VISCOUNT.

This title, which is always conferred by letters patent, and descends according to the limitation expressed in them, is the most modern title of Peerage in this country.

The word had long been used to denote the sheriff of a county, (thus Blackstone says, 'the Sheriff, Earl's Deputy, or Vice-comes,") and though the dignity was known in France at a much earlier period, where, like all other titles in that kingdom, it was of a feudal nature and attached to lands, it was not introduced into England until the reign of King Henry VI., who, on the 12th February, in the eighteenth year of his reign, anno 1440, created John Lord Beaumont Viscount Beaumont by letters patent.

This dignity was limited to the heirs male of his body, and it is observable that King Henry, on the 10th January, in the nineteenth year of his reign, granted him the feudal Viscounty of Beaumont in France, which had been forfeited to the Crown by the rebellion of the Duc d'Alençon, and having been bestowed by Henry V. upon his brother John Duke of Bedford, had by his death reverted to the Crown.* And Selden further informs us, that about five years after this creation, he had other letters patent (before any other Viscount made in England) of a more express designation of the place or precedence belonging to his dignity.†

The second instance of the creation of a Viscount in this country occurred a few years afterwards, for it appears that Henry Lord Bourchier was, on the 14th December, (25 Henry VI.) 1446, summoned to parliament as Viscount Bourchier; and it is presumed that the patent of creation to that dignity was dated shortly

* SELDEN, Part II. cap. iii. p. 530; and cap. v. p. 764.

+ His first charter gave him rank in parliament, and elsewhere, above all Barons, super omnes Barones; his second gives him precedence above all Viscounts, fiendos et creandos, and above all Earls' heirs and sons, and immediately below all Earls.

I

before that writ was issued, but neither Dugdale nor any other writer cites any such patent, but merely refers to the writ as proof that he was so created.

This dignity has, comparatively, been but seldom conferred; its precedence, as stated in the patents of John Viscount Beaumont, is immediately below all Earls and above all Barons. Formerly, each person who received it was previously a Baron, but in a few modern instances individuals have been at once created Barons and Viscounts, as in the case of Viscount Canterbury, created in 1835, Viscount Canterbury and Baron Bottesford. And other instances again have occurred, where individuals have been raised to the dignity of a Viscount without having been either previously possessed of a Barony, and without being at the same time created to that dignity, as in the case of Viscount Sidmouth, who was so created on his resignation of office in 1805.

And here it may be observed, that it has of late years been understood, that every Premier, being a commoner or Baron, may, on his retirement from office, claim a Viscounty. In the case of the late Right Honourable George Canning, who was at the time of his death, in August 1827, First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer, a Viscounty was conferred on his widow, the present Viscountess Canning, in the January following.

The robes worn by a Viscount at a coronation consist of a mantle and surcoat of crimson velvet, lined with white taffeta; the mantle doubled from the neck to the elbow with two rows and a half of ermine. His parliamentary robes are of fine scarlet cloth; the mantle having two doublings and a half of plain white fur.

A Viscount's coronet consists of a circle of gold, bordered with ermine, with sixteen pearls set thereon, but not raised upon points. The cap is of crimson velvet, lined with ermine, and having a tassel of gold.

The coronation robe of a Viscountess is of crimson velvet; the cape furred with minever pure, powdered with two rows and a half of ermine; the mantle edged round with minever pure, two inches in

breadth, and the train being a yard and a quarter on the ground. Her coronet has sixteen pearls set on the rim, the cap being of crimson velvet, lined with ermine, and with a tassel of gold.

"A Viscount (says SEGAR) must go after the ancienty of his own ancestor's creation, and the Viscountess must have place according to the same. He may have in his own house the cup of assay holden under his cup while he drinketh, but none assay taken.

"He may have a carver and a sewer with their towels when they set their service on the table; the Viscount being there present. And all Viscountesses may have their gowns borne up by a man in the presence of a Countess. Also they may have a traverse in

their own houses.

"Item, Viscounts' eldest sons be born as Barons, and shall wear as many powderings as a Baron, saving he shall go beneath all Barons, and above all Barons' young sons. And his wife shall go beneath all Baronesses, and above all Viscounts' daughters.

"Item, Viscounts' daughters be born as Baronesses, and shall wear as many powderings as a Baroness, saving she shall go beneath all Baronesses and Viscounts' eldest sons' wives. And if they be married to a Baron they shall go after the degree of their husbands.

"Item, Viscounts' younger sons shall go as Bannerets, and wear as many powderings as a Banneret, saving they shall go beneath all Bannerets."

A Viscount may retain and qualify four chaplains,* and his Viscountess two.

The style of a Viscount is "Right Honourable," and he is officially addressed by the Crown, "Our Right Trusty and Wellbeloved Cousin."

He is addressed as "My Lord," and a letter to a Viscount should so style him at the commencement, and be directed "To the Right Honourable Lord Viscount

It may, perhaps, be as well to explain in this place that, by the statute of 22 Hen. VIII. c. 18, an Archbishop may qualify eight chaplains; a Duke or Bishop, six; Viscount, four; Baron, Knight of the

BARON.*

Before entering upon the subject of the dignity of a Baron by writ and a Baron by patent, it will be necessary to make a few observations on an order of nobility now no longer existing, but which was the first introduced into this country after the Norman Conquest; and this is the

BARON BY TENURE.

After the Conquest, all dignities were attached to the possession of certain lands, which, agreeably to the Feudal System introduced into this country by the Normans, were held immediately of the King, upon condition of performing certain honorary services, and which was called a Feudum Nobile, and undoubtedly conferred nobility on the individual to whom it was granted. The services

Garter, and Lord Chancellor, three; Duchess, Marchioness, Countess, Viscountess, Baroness, Treasurer and Comptroller of the Household, King's Secretary, Dean of Chapel Royal, Lord Almoner, and Master of the Rolls, two each; and Chief Justice of the King's Bench, one. All of whom may purchase licence or dispensation, and take two benefices with cure of souls.

A chaplain must be retained by letters testimonial under hand and seal, or he is not a chaplain within the statute; and a chaplain, thus qualified, may hold his livings though dismissed from attendance during life nor can a nobleman, though he may retain other chaplains in his family, qualify any of them to hold pluralities while the first are living.-4 Rep. 90.

* The etymology of the name Baron is by no means decided. The opinion most generally entertained, derives it from the Celtic word Ber or Bar, changed by the Romans into Baro. In the middle ages this term was applied to those nobles, whether ecclesiastics or laymen, who

by which these lands were held, chiefly consisted of attending the Sovereign in war with a certain number of Knights; and likewise of attending his great councils, afterwards designated Parliaments. The number of Knights to be provided by each Baron depended on the conditions annexed to the grant, and according to that number he was said to be possessed of so many Knights'-fees; that is, his lands were nominally divided into certain divisions, to the tenure of each of which was appended the duty of providing a Knight completely armed for the field, whenever the King commanded his attendance.*

Selden considers that the lands which were conferred by William the Conqueror on his followers, descended to their posterity, and who consequently were deemed to form the Baronial body of the kingdom; but in the reign of John, from many having alienated portions of their possessions, a great part of them became so reduced as to cause such of the Barons as retained all the lands granted to their ancestors, to obtain a law by which they only should in future be styled Barons, and all the rest merely tenants in chief, or Knights; but because the name of Baron could not be taken from them, the addition of majores was given to the most powerful Barons, and that of minores to the others. From that period to the reign of Henry III. the right of sitting in the legislative as

surrounded Sovereign Princes; and from this arose the practice, which existed for so long a period, of bestowing this title of honour upon Saints: thus we read in Froissart, tom. 3, cap. 30-" or eurent ils affection d'aller en pélerinage au Baron Saint Jacques." This title of Baron was afterwards supplanted by that of Monsieur, which is found joined to the names of Saints as late as the fifteenth century. So great was the honour attached to this title in France, that the nobles quitted the title of Prince for that of Baron:-this was done in France, in the year 1200, by le Sire de Bourbon.

It may be added, that the Montmorency family style themselves "les premiers Barons de la Chrétienté."

* SIR H. NICOLAS's "Synopsis of the Peerage"-Introduction, p. iii.