THE NOBILITY AND GENTRY.

"NOBILITIE," says Milles," which many of the greater sort of wits with great proof of uncorrupted verity and much flowing eloquence, have gone about to derive out of divers fountains, is of three sorts; and is divided into Nobilitie Calestial, which consisteth in Religion; Nobilitie Philosophicall, which is got by moral vertues; and Nobilitie Politicall, whereof this present treatise is."

This nobility," whereof," as Milles says, "this present treatise is," is again divided, by writers on the subject, into a greater and lesser nobility. To the former class belong Dukes, Marquesses, Earls, Viscounts, and Barons; and to the latter, Knights, Baronets, Esquires, and Gentlemen.

All which degrees of nobility and honour are derived from the Sovereign, who, as has been already observed, is the fountain of all honour. And from the power of the Sovereign to institute new titles at pleasure, it has arisen that all degrees of nobility are not of equal antiquity.

DUKE.

The title of Duke, the highest which exists in the Peerage of England, was adopted by the French,† and other nations, long

"Catalogue of Honour," p. 1.

+ In France, before the Revolution, the title of Duke was very superior to the other dignities, and the peerage was composed of Dukes only; but the rest of the nobility were properly jealous of this pre-eminence,

before it was used in England, where, down to the time of Edward VI, it was conferred only on Princes of the Royal Blood.

As an English title, it was first created in the eleventh year of the reign of King Edward III, when that monarch conferred the dignity of Duke of Cornwall upon his eldest son, Edward the Black Prince, who was before only Earl of Chester: but the term Dux, or Duke, was, according to Selden, used in the description of Earls many years before it became a distinct dignity. The charter of creation of the Duke of Cornwall is cited by Cruise,* to show that the dignity of Duke was originally annexed to the possession of lands. The next instance of a similar creation, was that of Henry Earl of Lancaster, who, on the 6th of March 1351, was created Duke of Lancaster for life, according to Selden, (who states that he was so created in Parliament, but no notice of such an event is to be found in the Rolls of Parliament,) and the words of the charters of creation are considered to have rendered both these dignities Dukedoms by Tenure, and as such they are said still to exist that of Cornwall being vested in the eldest son of the King, who becomes such the moment he is born; and that of Lancaster being in the hands of the Crown.

But in the third Report of the House of Lords on the Peerage, p. 126, Henry, Duke of Lancaster, is stated to have been created to that dignity, to him and the heirs male of his body; and it is there contended, that the grant of the dignity of Duke of Cornwall was personal; that the property was granted to him to enable

and opposed with spirit every encroachment of the peers. In a procession of the Order of the Holy Ghost, several Ducs et Pairs endeavoured to prevent M. de Gamache from walking at the side of the last Duke. The master of the ceremonies hastened to inform the King of the dispute, who decided that the Dukes were wrong if they pretended that a gentleman should not walk aside of them. So, after the procession, the Dukes said they had never formed such a pretension, and that it was a misunderstanding."-Sir James Lawrence, " Nobility of the British Gentry." * Cruise, "Treatise on Dignities," p. 19.

him to maintain the dignity of Duke according to his rank; that the King's patent of creation, and not the grant of the property, made him Duke of Cornwall, as a mere title or name of honour; and that the property did not make him Earl of Cornwall or give him any title of dignity.

After the period in question dukedoms were occasionally granted as a personal dignity, with remainder, in most instances, to the heirs male of the body of the grantee, though, like other dignities, instances might be cited where the limitation has been of a more special nature, and one or two occur where the remainder has been to the heirs general of the person so created. And it has been contended by Sir Harris Nicolas, that the position of Selden, in which he has been followed by Mr. Cruise, that the Dukedoms of Cornwall and Lancaster are Dukedoms by Tenure, is not correct, the former being a personal honour, though with a peculiar limitation to the eldest son of the King for the time being; and the latter being clearly a personal honour when conferred on Henry Earl of Lancaster it 1351, and which, on his death without issue male, became extinct; but it was again conferred, though with more extensive powers, in 1362, on John of Gaunt, who married the daughter, and eventually sole heir of the last Duke.

During the reign of Elizabeth very few Dukes existed in England, and in 1572, this title became extinct, on the execution of the Duke of Norfolk for high treason.

The title was revived, however, in the following reign, when James I. bestowed the title of Duke of Buckingham upon his favourite, George Villiers.

At the present day Dukes are created by patent; anciently the form of creation was by cincture of a sword, the putting on of a mantle of state, and other ceremonies of a like nature, as may be seen from the following extract from MILLES' " Catalogue of Honor," p. 46, which shows what was anciently

Sir Harris Nicolas, "Observations on Dignities," prefixed to his very valuable and original " Synopsis of the Peerage of England."

THE MANNER OF CREATING A DUKE.

"In the yeare MDXLVII. the xvii. of the month of February, and in the first year of the reign of Edward, the sixth of that name, the nobilitie being called together and assembled into the Tower of London, Edward Seymour, the Earl of Hertford, the King's uncle, and Protector of the kingdom, with others promoted unto the divers degrees of nobility, was in this wise created Duke of Somerset.

"He himself being apparelled in an inner robe of honor, the Heralds went before him in their heralds' coats, the chief of whom, Garter, following alone, carried the charter.

"The Earls of Shrewsbury and Oxford, going together, the Earl of Shrewsbury on the right hand, carried a verge of gold, and the Earl of Oxford on the left, carried the Duke's cap with a coronet of gold.

"Next unto whom followed the Earl of Arundel, carrying a sword with the hilt upwards.

"At length the Earl of Hertford himself was conducted in the midst, betwixt the Duke of Suffolk and the Marquess of Dorchester;-when they, in this manner attired in their robes of honor, were come into the chamber of salutation (which they commonly call the presence chamber), they, after thrice obeisance made, went unto the King, sitting in his chair of estate; where forthwith the Earl kneeled down, all the rest standing about him, Garter, king of heralds, delivered the charter unto Baron Paget, the King's secretary, who gave the same unto the King, and he delivered it to him again, to be read aloud.

"And when he came unto the word 'investivimus,' or, we have invested, the King put a Duke's mantle upon the Earl; and at the words Gladio cincturavimus,' girt him with a sword. And at the words Cappæ et Circuli aurei impositionem,' the King himself, in like manner, put upon his head a cap with a coronet of gold upon it. And at length, at those words, Virgæ aureæ traditionem,' the King himself gave into his hand a verge of gold.

"Which done, the secretary read the rest, even unto the end of