Peers, where the King is feated on his throne, in robes of purple velvet, with the crown, fceptre, and other infignia of royalty. Considered as one of the leading dif tindions of rank, there are, beftdes the Sovereign, other perfons whofe exalted ftations partake of the pre-eminence or power of the firft eftate, and in this re fped may be regarded as included in it. Such are Queens, Confort and Queens Dowager, on account of their royal dig nity : Ambaffadors, or public minifters of the firft -order, who are reprefenta tives of the dignity and fplendour of the crown among foreign nations : Regents of the Britifh dominions, and Viceroys of Ireland, as exercifing authority over R 258 APPENDIX, all the perfons who conftitute the other eftates, and occupying the place of ma jefty on the thrones of thofe kingdoms. Persons poffeffing high but lefs perfed charaders of the pre-eminence or power of the firft eftate, cannot fo properly be confidered as included under it. Such are the princes and princeffes of the roy al family ; governors of provinces ; com-* manders in chief of fleets and armies ; high officers of ftate ; judges of fovereign courts ; and public minifters of the fe condary clafs. Though dignity or rank often refuks , from, or is conneded with power, its na ture, and various gradations, may be more fully iUuftrated by alfo confidering it apart from authority and power. The royal dignity of the firft eftate is thus pof feffed by Confort and Dowager Queens. APPENDIX. 259 Thus, in like manner, a degree of pre eminence approaching to fome of thofe enumerated under the firft eftate, is pof feffed by the Lord High Commiffioner to the Church of Scotland. He holds a more confpicuous rank than any belong ing to the neighbouring churches, pre- fiding in an affembly, which, befides the clergy, includes m.emberS Of all the or ders, that at the time of the union com pofed the parliament of Scotland. He cannot, however, be clafted under the firft eftate, like the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, who prefides over the fame or ders, affembled in parliament. He opens, and diffolves the aflembly by a fpeech in name of the king, in whofe name he likewife appoints ano ther to be holden the enfuing year. By the authority of the church, the mode rator, or fpeaker of the aflembly, alfo Ru 26o APPENDIX, opens and diffolves it in the name of Chrift, The Commiffioner fits under a canopy of ftate, is addreffed by the title Grace, and receives many of the other diftindions which were formerly paid to the Lord High Commiffioner to the par liament. In his procefHons to and from the Af fembly, he is attended by Peers, and other perfons of diftindion. His more immediate attendants, exclufive of the military, are two mace-bearers, a- gen tleman carrying the commiffion, four ufhers, two pages, covered, their hats adorned with plumage of the comraif- fioner's liveries, eight footmen, and two other fervants in livery, carrying a fedan. As the King, a layman, pofleffes en tire jurifdidion over the churches of APPENDIX. 261 England and Ireland, fo in like man ner. Peers and Commoners, laymen, fhare with the clerical order in the ju rifdidion of the Scottifli Church. They are ftyled Elders, and deputed to the Af fembly from the feveral ecclefiaftical di vifions, termed Prefbyteries, of that part of the united kingdom, and from the univerfities and royal boroughs. Their office in the church is to take care of the poor and the fick, to affift in adminifter ing the facrament, and jointly with the clergy, to have a deliberative and deci- five voice in all ecclefiaftical judicatoriesi The Second Eftate, confidered as a branch of the legiflature, confifts of twenty-fix Bifliops, or fpiritual lords, in Great Britain, and twenty-two in Ire land ; two of the former, and four of the latter being Archbilhops. Before R iij 262 APPENDIX. the Reformation, the fecond eftate in cluded about an equal number of ab bots and priors, who were likewife lords of parliament. On ordinary occafions, the lords of this eftate fit in parliament in their cle rical habits ; but when the king is pre? fent, and on the trial of fuch perfons as are either impeached by the Commons, or otherwife accufed of crimes not inferr ring capital punifhment, they wear fcar let robes, fomewhat fimilar to thofe of the fecular lords, They bear a mitre over their coats of arms, but do not, fince the Reformation, wear it on the head. The archbifhops have the title of Grace, the bifhops that of Lordfhip, They are mentioned before the fecular lords in all ads of ftate, and in parliament, are feated on the right fide of the throne. APPENDIX. 263 In civil caufes, and in fuch criminal caufes as do not infer the punifhment of death, their fupreme judicial authority in parliament is, as well as their legif lative, co-ordinate with that of the peers. The canon law prohibited them from judging in crimes punifhable with death, fo that, on fuCh occafions, it is ftill their pradice to withdraw, under proteft that they have a right to be prefent as judges. They are not, however, confidered as hav ing any fliare in the criminal jurifdic- tion of the peers, in capital cafes : nei ther have the peers, in fuch cafes, any ju rifdidion over them. If tried capitally, they would therefore be remitted to the jurifdidion of the King, which could not be exercifed without the intervention of a jury. Such a jury would belong to the commons, or fourth eftate, who, in the fenfe of the great charter, would be peers Riiij 264 APPENDIX. to the accufed, neither party being noble. This arifes from the maxims of the muni cipal law, which, in contradiftindion to that of chivalry, afcribes nobility of blood to none but the peerage only. By the principles of the great charter, the fpiritual lords are accordingly pre cluded from judging, or being judged capitally by thofe who, on account of no bility of blood, are not their peers. Hence it farther refults, that the fpi ritual lords are not barons by tenure, or ptherwife, in the fame fenfe v>^herein the peers or fecular lords are, elfe their wives and families would certainly fhare in their honours, though they be not tranf- miffible by inheritance! There cannot, indeed, be any doubt that the church would have originally beftowed on the wives and famihes of thofe lords fome APPENDIX. 265 fhare in their fecular honours, had Ihc permitted them to have wives. In diftinguifhing between the nobili ty or fecular dignity of the fpiritual lords, and that of the peerage, it is far ther to be remarked, that the former de pends fo entirely on the clerical office, as to be liable to forfeiture by eccIefiaftiT cal eenfures. The dignity or rank of the fpiritual lords, though of a different nature from the peerage, is fo great, that archbi fhops precede fuch dukes, or peers of the firft degree, as are not of the royal fa mily ; and bifhops precede the fecular lords, who are barons, or peers of the fffth degree. In common with the peers, they are exenipted from arrefts in civil caufes ; a privilege originally conferred, that the crown might at no time be de-? 266 APPENDIX, prived of their advice or affiftance, when important occurrences fhould require it. They had a place in the fupreme coun cils of nations before the exiftence of the feudal baronies on account of which they fit in parliament. During the darknefs of ferocious ages, when the general occu pation was war, thofe minifters of the church fought to cultivate peace. Their education, and the habit of exerting their talents to enforce the principles of reli gion, for promoting the happinefs, and alleviating the miferies of life, qualified them in another manner than the laity, for the purpofes of judicature and legif^ latioii. In confiftorial caufes, each of the fpi-^ ritual lords has an extenfive jurifdidion throughout the territory of his refpedive province or diocefe. Many of them have alfo peculiar powers and privileges, efpe-^ 2 Appendix. 267 cially the archbifliop of Canterbury, who, among his other prerogatives, pof feffes that of conferring academical ho nours. The Second Eftate, confidered as one of the leading diftindions of rank, includes only thofe already referred to, which alfo belong to it as a branch of the legifla ture. The bifhop of Sodor and Man is of a rank nearly approaching to that of the fecond eftate, being a fpiritual and feudal lord, as diocefan bifhop of Man, and firft baron of that principality or king dom. His dignity differs from that of the fecond eftate, in as much as he does not hold immediately of the crown, and is not a lord of parhament. The patron age of this biflioprick belongs to the 268 APPENDIX, Duke of AthoU, whofe prefentations ^r^ confirmed by the King. On a fimilar footing, in point of rank, may be reckoned many of the more con fiderable prelates [abbots, abeffes, and priors], who were not of the degree of lords of parliament, though they held, in many inftances, immediately, fecular baronies [manors], with feudal jurifdic- tion, united to the fame clerical offices and titles which belonged to thofe who were lords of parliament. A GREATER dilfimilarity of rank took place between the lords of the fecond eftate, and the Chorepifcopi or fuffragan Bifliops, under Henry VIII, who were, as in more ancient times, affiftant fubfi diary or coadjutorial bifhops, having on ly the fpiritual, without the temporal, APtENDIX. 269 power and dignity ufually attached to the epifcopal oflice. Their municipal infti tution may be feen in the Statutes at Large, xxvi. Hen. VIIL, and in Rymer's Ada Publica, torn. xiv. tit. De eligendo Suffraganeum. In confidering the principal ecclefi aftical diftindions of rank, it may ferve to illuftrate the fubjed, and fave a more prolix defcription, to exhibit the feveral gradations of the epifcopal charader by a fcale fuch as the following. Oecumenical- Patriarch. Patriarch. Primate, Metropolitan, A hifhop having , jurifdictionover Patriarchsi Primates. Metropolitahsi Diocefans. The title archbishop is ufually conjoin-' ed with the office of Primate, and alfo 2^0 appendix with that of Metropolitan. Of itfelf, it impfies nothing further than a fuperiori- ty over Diocefans : a fuperiority confift ing rather in pre-eminence of dignity than in jurifdidion. Certain Metropolitan archbifliops have the title and rank of Primate, without the office, and fome Primates, Metropo'-' litans, and Diocefans, acknowledge no fubordination to any but the Holy See.- In the fame manner, certain abbots,- abeffes, and priors, are not only exempt ed from the fpiritual authority of the bi fhop of their diocefe, but are, themfelves, fo far poffeffed of the charader of bifhops as to be vefted with Epifcopal jurifdic- tion. Hence they wear the mitre, to de note their poffeffing the higheft attribute' of theEpifcopal dignity* appendix. 271 The Abbots and Priors, who were Lords of parliament, are ufually ftyled mitred, and were all, perhaps, incident ally, though not neceffarily entitled to wear the mitre. They fat in parliament, not on account of their Epifcopal jurifdic- tion, but by a prefcription arifing from the importance of their fecular baronies, or, in confequence of being feleded to that pre-eminence by the king. The Third Eftate, confidered as a branch of the legiflature, confifts of about two hundred and twenty temporal lords, who are Peers of Great Britain, and an hun dred and fixty in Ireland, who are Peers of that kingdom. Both numbers are variable, as new peerages may be con ferred at the pleafure of the crown, and others become extind by the failure of heirs. The term Peer is feudal and rela- i>72 appendix. tive; it denoted one who was an immc- , diate con-vaffal of a baron or other lord, and, together with the term Peerage, came to be applied by way of eminence to the great fecular vaffals of the crown. In the municipal law, it bears ftill a far ther acceptation ; it denotes all fuch per-^ fons as are on an equal footing in point of effential rights; In this fenfe, all the commons of Great Britain and Ireland are legally peers to each other, however they may differ in official, perfonal, or hereditary rank. Hence, even in capital cafes, ordinary citizens compofe or form a part of the juries which try perfons of the higheft difiindion among the com^ mons, and knights, baronets, the fons of peers, and other perfons of the firft de- gree, fit in like manner in juries, decid ing on the life, or liberty of other com-^ moners of every rank. appendix. 273 The fpkitual lords of parhament, forming a feparate eftate from that of the commons, are not properly their peers, and do not belong to their order, although, in capital cafes, fubjeded to its jurifdidion, A PEER of the kingdom is a perfoh vefted with the dignity of Duke, Mar quis, Earl, Vifcount, or Baron, to which are attached the power and privileges of a lord of parliament. In the Houfe of Peers of Great Britain, there are fixteen who do not fit in their own right, but as reprefentatives of the peerage of Sfeot-^ land. When the kingdoms were united, the two parliaments were converted into one, and the peers of Scotland gave up their right of perfonal fuffrage, on ac count of the pohtical and commercial ad vantages which their country was to de rive from the union. That their fhare in s 274 APPENDIX. the government of the united kingdom and its dependencies might be propor tioned to the revenue which Scotland was to furnifh for fupporting it, they con- fented that fixteen of their number fhould, from time to time, be eleded to reprefent the Scottifh Peerage in the parliament of Great Britain, Befides thefe, there are at prefent in the Houfe. of Lords fifteen other peers of Scotland, fome of whom were peers of both king doms before the Union ; others have re ceived new peerages fince that period. About thirty of the temporal lords are alfo peers both of Great Britain and Ire land. At the time of the Union, the parlia-^ ment of Scotland was conftituted fome what differently from thofe of. England and Ireland. It confifted of three tempo- APPENDIX. 275 ral eftates, the King, the Peers, and the Commons, which all fat in one houfe. Each of the Peers and Commons had an equal vote in cafes of legiflation, and committees of the Houfe were refpedive ly vefted with the adminiftration of fu preme civil and criminal judicature. A fplendid ceremonial was obferved on the firft and laft day of the feffions, which was fufficiently expreffive of the ' differ ent orders of the members, though their votes were equal. They all affembled at the palace of Holyroodhoufe, and rode in proceffion to the hall, or chamber of par liament, nearly a mile diftant. The crown, fceptre and fword were carried by three of the ancient nobility, and placed on a table before the throne, where fat the Lord High Commiffioner, who, in giving the royal affent, touched the bills with the fceptre. S ij 2'j6 APPENDIX. Besides the military which lined thfi ftreets, and thofe who attended particu larly on the Commiffioner, the Lord High Conftable, and the Eari Marflial, had each a guard of his own. The Con ftable fat in ftate at the entrance of the parliament fquare, to receive the mem bers, who, as they alighted, were condud ed between two lines formed by the gen tlemen of his guard, to the door of the houfe, where they were received, in like form, by the Earl Marfhal and his guards, who conduded them to their •feats. In the proceffion, the members were mounted on richly caparifoned horfes, and all of them covered, except a few who occupied particular ftations. The domeftics who preceded and followed them were aU uncovered, and on foot. Every two burgeffes, or citizens, were APPENDIX. 277 attended by two lackies; every two knights, or members for fliires, by four. Next came officers of ftate, who were not peers ; and after them, the barons in their robes furred with ermine, every two attended by two gentlemen to bear their train, and preceded by fix lackies, wearing above their liveries crimfon vel vet furcoats, embroidered with armorial devices and coronets : The Marquifes and Dukes, befides their train bearers, were attended, every two of the former by twelve lackies; every two of the latter by fixteen. The Vifcounts and Earls had attendants in proportion. A number of mace-bearers, purfuivants, and heralds were in this cavalcade, which was clofed by feveral troops of the king's horfe- guards. In a fet of engravings of it, faid to be from an original drawing, and late ly publif]ied at Edinburgh, none of the S iij 278 APPENDIX. officers of arms, except the purfuivants, are reprefented in tabards. The Lord Lyon, king at arms, carries a batton of office, and is habited in robes, fimilar to thofe of the Peers ; only, he is not at tended, except by the purfuivants ahd he ralds, the latter of which are habited like- wife in fuch robes. They are all unco vered, as are alfo the Ufher of the parha ment, the Mafter of the Horfe, and the Lo;-ds who bear the regalia. Exclusively of the fixteen reprefenta tives, as weft as of thofe who, before the Union, had peerages in both kingdoms, and of fuch as have fince the Union re ceived new peerages, there are at prefent about fixty of the Peers of Great Britain ' ftyled Peers of Scotland, who have not perfonally a feat and voice in parliament. Yet, they are, in a reftrided fenfe. Lords of parhament, as they have virtually, and APPENDIX, 279 by reprefentation, a voice in that affem bly. There is an inconfiderable number of the peers who, though vefted with the civil rights of lords of parliament, are, by being of the Catholic perfuafion, fuf pended from exercifing the right of fit ting and voting in parliament, either di redly or indiredly. They are thus dif- qualified on account of their declining to take a certain oath or declaration, which being confidered as eflential to the exift ence of the conftitution, is adminiftered to the king himfelf, and to all the mem bers of both houfes of parliament. None of the Royal Family are, as fuch, lords of parliament, except the King's eldeft fon, who is by birth Duke of Corn wall, As foon as the other princes of the blood attain the age of twenty-one, 0 S \'i\\ 2 8o APPENDIX. they are ufually called to a feat in the Houfe of Peers, They no longer retain the title Prince, prefixed to their name's, but affume the particular title by which they are empowered to fit in parliament. Their peerages in Great Britain are ufual- .ly Dukedoms; in Ireland, Earldoms; yet, were they only Baronies, the princes of the Royal Family would ftill precede all the other Peers and lords of parliament. Some peerages of Great Britain and Ireland, in default of heirs male, defcend to heirs female, and fometimes peerages are conferred on women, and defcend to their heirs ; but they themfelves have not, in later times, exercifed any parhament- ar.y power, by delegation or otherwife. Originally, the peerage was territorial, but among the changes which rime intro duced into the feudal fyftem, it became appendix. 281 perfonal, yet continued to be hereditary in the chief branch of each family which poffeffed, or was from time to time ele vated to it by the king. Under the precedency of a Lord High Steward reprefenting the king, the peers poffefs, independently of the fitting of parliament, an exclufive jurifdidion in capital cafes, over all the peers and peer effes of Great Britain and Ireland refpec- tively. In addition to ther legiflative power in parliament, the peers poffefs by inhe ritance, and exercife jointly with the fpi ritual lords, a jurifdidion over fuch per fons of all ranks as are by the Houfe of Commons impeached of crimes not capi tal; together with the fupreme appellate jurifdidion over the whole kingdom in civil caufes. 282 appendix. Though a Peer may be vefted with fe veral peerages [dukedoms, earldoms, ba ronies], this does not, in parliament, like the German principalities in the Diet, entitle the pofleffor to a vote for each; nor does it imply any effential privilege which is not conferred by a fingle peer age. The College of Princes in the Diet of the Empire, confifts of two claffes ; the firft ftyled, by way of eminence, princes OF THE empire, who, witliout any diftinc- tion refpeding their particular title of Duke, Marquis, Landgrave, or Prince, have generally a vote for each principa lity they poffefs. The fecond clafs, ftyl ed Counts of the Empire, have only four votes colledively, according to the four benches into which they are divided. In like manner, the ecclefiaftical branch of this College confifts alfo of two claffes. appendix, 22^ The firft includes Archbifhops, Biftiops, the Grand Mafters of fovereign clerical orders of knighthood. Abbots, Abbeffes, and Priors, who have each one or more votes, and are refpedively ftyled Princes and Princeffes of the Empire. The fe cond ecclefiaftical clafs includes the lefs confiderable Abbots, Abbeffes, and Priors, ftyled Prelates of the Empire, and divid ed into two benches, which have collec tively two votes. The whole of the dig nities belonging to the College of Princes are territorial, and the bufinefs of this College, as well as of the Colleges of elec tors, and imperial cities, is at the diet ge nerally tranfaded by deputies. A farther difference between the imperial diet and the parliament is the permanency of the former, whereas the latter terminates fep tennially, or oftener, at the pleafure of the crown. 284 APPENDIX, All the younger branches, male an^ female, of the fovereign families in GerT, many, have the fame titles of dignity with the elder, as have alfo all the fami lies on whom the Emperor jconfers the rank of Princes and Counts of the em pire. But no Prince who is not a fove reign, whofe territory is not within the empire, and who has not obtained the confent of the Diet, can be admitted tQ fit or vote in that affembly. The Third Eftate, or eftate of thepeern age, confidered as one of the leading dif tindions of rank, confifts of about fix hundred peers and peereffes of Great Bri tain, with three hundred and forty of Ire land. It includes the Princes and Prin ceffes of the Royal Family, and all others who are diftinguifhed by the infignia, and partake of the rights, privileges and dig nity of peerage, without having any fhare Appendix. 2 §5 m the legiflative and judicial power ufually attached to that dignity. The Princes of the Blood are the fons, grand fons, brothers, uncles, and nephews of the King, The Princeffes are fuch as ftand in the fame degrees of proximity to the crown, whether by birth or marriage. Befides the title Prince or Princefs pre fixed to their names, they have alfo re fpedively that of Royal Highnefs. The infignia of their dignity are thofe of the general order of peerage, which they, together with Dukes, Marquifes^ Earls, Vifcounts, and Barons, and with the Peereffes of thofe feveral degrees^ wear at coronations, or may wear on any occafion whatfoever. They are modelled after the infignia of royalty, and confift of golden coronets or diadems of different forms, and ftate robes of crimfon velvet, furred with ermine. Thofe princely in- 285 APPENDIX. fignia mark the diftindion between the dignity of peerage, and that of the lords of parliament, as fuch. In the latter cha rader, the fecular lords are habited in fcarlet robes, adorned, according to their feveral degrees, with a certain number of ftripes, alternately of gold and white fur. They are thus diftinguifhed from the fpi ritual lords, whofe robes are fomewhat different in form, and adorned with gray fur, without any gold. In parliament, the lords appear in their, robes only when the king is prefent, or when they are ading judicially in criminal caufes. The fpiritual lords fit on the right fi.de of the throne, part of the temporal on the left, and the reft before the throne. If, in this laft cafe, the profecution be at the inftance of the public, a committee of the Houfe of Commons attends to ma nage it, in name of that Houfe, and of all the Commons of Great Britain. Places APPENDIX. 287 are likewife fet apart for the Speaker, and fuch other members of the Houfe of of Commons as may from time to time choofe to attend ; affo for the Royal Fa mily, the foreign minifters, the peereffes, fome of the great officers of ftate, and for fpedators in general. The judges of the high courts of law, when not engaged in the more immediate duties of their fe veral departments, attend officially on the Houfe of Peers, to give their opinion, if required. Kings at arms, heralds, and feveral other officers alfo attend, that there may not be wanting any of the ceremonial fplendour fuitable to the dig nity of the moft auguft court of judica ture in Europe. Together with the princely infignia which diftinguifh the order of Peerage, the nobility of blood which the law a- fcribes to that order is poffeffed in the 288 APPENDIX. moft eminent degree by the princes and princeffes of the Royal Family, who are accordingly not amenable, wherever the peerage is exempted, to any jurifdidion, but that of the peers only. Next to the Princes and Princefles of 'the Blood, the order of peerage, or third eftate, confidered apart from its parlia mentary power, and as one of the leading diftindions of rank, includes all the peet-^- effes, who are in like manner vefted with the whole rights, infignia, and dignity of peerage. As there may be feveral dowager peer effes belonging to one family, the num ber of peereffes is likely to exceed that of the peers ; but viewing it as equal, there are about three hundred peereffes of Great Britain, and an hundred and fixty of Ire land. APPENDIX. 289 A PEERESS in her own right [by de fcent or creation], retains her peerage, though fhe marry a commoner ; and her children have the fame rank and titles as though their father were a peer. The wives and widows of peers are alfo peer effes, but not in their own right ; and the widow of a peer lofes her peerage, if fhe marry a commoner; yet fhe retains her former title, by what is termed courtefy. By the fame courtefy, the peers and peereffes of Ireland, when in Great Bri tain, not only retain their titles, but, on ordinary occafions, have precedency cor refponding to their refpedive titles, and immediately after Britifh peers and peer effes of the fame degrees. The precedency of the peerage is regu lated entirely according to their degrees, and to the date of their creation, without 290 APPENDIX, any regard to their poffeffing or not poft feffmg a feat and voice in Parhament. In contradiftindion to their fupreme legiflative and judiciary powers, aft the effential rights and privileges of peerage are common to the whole order, efpecialr- ly the right of trial by peers only. Hence there is not, as among the commons, merely a legal, but a real equality of condition between the judges and the ac cufed. Another fpecial privilege is, that no peer nor peerefs can be arrefted or imprifoned, in civil caufes. The Fourth Eftate, confidered as a branch of the legiflature, admits of three feveral views ; the firft referring to the delegates or reprefentatives in parliament, the fecond, to the eledors of thofe dele gates, the third, to the people at large. Five hiindred and fifty-eight reprefenta- APPENDIX, 291 tives compofe the Houfe of Commons of Great Britain, and three hundred that of Ireland. The eledors may be regarded as fharing in the legiflative power of the fourth eftate, in much the fame manner as the prelates and counts of the Empire fhare in that of the CoUege of Princes. The body of the people at large may alfo be regarded as fharing, virtually, in this legiflative power, in as much as the elec tors confift of the various general defcrip tions of perfons compofing the fourth eftate, and include many thoufands who have no rank, whofe freehold property is only required to be forty fhillings annual ly ; and in fome cities and boroughs no qualification is required but that of being a houfeholder. The delegates are thus, in effed, chofen by the people, to whom they are likewife united by a common participation in the fame effential privi leges, efpecially with refped to trial by Tii 292 APPENDIX. juries of their own order. In as much alfo, as the qualification required of the delegates themfelves is not rank, birth, or any fuch diftindion, but only fo much real or landed property as may give the poffeffor a permanent intereft in the country, and confer a proper degree of refpedability and independence. None of the delegates, as fuch, has any rank, except what arifes from his proper ty ; but the Speaker or Prefident, who may be confidered as the firft of the com mons, has a particular rank next to the peers, in the ftatutory order of prece dency. The property of the delegate for a county is required to be fix, and for a city or borough three hundred pounds annually. There are certain exceptions in favour of the eldeft fons of peers, and Appendix. 293 of fuch perfons as are qualified in point of fortune to be delegates for counties. There are fimilar exceptions alfo in fa vour of fuch as may be chofen to repre fent the Univerfities of Oxford and Cam bridge; Officers of the revenue, and of cer tain other departments, are precluded from eleding or being eleded, as the places they occupy are fuppofed to fub jed them to the influence of the crown, in oppofition to the rights of the people. The delegates cannot be arrefted in civil cafes, nor in any cafe, without its being immediately communicated to the Houfe, that they may judge whether it be not a violation of the rights of the commons. It is farther a privilege of the delegates, as well as of the peers and fpiritual lords, that they cannot, for aiiy Tuj 394 APPENDIX. fpeech before the houfe, be queftioned ill any " court or place out of parliament." In addition to the third fliare in the legiflature, which the delegates hold and adminifter as reprefentatives of the peo ple, they exercife, exclufively of the o- ther eftates, the right of fpecifying what taxes fhall be levied throughout the king dom, though no tax can be adually im pofed, without the confent of the whole legiflature. There is an effential difference be tween the power of the delegates and that of the King, and of the fpiritual and temporal lords. The firft is of li mited duration, reverts of itfelf to the people every feven years, or oftener, when the crown puts an end to the parliament within that period ; whereas, in every new parhament, the other eftates APPENDIX. 205 continue the fame, and their power is in this view permanent. If it were poffible that the other eftates could by any inducement be prevailed upon to give up their own rights, and confent to annul the conftitution, it would not enable the delegates to fur- render the rights of the people ; becaufe the people have not empowered them to abolifh the fyftem of fundamental laws by which their rights are recognized and fecured. A fummary of thofe funda mental laws is exhibited in the princi pal articles of the Great Charter, the Bill of Rights, Ad of Settlement, and Treaty of Union. Even fo refpedable an authority as Blackftone, appears to affert, Introd. Sed. .iv. that the parliament, as including the commons in their ordinary reprefentative T iiij 296 APPENDIX. capacity only, without any new powers from the conftituents, and in oppofition to their will, can annul any or all the fundamental laws which form the Con ftitution : and reafons to that effed with regard to the treaty of Union in par ticular. Not the nature, merely, nor the purport, but the very tenor of this treaty declares the reverfe ; while it fpe- cifies how far certain articles, as the xvii. xviii. and xix. " are alterable by the par liament of Great Britain ;" but afferts that certain others " are unalterable" ; particularly thofe refpeding the Ecclefiaf tical Eftablifhments which " are, in pur- fuance of the Claim of Right, effedually and unalterably fecured to the people oF THIS LAND in all fucceeding generations." It farther declares that thofe articles " are in aft times coming to be held, adjudged, and obferved as fundamental and effen tial conditions of the Union." appendix. 297 But, whatever may be the nature and extent of the authority which the repre fentatives are empowered to exercife in the name of their conftituents, this is not the bafis on which the people's more immediate and adual fhare in the fove reign power refts. They retain in their own hands, and without the intervention of delegates, exercife, in capital cafes, the fupreme criminal judicature. This pow er the people exercife over themfelves immediately, by means of their juries ; exclufively, without fharing it with any of the other eftates ; and, independently, without either limitation or appeal. To be vefted thus abfolutely with the adminiftration of the law, is a preroga tive, equivalent in effed to that which the whole legiflature exercife in making laws. Accordingly, the parliamentary power is but a lefs immediate part of ' 7 298 appendix. that fovereignty which is vefted in 'the fourth eftate, confidered in its moft ex tenfive acceptation, as including the body of the people at large. / By means of juries, the people of Eng land and Ireland are vefted alfo with the civil judicature ; but in this depart ment, their decifions are not fupreme, as there lies an appeal to the Houfe of Peers. In criminal proceedings, efpecially in thofe of a capital nature, the parties be tween which the juries are to decidcy are, the public at large, and fuch parti cular individuals as are accufed of vio lating the laws. Wherever the cafe is doubtful, the law itfelf, as well as rea-) fon and humanity, require that the de^ cifion fhall be in favour of the accufed. But no fuch general rule of decifion is APPENDIX. 299 applicable in civil caufes, where many queftions arife concerning property, of a nature exceedingly intricate, and dif- fimilar to thofe of criminal judicature. Where the cafe is doubtful here, to de cide in favour of one party, is to injure the other ; hence the necelfity for a fu preme court of appeal, fuch as the Houfe of Peers, in whofe decifion even the party who is unfuccefsful rnay be dif- pofed to acquiefce. This affembly, pof feffing all the advantages common to the twelve perfons who form the jury, is fu perior in number, in acquired talents, and in knowledge of the laws, while at the fame time it is attended by the twelve chief judges of England. It is therefore to be reckoned among the privileges of the people, that in civil caufes, they have a right to appeal from the decifiofis of their own juries. ^dO APPENDIX. The Fourth Eftate, confidered as ohfi of the LEADING DISTINCTIONS OE RANK, includes all the various degrees of jier^ fons who do not belong to one or otheir of the foregoing eftates. The firft clafs of the commons are thofe who by courtefy, as it is termed, poffefs the refpedive titles which belong to the order of peer age. Such are DoWager Peerefles of every degree, who have afterwards mar ried commoners ; likewife the eldeft fons and daughters-in-law, being wives of the eldeft fons of Dukes, Marquifes, and Earls. In legal proceedings, however, thofe Lords and Ladies are not ftyled, hke the peers and peereffes, by the names of dignity which they ufually bear, but by their proper or family names, with the addition of the words, " commonly " called" Marquis, Marchionefs, Earl, or Countefs, according to their refpedive APPENDIX. 301 titles of courtefy. All the fons, daugh ters, and daughters-in-law of peers, or of peereffes in their own right, have their particular rank affigned in the table or ORDER OF PRECEDENCY, as may be feen in Blackftone, Book i. chap, xii. This Order does indeed feem repugnant to the nature of the fubjed, and to the principles of the common law, in as much as it prefers to peers themfelves, of the inferior degrees, many commoners, children of peers of the higher degree^, though nobility of blood is by law afcribed to the peerage only ; not to their children, who poffefs neither the rights nor dignity competent to the peerage. By thus confounding the ranks which it is its objed to arrange on a regular fcale,' the order of prece dency embarraffes a fyftem of political diftindion, in itfelf exceedingly confiftent and intelligible. 302 APPENDIX. Several individuals may, in confe-^ quence of high office, have an occafion- al, or a permanent precedency of the fons and daughters of Peers, although the latter are in refped of their birth to be accounted the firft order of perfons; among the commons. The eldeft fons of Dukes, Marquifes, and Earls, have the fame titles as if they themfelves were peers, inferior to their fathers only in degree ; all the daughters have the title Lady, and the younger fons of Dukes and Marquifes have that of Lord, prefix ed to their perfonal or Chriftian names. The younger fons of Earls, and all the children of Vifcounts and Barons, have the title Honourable. The fecond general clafs of the com mons includes three orders or ranks of official lords : Firft, Great ofl^cers of APPENDIX. 303 ftate, as the Lord High Chancellor, or Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, who, as fuch, are not peers ; likewife officers of ftate, of a fecondary degree, particularly in Scotland, where they fat in parliament EX OFFICIO, as the Lord Regifter [Mafter of the Rolls], Lord Advocate [Attorney General], Lord Juftice Clerk [Vice-Jufti- ciary]. Lord Treafurer-depute [Vice-Trea- furer]. Another branch of this order of official lords, are, great officers of the court, as the Lord Steward and Lord Chamberlain of the Royal Houfehold ; likewife lefs eminent officers of the crown, as the Lord Lyon, king at arms [princi pal herald of Scotland], whofe " rank and precedency," are by the xxiv. article of the Union referred to the Sovereign, In the fecond order of official Lords may be ranked thofe who belong to the fuperior courts of law, as the Lords Chief 304 APPENDIX. Juftices of the King's Bench, and Com mon Pleas, with the Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer ; and in Scotland, the Lord Prefident, and Senators of the Col lege of Juftice, including the Lords Com- miffioners of Jufticiary. The third order or rank of official lords comprehends fuch as are vefted with municipal charges, as, the Lord Warden, or Guardian of the Cinque- ports, the Lord Warden of the Stan- neries [tin-works in Cornwall], the Lords Mayors of London, Dublin and York, the Lord Provoft of Edinburgh, the Lord Confervator [perpetual conful of Scotland], at Campvere ; and by local prefcription, at leaft, the Lord Provoft of Giafgow. The phrafe, my lord, employed in addrefllng all the individuals of thofe fe- APPENDIX. 305 veral claftes among the commons, is an expreffion of the higheft refped, and confidered as due to perfons of the firft diftindion, next to the Royal Family. It is applied to all the five degrees of the peerage, and to the fpiritual lords of parliament, though Archbifliops and Dukes have alfo the title Grace. The dignity implied in the title lord, is not held by the wives of feveral of the lords here referred to ; particularly, the fpiritual lords of parliament, the judici ary, and other official lords in England and Ireland, except the Lords Mayors. In Scotland, the title Lady was hereto fore given to the wives of the Lord Pre fident, and Senators of the College of Juftice, and to thofe of the Lord Ad vocate, Juftice-Clerk, and other official lords; chiefly, perhaps, becaufe thofe 3o6 APPENDIX. lords were fuperior in rank to the lords of regality, barons, and tenants in chief [freeholders] invefted cum curiis, all of whofe wives had, by courtefy, the title Lady. The Lords of Regality had a kind of palatine jurifdidion ; the baron's, and other confiderable tenants in chief, that of fuperior and inferior lords of manors. Together with the dominium or lordfhip of their refpedive fiefs, they had, fo late as towards the end of the fixteenth cen tury, each a perfonal, or at leaft a cuf- tomary right to fit in parhament. They were not individually ftyled by the title Lord, but by the vernacular title Laird, derived from that of Lord, and confi dered as expreffive of hereditary terri torial rank next to the peerage. The oflicial lords were not neceffarily lairds, though moft of them were incidentally of that clafs. APPENDIX. , 307 Besides the lords and ladies among the commons, who derive their titles from a courtefy founded on high birth, dig nified office, or territorial jurifdidion, now abohflied, there are two claffes of ladies who hold the rank belonging to the title Lord, not by courtefy, but in confequence of their poffeffing a fpecific perfonal, or hereditary dignity. The firft are the wives of knights of every order ; the fecond thofe of baronets ; both di ftinguifhed by the title Lady, though knights and baronets are not ftyled nor addreffed by the title Lord, but by that of Sir [Sieur, Signeur] a term of the fame import, according to the foreign idiom, whence it is derived ; and in the vernacular tongue, fomewhat equivalent to the title Lord, The title Lady, as conneded with thofe dignities, does not imply fuperiority of rank, though it be a higher title. But while knights of the Uij 30B APPENDIX. higher orders precede baronets, bato* Iieteffes precede the wives of thofe knights, as the dignity of baronetage is hereditary, that of knighthood only per fonal. On a fimilar principle, fuch dig nities and titles as are official, or pro feffional, in contradiftindion to thofe that are perfonal, or hereditary, are, for the moft part, incommunicable to the wives of the poffeflors. Next to the title Lord, is that of Sit, applied to every order of the perfonal dignity of knighthood, and to the here ditary dignity of baronetage. Except the dignity of baronetage, none of the orders nor degrees of dignity be longing to the eftate of the commons, and derived immediately from the crown, is hereditary ; nor is any of them what ever, like the dignities of the ariftocra* APPENDIX. «09 cy, effential to the conftitution of the ftate. The remaining titles of fuperior di-^ ftindion among the commons, are thofe of Excellency, Right Honourable [very Honourable], and Honourable ; the firft apphed to the commanders in chief of fleets and armies, and to the governors of provinces ; the fecond, applied by law to pri^y counfellors ; and being inferior to the title Lord, it is properly applied as a fubfidiary appellation, to fuch of the commons as bear that title : The third is applied to fuch of the fons and daugh ters of Peers as are not diftinguifhed by the titles Lord and Lady. The general term Gentry, includes all ¦perfons of rank, under the order of peer age ; but, in a more reftrided fenfe, it feems properly applicable to perfons of - U iij 3iq APPENDIX. condition, having precedency or rank in-. ferior to knighthood, the laft fpecific gra-. dation of dignity properly fo called, and. derived immediately from the crown. Even according to this limited accep tation of the term, and agreeably to e-^ ftabliflied precedency, the clafs or order, the individuals of which are ftyled Gen-^ tlemen, confifts of various degrees ; as the fons of baronets and of knights, re fpedively ftyled by no higher title than that of Efquire ; Colonels, or field-offi cers of the firft rank ; graduates of the firft order in the learned profelfions, as, Serjeants of the Common Law, Dodors of Divinity, of the Canon and Civil Law, of Medicine, and of Mufic. Next are Efquires, and Gentlemen, fpecifically fo termed, whofe rank or condition has been mentioned towards the end of the fifth chapter. In the laft fenfe, thofe appel- APPENDIX. 2 1 J lations denote the two loweft degrees of perfons by the law of chivalry noble, and having a right to wear the coat or mantle of arms ; as Serjeants and Dodors, are diftinguiflied by certain particular robes, and by the coif and dodoral cap» Except among heralds, it is not now cuftomary to wear the coat of arms, but only to have the ornaments or armorial infignia which belong to it difplayed on the liveries, furniture, and equipage, in little tablets reprefenting the fhields of warriors, and metonymically termed coats OF ARMS, as containing the particular or naments by which thofe coats are diftin guifhed.. When the titles - Efquire and Gentle man are taken in the fenfe immediately foregoing, the former, as in other in ftances, includes the latter, and figni- Uiiij 5 1 2 APPENDIX. fies a gentleman of fuperior confiders-. tion in point of birth, ftation, or for-. tune. It likewife denotes fuch as are created Efquires by the king, or hold any royal commiffion, wherein they are ftyled Efquires ; together with fuch as, under the charader and ftyle of Efquires, have attended a Knight of the Bath at his inftallation. The rank and title Gentle man, may, as well as that of Efquire, be alfo obtained by office or royal commif fion, as in the cafe of fubaltern military officers, whofe title of Gentleman is thus recognifed, or conferred. Blackstone, Book i, chap. xii. before cited, exhibits fuch a table of precedency as is here aUuded to, which is fomewhat different from that pubhflied by the he rald Edmondfon. In fpeaking of the in ferior gradations of rank, he refers to Sir Edward Coke, who fays, that " Efquire APPENDIX. 313 and Gentleman are only names of wor ship, not of dignity," But, in their re ftrided acceptation, as denoting perfons who belong to the two loweft ranks which bear armorial enfigns or badges of the nobility of chivalry, they are pro perly formal titles of honour. At the fame time, they are applied alfo by e.- ftablifhed cuftom to many who are not poffefled of armorial enfigns ; and in that view, perhaps, they may be rather confidered as names of refped or " wor- " fhip," The title Efquire is thus ap plied to magiftrates of confiderable di ftrids, to counfellors or advocates, clerks to his Majefty's Signet in Scotland, con fiderable merchants and traders, and to perfons of fortune and reputation in ge neral. The title Gentleman, in like man ner, is confidered as applicable to magi ftrates of inferior diftrids, to fuch pro feffors in Univerfities as are not Dodors 314 APPENDIX. or Efquires ; to the inferior clergy, and other refpedable members of the learned profeflions, refpedable citizens, and other perfons of whatever defcription, whofe charader and fituation in life are held fuitable to the ftate or condition of a Gentleman, As the title Gentleman, however, in a fenfe lefs proper and fpecific, is applied to all perfons of rank who are not Peers, Bifhops, or other Lords, fo, in a like fenfe, is the title Efquire ftill more for mally applied to many perfons who oc cupy ftations of diftindion. It is thus applied to feveral judges of the high courts of law, to Generals and Admirals, to great land-holders, v.'ho in the times of chivalry would have been ftyled Ban nerets ; and in the commiffion appoint ing thofe who were to treat of the Union between the Britifh kingdoms, a perfon APPENDIX. 312 holding the higheft civil ftation next to the Royal Family, is denominated, " Wil liam Cooper, Efquire, our Keeper of our Great Seal of England," [Lord Keeper of the Great Seal]. Aft the titulary Lords, who are fuch on account of of. fice, or of high birth only, have not, by the common law, any title but that of Efquire. The rank of Gentleman being the low eft honorary diftindion derived from chivalry, no appellation which is not equivalent to, or inclufive of the title Gentleman, is properly a title of honour in the heraldic fenfe of the term. But in thefe kingdoms, there is no barrier betwixt perfons of the degree of Gentle man, and thofe who are without any ho norary rank, in as much as both belong to the fame general order of the com mons : and the latter daily obtain rank^ 31 6 APPENDIX,' either by the acquifition of confiderable- property, or by offices in the army, the navy, the church, or the commonwealth. A PERSON of this laft clafs may be con neded by marriage with a family of the higheft rank, without any legal difpa- ragement to it, as the law is unacquaint ed with thofe faftidious diftindions which place the lower orders of the community at fuch a diftance from the higher, as if they were beings of a different fpecies. The wife participates in the rank of the hufband, if fuperior to her own, and either perfonal, as the dignity of knight hood, or hereditary, as that of peerage; but official dignity poffeffed by the huf band is in few inftances communicable. to the wife. APPENDIX- 317 The daughters of peers retain their titles and precedency, though they mar ry perfons who in thofe refpeds are in ferior to themfelves. Dowager peereffes alfo retain their titles, by courtefy, as al ready ftated, though they afterwards mar ry commoners ; yet the wife fo far fol lows the condition of the hufband, that a peerefs, who is fuch by a former mar riage, and not in her own right, lofes her peerage if fhe marry a commoner of any degree whatfoever. A baronefs who fliould marry the eldeft fon of a Duke, would be thus " difparaged," notwith- ilanding his titles by courtefy are higher^ and his rank in the order of precedency fuperior to her own. In other countries, the Gentry or No bleffe, including aft the children and de fcendants of each family, are eftabliflied on a principle of feparation from the 31 § APPENDIX, people, and cannot intermarry with them without lofing their privileges. Here, the gentry are by law included in the body of the people, and can claim no pri vilege either in civil or criminal caufes, which is not alfo competent to the loweft of that order. Even the Peerage, or Princely nobility, are not fo far feparat ed from the people as the gentry in fuch countries are ; ;but, on the contrary, are fo conneded with them, that all their own children belong to the order of the commons. The above fummary view may inci dentally fhow how the feveral eftates or conditions that form the leading diftinc- tions of rank, form alfo the mixed go vernment of this maritime commercial empire. So univerfally confpicuous is the power of Juries, to which no ho norary degree is requifite, that the low* APPENDIX. 319 cr claffes, in common with the higher, are evidently the adminiftrators, as well as the objed of the laws. At the fame time alfo, that degrees of honour are charaderifed by feudal titles and a fplen did infignia, they differ as effentially from thofe of the military feudal fyftem, as from the unadorned diftindions of de mocracy which have their fole founda tion in wealth, influence and official power. Illilliililillilillllllilillillilliii S! 3 9002 00670 1206 i i 5. r ill I J V' \\, ^ii p. ' ' I .1 ,1 iL'i ^ I r - 1 ,- -H, i'' t J