UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO 3 1822 00786 66 A A i = ! 8 I 4 i 5 I 4 i 1 2 1 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN U EGO IM|I III III III II II < A BKLLE JENNINGS, DUCHESS OF TYRCONNEL . .319 FRAGMENTS OF FAJIHA' AND TERSONAE HISTORY . . 327 IVAN YORATII, 327. OLIVER CROMWELl's BAPTISM, 328. THE IIATTONS OP KIRBY, 328.^-EARL OF ELDON, 330. FIELD-MARSHAL BRADY, 331. FIELD- MARSHAL PRINCE NUGENT, 332. LADY ANNE BAR- NARD, 335. EARLDO^il OF BERKELEY, 339. LORD LYNDIIURST, 341. — MARRIAGE OF SIR PHILIP HERBERT AND LADY SUSAN VERE, 344. MARRIAGE OF MR. YNYR BURGES, 346. SOAME JENYNS, 347. HERALDRY AND THE HERALDS, 347. ULSTER'S OFFICE, 348. KNIGHTS OP THE GARTER, 350. LORD EDWARD FITZ-GERALD'S DAGGER, 352. EARL OF ABERDEEN, K.G. AND K.T, 354, THE RISE OF THE ROTHSCHILDS, 356. — MAR- RIAGE OF LORD CLIVE, 359. THE VALENTIA ANNES- LEYS, 359. VICISSITUDES OP FAMILIES, 360. DEGRADATION FROM KNIGHTHOOD, 362. — CANNING's RISE, 362. — PRINCE Bismarck's- SUPPORTERS, 364. SIR WILLIAM gull's HONOURABLE AUGMENTATION, 364. ERE AT A. PcKje 7, Uii'i 21. — Thore were 22 Howards Knights of the Garter. Pa(je 143. — Mr. Arthur O'C.'onor, mentioned in line G, was first coiisin, not uncle, of the late O'C'onor Ton. ^lic |li5c af ©rcat Jfamtltes. "Wherever the distinction of birth is allowed to fomi a. superior order in the State, education and example shoidd al- ways, and will often, produce among them a sentiment and pm- priety of conduct, Avhich is guarded from dishonour by their own and the public esteem. If we read of some dlustrioas line so ancient that it has no beginning, so worthy that it ought to have no end, we sympathise in its various fortunes ; nor can we blame the generous enthusiasm, or even the harmless vanity, of those who arc allied to the honours of its name." — Gibbon. POPULAR, notion prevails that it wouLI be an invidious task to write the history of the rise of our emi- nent Houses, that the consequent investigation would lead to the discovery of the obscure source of their greatness, that the details would detract from the estimate in which tlic nobility is held, that the subject had better be left unexamined, and that, "where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise." To all this I emphatically demur : few books 1 2 THE RISE OF GREAT FAMILIES. would be more interesting or instructive, few abound- ing more in deeds of fame and in instances of success acliieved by intellect and genius, and of patriotism and loyalty true to the death, than a faithful record of the rise and progress of the distinguished families that constitute the class known as the Aristocracy of Great Britain and Ireland. That record would tell of ancient pedigi^ees, famous titles and brilliant ser- vices. There might be now and then a chance pre- cedent, showing that " the royal hand had sometimes laid the sword of chivalry upon a worthless shoulder," but the exception would only prove the general rule. The best blood in Europe, and the most historic illustration, belong to the noblesse of this empire. Occasionally a naval or military Commander, a States- man, a Lawyer, or a Merchant of comparatively liumble birth — a Nelson, a Colborne, a Copley, or a Lloyd — makes his way into the House of Lords; but this infusion of new blood lends fresh vigour to the system : " Le premier qui fut roy fut un soldat heureiix, Qui sert bien son pays n'a besoiii d'aieiix." It is surprising how strongly a false notion of the inferiority of the British nobility has taken liold of the public mind. This very year Lord Shaftesbury is reported to have thus spoken of the peerage : — " There were few persons of Norman descent in the House of Lords, which represented a very large in- fusion of every rank and profession — naval, military, civil, legal, clerical, and mercantile. He once heard THE RISE OF GREAT FAMILIES. 3 that gi'eat man, Lord Eldon, Lord High Chancellor of England, say, ' Look at me, a peer and a Lord High Chancellor, taking precedence of you all, and yet I can look back and remember that I am the son of a coal miner at Newcastle.' " Even Mr. Disraeli puis into the mouth of his favou- rite character, Millbank, heterodox assertions, which Coningsby leaves unrefuted, or, at all events meets with a general remark, that he had always " understood that our peerage was the finest in Europe :" — " Ancient" lineage !" says Millbank, " I never heard of a peer with an ancient lineage. The real old f^imilics of this country are to be found among the peasantry ; tlie gentry, too, may lay some claim to old blood. I can point joii out Saxon families in this county who can trace their pedigrees beyond the Conquest. I know of some Norman gentlemen wliose fathers undoubtedly came over with the Con- (pieror. But a peer with an ancient lineage is to me (piite a novelty. No, no : the thirty years of the wars of the Roses freed us from those gentlemen, I take it, after the battle of Tewkesbury a Norman liaron was almost as rare a being in England as a wolf is now." Mr. Millbank was better read in politics than gene- alogy ; had studied Bentham, Adam Smith and Hallam, rather than Camden, Dugdalo and Nicolas. Beyond all question, the peers are " of ancient lineage." Amou'T them, and not among the peasantry or gentry, are "tlie real old families" to be found; and "a peer 1 -2 4 THE EISE OF GREAT FAMILIES. with an ancient lineage" is most assuredly not a novelty. Whoever will take the trouble to examine the pedigrees of the gi'eat European families, with a view to comparison, must come to the conclusion that the nobility of this empire need give place to none other. The official lists of the Peerage enumerate in " a long bede roll," the names of Nevill, Howard, Cour- tenay, Percy, Devereux, Hamilton, FitzGerald, Talbot, Stanley, Lindsay, Butler, O'Brien, Douglas, Seymour, Russell, Cavendish. Berkeley, Manners, Montagu, Campbell, Murray Graham, Grosvenor, Poulett, Gor- don, Stuart, Hastings, Feilding, Fane, Bruce, Grey, Stanhope, Lumley, Yilliers, De Burgh, Lyon, Erskine, Shirley, Ashburnham, Greville, Spencer, Edgecumbe^ Fortescue, Eliot, Lowther, Gage, Crewe, Drummond, Walpole, Lambton, Wodehouse, St. John, Stonor, Wingfield, Nugent, Stourton, Petre, Arundel, Clifford, Astley, Bertie, Fiennes, De Courcy, Preston, McDonnell, Perceval, St. Lawrence, Digby, Bagot, Littleton, Plun- ket, Ramsay, Eraser, and many a one beside that is " famous in story." The noblemen, the chiefs of these distinguished names, are, in nearly every instance, either the heirs male or the heirs general of their respective families, and several of them still keep their state in the very Halls or Castles transmitted to them from Plantao-enet, and in some cases from Nor- man, times. Their peerage creations they derive from ancient feudal jDroprietors, from warriors who led armies to victory, from statesmen who in critical Til]-] RISi: OF GREAT FAMILIES. •> times guided tlie councils of their eountiy, or from lawyers who, as Lord Chancellors and Judges, framed and administrated our laws. Out of this long list, let me take haphazard a fev/ names, Nevill, Talbot, Howard, FitzGerald, Hamilton, Dcvereux, Courtenay, Butler, and Douglas. Where in tlie history of foreign nobility can they be surpassed for ancient lineage or public services ? The sound of their names is the echo of the war trumpet of the middle ages. '>The Earl of Abergaveny is chief of the Nevills, and but for their attainder, would, as their heir, be Earl of Westmorland, of a patent dating back as far as 1397. Raised to the height of glory and power by Richard, Earl of Warwick, the King-maker, the Nevills of Raby were of Baronial rank shortly after the Conquest. The mere summary of the honour's they achieved would fill pages of my book. Queens, Archbishops, Lord Chan- cellors, Knights of the Garter, they fairly won the numerous coronets, Baronial to Ducal, which their Sovereigns bestowed on them. Then there is the Earl of Shrewsbury, the direct descendant, through the first and illustrious Earl, the hero of forty battles, of the Talbots, of which family- Sir Philip Sidney writes, " There is not in Europe a subject house which hath joined longer continuance of nobility with men of gi'eater service and loialty." The Geraldines and the Hamiltons, mth pedigrees of " ancient lineage " and historic fame, identified with the chief events of the rival kinirdoms of Ireland and G THE RISE OF GREAT FAJtIILIES. Scotland, are still represented by the two Irish Dukes, Leinster, and Abercorn. In the sixteenth century, th& Hamiltons were next in succession to the crown of Scotland after_Mary Stuart, the Queen regnant. Viscount Hereford, the Premier Viscount of England, is the heir of the Devereuxes, Earls of Essex, of Baronial rank m the Wars of the Roses, and of historic distinction for centuries before and after. The Earls of Devox, whose very name, Courtenay, recalls Emperors and Kings, can be clearly traced back to feudal Barons of the time of Henr^^ II. lUST four centuries of ducal rank and just eight centuries of unsullied ancestry are associated with the name of Howard. In the combination of antiquity of de- scent, and the possession of the highest peerage honours with the most brilliant public services and the most illustrious alliances, the family of the Duke of Norfolk is unrivalled. Next to the blood-roj'al, Norfolk is not only at the head of the titled ranks of this empire, but also, I maintain, at the head of Euroj)ean nobility. In historical pre- eminence, no dukedom in Europe stands so exalted as this. Dugdale was at a loss to ascertain the parentage of William Howard, . the Lord Chief Justice of the reign of Edward I. ; but recent researches have led me to the conviction that his descent from Herward, " Exul," THE RISE OF GREAT FAiflLIES. 7 or " the Exile," a contemporary of William the Con- 4Ucror's, is quite capable of proof. After a series of generations of gi'eat county gentle- men, the Howards were raised from knightly degree and provincial celebrity to the most elevated rank in the kingdom. They sprang, per saltum, from simple cliivalry to ducal position. The cause of this was the splendid alliance formed in the early part of the fifteenth century, by Sir Robert Howard with the Lady Margaret de Mowbray, daughter of Thomas De Mowbray, first Duke of Norfolk, and cousin and co-heiress of John De Mowbray, the fourth duke. This it was which brought eventually to the Howards the inheritance of royal blood, vast possessions and mag- nificent heirships. The Lady Margaret's mother was sister and co-heiress of Thomas Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel, and her father was, through his mother, great grandson of Thomas Plantagenet, Earl of Norfolk, eldest son of King Edward I., by Margaret of France, his second Queen. No less than nineteen Howards have been Knights ot the Garter — no other family can boast as many — and full twenty distinct peerages have at various times been conferred on this illustrious house. No one was more capable of forming an opinion on the relative position of the nobles of England than the late Sir Harris Nicolas, and he thus speaks of the Howards : — " In point of mere antiquity there are several nobles which far exceed the Howards; but what other family j)ervades all our national annals with such frequent 8 THE RISE OF GREAT FA3IILIES. mention, and often involved in circumstances of such intense and brilliant interest ? As heroes, poets, poli- ticians, courtiers, patrons of literature, state victims to tyranny and revenge, and feudal chiefs, they have constantly been before us for four centuries !" For a period, their history was as tragic as it was glorious. The first Duke of Norfolk, true to his king, fell at Bosworth. The second duke won Flodden, but nevertheless, his son Thomas, the third duke, was attainted, and would have been beheaded, but that the king's death, the day before Norfolk's was intended, arrested the axe in its course ; his twojiapless nieces. Queen Anne Boleyne and Queen Catherine Howard, had already passed to the scaffold. The third duke's son, the brightest jewel in the coronet of Howard, was Henry, Earl of Surrey, K.G., the statesman, warrior, and ]Doet: " The gentle Surrey loved his lyre ; Who has not heard of Surrey's fame ] His was the hero's soul of fire, And his the Bard's immortal name." Surrey's cruel and iniquitous execution* was the last * The charge on which Surrey was convicted and beheaded was that he had assumed the heraldic bearings of King Edward the Confessor ! His sister, Mary, Duchess of Riclnnond, was the principal witness against him ; and his own father, the Duke of Norfolk, Avent so far as to declare that his son, Lord Surrey, liad presumptuously used the arms of St. Edward, and that he himself had, ever since the death of his father, borne in the first quarter of his shield the arms of England, with a dif- ference of three labels of silver, which he admitted was High Treason. This confession was made under fear of death. The THE rJSE OF GREAT FA5IILIES. act of the tyranny of Henry VIII. His son, the fourth Duke of Norfolk, met a like doom as his father, and was beheaded in the time of Elizabeth, on an accu- sation of having conspired with Mary, Queen of Scots. An entry in the Journal of Mr. E. Browne, " Sloans MSS." (Brit. Mus.), gives a striking description of the celebration at Norwich of the birthday of Henry Howard, afterwards Duke of Norfolk, a description, obviously the source from which Macaulay derived the materials for the following graphic account of the gorgeous state kept up by the Norfolk family two hundred years ago : — " In the heart of the city (Norwich), stood an old palace of the Dukes of Norfolk, said to be the largest town house in the kingdom out of London. In this mansion, to which were annexed a tennis-court, a bowling-green, and a wilderness, stretching along the banks of the Wensum, the noble family of Howard frequently resided, and kept a state resembling that of petty sovereignty. Drink was served to guests in goblets of pure gold. The very tongs and shovels were of silver. Pictures by Italian masters adorned the walls. The cabinets were filled with a fine collection of gems purchased by that Earl of Arundel, whose marbles are now among the ornaments of Oxford. Here, in the year 1071, Charles and his court were sumptuously enterUiined. Here, too, all comers were quartering, the use of wliich was considered so heinous, belonged of right to the Howards by descent, and has been ever since, even to this day, borne by the Howards. 10 THE RISE OF GREAT FAMILIES. annually welcomed, from Christmas to Twelfth Night. Ale flowed in oceans for the populace. Three coaches, one of which had been built at a cost of five hundred pounds to contain fourteen persons, were sent every afternoon round the city to bring ladies to the festivi- ties; and the dances were always followed by a luxurious banquet. When the Duke of Norfolk came to Norwich, he was greeted like a king returning to his capital. The bells of the cathedral and of Saint Peter Mancroft were rung : the guns of the castle were fired ; and the mayor and aldermen waited on their illustrious fellow citizen with complimentary ad- dresses." What Howard is to Eno-land, Douglas is to Scot- land. I HE first title on the Union Roll after that of E,othesay, inherited by the Prince of Wales, is " Hamilton," now possessed by the representative of the illustrious house of Douglas. Of the Hamiltons, the heir-male is the Duke of Abercorn, and the heir-general, the Earl of Derby. The Dukedom of Hamilton descends to its present holder, Douglas, by the special limita- tion of the patent of creation. The family of Douglas, long the rival of royalty, has been, time out of mind, connected with the first nobles of Scotland, England, and France; and it has inter- married no less than eleven times with the roval house THE RISE OF GREAT FASIILIES. II of Scotland, and once with that of England. There are few races in Europe so dignified as it, whether we con- sider its long line of illustrious ancestors, its princely inheritance, or its historic renown. The original settlement of the clan was far north, in Morayshire ; and the pedigree Ls deduced from Theobald le Fleming, to whom the Abbot of Kelso gi-anted lands on the Water of Douglas, whence came the far-famed name of his descendants. At Bannockburn, the centre of the Scottish army was commanded by the good Sir James Douglas, and on that famous field, under the royal standard, he was created a knight banneret. The good Sir James, long after, journeyed to Jerusalem, for the purpose of depo- siting Bruce's heart in the sepulchre of Our Lord ; and the event has ever since been commemorated in the arms of Douglas. James, the second Earl of Douglas, won Otterburn (Chevy Chase) against Percy of Northum- berland, but fell in the moment of victory. As he lay wounded, one of his knightly companions (Sinclair) enquired, " How goes it, cousin ? " " But so-so," replied the sinking soldier ; " praise be to God, few of my ancestors have died in chambers or in beds. Avenge me, for I die; raise again my banner, but tell not friend nor foe how it fares with me, for my enemies would exult, and my friends be disconsolate."' Sir Philip Sidney delighted in this episode of the story of the Douglases. " I never heard," he used to say, " the old song of Percy and Douglas, that I found not my heart moved more than with a trumpet." 12 THE RISE OF GREAT F^VMILIES. The third, the gi'im Earl of Douglas, about whose legitimacy there is grave doubt, was the most powerful subject of his time ; and his son, Archibald, fourtli Earl, one of the most distinguished soldiers in Europe. He commanded the Scotch at Homildon, and having been made Duke of Touraine, in France, and created lieutenant-general of the French forces, was slain at the battle of Verneuil. His son, the fifth Earl of Douglas, and the second Duke of Touraine, exhibited the martial sj)irit of his race at the battle of Beaug^. His sou, William, sixth Earl of Douglas, third Duke of Touraine, and second Count of Longueville, a youth of princely magnificence, was inveigled into the Castle of Edinburgh, and basely beheaded in 1440. At his death, his gi"and-uncle, James, Earl of Avondale, suc- ceeded to the Scottish dignity, and was father of William, eighth Earl of Douglas, lieutenant-general of Scotland, who restored the splendour and power of his house by marrying his cousin, " the Fair Maid of Gal- loway," only sister of the last Duke of Touraine. The fate of this Earl, whom King James II. of Scotland stabbed in Stirling Castle with his own hand, and while under the royal safeguard, is familiar to all who read Scottish history. His brother, James, ninth Earl of Douglas, bent on revenge, took up arms, and rapidly •collected 40,000 men; but, deserted by the chieftains, his troops melted away, and Douglas himself, with a few attendants, effected his escape to England, wliere he was granted a pension by Edward IV"., and was made a Knight of the Garter, the first Scotchman who THE RISE OF GREAT FAMILIES. 13 received the honour. The miglity power of the senior line of the house of Douglas was destroyed in him. In the words of Sir Walter Scott, " It can only be com- pared to tlic gourd of the prophet, which, spreading in such miraculous luxuriance, was withered in a single night." The exiled lord made one more foint effort, in 1483, to retrieve his position, but was surrounded and cap- tured at Lochmaben. Brought into the royal presence, the aged w^arrior turned his back on the son of James II., the destroyer of his house. The king, however,, touched by pity, merely sentenced Douglas to the retirement of Lindores Abbey, and in that holy retreat the broken-hearted Earl died a monk four years after. On the extinction of the Black Douglases, the branch of the family which became the most powerful was that of the Red Douglases, the Earls of Angus, descended of a younger son of the first Earl of Douglas. Archibald, the fifth Earl of Angus, is known in history as " Bell the Cat." His son, Archibald, the sixth Earl, manied the Princess Margaret of England, Queen Dowager of Scotland, by whom he had an only child, Margaret, Countess of Lennox, mother of Henry, Lord Darnley, husband of Mary, Queen of Scots. From the brother of the sixth Earl of Angus, the present Duke of Hamilton directly descends. Of the house of Douglas, besides the Earls of Douglas and Angus, there have been Dukes of Douglas, Dukes of Touraine, Dukes of QueensbeiT}^, Dukes of Dover, Hamilton, and Brandon ; ^larqucsscs of Bcverle}' and 1-^ THE RISE OF GREAT FAMILIES. Queensberry, Earls of Atliole, Buclian, Morton, Selkirk March, Dumbarton, Forfar, and Butler ; and Barons Douglas, Rijoon, and Solway. IDE by side with the Howards of Enofland and the Douglases of Scotland, Ireland can fairly place her own Geraldines of Kildare and Desmond, and her Butlers of Ormonde, both dating their rise to greatness from the first invasion of Ireland and from their share in the territories then won. The Anglo-Norman founder of the House of Ormonde was Theobald Walter, to whom King Henry II. granted the Chief Butlerage of Ireland, and thus originated a name, destined to become one of the most distinguished in the annals of that country. Hubert Walter, brother of the first Chief Butler, happened to fill the primatial see of Canterbury when Hichard I. died leaving the <3rown to his brother John, and it was mainly through his influence that the latter was enabled to succeed to the throne, to the prejudice of his unfortunate nephew Arthur; and in return for the service thus done to John, that King added to the wealth and power of the Butlers in Ireland. In Camp, Court, and Council, the Butlers have figured for ages. Dry den styles them, " one of the most ancient, most conspicuous, and most deserving families in Em-ope." The height of their renown was attained by the great Duke of Ormonde, K.G., the head of the THE RISK OF GllEAT FAMILIES. 15 Irish Cavaliers. A Duke in Ireland, and a Duke in England, he preferred to all other titles, for these Peerage lionours, the one historic name of Ormonde. He married his cousin Elizabeth Preston, Baroness Ding\yall, who was heir-general to the tenth Earl of Ormonde and to the eleventh Earl of Desmond : and whom James I. had meant to be the wife of George Feilding, a young, nephew of his favourite the Duke of Buckingham. Love laughs at Kings' decrees, but the self-sufficient James could not imagine such rebellion : and having created Lord Dingwall Earl of Desmond in Ireland, he gave that title in reversion after his death to the son-in-law he had fixed upon for the Earl. The lady married Ormonde, whose father had spent eight gloomy years in the Tower because he would not, on the king's command, surrender his ancient patrimony'- to her family; whilst Feilding married a Stanhope, and was the progenitor of a distinguished race, who inheriting the Englisli title of Denbigh from the senior Ime of tlicir family, still bear the historical Irish Earldom of Desmond without any descent from or kinship with the great and unhappy branch of the Geraldines, seventeen of whom had borne the dignity of Desmond, between 1329 and the death of their last chief in 1G08. The eldest son of the great Duke of Ormonde was the gallant Earl of Ossory, father of James, the second and last Duke of Ormonde, Lord High Constable at the coronation of William III. It is said that this second Duke was, during the reign of Queen Aime, the most IG THE ELSE OF GKEAT FAMILIES, popular man in England. He was certainly one of the most dignified. I cannot resist giving the official enu- meration of his honours : — " The most noble .incl illustrious prince, James Earl of Breck- nock, and Baron of Llantliony in Wales, and of Moore Park in England ; Duke, Marquess, and Earl of Ormonde, Earl of Ossory, Viscount Thurles, Baron of Dingle and Arklow, in Ireland ; Lord of the regalities and liberties, and Governor of the County Palatine of Tipperary ; and of the city, town, and county of Kilkenny ; honorary Chief Butler of Ireland ; Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, and Constable of Dover Castle ; Lord Lieutenant of the County of Somerset ; Lord Lieutenant and Custos Piotulorum of the County of N'orfolk ; High Steward of the cities of Exeter, Bristol, and Westminster; Chancellor of the Universities of Oxford and Dublin ; Colonel of the First Eegiment of Foot Guards ; Captain General, and Commander-in-Chief of all Her JMajesty's forces, by sea and land ; one of Her ]\Iajesty's JMost Honourable Privy Council in England and Ireland ; Knight of the most noble Order of the Garter ; and Lord Lieutenant General, and General Governor of Ireland." In strange contrast with this catalogue of glories comes the story of the Duke's end. At the accession of George I., he was attainted with Boling-broke and Oxford for correspondence with the Jacobites in France. Subsequently he took the command of a force which sailed from Cadiz to accomplish the restoration of the Stuarts, but the fleet was dispersed, and the attempt utterly failed. Ormonde retired to France, and resided for many years in exile at Avignon^ on a pension allowed him by the Court of Spain. His death occurred at a very advanced age in 1745. THE RISE OF GREAT FAMILIES. 17 Very many of our most distinguished families, tliouo:li of ofQod descent tliemselves, have been raised to high rank in the Peerage by the influence and fortune tliey have acquired through intermarriages with heiresses. Even the Howards owe much of their pre- eminence to the Mowbray marriage. The Mannerses, gentlemen of blood for full three liundred years before, were advanced to their subse- quent position by the good luck of the Sir Robert Planners, of Henry VI.'s reign, in winning a great lieiress, Eleanor Baroness de Roos, and acquiring with lier Belvoir Castle, still the glory of the Midlands. Their son, Sir George Manners, Lord Roos, raised his family still higher by allying himself to Royalty til rough his marriage with Ann St. Leger, niece of King Edward IV. But perhaps the most striking case in point is that of the Dukes of Buckingham. Richard Grenyille, of Wootton, M.P., a Bucking- hamshire gentleman of good position and ancient lineage, married, in 1710, Hester Temple, the sister and heiress of Richard, Viscount Cobham, and thus became possessed of the Temple estates. His wife, the heiress, was created a Peeress in her own right, as Countess Temple. Their son, Richard, Earl Temple, K.G., a Statesman of the time of George II. and George III., gained a Middlesex co-heiress, Ann Chambers of Han- worth, and his nephew and successor, George, Earl Temple, afterwards IMarqucss of Buckingham, obtained the hand of an Irish heiress, Lady Mary Elizabeth 2 IS THE EISE OF GREAT FAMILIES, Nugent, daughter of Robert, Earl Nugent. Thus the Nugent estates became the inheritance of the Gren- villes. But tlie greatest alliance of all in the Gren- ville ftimily was the next — the marriage of Richard, Earl Temple, second Marquess of Buckingham, with Lady Anna Eliza Brydges, daughter and sole heiress of the last Duke of Chandos, and the representative of Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, and Frances, his wife, eldest daughter and co-heiress of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, by Mary, Queen Dowager of France, daughter, and (in her issue) co-heiress of King Henry VII. In consequence of this illustrious connexion, the Marquess of Buckingham was granted the additional names of Brydges-Chandos, and was eventually created Duke of Buckingham and Chandos. The alliance not only brought broad lands and led to an addition to the Peerage honours of the Grenvilles, but through it Richard-Plantagenet-Campbell, present Duke of Buck- ingham and Chandos, lias become the senior repre- sentative of the Princess Mary Tudor, daughter and co-heir of Henry VII. The Dukedom of Leeds is another strong* case in point. Sir William Hewit, Lord Mayor of Lon- don, 1559, was possessed of a considerable estate, and had an only daughter to inherit it. It chanced during tlie time her father resided on London Bridge, that the child, through the carelessness of her nurse, fell into Uie river, whereupon a young gentleman, named Ed- ward Osborne, one of Sir William Hewit's apprentices, plunged in, and rescued the infant. " In memory of TflE RISE OK GREAT FAMILIES. 19 whicii deliverance," says an old writer, " and in grati- tude, her father afterwards bestowed her in marriage on the said Mr. Osborne, with a very great dowry." Young Osborne, following up his good fortune, rose to be one of the merchant princes of London, and filled the civic chair, in 1582. His great grandson became Duke of Leeds, and a Knight of the Garter, and after him, the Dukes of Leeds for four gene- rations, man-ied heiresses. One of these well- portioned ladies. Lady Mary Godolphin, was granddaughter, paternally, of Sidney, Earl of Godolphin, K.G., Queen Anne's Lord Treasurer, and maternally of John Churchill, the first Duke of Marlborough. But it was the Lady Amelia D'Arcy, wife of the fifth Duke, who brought Hornby Castle, the heirship of the D'Arcys, Earls of Holderness, the representation of the Dukes of Schomberg, and the Barony of Conyers, to the family of Osborne. A very remarkable instance of a sequence of heir- esses is given in the rise of the Leveson-Gowers. The noble house of Sutherland, which possesses, probably, at this time, the largest landed estate in the three Kingdoms, rose to its ducal position, and present political importance, through the accumulation of property and the vast consequent influence it acquired by intermarriages. No doubt the Gowers themselves were a very old territorial family, one of distinction^ ages before ; they are said to have been Saxons, were conspicuous in local history, and were included in one 20 THE EISE OF GEEAT FAMILIES. of the earliest batches of baronets ; but it was the fortunate marriages of ahnost every generation, since the time of Charles I., that has made them what they are. Frances Leveson, wife of the second Baro- net, brought the Gowers Lilleshul, in Shropshire, Haling, in Kent, and Trentham, in Staffordshire ; and Lady Jane Granville, wife of the fourth Baronet, and co-heiress of the Eai'ls of Bath, added the co-heir- ship of the family of Granville, illustrious for having given birth to Sir Bevil Granville — the " Bayard " of England — slain for the King at the victory he achieved at Lansdowne. Thus enriched, territorially and ancestrally, the Leveson-GowerS became Barons and Earls. The second Earl, securing the hand of another heiress — the Lady Louisa Egerton — suc- ceeded to a considerable portion of the Bridgewater property, and was created a Marquess ; and his son, the second Marquess, who, through his mother, was entitled to quarter the Royal Arms, gained for wife Elizabeth, Countess of Sutherland and Baroness of Strathnaver — the inheritrix of one of the oldest earl- doms of Scotland, and the proprietrix of more than one- half of the county of Sutherland. A Dukedom, under the title of the Lady's Earldom, was conferred upon the Marquess, and is now j^ossessed by his grandson, the third Duke, who, true to the traditional good fortune of his race, has married the heiress of the Hay-Mackenzies, of Cromartie, and has obtained for her a Peerage in her own right as Countess of Cromartie. Eael Cowpee derives some of his Peerage honours THE RISE OF GREAT FAMILIES, 21 fi'om liis ancestoi', the Lord Chancellor Cowper, of the time of Queen Anne ; but a large portion of his landed possessions, his Scottish Barony of Dingv/all, and his Englisli Barony of Butler of Moor Park, as well as the dignity of a Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, come throufjh the marriao-e of the second Earl with the Lady Henrietta, daughter and heiress of Henry do Nassau Auverquerque, Earl of Grantham, son of the famous Marshal, and the sole descendant of the legiti- mated children of the Stadtholder Prince Maurice, of Nassau. The Lady Henrietta, through her mother — Lady Henrietta Butler — became also, in her issue, heir general of the Dukes of Ormonde. The present Lord Cowper's mother, a Peeress in jier own right as Baroness Lucas, represents the Dukes and Earls of Kent, a branch of the famous house of Grey, which has filled so prominent a part in English histor}-. Henry de Grey acquired a good estate with Isolda, the heir of Robert Bardolph : and his male descendants were Dukes of Suffolk and Kent, Marquesses of Dorset, Earls of Stamford and Warrington, Viscounts Lisle and Graney, and Lords Grey de Wilton, Rotherfield, Codnor, Groby and Ruthyn. The sad fate of the fairest daughter of this house. Lady Jane Grey, is familiar to all my readers. Her misfortunes brought ruin to her kindred. Her father, nominally par- doned at the time, was afterwards pursued as an ac- com])lice in Wyatt's rebellion, and being betrayed by one of liis own keepers, was taken out of a hollow tree in wliich he had concealed himself, was beheaded, and 22 THE EISE OF GEEAT EAMILIES, attainted ; so that the Marquessate of Dorset was for- feited with his other honours. Otherwise his brother's descendant, and the heir male of the Greys, the Earl of Stamford, would now rank as premier Marquess. Lord Grey de Wilton fortunately escaped a similar fate, though he had openly supported Lady Jane : but his grandson, the fifteenth and last Baron of that family, was attainted in 1603 for that mysterious- altair, Raleigh's conspiracy. When sentenced he re- fused to plead for mercy. " The house of Wilton," he nobly said, " have spent many lives in their Prince's service, and Grey cannot ask his." He was given it, however, but died a prisoner in the Tower, where he had been for thirteen years incarcerated. The Greys of E,uthyn were more fortunate — Edward IV. gave them the Earldom of Kent, and they held it for nearly three centuries. But the third Earl, a Knight of the Garter and a nobleman of large fortune, wasted all in riot and extravagance, and died in a poor London inn, leaving his brother to inherit a title and estate over- whelmed with debt. The former he would not assume, the latter he restored by economy and great ability in the management of land ; and eventually his grandson resumed the title ; and his descendants, as they were amongst the best born, so were counted amongst the wealthiest of the British nobility. These few instances, chosen out of many, -v^'hich readily present themselves, show the influence heiresses have had on the rise of our o-reat houses. In the THE ElbE OF GREAT FAMILIES. 23 cases cited, the heiresses caiTied with them not only the heraldic inheritance, but the much more substan- tial succession to the family estates. But it must not be taken for granted that all ladies who succeed to property are heiresses. Generally, this may be the fact, but not always. " There's often an heiress with- oat a penny," is an Irish proverb. Many ladies who succeed to extensive estates, or large property (such, for instance, as Lady Eurdett Coutts) are not heiresses, and many ladies, who succeed to none, are. The true definition of an heiress or co-hekess is this — a lady who is representative or co-representative in blood of her father."^ This representation, which depends on her having no brother, or on her brother or brothers having died without issue, entitles her descendants to quarter her arms for ever. In right of his descent from heiresses, the present Duke of Athole has a shield of more than a thousand quarterings. His Grace is not only the senior representative in blood of the Nevills, Lords Latimer, but also of the Stanleys, Earls of Derby, the De Veres, Earls of Oxford, and the Percys, Earls of Northumberland. Yet he does not inherit Knowsley, Hedingham, or Alnwick. As a set-off against this accumulation of heiresses combined in the possessor of one Scotch dukedom, it is a curious circumstance that another Scotch Duke, Montrose, is the representative of ancestors quite as * It seems a pity that Enghsh heraldry should extend a right to quarterings to the heiresses of all the younger branches, instead of confining it to the heir generid of the family, who is in truth, the real representative in blood. 24 THE RISE OF GREAT FAMILIES. illustrious — courtiers, and cavaliers far excellence — not one of whom, from their first appearance in history, found favour with an heiress. Consequently the Graham shield has no quartering. ATRIOTS, Courtiers, and Statesmen, the Russells have long held rank among the first nobles of Eng- land, and have always enjoyed a foremost place in the esteem and affection of the people. Their pedigree is clearly trace- able to an ancient baronial house, of Norman extraction, seated at Kingston Russell in Dorsetshire, and founded in England at the Conquest. Mindful thereof, the present Earl Russell had his title designated as " of Kingston Russell, in the CO. of Dorset." The Earls and Dukes of Bedford, a younger branch of the Dorsetshire stock, owe their rise to John Russell, a very accomplished gentleman, who had travelled much, and passed some of his early years in Spain. He resided at Berwick, about four miles from Bridport, in the county of Dorset^ and obtained a favourable introduction to court through one of those unexpected incidents which may be attributed solely to good fortune. In loOG the Archduke Philip of Austria, only son of the Em- peror Maximilian I., and husband of Joanna^ daughter of Ferdinand and Isabel, King and Queen of Castile THE IlISE OF GREAT FAMILIES. 2-> and Aragon, having encountered, in his passage from Flanders to Spain, a violent storm which lasted, Stow says, eleven days, was di'iven into Weymouth, where he landed, and was hospitably received by Sir Thomas Trenchard, Knt., of Wolvcton, a person of rank in the neighbourhood. Sir Thomas imme- diately apprised the court of the circumstance, and in the interim, while waiting for instructions Avhat course to adopt, invited his kinsman, Mr. RusseD, then recently returned from abroad, to wait upon the Prince. His Imperial Highness, fascinated by Mr. Russell's polished conversation, desired that he should accompany him to Windsor, whither the King had invited his Highness to repair. On the journey, the Archduke became still more pleased with his attendant's " learned discourse and generous deport- ment/' and at his interview with the King, recom- mended him strongly to Henry's fovour. Mr. Russell was, in consequence, taken immediately into the Kings service, and appointed one of the gentlemen of tlie privy chamber. Retaining the Royal regard in tiie next reign, he attended Henry VIII. to the Field of the Cloth of Gold, distinguished himself at Therouenne and Tournay, was wounded in Surrey's naval expedi- tion against Morlaix^ was knighted for his gallantry, on the deck of the flag ship, took part in the battle of Pavia, where the French King, Francis I., lost all but honour ; and was eventually created Lord Russell of Cheneys, and installed a Knight of the Garter. The Russells were thus placed in the House of 26 Till'; lasK of c;iii:at families. Lords, and associated with tlie most brilliant order of chivalry, before they acquired their vast monastic possessions. Pennant states that no family profited so much by the Church confiscations as that of the llussells. " To the grant of Woburn, in 1547," he observes, " it owes much of its property in Bedford- shire and in Buckinghamshire; to that of the rich Abbey of Tavistock, vast fortunes and interest in Devonshire ; and, to render them more extensive, that of Dunkeswell was added. The donation of Thorney Abbey gave Lord Russell an amazing tract of fens in Cambridgeshire, together with a great revenue. Melch- burn Abbey increased his property in Bedfordshire. The priory of Castle Hymel gave him footing in North- amptonshire, and he came in for parcels of the appur- tenances of St. Alban's, Herts, and Mount Grace, in Yorkshire; not to mention the house of the Friars' Preachers in Exeter, and, finally, the estate about Covent-garden, with a field adjoining, called the Seven Acres, on which Long-acre is built." Thus largely provided for, Lord Russell, in the suc- ceeding reign, was made, for his good services. Earl of Bedford, and thereby acquired a title that had pre- viously been associated with the glory of the Plan- tagenets. Its brilliancy has not since been tarnished. The next step in the rise of the Russells was through the marriage of Lord Russell, the patriot, with the admirable Lady Rachel Wriothesley, widow of the young Lord Vaughan (son of the Earl of Carbery), and daughter and heiress of the Earl of Soutliampton. THE BISE OF GREAT FAMILIES. 2T It brought a large accession of property, including tlic Bloonisbury estate in London, so large, indeed, that, added to the Covent Garden estate, it made the Kussells enormously rich ; and the next generation added still more, Wriothesley, second Duke, marrying an heiress of Howland, of Streatham. I remember the late Lord Carlisle sajdng, fifteen years ago, that the then Duke of Bedford niioht throw £200,000 a year into the Thames, and yd keep up Woburn. KVONSHIHE irives desijjnatiou to another ancient and honoured famil}^ — the Cavendishes, but why that county was chosen, as their Peerage title, I have not ascertained. The Caven- dish residence and property were else- where, and the Courtenays had already appropriated '•' Devon." No doubt, at the time, 1G18, when the first Lord Cavendish was created Earl of Devonshire, an erroneous impression prevailed that the Earldom of Devon or Devonshire, granted to the Courtenays, was extinct. This misapprehension continued for more than two centuries after, until, in point of fact, the year 1831, when the House of Lords resolved that it was still extant, and belonged to the third Viscount Courtenay. Luckily, for the sake of distinction, the Cavendish title had, in the interval, become a dukedom. In the fourteenth century the Cavendishes held hinds at Cavendish, in Suffolk. They rose by the law, from provincial celebrity, in the person of Sir 28 THE RISE OF GREAT FAMILIES. John Cavendish, Lord Chief Justice of England temp. Edward III. ; and fell back in the %\orld through the extravagance of William Cavendish, the Chief Justice's gi'andson, who sold his landed property in Caven- dish, and spent his all. The family, however, again rose to be far grander and far richer than ever through the marvellous shrewdness, ability, and manosuvrinor of the famous " Bess of Hardwicke," the third wife of Sir William Cavendish, the younger brother of the accomplished George Cavendish, author of the Life of Cardinal Wolsey, and the great- great-grandson of Sir John Cavendish, who shared with Walworth the honour of slaying Wat Tyler. Being from Suffolk, William Cavendish had the good fortune to obtain an introduction to a very eminent Suffolk man, Cardinal Wolsey ; and after Wolsey's fall, he was much in favour with Henry VIII., who em- ployed him in the suppression of monasteries, and bestowed on him considerable monastic estates. But it was his wife, Elizabeth Hardwicke, who was the means of advancing him in the world, and raising his descendants to rank, honour, and fortune. She pur- chased Chatsworth, now the Palace of the Peak, built Hardwicke, and acquired Bolsover Castle. She busied herself in consolidating; her estates in Derbvshire, and in adorning them with stately mansions. At her death, she had accumulated the vast possessions thfit have since rendered the Cavendishes one of the most influential families in the Peerage. The Countess lived to the verge of ninety, and even to the last hour in- THE RISE OF GREA.T FAMILIES. 29 dulged in ]ier pride and worldly magnificence. Her passion was building, and it is hard to say how many other noble monuments of her taste she might not have left behind her, if a severe frost in 1607 had not com- pelled her workmen to stop suddenly when engaged in im})roving the Norman Keep of Bolsover. There was a prophecy that when Bess of Hardwicke ceased to build, she would cease to live. The magic spell was broken, and the Lady died. Her story appears in another of my works. The first and most illustrious of the mercliant fami- lies which attained the peerage, was that of Do la Pole. Michael de la Pole, the son of William de la Pole, Edward the Third's "beloved merchant" of PIull, was created Earl of Suffolk in 1385, and was ancestor of a race of Earls and Dukes the most brilliant and the most "unfortunate of the brief period through which they lived. The last male heir, Richard de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk — " the White Rose" — an exile in France, fought Avith heroic bravery at the battle of Pavia, and was found dead on that memorable field. The rise of the De la Poles seems to have destroyed the prejudice against the admission of the trading element into the House of Lords. Commerce has since given rise to many fami- lies, and contributed several titles to the Peerasfe. Some, like the De la Poles, have altogetlier ])assed away ; a few others still endure. At present, foremost among the dignities acquired by the descendants of Mercliant Princes, appear the Dukedom of Leeds, the Earldoms of Craven, Radnor, and Feversham ; and the :30 THE RISE OF GREAT FAMILIES. Baronies of Ashbiirton, Carrincrton, Overstonc, and Wolverton. Hudson, the Railway King, as he was called in tlie days of his glory, built up for a time a colossal fortune by a sj^stem of hazard which astonished every one ; and after a thousand hairbreadth escapes, made one false step, and sank at once into ruin no less complete and wonderful than his rise liad been. Tliere is a •curious coincidence connected with Hudson's rise and fall. From being the owner of a small shop in one of the minor (jates — that is, streets — of York, Hudson, by a singular union of skill and intrepidity, came to be the possessor of so much wealth that he was enabled to purchase from the Duke of Devonshire his noble estate of Londesborough. The first in rank and the first in opulence, the noble from the west end of the metropolis, and the merchant from the wrong side of Temple Bar, — aristocratice, — were alike the invited guests at the table of the Railway King, all paying homage in his person to the deity of Fortune. But Avhile the humble Yorkist was thus sailing before the wind, the gifted and amiable Lord Albert Conynghara, "who had embarked upon the same voyage of specula- tion, met with nothing but storms and shipwreck. While Hudson was making a fortune by railways, his lordship was losing one, and was forced to seek a tem- porary refuge abroad. But again the wheel of fortune went round. Hudson's schemes burst on the sudden, like the soap-bubbles blown by some idle school -boy ; he was at once stript of his borrowed plumage, while THE IlISi: OF OiiKAT I'A.MII.IKS. 31 Lord Albert — the ruined Lord Albert — liaviiig iidieritcd a. large fortune from his uncle, Mr. Denison, purchased from Hudson the jirincely property of Londesborough, and taking a new title from it, became Lord Londes- boroucrli. The career of Mr. Denison himself, to whom the noble house of Londesborough thus owes its rise, was one of the marvels of fortune. A poor lad from Yorkshire, he made his way to London, and ascending tlie ladder stej) by step, raised himself honestly and honourably from the humblest to the highest position in an eminent bank, and died leaving millions of money. Mechanical invention, which is perhaps the basis of commercial pre-eminence, has less frequently led to the acquisition of peerage honours, either by inventors themselves or by their descendants, than the success- ful pursuit of the commerce which has resulted from it; but the combination of mechanical invention wdth mercantile prosperity has laid the foundation of the justly-respected family of Strutt of Belpek. At the commencement of the last century, Mr. William Strutt was the occupant of two farms in the retired village of South Normanton, near Alfreton. His fomily was bey, the heii- general of another line of the Cavendishes, also largely benelited by the spoils of the monasteries. Deeuyshire has, besides, Curzon, of Kedleston; Vernon, of Sud- bury ; and Stanhope, of Elvaston ; and NOTTINGHAM- SHIRE, Willoughby, of Wollaton; and Pierrepont, of Thoresby. In Leicestershire, first in territorial and ancestral rank is Manners, of Belvoir Castle, and next to him, are — Grey, of Groby ; Feilding, of Newn- liam Paddox ; and Curzon-Howc, of Gopsall. Lin- colnshire has Cust, of Bclton ; Anderson- Pelliam, of Brocklesby ; Monson, of Burton ; and Willoughby, of Grimsthorpc, holding the office of Joint Hereditary Great Chamberlain of England; and Staffordshire has Talbot, of Alton Towers — the historic house of Shrewsbury ; Leveson-Gower, of Trentham ; Bagot, of Blithfield ; Wrottesley, of Wrottcsley ; Anson, of Shug- borough ; Littleton, of Teddesley ; and Shirley, of Chartley Castle. A little more to the south there is Warwickshirj:, with the Grevilles, inheriting the famous Castle of Warwick, and a good deal of the Beauchamp- Warwick blood ; the Leighs, still possessed of Stoneleigh Abbo}' ; the Con way-Seymours, of Ragley ; and the Finches, ol Packinsjton. Worcestershire gives residence to the Ly tteltons, at Hagley ; the Lygons, at Madresficld ; and the Coventrys, at Croome. Gloucestershire is the home of the Berkeleys, of Berkeley Castle — old as the hills ; of the Somersets, of Badminton, who hold by descent a Barony of the year loOT ; of the Duttons, of 40 THE RISE OF GREAT FAMILIES. Shci'borne ; and of the Hanbury-Tracys, of Toddington, In the far soutli, tlie ancient feudal houses have not passed away. Devon can yet boast of the Courtenays, at Powdci'ham, created Earls forty-two years before the Percys ; the Seymours, at Berry Pomeroy, who gave a Queen and a Lord Protector to England ; the Fortescues, at Wear Gifford ; the Edgcumbes, at Mount Edgcumbe ; the Cliffords, at Chudleigh ; and the Trefusises, at Hean- ton. Cornwall retains the Boscawens at Tregothnan, and the Eliots at Port Eliot. Hants has the Herberts, at High Clere; the Wellesleys, at Strath fieldsaj^e; the Wallops, at Hurstbourne ; and the Paulets, at Am- port. To Wiltshire belong among the resident land- owners, the noble families of Thynne, of Longleat; Arundell, of Wardour ; Herbert, of Wilton ; Bruce, of Tottenham Pai-k ; Petty-Fitzmaurice, of Bowood ; and Howard, of Charlton ; and to Sussex, those of Gordon- Lennox, of Goodwood, senior heir-general of the ducal Gordons ; Ashburnham, of Ashbnrnham, of " stupendous antiquity;" Gage, and Pelham ; and Howard, grandest of all. Kent is to this day the place of residence of the heir male of the Nevills. In Kent also dwell the Sackvilles, at Knole ; the Stanhopes, at Cheven- ing; and the Sidneys, at Penshurst, ever memorable as the birthi:)lace of Sir Philip ; Herts, has the Dacres, the Cecils, the Grimstons, and the Capels. The palace of Blenheim, in Oxfordshire, is a memorial of the achievements of Churchill; and the Abbey of Woburn, in Bedfordshire, tells of the rise of the Russells on the fall of the monasteries. Northa^.iptonshire, with its THE UTSE OF CTJOAT FAMILIES. 41 " hundred spires and hundred st|uires;' is enriched with the Peerage names of Spencer, of Althorp ; Compton, of Castle Ashby ; Fane, of Apethorpe ; and Cecil, of Burghlcy, established there by the wisest of statesmen. The neighbouring county of Huntingdon, formerly possessed principally by the Cromwells of Hinchinbroke (the ancestors of Oliver), has for its great Lords the Montagus, Dukes of Manchester, and Earls of Sandwich. The eastern counties are not behind the rest. The Cokes, of Ilolkham, pre-eminent among lawyers ; the Townshends, of Raynham; the Wodehouses, of Kimberlej- ; the Walpoles, of Wolterton ; the Astleys, •of Melton Constable ; the Jerninghanis, of Cossey ; and the Harbords, of Gunton, are supreme in Norfolk : while the Herveys, of Ix worth ; the Rouses, of Hen- ham ; the Fitzroys, of Euston ; the Hennikers, of Hcn- niker, hold great part of Suffolk. In glancing over this catalogue, and considering the subject of "The Rise of Great Families," one cannot help perceiving that the cliief houses still existing have been built on the foundations laid by feudalism, largely increased at the dissolution of the monas- teries, and constantly enriched by the heritages of lady ancestors. From first to last it is the same story. On tlie spoils of the Saxons arose the Norman Baronage ; the confiscations that followed the early Baronial wars gave origin to the Plantagenet Lords ; and the estates forfeited in the contests of the Roses enabled the Tudor Kings to establish a nobility of their own. Then came monastic spoliation, and the seizure of the enormous 42 THE EISE OF GREAT FAMILIES. property of the Church to endow u new, and to enrich Avhat remained of tlie old, aristocracy. The Civil War ruined many a Cavalier, and trans- ferred his lands to a rich merchant or a successful lawyer, and then the new })roprietor was enabled to take a foremost place in his county, possibly to obtain its representation, and in due course to reach the Upper House. The Georgian Era differed not much in this respect from the Tudor or Stuart. Although new elements were introduced, the creations of later times have still been generally made from the county gentlemen of landed importance. In point of fact, the millionaire, be his golden stores ever so large, enjoys but small political influence until his guineas are turned into acres. The Barings were great landowners before Lord Ashburton got his title : Mr. R,obert Smith, the banker, when he was created Loi'd Carrington, had invested some j)ortion of his wealth in land, and Mr. Jones Lloyd was the j^roprietor of Overstone and Fothering- hay, in Northamptonshire, before ho gained admission into the House of Lords. The Law comes next as the origin of the rise of families. AVhen intellect began to assert its jDOwer, the lawyers added many a brilliant coronet, and man}- an honoured name to the Peerage. An amusino; little book by Philips, entitled " The Grandeur of the Law." and published in the seventeenth century, gives a list of the " nol)lesse de la robe " up to that date, which THE lUSK OF GREAT FAMIIJES. 43^ is cunied down to our own time by a pleasing heraldic record of tlieiii in the windows of the Halls of the Inns of Court. The armorial blazonries therein depicted, though now and then of necessity new hernkhy, are oft- times illustrative of old and distinguished races, and tell how the scions of eminent families, more ambitious than their neighbours, left the ancestral halls of Devon, Worcestershire, Norfolk, or Westmorland, and gamed by mental exertion a higher place than those whom they had left at home. The Law contributes about fifty titles : Aberdeen, Abinger, Avonmore, Aylesford, Brougham, Cairns, Cam])bell, Chelmsford, Clonmell, Colonsay, Cottenham, Coventry, Cowper, Denman, Eldon, Ellenborough , Erskine, Gitford, Guilford, Guillamore, Haddington, Hardwicke, Harrowby, Hatherley, Kenyon, King, Lauderdale, Lifford, Macclesfield, Manchester, Manners, Mansfield, Midleton, Norbury, North, Nottingham, O'Hagan, Penzance, Plunket, Redesdale, Romilly, Ross- lyn, St. Leonards, Selborne, Stair, Talbot, Tenterden, Thurlow, Truro, Walsingham, Westbury, and Wynford, The forerroino; list contains the names of titles actu- ally granted to Lawyers. There were, besides, other Lawyers, who, though not raised to the Peerage them- selves, gave rise to families which, in after years,reached the House of Lords, such, for instance, as Howard, Cavendish, Fortescue, Coke, Lyttelton, Bridgeman, Hobart, Bennet, Phipps, Powys, and Buller. The principal existing peerages originating in mili- tary services are Shrewsbur}', Lind^ey, Marlborough, 44 THE IIISE ijF (JREAT FAMILIES. Wellington, Bo^^ne, Amherst, Abercromby, Dorchester, Strafford, Anglesey, Hill, Combermere, Hardinge, Gough, Harris, Grey, Keane, Seaton, Vivian, Raglan, jSTapier of Magdala, Strathnairn, and Sandhurst. The pi'incipal naval peerages now remaining are Howard of Effingham, Sandwich, Dartmouth, Aylmer, Torrington, E-oduey, Haw^ke, Howe, Graves, Bridport, Camperdown, Hood, Nelson, Exmouth, St. Vincent, Gardner, De Sau- marez, and Lyons. The title of Baron Clive of Plassy commemorates the services of the most eminent name connected with our Indian empire. Oddly enough, after Clive had gained his famous battle of Plassy, in India, he was, on his return to England iu 17G2, raised to thepeer- age of Ireland; not of Great Britain, and the designation, of the honour w^as " of Plassy, in the count jj of Clare," where no such place existed. From the date of the creation of this Iiish peerage, neither Clive nor any one of his descendants took the necessary steps to have it placed officially on the roll. A Lord Clive never sat in the Irish Parliament, nor was a Lord Clive entitled to vote at the elections of representative peers, until the year 1861, when the present Earl of Powis established before the Lords' Committee for Privileges his right to the peerage honour of his illustrious ancestor. To the Indian service are also due the rise of the noble houses of Caledon, Lawrence, and Teignmouth. Thirteen existing peers descend from Speakers of the House of Conunons, viz., Waldegrave, Vernon, Onslow, Leicester, WinchiLsea and Nottingham, Veru- 1am, Wiuterton, Folc}', Hanmer, Brownlow, Grantley, THK i'JSH or GREAT FAMILIKS. 4-1 Redesdalc, Siclmouth, Colchester, and Caiiterbuiy, and two })eers still living, Eversley and Ossington, liave themselves filled the Speaker's chair. In the English Peerage there is no existing title derived from a grant to a Prelate of the Church of England; in the Irish, there are a few titles emanating- from the Church. Adam Loftus, Archbishop of Dublin, founded the noble house of Ely. "William Cecil Pery, Bishop of Limerick, 1784, created Baron Glent- worth, IT.'K), was ancestor of the Eaid of Limerick. Archbishop Agar and Archbishop Robinson, the first of Dublin, the second of Armagh, were created respec- tively Earl of Normanton and Baron Rokeby, and "William Beresford, Archbishop of Tnam, became Lord Decies. Sir John Denny Vesey, grandson of Archbisliop Vesey, and Sir John Francis Cradock, son of Arch- bishop Cradock, both obtained Irish Peerages, one as Baron Knapton and the other as Baron Howden. There are not so many descendants of Lord Mayors, of London in the Peerage as might be expected. I can only count sixteen. The Earl of Dartmouth de- scends from Thomas Legge, Lord Mayor, 13.54; the- Earl of Coventry from John Coventry, Lord j\Ia3-or, 1425; Lord Garvagh from Sir Thomas Canninge, Lord Mayor, 1450 ; the Earl of Roden from Sir Ralph Jocelyn, Lord Mayor, 147G ; the Earl of Essex, from Sir William Capel, Lord ^Mayor. 1503 ; Lord Hill from the uncle of Sir Rowland Hill^ the first Protestant Lord Mayor, 1549 ; Lord Leigh of Stoneleigh, from Sir Thomas Leigh, Lord flavor, 1558; the Duke of 46 THE RISE OF GREAT FAMILIES. Leeds from Sir Edward Osborne, in 158.3 ; the Earl of Craven from Sir William Craven, Lord Mayor, 1(310; the Earl of Carysfort, from Sir Peter Proby, Lord Mayor, 1622 ; the Earl of Feversham, from the nephew and heir of Sir Charles Duncombe, banker, Lord Mayor, 170.0 ; Lord Aveland, from Sir Gilbert Heathcote, Lord Mayor, 1711 ; Lord Bateman from Sir James Bateman, Lord Mayor, 1717; Lord Wolverton, from Sir Richard "Glyn, Bart., Lord Mayor in 1757; and Lord Hather- ley, from Sir Matthew Wood, Lord Mayor, 181 G. Some of our noble houses exchanged the chieftain- ship of ancient clans for peerages of the modern class. The great Scotch houses, like Douglas and Hamilton, to which I refer elsewhere, were not usually of native oriofin. But as far as can be ascertained from their ^arlj'- pedigrees, the important families of Campbell and Graham were always Caledonian, and therefore the Dukes of Argyll and Montrose are chiefs of clans which in all probability existed in the days of the Romans. The wealthy house of Breadalbane springs from tliat of Argyll. Macdonald, though an Irish Baronj^, be- longs also to a Scottish chieftain of famous lineage, tlie Lord of the Isles, whose ancestor, Donald, in 1388, is found entering into a treaty with Richard II. as one independent sovereign would with another. He obtained, by marriage, the Earldom of Ross : but his grandson, the eleventh Earl, having, like him, ■entered into a private treaty with the King of Eng- land, was eventually compelled by James III. to give THf: RISE 01^ OltKAT FAMILIKS. 47 up that Earldom, which was inalienably annexed to the Crown of Scotland by Act of Parliament in 147C. In Ireland it was the policy of Henry VIII. to induce the chiefs of orreat Celtic clans to exchaniife their semi-independence for seats in his Ilonse of Peers, by iloing which they secured their titles and the lands they held for their heirs male, instead of holding both land and dignity subject to the irregular mode of suc- cession laid down by the law of Tanistry. James I, and Charles I. followed the example of Henry VIII. ; but of all the titles so granted Inchiquin alone remains, held by the O'Briens, the direct male heirs of the celebrated hero and King, Brian Boroihme. Lord De Tabley, however, is an 0'B3'rne ; and the Earls of Clanwilliam, Donoughmore, and Dunraven, Viscounts Lismore and Guillamoro, and Lord Dunsandle, are Irish Celts, and the Earl Fife and Lord Reay, Scottish. The Duke of Cleveland, the Earls of Lisbume, Pembroke, Carnarvon, and Cadogan, Lords D3nievor, Newborough, and Mostyn, belong to the Celtic race which inhabits the Principality of Wales ; whilst the Plnnketts, who hold the Earldom of Fingall, and the Baronies of Dunsany and Louth, and the Jerninghams, who have eventually succeeded to the Barony of Stafford, and the representation of that mifortunate Ducal house, descend from the ancient Danish sea-captains, whose ships were once the terror of our coasts. A remarkable circumstance in the Peerage is the frequent occurrence among the Peers of Ireland of English WeJyh and ^^coich families holding Irish titles. 4S THE EISE OF CiliEAT FAMILIES. nnd designating tlioso titles from places in Ireland, where they do not possess an acre of land ; for instance, the descendant of the Scottish House of Duff bears the title of Earl Fife in Ireland ; the representative of the ancient Sussex family of Turnour, holds an Irish Earl- dom under the designation of Winterton of Govt, although Winterton is in Norfolk, and Gort in Gal way, where tlie Tumours never had a footing ; and the Yorkshire Dawnays, of Co wick, were created centuries ago Viscounts Domtic, although then or since no Irish land owned a Dawnay for its Lord. The following Families, designated by Irish Titles, have their places of birth, their estates, and their resi- dences in England, Scotland, or Wales : — Molyneux, Earl of Sefton ; Savile, Earl of Mex- borough ; Turnour, Earl of Winterton ; Vaughan, Earl of Lisburne ; Duff, Earl Fife ; Barrington, Viscount Barrington; Chetwynd, Viscount Chetwynd; Monckton, Viscount Galway ; Dawnay, Viscount Downe ; Wynu, Lord Nev/borough ; Macdonald, Lord Macdonald ; Edwardes, Lord Kensington; Ongley, Lord Ongley; Robinson, Lord Eokeby ; Pennington, Lord Muncaster; Gi-aves, Lord Graves ; Hood, Lord Bridport ; Vanneck, Lord Huntingfield ; Hotham, Lord Hotbam ; Shore, Lord Teignmouth ; Eden, Lord Henley ; Henniker, Lord Henniker ; and Vv^aldegrave, Lord Radstock. Of all Peerage institutions, none requires more ur- gently the attention of the Legislature than the Peer- age of Ireland. At present, the Whig Lords being in THE RISE OF GREAT FAMILIES. 49' a minority, have no share whatever in the representa- tion of the Irish Peerage, althougli that representation ■was given to them as compensation for tlie loss of their seats in the House of Lords. Possibly a plan such as this might remedy the evil : No new election of Irish representative Peers should be held until there were three vacancies, and then each Irish Peer should be allowed two votes onl}-. This arrangement would en- able the minority, about one third in number, to elect one out of the three representative Lords to be chosen. Again, no more Irish Peers should be created.* Far from being a boon, such creation is an injury. It is the shadow instead of the substance. An English- man or a Scotchman meritinfj a Peerage, is made a " Peer of the United Kingdom," v:ith a seat in the House of Lords ; but an Irishman of equal desert is (when there happens to be a vacancy) given an Irish title, that operates, like the sentence of a Court-Martial, to disqualify him for future public service. Justice will never be fully done until every Scotch and Irish Peer is restored to a seat in the House of * In 1719 the Earl of Sunderland brought iii a Bill, " TIk- Peerage BiU," by which the number of Peers should be fixed, and tlie King restrained from any new creation of nobility, unless- when an old family should become extinct. Steele endeavoured to alarm the nation by a i)amphlet called " The Plebeian." To- this an an.swer was jniblished by Addison, under the title of " The Old ^^^lig." Steele was respectful to his old friend, but Addison could not avoid discovering a contempt of his oppo- nent, to whom he gave the appellation of " Little Dicky." The Bill was laid aside during the session, and Addison died before the next, in which its commitment was rejected. 4 50 THE RISE OF GREAT FAMILIES. Lords, a right granted in his original patent. To this object legislation ought to be directed. Whatever is done, even the introduction of the principle of minority representation, will of necessity involve an amendment of the Irish Act of Union, but that Act, so far as the section which refers to the Irish Peers is concerned, has for years perplexed the lawyers, and caused not very long since, in the " Fermoy " case, a diversity of opinion among the English Judges sum- moned to assist tlie Lords' Committee for Privileges. It is a curious fact that the office of Prime Minister has added only seven existing titles to the House of Lords. The cause is obvious — the head of an adminis- tration used generally to be chosen from the Upper House. The only remaining peerages acquired by Prime Ministers since the time of Henry VIII., are those of BuRGHLEY, by Sir WiUiam Cecil, teraj). Elizabeth ; Salisbury, by his son, Sir Eobert ; Manchester, by Sir Henry Montagu, Lord Treasurer in 1620 ; Orford, by Sir Robert Walpole, First Lord of the Treasury under George I. and George II. ; Stanhope, by James Stanhope, First Lord of the Treasury, 1717; Sid- mouth, by Mr. Henry Addington, First Lord of the Treasury in 1805 ; and RusSELL, by Lord John Rus- sell, on his retirement from the same high position in 1866. In some cases statesmen who have filled the office of Prime Minister have obtained titles now enjoyed by their heirs, who do not, however, owe their peerage to THE RISE OF GREAT FAMILIES. ol them. Thus, the late Eaii of Ripon, premier in 1828, sat in the House of Lords only in right of peerages he had himself acquired; but the present peer has in- herited from his uncle the older Earldom of De Grey, to which the Marquessate of Ripon has lately been added. So the Earl of Bute, Prime Minister in 1762, obtained for his wife a Barony of Great Britain, which the Marquess of Bute now possesses : and the Earls of Keny and Shelburne are Marquesses of Lansdowne in right of the patent given to William, second Earl of Shelburne, who filled that high office in 1782. The first Marquess of Winchester, " the willow, not the oak," who filled the office of Lord Treasurer in very dan- gerous days, may be counted among the Prime Minis- ters who, first of then- families, sat in the House of Peers, though he was a co-heir to the Barony of St. John of Basing, by which title Hemy VIII. created him a peer. The only actual foreign families which now remain in the Peerage of this empire are those represented by the Duke of Portland, the Earls of Albemarle, Radnor, and Qancarty, the Viscount Gort, and the Lords Huntingfield, Northwick, Rossmore, De Blaquiere, Rendlesham, Ashtown, Ashburton, Romilly, Chelms- ford, and Northbrook. The Earl Radnor's ancestor, Lawrence des Bouveries, a Flemish gentleman of good family, being on aceoimt of his religion driven from the Low Countries, sought shelter in England, in the reign of Elizabeth, and con- 4—2 D-I THE RISE OF GREAT FAMILIES. tributed mainly to the establishment of the silk manu- facture in this country. His grandson, Sir Edward des Bouveries, Knight, became an opulent Turkey merchant, in London, and was grandfather of the first Viscount Folkestone, whose son was the first Earl of Radnor. Portland and Albemarle are derived from two of the favourites of William III., who accompanied that prince from Holland, both men of very ancient line- age and high position in their native country. Hans Willii:;n Bentinck, founder of the ducal house, was the youngest son of Hendrik, Lord of Dippenheim, in the Dutch province of Overyssal."'^ He commanded the Dutch regiment of Horseguards, and fought as Lieutenant-general at the Boyne. The wealth of his descendants has been acquired by a succession of heiresses, one of whom, the Lady Margaret Cavendish Harley, only child of Edward, second Earl of Oxford, and granddaughter and heiress of Henry Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle, brought to her husband, the third Duke of Portland, Welbeck Abbey, and the very valuable London estate of the younger branch of the Cavendishes, together with Bothal Castle, Northum- berland, the ancient seat of the Lords Ogle. * Kniephausen was the principal territory of the family of Bentinck. It is situated on the shores of the German ocean, and held a very singular position Avith respect to the German Confederation. It was in some measure an independent state long after the other petty German sovereignties were media- tized. It was jestingly said that it Avas so small it was for- gotten, its extent being only five English square miles, and the- number of its inhabitants 3,()0( >. THE RISE OF GREAT FAMILIES. 53 Arnold Joost van Keppel, the first Earl of Albe- marle, was Lord of Voorst, in Holland, and represented an ancient and noble famil}^ in Holland. He was Ligli in the favour of William III., and His Majesty left him in his will the Lordship of Breevost and 200,000 gilders. The Trenches, Earls of Clancarty, and Barons AsHTOWX, came from the Seigneurie of La Trenche, in Poiton ; and the Verekers, Viscounts Gort, although they owe their peerage to their ancestors in the female line, are descended paternally from a family of con- siderable antiquity in the province of Brabant. Huntingfield and Rendleshajm, both Irish Peer- iiges, belong to families that never had any connection with Ireland. The grandfather of the first Lord Huntingfield was Paymaster of the United provinces of Holland ; and the father of the first Lord Rendle- sham was Peter Thellusson (partner of the celebrated Neckar), who, coming from Geneva, settled as a mer- ■chant and banker in London, and accumulated an immense fortune, which he bequeathed by an extraor- dinary will that led to the passing of an Act of Par- liament to prevent a similar disposition of property in future. The founder of the Rushouts, Lords Northwick, was a London merchant, who came from France in tlie reign of Charles I. Rtjss.MoRE is an Irish title, but the Westenras (whose ancestor, a Dutch patriot in the wars of the Duke of Alba, won the sea-horse that figures in their 54 THE RISE OF GREAT FAMILIES. family arms by swimming across an arm of tlie sea tO' convey important information to a besieged city), were made denizens of Ireland b}^ act of Parliament in 1662. The Blaquieres settled in Ireland at a much later date, the first Lord, who was secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, being the son of a French merchant who had taken np his abode in London in the time of George the Second. Another family of foreign extraction raised to Peerage rank is that of the Barings, who now possess two titles, AsHBURTON and Northbrook. Their ancestors were settled at Groniagen, in the same province of Overyssal, whence came the Bentincks. Franz Baring, the first of them in England, was Minister of the Lutheran Church at Bremen, and came over to London as a Lutheran clergyman. His third son, Francis Baring, designated by the Prime Minister, Lord Shelburne, as " the Prince of Merchants," founded the house of Baring Brothers, and Co. The two distinguished lawyers, Chelmsford and RoMiLLY, complete my list of foreigners in the Peer- age. Lord Bomilly is the descendant of a French Protestant family, which took refuge in England at the revocation of the Edict of Nantes; and Lord Chelmsford's grandfather, John Andrew Thesiger, was a native of Dresden, in Saxony. It has ofttimes been maintained that the noblesse of other countries — of France, Germany, or Spain — is THE KISE OF GREAT FA3IILIES. O) superior in antiquity and distinction to our own; But this assertion is groundless. The Montmorencys, who are admitted to have heen at the head of the " Haute Noblesse " of France, and who arrogated to themselves the proud title of " Pi-e- mier Baron Chretien," cannot ascend higher than tlie year 1000. " Sans nul doute," says Montgaillard, " la genealogie de la famille Bouchard ou Montmorency est de toutes les genealogies Fran^'aises celle qui presente Ic plus d'illustration ; mais elle ne remonte pas tout a fait a Tan 1000." Then again the direct male line of the Montmorencys ended long since. The last was Henri Due de Montmorency, Marshal of France, who Avas beheaded at Toulovise, in 1G32. His immense possessions devolved on his sister and heiress, the mother of the Grand Cond^. M. Borel d'Hauterive, author of the " Annuaire de la Noblesse," (the French Peerage), laments that of the seventy-four ci-usaders who accompanied Godfrey de Bouillon from France, to the Crusade of 109G, and whose shields adorn the Palace of Versailles, only two families exist derived from them, Montmorency and d'Aubusson ; and of these the former has now become extinct. Heraldry, revisiting the Holy Land, that first fos- tered its growth, will remind the sceptic that the "torteaux" of Courtenay, the "red cross" of De Burgh, tlie "horseshoes" of Ferrers, the "red bai-;, " of Harcourt, the "saltire and chief" of Bruce, and the " cross and mullets " of Montgomery, were not unknown -oC) THE RISE OF GREAT FAMILIES. banners among the soldiers of the Cross^ at the first •capture of Jerusalem in 1099. At the time of the Revolution in 1789, the Peers -of France, including those of the Blood Royal, and seven prelates, scarcely exceeded fifty in number. The oldest creation, that of De Crussol, Due d'Uzes, was of 1572, a date posterior to the creation of Norfolk by half a century, and more than two hundred years junior to the existing earldoms of Kildare and Craw- ford. The other chief houses of France, such as Rohan, Due de Montbazon, Richelieu, Noailles, La Tremouille, De la Tour d'Auvergne, Grammont, and La Rochefoucauld,* were all illustrious in history, but of no very remarkable antiquity. The Gramonts, how- ever, a family entirely distinct from the Grammonts, are, like the Talleyrand Perigords, of remote origin; but were generally settled in a distant region, at the foot of tlje Pyrenees^ which seemed to belong rather to Navarre than to France. These old houses, whiclj have of late years filled so prominent a posi- tion in connection with the two Bonaparte empires in * As an illustration of the reverses which the French noblesse had to endure at the period of the revolution, Mr. Isaac Weld, one of the first travellers who wrote about the United States -of America after their independence, used to tell a ciirious anecdote. The Due de la Rochefoucauld Liancourt, whom he met in America in 1795, was speaking of his altered circum- stances : " When I was in France," said the Due, " I had six- teen servants to wait on me ; now that I have only two, I am better attended than I ever was. And here," he added, hold- ing up his two hands, " are those servants." THE RISE OF GREAT FAMILIES. -H France, are seldom named in the older liistory of that country. The Tremouilles, although mentioned by Froissart in the fourteenth century, were little known before the reign of Charles VII., nor the Rochefoucaulds, historically, before the reign of Francis I. "Under the ancient regime," says the Chevalier Lawi'ence, " when a plebeian wished to be eimobled in France, he purchased the place of Secretary to the King. This gave him the right of soliciting for a coat of arms. At the revolution there were 206 Secretaries to the King, besides 40 honorary or titular Secretaries, so that the facility of acquiring nobility may be conceived. Hence the place of ' Secretaire dn Koi,^ was styled in derision, ' Une savonette au vilain.' He, however, was only an anobli, though his son was noble, and his gTandson a (jentilhorame, nor could his descendants for several generations be admitted as officers into the army. When about the beginnini]: of the reiojn of Louis XVI. an ordi- nance appeared that no individual should be pre- sented at Versailles, unless he could prove 400 years of gentility, or could show that his ancestors were already noble before the year 1400, a multiplicity of Comtes and Marquises were rejected, though many an inititled gentleman, ancient as our Squires in their Halls in Lancashire and Northumberland, left their towers and Chateaux in Brittany and Languedoc, and posted up to Paris to show their pie-eminence. Every gentleman, his pedigree being certified, was, on the first hunting day, invited to mount with tlie King into his 58 THE EISE OF GREAT FAMILIES. carriage, and accompany His Majesty to the spot where- the hounds were turned out. This privilege was termed : ' Le droit de monter dans le carosse du Roi.' The plain Squire, to whom this right was allowed^ was considered as superior to the Count or Marquis, whose claims were rejected. If this ordeal found fxvour at St. James's, the old English Squire and the Highland Chieftain would bear away the palm of ancestry, while many a noble Peer would, as at a tournament, be obliged to ride the barriers." In Spain, where it was said of the grandees, "Princi- pibus pr^estant et regibusrequiparantur," and where they Ave re entitled to the privilege (peculiar in this country to Lord Kinsale) of appearing covered in the royal pi*esence, there is not a noble house which can trace beyond the tenth century. But the catalogue is suggestive of world- wide fame. Veragua is the descendant of Columbus, Sessa of Gonsalvo de Cordova, and Balbazez of Spinola. In Flanders and the Netherlands, the Arembergs, the Crois, Egmonts^ etc., may be placed in the same category with the Medinas, Arcos, Albas, Mendozas, Mellos, etc., of Spain and Portugal ; and even in Germany, the time of Witikend the Saxon is the boundary of ancestral assump- tion. Guelph, the patriarch of the kingly Guelphs, lived in the eleventh centurj^, but the unroyal families of Germany can rarely trace as far back. The Lihro d'Oro of Venice seems to sustain loftier pretensions for Italy, and without doubt the Colonnas, Massimis, Ursinis and Frangipanis at Rome, can trace from more remote ancestors than any family in France, Spain, or Ger- THE RISE OF GREAT FAMILIES. . 59' many. Voltaire assigns to the Venetian nobility the first place in Europe, and we may generally assent to Ins view, without allowing the Giustinianis their odd descent from the Emperor Justinian. Nevertheless, I think that our nobility can hold their own even against them, and I am certain they can prove their equality with all others. The Chevalier F. de Tapies, in his work, ''La France et I'Angleterre," states that " in Russia there are 500,000 nobles ; that Austria numbers 239,000 ;, that Spain, in 1780, reckoned 470,000 ; that France, before 1790, had 860,000, of whom 4,120 were of the ancienne noblesse; and that in England, Scotland, and Ireland, on the contrary, there are only 1,631 persons from Dukes to Baronets, who possess transmissible titles." But there are in the United Kingdom some two or three hundred thousand persons who are nobles in the continental sense of the term. " In Germany," I am quoting from a German writer, '•' the law of the realm (i.e. the Roman Empire) required a triple division of rank amongst freemen, viz., that of nobility, that of citizens, and that of peasantry. Nobility was divided into two classes, high and low. Tlie hereditary high nobility was composed of the Electoral and Princely houses of the realm, and of those Graves and Barons who were called Dynastic Nobles, and who had a place in the Parliament or Estates of the Realm. " The low Nobility was composed of the titular Graves- and Barons (that is to say, such as had no right to sit 60 . THE niSl': OF GREAT FAMILIES. in the Diet of tlie Empire), the Edel-Herreu, and Banner- Herren, the Knights of the Holy Roman Reahn, the Edlen-Von, and the common Nobles, who usually assumed the predicate Von. There is one institution peculiar to this country, — the Order of Baronets, which, without possessing any peculiar privilege, is invested with hereditary title and hereditary precedence. The institution dates from the reign of James L, and was originally devised for ad- vancing the landed gentlemen of the kingdom, thus iiffording another proof that territorial influence was the main element in the rise of great families. The first batch of Baronets comprised some of the principal landed proprietors, among the best descended gentle- men of the kingdom ; and the list was headed by a name illustrious more than any other for the intellec- tual pre-eminence with Avhich it is associated, — the name of Bacon. To this first batch Lancashire con- tributed Molyneux, Hoghton, and Gerard ; Sussex, Pelham and Shelley ; Suffolk, Toilemache ; Leicester- shire, Shirley ; Nottinghamshire, Clifton ; Staffordshire, Aston ; Norfolk, Hobart and Kny vet ; Glamorganshire, Mansel and Stradling ; Wiltshire, St. John ; Cheshire, Booth ; and Cambridgeshire, Peyton. All these were the representatives of territorial families, which had their rise, most of them, at the Conquest, and one or two even in Saxon times. Shirley could show , Uppkii Meimuon Stijeet, Dublin, now in tlic occupation of the Commissioners of Church Temporalities. In the first place, all the Newspaper announcements made contemporaneously say that the child was Itorn in Merrion Street. The Djihlin Gazciie, in its number 102 THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON. dated from " Tuesday, 2nd May, to Thursday, 4tli May, 1769," has this notification — " A few days ago, in Merrion Street, the Countess of Morn- iugton of a son.'' Hoeijs Dublin Mercury, published on the same day as the Gazette, also gives the birth as in Merrion Street ; and the same intimation appears in the Public Register or Freeman's Journal, and in Pue's ■ Occurrences, which were both issued on Saturday, the Gth May. These statements receive strong coiTobora- tion from the fact that the baptism of the child was registered at St. Peter's, the parish in which Merrion Street is situated, and from the circumstance that the medicines required by the Countess of Mornington and her infa.nt, on the occasion of the accouchement, were supplied by an apothecary in Dawson Street, Dublin. Oral evidence is, also, at hand. Mrs. Reade, a near relation of the Wellesleys, informs me that from her childhood she had had pointed out to her the house, JN'o. 24, Merrion Street, opposite her father's. Sir Chi- chester Fortescue's, as the birthplace of Arthur, Duke of Wellington. The fact, Mrs. Reade adds, was never doubted, and w^as alwa^-s admitted by the two families, between whom there was great intimacy. Before he went to India, young Arthur Wellesley was constantly with his cousin. Sir Chichester Fortescue. Finally, a friend of mine heard from Mr. Alfred Montgomery, Private Secretary to the Marquis Wel- lesley, when Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, tliat, as he THE DUKi: OF WELLINGTON. 103 was one day driving with the Marquis in liis carriage through Merrion Street, tlie Marquis, pointing to No. 24, said, " That is the house in which my brother the Duke of Wellington was born." The residence is known to this day as Mornington House. Before entering on the question of date, a few words as to Dawjan, Iririi, and Grafton Street: The simple facts that the child was christened in f» Diihliii Parish, and that the medicines furnished at the time of the birth were sent to the Countess of Morn- ington from an apothecary's shop in Dawson Street, Dahlln, afford conclusive evidence that the lady was confined in Duhlni, and not at Daiujan or Trim. It now only remains to dispose of Grafton Street. It appears, by an examination of the records of the Corporation of Dublin that antecedently to the year ITG-i, the Earl of Mornington had become possessed of a residence and extensive piece of ginjund in Grafton Street, opposite the Provost's. In that year, 17G4, the earl took a longer lease of the property from the city, engaginrr to build " a grand ornamental dwcllini; for himself, at a cost of three thousand ])ounds." But it seems that he almost immediately changed his mind for in the following year he sold the lease to a Mr. Wilson, covenanting to indemnify the purchaser against the consequences of his jiot building the graml man- sion he had undertaken to erect, it being Wilson's in- tention to build smaller houses. This transaction occurred in 1705, and it may be ftiirly presumed that Lord Mornington then (piitted Grafton Street. 104 THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON. The next indication of Lord Mornington's place of residence is derived from the announcements in the Dublin Gazette and in Hoey's Dublin Mercury. of the birth of his son (Arthur) "in Merrion Street." From this it is clear that the Mornington family were then (April, 1709) living in that street, and I find that within a very brief period of the birth of Arthur, Lord Mornington purchased from the Earl of Antrim the lease of the house No. 24, Upper Merrion Street. The date of this lease is 16th of August, 1709, a date no doubt subsequent to the birth that took place on the 29th of the preceding April; but it is very easy and natural to suppose that the Earl of Mornington was resident there some time previous to the purchase of the lease, which was completed, as I have already mentioned, in the month of August. It may be added, as a circumstance in proof of the fact that Lord Mornington was at that time already domiciled in the house, 24, Upper Merrion Street, that one of the witnesses called up to attest the deed was liis lordship's valet. Now, as to the DATE OF birth of the Duke of Wel- lington : the same obscurity that hangs over his place of birth applies to this fact too. The 1st of May, 1709, has been heretofore universally accepted as the Duke's birthday, and was kept as such, the present Duke of WelKngton informs me, by his father. In consequence of this, one of the Royal Princes, born on that particular day, has been named "Ai"thur," in graceful compliment, I believe, to the Duke. Besides, in 1815, the Countess THE DUKE OF WELLINGTOX. 105 of Morningtoii, the Duke's motlier, in answer to .in inquiry, states that her son, Arthur, was born on the 1st of May, 17G9, and in the pedigree registered among the " Lords' Entries," Ulster's Office, the same date, Tst of May, ] 700, is given as that of the Duke's birtli. But how couhl this date be possible, in face of the entry in the parish register of St. Peter's ? That registry distinctly states that Arthur, the son of the Earl and Countess of Mornington, was christened on the 30th of April, 17(JD, and the page is authenticated at foot by the signature of Archdeacon Mann. The registry seems to have been kept Avith strict regularity, in consecutive order ; and its correctness is corroborated by an announcement in " Exshaw's Magazine," Avhich, in its May number, 17G9, has this entry — " April 29, the Countess of Mornington of a son." A curious confirmation that the date was earlier than 1st Ma}^, is furnished by the day-book of the apothecaiy in Dawson Street, Avho, as already stated, supplied medicine to the Countess of Mornington and the new-born child. This entry in the apothecary's day-book is dated ''Sunday, 30 April, 1709." It has been cut out of the day-book, and exhibited at the Dublin Exhibition, by Dr. Evans, who occupies the same house as Lady Mornington's apothecary, 49, Dawson Street. There is a rumour afloat that a nurse who at- tended Lady Mornington gave evidence before an Election Committee as to the exact date of birth, in order to meet an objection that Lieutenant the Hon. lOG THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON. Arthur Wesley was under age at the time of his return as member for Trim, 29th of April, 1790. But an examination of the Committee Book, still pre- served among the public records, sets this story at rest. No such evidence was given, nor was the question of age gone into at all. True enough, on the application of the petitioners, a resolution was passed, that " Mrs. Masters, of Dangan Castle, do attend this Committee with the family Bible, in which the entry of the births of the children of the late Earl of Mornington is made ;" but the Committee having decided another vital point against the petitioners, the petition was withdrawn. I may add that the late Duke of Wellington's niece, tlie Dowager Duchess of Beaufort, who is in possession of the Dangan Bible, has, with the most obliging courtesy, favoured me with extracts from it, but, curi- ously enough, it contains no entry of the great Duke's birtli. In poiut of fiict, the entries do not come down so late, and they record only the births of the three eldest sons — Bichard (Marquis Wellesley), born 20th July, 17G0 ; Arthur-Gerald, born oth May, 17G1, who died in 17GS; and William (Lord Maryborough), eventu- ally Earl of Mornington. The Countess of Mornington w^as apparently much attached to her father, as she named two of her sons after him, Arthur- Gerald, just mentioned, who died in «arly youth, and the child who lived to give such celebrity to the name of " Ai'thur Wellesley." In conclusion, I hope that if the arguments here •adduced in suj^port of Mornington House, Upper THE DUKI-: OF WELLINGTON. 107 Menion Street, being the Ijirthplace of the Duke of Wellington be deemed sufficient, that an inscription may be placed in front of that house, to indicate to every passer-by that — Here Arthur, Duke of Wellington, WAS BORN, ,^SS0^ /'ivW':;.-- , .'-■■",•■ — I "^^Sfe^- '^ • i^ 1^' 1 v3^ 1 ^ii"l ^lu (Storij of thi^ (Stoori). " Fetch me my rapier." Romeo and Juliet. Not very long ago, my friend, Mr. Jolliffe Tufnell,. told me a story which interested me much, and I will endeavour to reproduce it as nearly as I can in his own words : — " You recollect, I dare say," said Mr. Tufnell, " my going out to Turkey, and joining Omar Pasha on the Danube, and, together with Dr. Mackenzie of Edinburgh, giving the Osmanlis professional assistance at the com- mencement of the Crimean war. Some time after I re- turned home, I delivered (as Regius Professor of Mili- tary Surgery) a series of lectures at the Royal College of Surgeons. One part of the course was devoted to the best means to employ for the sanitaiy condition of an army. How to keep five thousand, ten thousand, or any given number of soldiers in health during the vicis- situdes of war, and under extremes of heat and cold, was. THE STORY OF THE SWORD. lOO the proposition I was anxious to solve. To work out the problem, it became necessary that I should examine the clothing of the different European forces, this being an important point to be considered. Lord Clarendon, then Secretary fur Foreign Affairs, readily entered into my views, and gave directions that a set of the clothing of the infantry soldier of each continental state should be asked for, and, when obtained, forwarded to me. " His lordship's wish had only to be expressed to be complied with. From all parts of Europe were trans- mitted soldiers' regimentals : the cases, as they arrived from time to time, being deposited in tlie vaults of the College of Surgeons, " One Sunday morning, as I was passing the College, I had to take shelter in it from a thunder-storm. Whilst I waited, the Hall-Porter said to me, ' You have a power of boxes down below. Doctor ; sure you might fit out a little army for yourself, and go a warring again with the Turks.' " The rain contmuing, I thought I might as well occupy myself by ascertaining if the cases were properly stowed away, free from damp. I accordingly went down to tlie vault, where they were placed, and made an examination. Most certainly there was a ' poiver of boxes :' all the cases were pretty mucli of the same shape and size, excepting one, a curious, neatly packed box, something like a violin-case, though longer, which at once caught my eye. It was covered with wax ■cloth, and labelled simply — "' JOLLIFFE TUFNELL, EsQ., DUBLIN.' 110 THE STORY OF THE SV.'ORD. " Somehow or other, it at once excited my curiosit}-, and I liastened to open it. The oviter covering re- moved, there was first a layer of cerecloth, then an- other, then a third, until after unfolding several, I came upon two Foreign Office bags, placed mouth to mouth, and drawn over the inner case. Pulling these off quickl}", I found a lot of tissue paper, encircling a highly-finished morocco leather cover. In a moment the morocco cover was raised, and there Avas presented to my bewildered eyes a wonderfully wrought scimitar, IN A GOLD SCABBARD, DIAMOXD-HILTED, WITH AN EM- BROIDERED BELT, MOUNTED IN BRILLIANTS. I perceived at a glance that the jewels were of very gTeat value, and all the appliances most costly. I again looked at the address : there it was, most certainly, in plain, un- mistakable characters, ' Jolliffe Tufnell, Esq., Dublin.' "While I gazed, a thought crossed my mind. Might it not be possible that it was a present from the Porte,. that Oriental gratitude and Oriental munificence were requiting my services ? I remembered that when I left Omar Pasha, I had declined all fee or reward for what I had done for his men, and for my having volunteered a forlorn hope with Major Nasmyth, to try and get into the Arabtabia Fort at Silistria, to suc- cour Butler, who had been wounded in the service of the Turks. " The next day I showed the sword to a jeweller of eminence in Dublin, and he more than confirmed my own estimate of the diamonds. I thought the best thing to do was to consult Lord Clarendon. My letter THK STORY OF THE SWORD. Ill to liis lordship told the story of the sword, and by return of post I received a reply,. expressing the infinite comfort and satisfciction the announcement afforded him and the- Foreign Ofiicc, but the answer did not bring similarcom- fort or satisfaction to me. Lord Clarendon informed me that some months previously, Her Majesty had sent the insijznia of the Order of the Garter to the Sultan,, and Garter King of Arms accompanied the commis- sion ; tliat in compliance Avith the Royal custom usual on such occasions, the sword of the sovereign who had received investiture had been forwarded for the- acceptance of Sir Charles Young, Garter; and that there had been great consternation at its non-arrival,, now happily removed by my letter. " And so the mystery was over. My bright hopes vanished, and with them my notions of Turkish gi'ati- tude and munificence, and I took a last sad look at the sword and the diamonds. All that remained to be done was to restore the cerecloth, replace the Foreign Office bags, carefully re-pack the case, and transmit it to London. I insured it for £2,000 (the value of the jewels), and received back a post-office order from Lord Clarendon for the expense I had been put to. " I cannot say how long the sword was lying in the vaults of the college (probably three or four months),, but I can easily account for its getting there. At the moment when the cases of militar}- clothing were being despatched from Constantinople addressed to me, this package got labelled with the others. Thus arose all the trouble and confusion, — Foreii,ni Office 112 THE STORY OF THE SWORD. clerks thrown into dismay, — Ottoman attaches nn- ceasing in their inquiries, — and Garter himself in de- spair! Perhaps if the Sublime Porte hear of my disappointment, compensation may still be given to me for ' agitation of mind.' " This was my friend's Story of the Sword. In Sir Charles Young^s will the Sultan's sword is, I believe, especially named. Mr. Tufnell has an aspiration that the Sultan may take into his royal consideration the disappointment he experienced ; and I will, on my own part, venture also to give expression to a hope that some great and regal potentate, interested in Ireland, may receive the insignia of the Illustrious Order of St. Patrick from the hands of " Ulster," even though the sword or scimitar, the perquisite of the chivalrous duty, might for a time be consio-ned to the vaults of the ColleQ'e of Suro-eons. I^ibal ^JvctcnsionG. •'■ Of honourable reckoning are you both ; And pity 'tis yuu liv'J at odds so long." ^ha]cesj)ere. A HISTORY of the fends of gi-eat Houses would fill volumes. Questions of chieftainship, quairels of rival clans, cases of disputed rights, and contentions for precedence are fertile sources of curious incidents and curious information. A few instances will not fatigue the reader, and will illustrate to some extent the manners of the times. ^rroiJC aui) (Gv^isbcnor. o WARDS the close of the fourteenth century there arose a memorable controversy between the two great houses of Scrope of Yorksliire, and Grosvenor of Cheshire. The point in dispute — the right to bear a certain coat of arms — was one of much importance in those mediaeval times, and the litigation lasted nearly for five years, from the 17th of August; 138.5, to the 27th of May, 1390. 114 EIVAL PRETENSIONS, The Court before wliicli it was tried was the High Court of Chivalry, and the judges were those dignified officers of State, the Lord High Constable Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, youngest son of Ed- ward III., and the Earl Marshal, Thomas de Mowbray, Earl of Nottingham. Kings, Warriors, Mitred Abbots, Bishops, Statesmen and Poets appear on the scene. Four hundred witnesses, not one of lesser degree than "a gentleman having knowledge of arms," are called on to give evidence, and men that we love to read of, such as John of Gaunt, Geoffrey Chaucer, Owen Glen- dower, and Hotspur, are, as it were, realized, and seem to speak to us with their own lips. The question before the Court was simply the right to bear the particular coat of arms, " Az. a hend oi'." One can easily imagine how picturesquely Sir Walter Scott would have described the circumstances of the trial, with what life-like animation, in rivalry of Frois- sart,he would have reproduced the whole judicial drama, and how graphically he would have placed before us the actors in it. But even the unadorned narrative has in itself so much to interest, such freshness of detail, and reflects so clearly the men and manners of a far distant age, that we peruse it, like the report of some curious contemporary investigation. To preface the trial, it may be well to introduce the litigants : — The PLAINTIFF was Sir Richaed le Scrope of Bolton, one of the most illustrious characters of his time, SCROPE AND GROSVENOR. 115 whether regarded as soldier, statesman, or judge. The friend and comrade of the Black Prince, he gained fame at Cressy and Najarra, and in almost every great battle fonght by his gallant leader. He enjoyed the especial regard of John of Gaunt, and was the favourite of the Sovereigns under whom he served. He filled the office of Lord High Treasurer, temp. Edward III., and was twice Lord Chancellor under Richard IL He had a summons to Parliament as a baron, and his eldest son, Sir William le Scrope, was made Earl of Wilts^ and King of the Isle of Man, and held such broad lands and potent sway that Shakespere says — " The Earl of AVilts liath the reahn in farm." Such was the great noble against whom the DE- FENDi\JsT, Sir Robert Grosvexor, a Cheshire knight, boldly entered the lists, to do battle for the coat of arms, which he and his ancestors had borne on their banners in many a tented field. Sir Robert was the chief of a family then little known out of its own county, but he was of knightly descent, and could show a pedigree coeval with the Norman Conquest. It was, as I have already stated, on the 17th of August, 138-j, that the controversy began. On that day proclamation was made throughout the English army, then in Scotland, requiring all persons who had any cpiestion to submit to the cognizance of the Lord High Constable, to appear at Newcastle-on-Tyne, within three days from the date thereof Conse- 8—2 116 RIVAL PRETENSIONS. quently, on the 20th of August, wlien the Court of the High Constable sat in that town (the Lord Fitz Walter acting as lieutenant for the Constable), Sir Richard le Scrope alleged that Sir Robert Grosvenor, then and there personally present, had borne the Scrope arms, contrary to law. Sir Robert Grosvenor rejoined that the Coat of Arms he carried was his own proper bearing, and that he was ready to defend his right. There were several preliminary hearings to adjust details ; but at length the trial was opened in due form, at the Whitehall, in Westminster, on the 24tli of November. The Lord High Constable presided in person, and the Earl Marshal was represented by his lieutenant, Sir John de Multon. Divers learned counsel, and many great lords were present, and the two litigants appeared in person. Immediately after the Constable had taken his seat, Sir Richard le Scrope asserted orally what he had affirmed at Newcastle, that the coat AZURE A BEND OR, did of right, and by the usage of arms, belong to him ; and Sir Robert Grosvenor maintained^ with equal earnestness, that these were his Arras, and that he was prepared to uphold his title thereto. Many adjournments followed. At length, on the IGtli of May, 1886, the Constable sitting in Court Avith divers assessors, and Sir John de Multon actino- ao-ain for the Earl Marshal, it was ordered peremptorily that there should be adduced by the contending parties, on the 26th of January follow- ing, proof derived from muniments, chronicles, tombs, SCROPE AND GROSVENOR. 117 paintings, glass windows, vestments, Szc, and by tlic evidence of abbots, priors and others of Holy Church, and also by the testimony of lords, knights and es(piires of honour, and of gentlemen " having knowledge of arms." The judges at the same time appointed com- missioners to examine witnesses in the various coun- ties in England, and directed them to make their returns by the day apjjointed. The princes and earls were to answer " on their knightly honour," those of lesser rank "on their oath." The interrogatories put to the de- ponents on the side of Scrope were to this effect : " Do the arms ' Azure with a bend or ' belong, or ought they of riglit to belong, to Sir Richard Scroi)e ? Have you heard, or can you from your own knowledge state, that the ancestors of Sir Richard have used the said arms ; and by what title or authority ? Can you name the first ancestor of the plaintiff who bore the coat ? And, finally, arc you of kin or blood of Sir Richard ?" In obedience to the Court's direction, the various commissioners entered upon the task assigned them ; several of them examined the Abbeys of Nottley, Whitby, Abbotsbury, and various others ; and three of tlie commissioners, Lord Fitz Walter, Sir John Mannyou and Sir John Kentwode, sat in the Monastery of the Carmelite Friars at Plymouth, and there took the evi- dence of John of Gaunt. The deposition of that emi- nent personage will interest every one : " John, by the grace of God, King of Ca.stile and Leon, Duke of Lancjister, being prayed, and according to the laAv of Arms required, by the proctor of the 118 PJVAL PRETENSIONS. Richard le Scroj^e, to testify the truth between the said Sir Kichard and Sir Robert Grosvenor in a controversy between them concerning the arms ' Azure, a bend, or,' do verily testify, that at the time when We were armed in battles and other journeys in divers countries. We have seen and known that the said Sir Richard hath borne his arms 'Azure, a bend or,' and that many of his name and lineage have borne the same arms on banner, pennon, and coat armour, and that We have heard from many noble and valiant men, since de- ceased, that the said arms were of right the arms of his ancestors and himself at the time of the Conquest and since. And, moreover. We say and testify, that at tlie last expedition in France of our most dread Lord and father, on whom God have mercy, a controversy arose concerning the said arms between Sir Richard le Scrope aforesaid, and one called Carminow of Cornwall, which Carminow challenged those arms of the said Sir Richard, the whicli dispute was referred to six knights, now as I think dead, who upon true evidence found the said Carminow to be descended of a lineage armed ' Azure a bend or' since the time of King Ai-thur ; and they found that the said Sir Richard was descended of a right line of ancestry armed with the said arms, ' Azure a bend or,' since the time of King William the Conqueror; and so it was adjudged that they might both bear the arms entire. But We have not seen or heard that the said Sir Robert, or any of his name, bore the said arms before the last exjoedition in Scot- land with our Lord the Kinof," SCROPE AND GROSVENOK. 11!) Depositions of lords and knights, abbots, and priors followed, and tlien came one of the most remarkable witnesses of all, Geoffrey Chaucer, the Homer of English poetry: — " What say you, Geoffrey Chaucer ? does the coat, ' Azure a bend or,' belong of right to Sir Richard le Scrope V " Yes," replies Chaucer. " I saw him so armed in France, before the town of Betters ; and I saw Sir Henry Scrope armed witli tlic same ai-ms, with a white label, and with banner ; and I furtlicr depose that the said Sir Richard was armed in the entire arms during the whole expedition, until I myself was taken." Being asked how he knew that the arms appertained to Sir Richard ? he replied : — " That he had heard old knights and esquires say that they had had continual possession of the said arms ; and that he had seen them displayed on banners, glass, paintings, and vestments, and commonly called the arms of Scrope." Being further pressed as to whether he had ever heard of any interruption or challenge made by Sir Robert Grosvenor or his ancestors ? he said : " No ; but that he was once in Friday Street, London,and walking through the street, he observed a new sign hanging out with these arms thereon, and inquired, ' What inn that was that had hung out these arms of Scrope ?' and one answered him, saying, ' They arc not hung out, sir, for the arms of Scrope, nor painted there for those arms ; but they are painted and put there by a knight of the county of Cliester, called Sir Robert Grosvenor ;' aiul 120 RIVAL PRETENSIONS. that was the first time that he had ever heard speak of Sir Robert Grosvenor or his ancestors, or of any one bearing the name of Grosvenor." To reproduce the testimony of the various other deponents for Scrope would be too lengthy and tedi- ous. In addition to those already mentioned, there were examined Edmund of Langley, Duke of York, uncle of the king, Sir John Holand, afterwards Duke of Exeter, the king's half-brother, the Eai'ls of Derby, Arundel, and Northumberland, the Lords Poynings, Basset, Clifford, Dacre, D'Arcy, Grey of Ruthven, and Scales, besides many abbots, knights, esquires, and gentlemen. The most prominent figure is that of Harry Percy, Hotspur, " the all-bepraised knight.' But there is one deposition, too remarkable to be altogether omitted : — "John Thirlewalle, of the age of fifty-four, armed thirty-two years and more, being asked whether the arms 'Azure a bend or,' belonged to Sir Richard Scrope ? said, Certainly'', and that he would well prove it by evidence ; for the grandfather of the said Sir Richard, who was named William le Scrope, was made a knight at Falkirk, in Scotland, under the banner of the good King Edward with the Longshanks, as his (the deponent's) father told and showed him before his death ; for his father was through old age bed-ridden, and could not walk for sorae time before his decease ; and whilst he so lay, he heard some one say that people said that the father of Sir Richard was no gentleman, because he was the King's Justice; and his (deponent's) SCRUPE AND GROSVENOR. 121 father called his sons before hiin, of whom he the said John was the youngest of all his brethren, and said, * My sons, I hear that some say that Sir Henry Scrope is no cri'eat wntleman because he is a man of the law ; but I tell you certainly, that his father was made a knight at Falkirk in these arms, Azure a bend or, and that they are descended from great and noble gentle- men ; and if any one say otherwise, do ye testify that I have said so of truth, upon fiiith and loyalty ; and if I were young I would hold and maintain my saying to the death/ And his (the deponent's) father, when he died, was at the age of seven-score-and-five, and was, when he died, the oldest esquire of all the north, and had been armed during sixty-nine years, and has been dead forty-four years." Sir Robert Grosvenor called Owen Glendower, whose residence on the Welsh borders must have made him well acquainted with Cheshire arms, and whose testimony went to prove that Grosvenor bore the arms from the time of the Conquest. There appeared besides for Grosvenor the Stanleys, the Breretons, the Davenports, the Leycesters, the Massys. the Mainwarings, the Dom- viles, the Leghs, the Traftbrds, the Holfords, the Yer- nons, and a phalanx of other northern squires, who, with the esprit de coy}}^ for which our country gentle- men are to this day famous, stood up boldly for their neighbour. Old Sir Ralph Yernon could of his own knowledge go back to a distant time, and he gave most important evidence. In length of years, the Countess of Desmond alone may be adduced as his rival. St3-led in 122 rJVAL PRETEXSIONS. Cheshire Collections " the old liver," he is stated to have survived to the age of one hundred and fifty, and, accord- ing to an entry of Augustine Vincent, preserved in Wood- noth's Collections, is described as " Sir Kaufe Yernon, y* olde, who lived seven score years and ten." "On the part of Sir Robert Grosvenor," says Or- merod, "were examined nearly all the knights and gentlemen of Cheshire and Lancashire, ^vith several of the abbots and other clergy, all of whom deposed to- the usage of the arms by the Grosvenors, and to having seen them painted on windows, standards, and monuments in twenty-four churches, chapels and monasteries in Cheshire. The family charters and deeds, with seals appendant, exhibiting the same bear- ing, were produced before the Court ; and it was stated, on the authority of chronicles and monastic records, that all the ancestors of Sir Robert Grosvenor had used tlie same coat from time immemorial, and more particularly that it was used by Gilbert le Grosvenor, at the Conquest ; by Raufe le Grosvenor, at the battle of Lincoln; by Robert le Grosvenor, in the crusade under Richard I. ; by Robert le Grosvenor, in the Scotch wars under Edward II. ; by another Robert, at Criessy, and in other battles under Edward III.; and by the defendant. Sir Robert himself, as harbinger to Sir Thomas d'Audley, lieutenant to the Black Prince, and at Blank in Beny, at the capture of the Tower of Brose, at the siege of Rocksirion, in Poictou, in Guienne, at Viers, in Normandy, at the battle of Poictiers, at the battle of Najarra in Spain, in 13G7, and, lastly, at the SCROPI*: AND GKOSVEXOR. 123 battle of Limoges, in 1370^ in the service of the Black Prince." In point of fact, it appears from the various de- positions of the famous men on either side, by the examination of tombs, by chronicles, by cathedral Avindows, and by the evidences of Holy Church, that the coat of arms in question had been borne by both families time out of mind, and that their pedigrees were coeval with the Conquest. It is amusing to observe how Scrope's witnesses ignore the existence of Sir Robert Grosvenor and his family, while some of Gros- venor's de[)onents, in retaliation, pretended that they had never heard of Sir Richard Scrope ! However, Sir Thomas Percy, K.G. (afterwards Earl of Worcester), brother of the Earl of Northumberland, admits that he was aware Sir Robert Grosvenor was a gentleman of high degree ; and Sir William Brereton, another Scrope witness, but a Cheshire kinsman of Grosvenor, refused, point blank, to answer any question, and had a fine of twenty pounds im2:)osed on him. The evidence on both sides having been closed, the Lord High Constable gave judgment on the 12th of May, 1389. He acknowledged that on the jmrt of Sir Robert Grosvenor the strongest presum])tive evidence had been adduced in support of his defence ; but con- ceiving that Sir Richard Scrojie had more full}- and sufficiently proved his claim, and that Sir Robert had not, in any respect, disproved the evidence of the said Sir Richard, the Court awarded, pronounced, and declared that the entire, pure arms, " Azure a bend or," ajiper- 124 RIVAL PRETENSIONS. tained to the plaintiff, Sir Eichard le Scrope ; and the same arms, "within a plain bordure argent," should be assigned to Sir Robert Grosvenor. The Court also condemned the defendant in the costs of the suit. Sir E-obertj scorning to accept the arms with " a dif- ference," at once refused to submit to the award, and in three days after appealed direct to the King. The appeal was heard, and the King's judgment given, in the great chamber of Parliament, within the royal palace at Westminster. There were present with his Highness the Dukes of Guyenne and Gloucester, his uncles ; the Bisliop of London, the Lords John Roos, Baufe Nevill, and John Lovell; John Devereux, Steward of the Household ; Thomas Percy, Vice Chamberlain ; Henry Percy, his son ; Matthew de Gourney, Hugh Zoouch, Bryan de Stapleton, Richard Adrebury, and Wil- liam de Faryndon, knights, and others. The royal decree bore date 27tli of May, 1390, and was to the effect that the arms, Azure a bend or, should I'emain, in their sim- plicity, wholly to Sir Richard Scrope and his heirs, and that Sir Robert Grosvenor should have no part thereof. Thus defeated. Sir Robert gave up the " hend" and took in its place a "garb," retaining, however, his colours, azure and gold. It is obvious that the Cheshire knight was not powerful enough to withstand the influence and cha- racter of the great warrior-statesman, his opponent. The judges were not only Scrope's companions in arms, but also his personal friends ; and the leaning of the Court was from the beginning altogether in his favour. SCROPE AND GROSVEXOR. 125 To the impartial observer, justice would have been more fairly dealt out by one of two courses — either to have confirmed the right of both families to the arms, as had been done when Carminow challenged Scrope, or else to have assigned an heraldic difference to each. One result, however, has come to the Grosvenors from this celebrated controvei'sy, the conclusive evidence of the antiquity and nobility of their race. In the plead- ings, the defendant is always styled " Nobilis vir, RoBERTUS Grosvenor, Miles ;" and at the trial two hundred witnesses of note declared, that Grosvenor was then, in the fourteenth century, " A NAME OF ANCIENT FAME." Many will consider the long litigation between Scrope and Grosvenor, for nothing but a coat of arms, an indication of the simplicity of our ancestors, and will smile at the importance given to it by such men as John of Gaunt, Geoffrey Chaucer, Sh- Richard Scrope and Hotspur; and, with the self-complacency characteristic of the present generation, they will con- trast the fourteenth witli tlie nineteenth century, con- gratulating themselves on the superior intelligence and practical good sense which would now render a con- troversy at law on what they consider a point of such trifling importance impossible. Let us pause, however, for a moment. At the beginning of the present century, a folly took possession of the public mind, which caused contention between lords and gentlemen of as high degree as 12G RIVAL PRETENSIONS. Scrope and Grosvenor. To the Tulip-mania and the China-mania, and other similar infatuations, succeeded the Bihlio-mania. Noblemen from St. James's, squires from the north and squires from the south — from Yorkshire as Avell as Devon — nabobs from the East, and millionaires from the city were wont to assemble, week after week, at the auction rooms of Mr. Evans, to compete for scarce editions of books. Intrinsic merit was never taken into account ; and a book really worth five shillings was often, on account of its rarity, pur- chased for as many hundred pounds. It then probably took its place on a library shelf in some old county seat, and was never afterwards opened. Biblio-mania had its historian, too, the amusing Dr. Dibdin, who, describing with all the zest and enthusiasm of a Froissart or a Holinshed the battles fought in the book-auction rooms, exclaims, " Those Avere indeed deeds of valour and feats of book-hei'oism." Is it not fair to presume that the heraldic and chivalrous emblems of our predecessors, which were to serve as cogni2;ances for all time to come, and to be associated with gTcat men and great deeds, were, to say the least of them, as reasonable casus belli as those rare old editions of works not required or intended to be read ? ^\\t pcramcronc nf ^occwccxo. One of the leaders of the bibliomaniacs was John, third Duke of Roxburghe, K.G., who devoted long THE DECAMERONE. 127 years and great wealth to tlic acquisition of books and pamphlets. The celebrated collection known as " the Roxburglio l)allads," now in the British Museum, was formerly his. After his death, the magnificent library he had brought together during forty years came to the hammer. Nothing in the annals of book auctions was ever equal to the excitement caused by the publica- tion of the catalojijue. All bibliomaniac Endand was roused, and crowds from far and near filled the Duke's house, in St. James's Square, where the sale took place, in May, 1812. Forty-two successive days (Sundays only excepted) the auction lasted. " Book heroism " was manfully displayed. Competition was at its height, and bidding rose to a fabulous amount. " The shouts of the victors and the groans of the vanquished stunned and a})palled you as you entered." Many rare speci- mens of printing, an early Shakesjjere, a few Caxtons, and Be Wordes, wonderful editions of books on theo- logy, poetry, philosophy and the drama, were fought for with spirit and recklessness, but at last, what Dibdin calls " the Waterloo " among Book Battles commenced when Boccaccio's DECA:yrER0XE, printed at Venice in 1471, was put up. Tlie book had been bought by the Duke of Roxburghe for one hundred guineas, and was considered the only faultless copy of the edition in existence. The price it realised at the sale of 1812 was the highest ever given for a book. " I have a perfect recollection," says Dibdin, " of this notorious volume, while in tlic library of the late Duke. It had a faded yellow morocco binding, and 128 RIVAL PRETENSIONS. was a sound rather than a fine copy. The expectations formed of the probable price for which it would be sold were excessive ; yet not so excessive as the price itself turned out to be. The marked champions were pretty well known beforehand to be the Earl Spencer, the Marquis of Blandford (afterwards the Duke of Marlborough), and the Duke of Devonshire. Such a rencontre, such a ' shock of fight,' natui'ally begot un- common curiosity. My friends. Sir Egerton Bridges, Mr. Lang, and Mr. G. H. Freeling, did me the kind- ness to brealvfast with me on the morning of the sale — and, upon the conclusion of the repast. Sir Egerton's carriage conveyed us from Kensington to St. James's Square. " ' The morning lowered, And heavily with clouds came on the clay, Big with tha fate of . . . and of . . .' " In fact the rain fell in torrents, as we lighted from the carriage, and rushed with a sort of impetuosity to o-ain seats to view the contest. The room was crowded to excess, and a sudden darkness which came across gave rather an additional interest to the scene. At length the moment of the sale arrived. Evans pre- fiiced the putting up of the article by an appropriate oration, in which he expatiated upon its excessive rarity, and concluded by informing the company of the regret, and even ' anguish of heart,' expressed by Mr. Van Praet [librarian to the Emperor Napoleon], that such a treasure was not to be found in the imperial collection at Paris. Silence followed the address of Mr. Evans. THE DECAMEROXE. 129 On his right hund, le;ining against the wall, stood Earl Spencer: a little lower do^vn, and standing at right angles with liis lordship, appeared the Marquis of Blandford. Lord Althovp stood a little backward to the right of his father, Earl Spencer. Such was ' the ground taken up ' by the adverse hosts. The honour of firing the first shot was due to a gentleman of Shropshire, unused to this species of warfare, and who seemed to recoil from the reverberation of the report himself had made ! ' One hundred guineas !' he ex- claimed. Again a pause ensued ; but anon the bid- dings rose rapidly to five hundred guineas. Hitherto, however, it was evident that the firing was but masked and desultory. At length all random shots ceased; and the champions before named stood gallantly up to each other, resolving not to flinch from a trial of their respective strengths. '"A thousand guineas' were bid by Earl Spencer — to which the marquis added * ten' You might have heard a pin drop. All eyes were turned, all breatliing well nigh stopped, every sword was put home within its scabbard, and not a piece of steel was seen to move or glitter, except that which each of these champions brandished in his valorous hand. See, see ! they pany, they lunge, tliey leet : yet their strength is un- diminished, and no thought of yielding is entertained by either. Two thousand guineas are offered by the marquis. Then it was that Earl Spencer, as a prudent general, betjan to think of a useless effusion of blood and expenditure of ammunition, seeing that his adver- 9 130 RIVAL PRETENSIONS. saiy was as resolute and ' fresh ' as at the onset. For a quarter of a minute he paused ; when my Lord Althorp advanced one step forward, as if to supply his father with another spear for the purpose of renewing the contest. His countenance was marked by a fixed determination to gain the prize, if prudence, in its most commanding form, and with a frown of unusual intensity of expression, had not made him desist. The father and son for a few seconds converse apart, and the biddings are resumed. ' Ttuo tJwuscmd two hun- dred and fifty 2>ou7ids/ said Lord Spencer. The spec- tators were now absolutely electrified. The Marquis quietly added his ' ten,' . . . and there is an end of the contest. Mr. Evans, ere his hammer fell, made a due pause ; and, indeed, as if by something preter- natural, the ebony instrument itself seemed to be ' charmed or suspended ' in the mid air. However, at length dropped the hammer. . . . The spectators," continues Mr. Dibdin in his text, " stood aghast ! and the sound of Mr. Evans's prostrate sceptre of dominion reached, and resounded from, the utmost shores of Italy. The echo of that fallen hammer was heard in the libraries of Rome, of Milan, and of St. Mark. Boc- cacio himself startled from his slumber of some five hundred years ; and Mr. Van Praet rushed, but rushed in vain, amidst his royal book-treasures at Paris, to see if a copy of tlie said Valdarfer Boccaccio could there be found ! The price electrified the bystanders and astounded the public ! The marquis's triumph was marked by a plaudit of hands ; and presently after he THE DECAMEROXE. 131 offered liis liand to Lord Spencer, saying, 'We arc good friends still.' His lordship replied, ' Perfectly ; indeed, I am obliged to you.' ' So am I to you,' said the marquis ; ' so the obligation is mutual.' He de- clared that it was his intention to have o-one as far as five thousand pounds. The noble mai-quis had pre- viously possessed a copy of the same edition, wanting five leaves ; ' for which five leaves/ Lord Spencer re- marked, ' he might be said to have given two thou- sand six hundred pounds.' " What boots it to recoimt minutely the various achievements which marked the conclusion of the Roxhurfjlie contest, or to describe, in the manner of Sterne, the melancholy devastations which followed that deathless day ? Tlie battle languished towards its termination (rather, we suspect, from a failure of ammunition than of valour or spirit on the j^art of the combatants) ; but, notwithstanding, there were often- times a disposition manifested to resume the glories of the earlier part of the day, and to show that the spirit of bibliomania was not made of poor and perishable stuff. Illustrious be the names of the book heroes who both conquered and fell during the tremendous conflict just described ! And let it be said, that John, Duke of Roxburghe, both deserved well of his country and the book cause." It may be added that, the next evening, sixteen members of the leading Bibliophilists dined together at the St. Albans Tavern to celebrate the event. Lord Spencer, the defeated competitor, filled the chair, and 9—2 132 RIVAL PEETENSIONS, Dr. Dibclin acted as croupier. At this dinner was originated " the Roxburdie Club." I confess to a want of the enthusiasm of Dr. Dibdin, and I must descend from the elevation of his style of narrative, to tell in few words the subsequent history of the book. In 1819 the Marquis of Blandford had him- self to sell his collections, and the wondrous volume for which he had competed so energetically, and which he had won so proudly a few years before, at a cost of two thousand two hundred and sixty pounds, was sold to Messrs. Longman and Co. for nine hundred and eighteen pounds, and transferred by them, at that price, to the Mar- quis's former competitor, the Earl Spencer. It now forms one of the curiosities among the treasures at Althorp. IGHTY were the Staffords in the olden time. Their fio-ures stand out in our earlj^ annals like those of the Nevills, the Beauchamps, and the Percys, and are seen promi- nent in those historical pictures the old chroniclers so delighted in. At the Conquest they were feudal barons with one hundred and thirty-one lordships; earls and dukes under the Plantagenets ; knights of the Garter every generation ; and in all the wars of a war- like age, ever in the van. Their story is tragical. Edmund, fifth Earl of Stafford, feU at the battle of STAFFORD AND I3AG0T. 133 Shrewsbury ; Humphrey, his son, the sixth Earl created Duke of Buckingham, died for the Red Rose, at Northampton ; the second Duke of Buckingham, his son, was beheaded at Salisbury by Richard III. ; and his son again, the third and last Stafibrd Duke of Buckingham, sufiered a similar fate in 1521. Alluding to "VVolsey's share in the Duke's death, the Emperor Charles V. exclaimed, " a butcher's dog has killed the finest Buck in England." Brilliant, no doubt, was the Stafford pedigree. Nevertheless it is a matter of historic fact that the Staf- fords, after the reign of Henry III., were really in the male line scions of the liouse of Bagot, Milicent de Stafford, a great heiress, having married a Stafford- shire gentleman named Hervey Bagot, and having given to her son the famous name she inherited. Her descendant, in many, many years after, Edward Lord Stafford, attempted, either in ignorance or pride, to repudiate his Bagot ancestry. A controversy there- upon arose between him and Mr. Bagot of Blithficld, in which the Staffordshire squh'e had evidently the best of the (luarrel. The letters that passed between them are curious and characteristic. The indignant Lord thus writes to Mr. Bagot : — " The High Sherecf of this sliyre lately told me that you pretend my name to be Bagot, and not Stafibrd, which untrew speeches you have said unto dyvers others, althoucfh som dronken ifmorant herawld, by you corrupted therein, has soothed your lying, I do 134- RIV^VL PRETENSIONS. therefor answer you that I^do better know the descents and matches of my own lyneage than any creature can informe me ; for in all my records, pedigrees and armes, from the first Lord Stafford, that was possessed of this castle afore the Conquest, bearing the very same coate I now do, the feeld Gould, a Chevron Gules, I can- not find that any Stafford married with a Bagot, or they with him. I have faire record e to prove that the Lords of my hows were never without heirs male to succeed one after another,'and therefor your pretens in alledginge that Bagot married an ancester's wief of mine (as peradventure she married her servant), yet will I prove that neither she, nor no wydow of my hows did take a second husband before they were grandmothers by the children of their first husband; and therefor the lady of my hows was too old to have issue by yours. Beside this, we have been nyne descents Barons and Earls of Stafford, before any Bagot was known in this shire; for Busse, Bagot, and Green were but raised by King Eichard II. And to prove that you were no better than vassals to my hows, my Stafford Knot remeyneth still in your parlour, as a hundred of my poor tenants have in sundry shires of England, and have ever held your land of my hows, untill the ateynder of the Duke, my grandfather. Sui'ely I will not exchange my name of Stafford for the name of a ' Bagge of Oates,' for that is your name, Bag- OTE. Therefore you do me as great wrong in this surmyse as you did with j^our writing to the Pri-vy- Counsaile to have countenanced that shamefast Higons STAFFORD AND BAGOT. 13.5 to cliargo mc Avitli treason, whereof God and my trawthe delyvered me. Your neiglibore I must be, "Edward Stafford." Bagot, nothing daunted by " my lord's " wrath, but firm in the truth, replies like a well-born gentleman, and a well-read o;enealo<2:ist : — "Right Honorable, — I perceavc b}- your letters, delivered to me by your chaplain, Mr. Cope, on Mon- day last, your Lordship is greatly discontented with some my speeches used to Mr. Stanford, in pretending your honor's surname to be Bagot : I do confess I spake them; and not offending your lordship (as I hope 3^ou will not), with trothe I do avowe it. Not upon any ' Dronken Herehaught's report by me cor- rupted to soothe my lieing/ but by good records and evidence imder ancient scales, the four hundred years past. And if it may please you to send any sufficient man, as Mr. Sheriff, or Mr. Samson Eardswick, Gentillmen of good knowledge and experience in these ac'cons, I will she we them sufficient matter to con- firme that I have spoken ; being very sorry to heare your Lordship to contemne and deftice the name of Bagot with so bad tirmes and hastie speeches as you do : more dishonourable to yourself than any Ijlemishe or reprochc to me : and therefore if your Lordship take it in such disdaine, that I touch you either in credit or honour, 3-ou may (if you please) by ordinary proces, bring me before the Rt. Hon. the Earl Marshal of England, Chief Judge in these causes, when 1 will 13G RIVAL PRETENSIONS, prove it, or take the discredit, with such further puuish- ment as his honour shall inflict upon me. " Thus humbly desireing acceptance of this my an- swer in good part, till a further triall be had herein, I do comyt your Lordship to the protection of AUmighty, this first of March, 1589. " Your Lordship's at Commandment, " If you please, "Richard Bagot." I cannot discover a trace of a trial having been had. There is no record of any such trial before the Earl Marshal's Court in the Books of the Heralds' College, nor is there a reference to it in the indexes of the various Collections there. Certain it is that the stout squire of Blithfield held to his own. He appears, indeed, to have been well versed in the heraldry of his house, for he resumed the coat " ermine two chevronels azure," which was the real Basjot bearino; before the alliance with Stafford. He died in 1-59G, and lies buried at Blithfield, where also reposes his son, Walter Bagot, on whose monumental inscription the descent com- plained of so bitterly by Lord Stafford is thus boldly asserted : " This family of the Bagotts have continued in this county ever since the Conquest, from whence the Bagots sometimes Earls of Stafford and Dukes of Buckingham were lineally descended." What would Lord Stafford have felt or said, if he had lived to read of the great Earls of Stafford and Dukes of Buckingham being simply Bagots, and no- thing more than scions of the house of Blithfield ! THE CLAN CHATTAN. 137 Half ca century later, the relative positions of Staf- ford and Bagot were reversed. The great-grandson of the proud peer who had rejected all connection with the Staffordshire gentleman, died unmarried in 1G37, when his barony, denuded of all estate, devolved upon a kinsman, so poor and obscure, that he was denied by the King the inheritance of the peerage. At the very same time, Kichard Bagot's grandson. Sir Hervey Bagot, raised to the degree of Baronet, was seated in honour and affluence at his ancient manor house of Blithfield, and stood foremost amongst the loyal county gentlemen wdio fouo-ht for Kinr;- Charles. Uhc (Lian Ckattau. " Non uo.strum inter vos tantas componere lites." Virgil. The early annals of Scotland are made up of family disputes. The chieftainship of a clan was highly prized, and its inheritance led to many animosities. One of the most memorable is the contest of the Mac- kintoshes and Macphersons for the dignity of " Captain of the Clan Chattan," a contest commencing at the death, temp. Alexander III., of Dougal Phaol, the recognized chieftain, and lasting ever since I Dougal's only child was a daughter, Eva, who became wife of Mackintosh of Mackintosh, and, as heir of line, inherited no small share of the clan Chattan territory. Dougal's cousin, and undoubted raale representative was Ken- neth Macpherson of Cluny. The Mackintoshes ac- quired, through Eva, the Lochaber estate, and the in- 138 RIVAL PRETENSIONS. habitants of that district followed the chief of Mackin- tosh as their superior, who was consequently called by many Captain of the Clan Chattan. The rest of the clan, adhering to Kenneth, retired to Badenoch, where they settled, and were designated as the clan Mac- pherson, their chiefs always holding to the title of " Captain of the Clan Chattan." In the beginning of the reign of Robert II. an event occurred which the Macphersons adduce in proof of the early recognition of their claim. There happened at that time a san- guinary conflict between them and the clan Quhele at Invernahaven in Badenoch. The King and the Duke of Albany sent the Earls of Crawford and of Murray (then two of the greatest men in the kingdom) to try to settle their differences, and, if possible, to effect a reconciliation, but all to no purpose. It was at last proposed that each clan should choose thirty of their own number to fight in the North Inch of Perth, with their broad swords only. The combat was cheerfully agreed to by both parties. They met accordingly on the day appointed, the king and an incredible number of the nobility and gentry being spectators. Prompted by old malice and inveterate hatred, they fought with inexpressible resolution and fury. Twenty-nine of the clan Quhele were killed on the spot ; the one Avho re- mained unhurt made his escape by swimming over the river Tay, and it is said, was put to death by his own clan when he came home, for not choosing to die in the field of honour with his companions, rather than save his life by flight. THE CLAN CHATTAN. 139 Of the clan Chattan nineteen were killed in the field, and the other eleven so much wounded that none of them were able to pursue their single antagonist who fled. This happened on the Monday before the feast of St. Michael, anno 139(5; and the victory was ad- judged in favour of the clan Chattan. I must here observe, that the family of Cluny con- tend that the thirty combatants of the clan Chattan were all Macphersons ; " because," say they, " their antagonists, the clan Kay, were followers of the Cum- ings of Badenoch, and envied the Macphersons the possession of their lands, which was the cause of their constant feuds." The Mackintoshes also allege, that these thirty were of their party of the clan Chattan, and all j\Iackin- toshes. Sir Walter Scott has thrown the charm of romance over this turbulent episode in the history of the clan Chattan. One of the most stirring chapters of the " Fair Maid of Perth " is descriptive of the combat of the two clans ; and Sir Walter, in the Abbotsford edi- tion of the "Waverley Novels," appends a note, in which, calling Cluny Macpherson " cliicf of his clan," he mentions that Cluny has in his possession an ancient trophy of the battle, honoured under the name of the " Federan Dhu," and handed down from the very time, "The two pipers" (says Scott), "who during the con- flict had done their utmost to keep up the spirits of their brethren, saw the dispute well nigh terminated for want of men to support it. They threw down 140 RIVAL PRETENSIONS. tlieir instruments, rushed desperately upon eacli other with their daggers, and each being more intent on de- spatching his opponent than on defending himself, the piper of clan Quhele was almost instantly slain, and he of clan Chattan mortally wovmded. The last, never- theless, again grasped his instrument, and the pibroch of the clan yet poured its expiring notes over the clan Chattan, while the dying minstrel had breath to inspire it." Many have been the efforts made during the last two or three hundred years by each chieftain to gain a de- cision in his favour. In 1672, Duncan Macpherson of Cluny succeeded in getting the Lyon Office to matricu- late his arms as " Laird of Clunie Macpherson, and the only and true representative of the ancient and honor- able family of the clan Chattan." But no sooner did Mackintosh of Mackintosh hear of the circumstance, than he determined to do battle, as of old. He ap- plied, without a moment's delay, to the Privy Council, and raised a process to have it determined which of the two, he or Macpherson, had a better right to the armorial bearings of the clan Chattan. A protracted enquiry followed, and evidence was submitted on both sides. At lengtli the Lords of the Council issued an order that the two chiefs should give security for peaceable behaviour, thus deciding that each was inde- pendent. "This process," says Logan, " excited great interest in the North, and Cluny, on his return to Edinburgh, received the hearty congratulations of many friends ; THE CLAN CHATTAN. 141 Keith, Earl Marischal, and others, entertaining him by the way, and freely accepting him as their chief." In this present century, the question remains in dispute. Between twenty and thirty years since, when I was preparing one of tlie editions of " The Landed Gentry," a gentleman called on mc on tlic part of the then Mac- Idntosh of Mackintosh, to warn mc that if I assig-ned the chieftainship of " the clan Chattan " to Cluny Mac- pherson, he would be necessitated to prosecute me for libel. " I beg, sir, to inform you," said my visitor, " that the Mackintosh wad na surrender his richts tae ony man born, mickle less to Cluny Macpherson. Dinna trow it, sir, for the Mackintosh is as shure head o' clan Chattan as yer head, sir, is pairt o' yer ain body' — an the head mauna be pairted frac the stump, sir. A clan wi' an unlawfu' head wad be a livin' corpse, a perfect anomawly in natur. The Mackintosh canua pairt wi' his ain, and he winna pairt wid ! He'll defend it, sir, an' uphauld it, sir, wi' — wi' — wi' the claymore o' the law an' the durk ©'justice." Not long after, I had a visit from the agent or friend of Macpherson of Cluny, who was less poetical, but equally firm in his declaration. He asserted that the claim of Mackintosh as chief o' clan Chattan was " a muckle haver." " By my shooth [truth], sir," he pro- ceeded, " Clunies's claim to Mackintosh's is like a pund o' solid lead weighted against a pund o' feathers. Ho comes in place o' a' his forbins, sir, and as shure as he is Cluny, and Mackintosh is no clan Chattan, he is our lawfu' chief — that, ye see, is sartain. Tak cair, sir, for 142 RIVAL PRETENSIONS. an' ye gie the honour tae the Mackintosh, Cluny will at the coorts pursue ye like a will o' wisp." In the horns of the dilemma, not wishing to afford in my person an opportunity for the claimants to try in a court of law a question which in ancient times was referred to the adjudication of the sword, and not being desirous to encounter the claymore o' the law, or to be j)ursued as a will o' wisp, I adopted a safe course, and assigned the honour to neither. " Touch not the cat but " (i.e. without) "the glove," is the motto of the clan, and in this instance was significant. ©'Conor. " Alas ! how light a cause may move Dissension." Moore. About fourteen or fifteen years ago, a curious contro- versy arose between two Irish families as to the inser- tion or omission of a second letter N in their surname; the O'Conor Don omitted it, and O'Conor, of Miltown, Co. Roscommon, adopting the same mode of spelling, thought i^roper to omit it too. This gave umbrage to members of the senior line — that of O'Conor Don — and a discussion was carried on in the local newspapers which, from its great length, and the subject matter of the dispute, acquired the name of the N-less {endless) correspondence. The quarrel increased in acrimony, until at last it was determined that the point in dispute should be re- ferred to the arbitration of Ulster King-of-Arms. On examining the cases of the disputants, I saw at once O'CONOR. 143 that it was not the direct damage to the orthograpliy of the name, not the omission or insertion of the un- fortunate letter in dispute, that was really at issue, but the INDIRECT CLAIM which the use of the one N gave to the Miltown family of identity with that of the O'Conor Don. Mr. Arthur O'Conor, uncle of O'Conor Don, threw down the gauntlet ; Mr. Roderick O'Conor, of Miltown, at once accepted the challenge. When the question was remitted to me, and tlie disputants sub- mitted their proofs, I was able at once to show that the name was either O'Conor or O'Connor, as the holder might elect to use it; and this was established by the production of old wills and pedigree-registrations, which bore the signatures variously written one way or the other. So angry with each other were the con- tending parties, that I deemed it advisable to receive them in separate apartments. I deemed it prudent to take example from the meeting of the rival chiefs of Desmond and Ormonde, who agreed on one occasion to shake hands, but took the precaution of doing so through an aperture of an oak door, each fearing to be poniarded by the other. At length the pleadings were reduced to the exact issue which the disputants had really at heart from the beginning, but at first were unwilling to admit — viz., Were the Uuo fa7niUes of the same origin ? A decision was thereupon easily given. Old lamily settlements made by the senior line of all — that of Clonalis — were discovered, clearly establishing that the two families had a common ancestor, and that the two lines might, as they pleased, use one or two N's. 144 RIVAL PRETENSIONS. A few words as to the pedigTee and title of O'Conor Don. At a remote period his ancestors were Kings of Connanght, and in the twelfth century became Sove- reigns of all Ireland. Tordhellach O'Conor, who as- cended the throne in 1136, reigned twenty years, and died in 1156, leaving two sons, Roderick, the last monarch of Ireland, and Cathal Croibh-dearg, or Cathal of the red hand. Roderick's history is well known. In 1175 his chancellor, Lawrence O'Toole, signed the Treaty of Windsor with King Henry II. of England^ v/herein Roderick resig-ned the supreme mo- narchy, but reserved to himself Connaught as an inde- pendent kingdom. The Treaty may be seen in Rymer's " Foedera." From Roderick's brother Cathal descends, in a direct line, the O'Conor Don. The singular title of " Don," so constantly used by the successive chiefs of the house, is variously ex- plained. The true derivation is, I think, from the word dun {don), or the dark, a sobriquet given to Tirlagh O'Conor, living temih Richard II. Some have supposed that it was merely an abbreviation of " JOo- minus," while others carry up its adoption to the time of the invasion of Ireland under Prince Don, the son of Milesius ! Certain it is that for centuries it has been the invariable designation of the head of the O'Conors of Roscommon, as the Red O'Conor was that of another line. Of the princely heritage that formerly belonged to this royal house, a smaU tract alone remains. Spo- liation and persecution — the result of loyalty to the Kiuo' and devotion to the ancient faith — gave the final O'CONOK. 145 Llow to the power of the illustrious house. Mtijor Owen O'Conor, of Belanagare, Govenior of Atlilone for James II., was taken prisoner by AVilliam III., and confintul ill the castle of Chester, where he died in 1C92 ; and his nephcAV and eventual heir^ Denis O'Conor, of Belanagare, was involved in the troubles and misfortunes which seemed at that time the com- mon inheritance of all who professed the Catholic reli- gion. Suits were instituted for the sequestration of his paternal estates, and he was happy to preserve a portion by the sacrifice of the rest. Though thus left but a small fragment of the once broad domains of his forefathers — domains which wej*e guaranteed by several solemn and indisputable treaties — he was still the sup- porter of all whose virtues or distresses had a claim upon his bounty. The traditions of the country attest liis benevolence and hospitality, and the effusions of the bards record the virtues of his character. At Be- lanagare it was that Carolan composed the most im- ])assioned of his melodies, and felt the true poetic in- spiration. " I think," said the Bard on one occasion, •' that when I am among the O'Conors, the Harp has the old sound in it." Denis O'Conor's son and successor, Charles O'Conor, of Belanagare, a learned antiquary, early devoted his attention to elucidating the history of his country, and unfolding the long-neglected records of her people; and collected, with indefatigable research and labour, the most valuable information regarding the annals and antiquities of Ireland. He also took a prominent place 10 14G RIVAL PRETENSIONS. amongst tliose who first struggled for Catholic emanci- pation. Of his grandsons, the eldest, Owen O'Conor, of Belanagare, succeeded to the title of Don, as head of the family, at the decease of his kinsman, Alexander O'Conor Don, of Clonalis, in 1820; and the second, Charles O'Conor, D.D., Chaplain at Stowe, was the erudite author of "Rerum Hibernicarum Scriptores," " Columbanus^s Letters," &c. Herbert anli Jon^s. It is no easy matter to follow the intricacies of a Welsh PedigTce. The absence of surnames uj:) to a compara- tively recent date, and their tardy adoj^tion under different appellations by members of one and the same family, is obviously the real cause of the difficulty. A genealogy in Wales is more easily traced by arms than by surname. A very striking instance occurs in the descendants of William Ap Jenkin, Lord of Gwarindee, in the time of Edward III. His four sons all founded families, which although springing from a common ancestor, each bore a different surname. The eldest, John, was ancestor of the Progers, of Werndee; the second, David, of the Morgans, of Arxton; the third, Howell, of the distinguished house of Jones (now Herhert) of Llanarth ; and the fourth, Thomas, of the Powells, of Perthyr, as well as of the chivalrous line of Herbert of Raglan, ennobled under the titles of Pembroke and Powys. There is also very frequently another vexata HERBERT AND JONES. 147 qncmtio aininig tlie various lines of a Welsh family. It is as to the right of seniority or chiefship. This rivalry existed for centuries between the des- cendants of William Ap Jenkyn, of Gwarindce, — the Progers, of Werndee, and the Pcnvclls, of Perthyr. On one occasion ^Ir. Proi^ci' after dinincj with a friend at Monmouth, proposed to return to Werndee in the even- ing, but his companion suggested that the evening looked very threatening, and was likely to come on to rain. " Never mind," replied Mr. Proger, " though the hour be late, we have moonlight, and, if it chance to rain, my cousin Powell's House of Perthji- is not far off our road, and he will be only too glad to receive us." They accordmgly mounted their horses and started • for home. The apprehensions of a wet night, liowever, Avere soon verified : heavy rain came on, and tliey were necessitated to turn their horses' heads to the hospit- able mansion of Perthyr. When they reached the house, the family had all retired to rest. Mr. Proger, however, knocked so loudly at the door, that Mr. Powell himself called from the window : " In the name of wonder what means all the noise ? Who is there ?'' " It is only I, your cousin Proger, of Werndee, who am come to ask refuge from the inclemency of the weather, and am certain you will give me and my friend a welcome." " What, is it you. Cousin Proger ? You and your friend shall be admitted at once, but," — hesitating for a moment, he added — " I claim one condition, and that 10—2 148 EIVAL PRETENSIONS. is that you will allow and promise never hereafter to disj)ute that I am the head of the family." " No/' indignantly replied Mr. Proger, " I will never do that. Let it rain swords and daggers, I will ride this night to Werndee. I will not lower the dignity of my family." Seizing his bridle, he was just about leaving, Avhen Powell cried out : " Stop a moment, Cousin Proger. Have you not confessed that the first Earl of Pembroke of the name of Herbert was the youngest son of Perthyr, and will you set yourself above the Earls of Pembroke ?" " The Earl of Pembroke," replied Proger, " is a peer of the realm, and to him I must consequently give place, but, though he be a peer, he is of the youngest branch of my family, being descended from the fourth son of "Werndee, who settled at Perthyr, and was your an- cestor ; whereas I am sprung from the eldest son. Even Cousin Jones of Llanarth, who is of an older branch than you, never denies that I am head of the family." "Why, then," finally retorted Powell, not a little incensed, " there is nothing more to say. Good-night, Cousin Proger, and a pleasant ride to you." "Stop a moment, Mr. Powell," said Mr. Proger's fellow traveller, " you see how it pours. Do let me in at least, I promise I shall raise no discussion as to the relative merits of our families," but the old Welsh squire was inexorable. Coxe, the county historian of Monmouthshire, tells another story of Mr. Powell's j)ride of ancestry. HERBERT AND JONES. 149 A stranger, whom he accidentally met at the foot of the Skyrid, made various inquiries respecting the country, the prospects, and the neighbouring houses, and among others, asked, " Whose is this antique man- sion before us ?" " That, sir, is Werndee, a very ancient house, for oat of It came the Earls of Pembroke of the first line, and the Earls of Pembroke of the second line; the Lords Herbert of Cherbury; the Herberts of Coldbrook, Rumney, Cardift* and York ; the Morgans of Arxton ; the Earl of Huntingdon ; the Joneses of Treowen and Llanarth ; and all the Powells. And of this house, also, by the female line, came the Dukes of Beaufort." " And pray, sir, who lives there now ?" " I do, sir." " Then pardon me, and accept a piece of advice; coiue out of it yourself, or 'twill tumble and crush you." Centuries after, in our time, another controversy arose between two branches of this same family — the Joneses of Llanarth and the Joneses of Clytlia. In 1848 Mr. Jones, of Llanarth, one of the lineal descend- ants of William-ap-Jenkyn-ap-Herbert, Lord of Gwa- rindce, of whom I have just spoken, as proud of his pedigree as was his kinsman, tlie Squire of Perthyr, felt that the cognomen of Jones was ill-suited to desig- nate the distinction of his house, and applied for the Royal permission to change it for the surname of Her- bert. The application, though opposed by the Heralds' College, Wiis eventually granted by the Crown. In thirteen years after, Mr. Herbert of Llanarth's uncle, Mr. Jones of Clytha, had a similar desii-e to change loO RIVAL PEETENSIONS. " Jones" for "Herbert," and requested that his son and heh'-apparent, Mr. William Keginald Jones, who had been appointed to the Monmouthshire Militia, should be gazetted under the name of Herbert. The Lord- Lieutenant of the county, Lord Llanover, declined, however, to do so. The question was subsequently brought under the notice of the House of Commons, and a very curious and interesting debate ensued. Various were the phases through which the contro- versy passed. Though baffled oft, the Clytha family stuck to their point. In November, 1862, a letter, sigTied " William Herbert," and dated from Clytha, was forwarded to the Lord Chancellor, requesting that the necessary alteration, consequent on his change of sur- name, should be made in the Commission of the Peace. To this the Lord Chancellor replied by expressing his regret that he could not, consistently with what he deemed his duty, comply with the application; but, within three weeks after, a new Commission of Sewers for the county of Monmouth, Avith the names of the Commissioners included, received the sanction of Her Majesty, and was issued by the joint authority of tlie Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chief Justices. In the list of Commissioners, thus royally confirmed, the name of the proprietor of Clytha was inserted as " William Herbert," and the Lord Chancellor infoi-med Lord Llan- over, in reply to a remonstrance from his Lordship, that he had no power to alter it. And, moreover, on the 9th Febniarj^, 1863, the Chancellor, yielding to the precedent thus created, declared that he could not HERBERT AND JONES. 151 permit the same gentleman to be called by two dif- ferent names in two Commissions from the Crown, and directed accordingly that the proprietor of Clytha should be inserted in the Commission of the Peace for the county of Monmouth as " William Herbert, of Clytha, Esq." Finally, at the Levee, held on the 25th February, 18G3, Mr. " Reginald Herbert, of Clytha," was presented. Thus was finally set at rest this strange family con trovers}'. Another debate in the House of Commons on the subject occurred 7th Marcli, 18G3, in the course of which the Solicitor-General (Sir Roundell Palmer) asserted that there was no positive law on the subject of changes of name. " The fact was," said the learned gentleman, "that surnames gi'ew up mostl}^ as nick- names. It was a matter of usage and reputation from the beginning; the name clung to a man, and the law permitted him to shuffle it off if he could. There was no law forbidding a man to change his name ; but there v/as also no law Avhich compelled his neighbour to acknowledfje him under the name he mioht assume. It was the boast of Owen Glendower — " ' I can call spirits from the vasty deep ;' when Hotspur rejoined — " ' Why so can I, or so can any man ; But will thuy come when you do call for them?' It was exactly the same with names. Everybody' was at liberty, if he pleased, to change his surname, but no lo'I RIVAL PRETENSIONS. one else was obliged to recoo-nise the clian2:e unless he pleased. AVhen, however, by usage a man had acquired a name by reputation, then persons in public authority were bound to acknowledge the new surname. There was no law on the subject ; but when there appeared to be nothing arbitraiy or improper, and when there was no encroachment on the feelings and rights of others, then it was courteous to accede to the wish of a person who might desire to change his name. There was, however, no principle of law that any person occupying an official position was bound to recognise a capricious or arbitrary assumption of names by persons who had no right to them, either by descent or by the inheri- tance of property." I have no doubt but that Sir Roundell Palmer was correct in a lawyer's point of view. It has, however, always struck me that, though there is no actual penalty incurred by a person assuming any name his fancy dic- tates, and putting up a fresh mark of identity — an alias to his cognomen — nothing seems to me more unjusti- fiable or inconvenient than the assumption, riiero motu, by one man of another man's surname. Many family names are honourable in themselves. Surely, the de- scendant of a line of ancestry, illustrious in history, has an undeniable inlieritance in the name he bears, asso- ciated as it has been with the achievements of his own immediate predecessors. Howard, Neville, De Vere, Sey- mour, Percy, sound on the ear not as appellations only : the very gi-eatness of England is in their echo. With HERBERT AND JONES. 153 the transfer of such names, a dignity may be said to pass. True, a man may take what app(;llation he pleases, and, in the absurdity of his caprice, he may choose to usurp one of the most glorious surnames of England, but, even if he do, he does not take with it its antecedents. Where dignity is to be given, it is the Crown alone, as the exclusive fountain of honour, that can be the donor. The royal grant of a surname docs not act as the mere publication of a person's own assumption, but it transfers to one man the actual family name of another. For instance, when the Royal Licence was granted to the Earl of Wilton to take the ancient and honoured name of his maternal ancestors, it gave him that name with all its historical antecedents. It was not the abstract name of Egerton, formed of the seven letters, e g e r t o x, that he ob- tained, but he was given the family name of Egerton, such as had been used by the Egertoas of Egerton, time out of mind. The legal bearing of the question of change of name was most ably discussed by Mr. Serjeant Burke, in a lecture delivered by him in 18GC, at a meeting of " the Society for Promoting the Amendment of the Law." The learned Seijeant advocated the Royal Licence as the simple and obvious means of meeting the difficulty, and recommended the enactment of a Statute declarintr all assumption of names, except by such royal authority, to be illegal, and extending and more clearly defining the powers of the Royal Licence. Nothing indeed is simpler than the form of procedure 154 RIVAL PRETENSIONS. necessary to obtain a Royal Licence. Once an appli- cant can shew sufficient cause (and it is absurd to en- courage change of name without sufficient cause) the Queen's Warrant issues as a matter of course, I shall close this chapter, in which I have touched on a few of the rivalries and dissensions of great houses, with an amusing story of a Scottish quarrel, told me by my friend Alexander Sinclair, whose fund of Scotch anecdote is inexhaustible : — " Sir John Schaw, of Greenock, a Whig, lost a hawk, supposed to have been shot by Bruce of Clackmannan, a Jacobite. In Sir John's absence, Lady Greenock sent to Bruce a letter, witli an offer of her intercession, on Mr. Bruce's signing a very strongly-worded apology. His reply was : — ' For the honoured hands of Dame Margaret Schaw, of Greenock : — 'Madam, — I did not shoot the hawk. But sooner than have made such an apology as your Ladyship has had the consideration to dictate, I M^ould have shot the hawk, Sir John Schaw, and your Ladyship. ' I am, Madanij ' Your Ladyship's devoted servant to command, ' Clackmannan.' " ^\u ^bcriitcn ^lamunce. " Alone, alone, all, all alone ; Alone on a Avide, "wide sea." Coleridge. Nothing, as wo all know, is more common than the ambitious efforts of adventurers to ascend into more elevated social regions, than those in which they origi- nally moved. The cases are rare, indeed, in which the inheritors cf rank and wealth think proper to abandon, or conceal the distinctions derived from an illustrious ancestry ; to mingle witli the humble sons of toil ; and to fulfil in the most literal manner the primeval decree, " In the sweat of thy Ijrow thou shalt eat thy bread." Yet such cases have now and then occuiTcd, and of these not the least remarkable is that of George Gordon, sixth Earl of Aberdeen in the peerage of Scotland, and third Viscount Gordon in the peerage of the United Kingdom. The lineafje of the Earls of Aberdeen is ancient and distinguished. They descend from a common ancestor with tlie Dukes of Gordon ; the Earls loG THE ABERDEEN ROMANCE, preserving throughout an unbroken male descent ; the Dukes deriving from the heir female of the senior line, Elizabeth Gordon. The Gordons, from their high position in Scotland, were necessarily an historic race, their various members being mixed up with the public transactions of that kingdom. One of their progenitors, James Gordon, of Methlic and Haddo, was among the associators in 1567 for the defence of the young Prince James. He, however, soon afterwards saw reason to transfer his support to Queen Mary, to whose interests he ever aftei' steadfastly adhered. He joined his rela- tive, the Earl of Huntly, who wan then Her Majesty's lieutenant in tlie north, and his loyal zeal was rewarded by the Queen Avith charters of valuable lands and baronies. A descendant of this James^ Sir John Gor- don, of Haddo, was in IGoO second in command to the Marquis of Huntly, over the forces raised against the Covenanters. In 1G42 he was created a Baronet by King Charles the First, in recompense for his gallant defence of the royal cause at the Battle of Turriff. The readers of Waverley will recollect the facetious exclamation of Fergus Maclvor, with reference to the melodious voice of his landlady, Mrs. Flockhart : " Oh, Baron, if you heard her fine counter-tenor admonishing Kate and Matty in the morning, you, who understand music, would tremble at the idea of hearing her shriek in the psalmody of Haddo's Hole." I have no doubt that many an admirer of Scott's exquisite novel has been puzzled to know what was meant by " Haddo's Hole," or what coimexion a place TIIK AIJERDEEX EOMAN'CE. 157 SO designated could have liad with psahnody. Here is the explanation : In 1G43 Sir John Gordon, of Haddo, defended the house of Kellie against the Cove- nanters, and being (obliged to capitulate^ was imprisoned in one of the kirks of Edinburgh, which, from the circumstance of his being incarcerated therein, was thenceforth popularly called Haddo's Hole. Sir John had no mercy to expect from the Covenanters ; he was tried, condemned, and executed at the Cross of Edin- burgh in 1644. His estates were forfeited, and re- mained under sequestration until the fortunes of the family revived at tlie restoration of King Charles the Second. The earldom of Aberdeen was conferred by that monarch in 1G82, on Sir George Gordon, of Haddo, Lord High Chancellor of Scotland. His descendant, George, the sixth Earl, was born on the 10th December, 1841. He succeeded his fother on the 22nd March, 1864, and he had not long been rendered independent of paternal control, when he determined to gratif}-- a passion for a seafaring life, which had taken hold of his mind from early boyhood. When scarcely past childhood, he used to go out in the herring-boats at Boddom, and remain with the fishei'men all nio-ht. In January, 1866, he sailed from Liverpool in a lar^-e sailing vessel called the Pomona, bound to St. John's, New Brunswick. His intention was, in the first place, to visit his uncle, the Hon. Arthur Gordon, who at that period was Governor of New Brunswick. The Pomona was detained three weeks in the Mersey, and the 158 THE ABERDEEN ROMANCE. ocean passage occupied forty-five clays. One would suppose that a landsman would have got quite enough of the Pomona, and of the sea, from a voyage so pro- tracted. On the contrary, Lord Aberdeen's passion for a sailor's life was, if possible, increased, and he deter- mined to qualify himself by a regular professional education, to discharge the duties of a seaman. He, however, did not at once assume his incognito on arriving in America. The month of April, 1866, he passed with his uncle in New Brunswick. At the end of that month he was staying at an hotel in Boston, the Revere house, m his own name. At the same period there were two persons in that hotel to whom his lord- ship was known, namely, the Earl of Gosford, and Mr. Peterkin. It seems to have been about the 22nd May, 1866, that he dropped his title, and adopted the name of " Georo-e H. Osborne," under which designation the hotel book records his residence at the above date. In the month of June, his lordship, whom henceforth I must call " George Osborne," embarked in a vessel bound for Palmas, in the Canaries. Of this part of Osborne's career we have the following account from a sailor named AVilliam Randolph Hawkins, a native of Virginia, who served along with him on the voyage : " I sailed from Boston," says Hawkins, " in the month of June [1866] in the brig R. Wylie. Captain Crosscup was master. We had two mates. A person of the name of George Osborne joined the ship as a seaman. "We went first to Palmas, Grand Canary Island. The first land we had seen was Teneriffe. We THE ABERDEEN EOMAJNX'E. 159 sailed alonir near it, and saw the Peak. Osborne and I were in the same watch. We became very intimate. I had myself enjoyed a good education, and I soon found he was much my superior in that ; but we took to each other. When Osborne joined the ship, he was not dressed like a sailor, and I was siu'prised to find he had shipped as one. His hands were tender, and they soon got blistered. Mine were then in a similar state, and we joked about it. But he was always active, willing, and energetic, and took a fair share of all the work. He made himself most po})ular with officers and crew .... He told me Osborne was an assumed name, and that his real name was Gordon ; but he said I must not mention it on board the ship." The resolute determination of Osborne to rough it, to which Hawkins bears testimony, appears later on from the statement of a sea-faring man, a fisherman, named Sewell Small, who served as fellow-sailor with Osborne on board the schooner Arthur Burton, in 18G7. At Vera Cruz they were engaged for three or four weeks discharging their cargo of corn. " I observed," says Small, " that Osborne, in helping to discharge, did not appear to work like a man who had been used to it ; his hands seemed soft, and his legs seemed to totter when carrying the sacks of com; lie never yave in, but he said to me he could not expect to carry as lon'^ as one of us fellows could." At the time to which my narrative lias now arrived, the Mexican War was going on. Vera Cmz was beino- bombarded. The city was accessible by ^vater, but not IGO THE ABERDEEN ROMANCE. by land. Osborne and Small lised to go ashore to- gether nearly every day. During the bombardment tbey were twice in the city. Osborne, on one of those visits, was standing close to a house which was struck with a cannon ball, within five or six feet of where he stood. Curiosity detained him in the town, and he immediately placed his head in the hole the ball had made, and remained in that j^osition till the cannonading ceased. This he did on the law of probabilities. " I thought it unlikely," he says, in a letter to his mother, " that another shot would come just to that same s^^ot ; but while I was there seven people were killed in the same square." In the course of the year, Osborne made a trip in a schooner, " either," says Small, " to Philadelphia or Baltimore." The vessel, while lying in jDort, took fire ; and all on board " would have been burned up, if it had not been for another vessel that gave the alarm." In the various adventures of Osborne's career, there is frequently manifested a strong disposition to frater- nize with everyone who seemed to him really deserving of affection. One instance of this disposition is given b}^ Small, who says — " He and I went together to tliat ship, to see if we could get a chance to go in her together, because George liked the captain and the schooner very much. But she only wanted one man to make up her crew, and ive would not separate. We remained in Boston a week or two, looking for a ship that could take us both." Osborne^s character is clearly revealed by the testi- THE ABERDEEN KO.^IAN'CE. ICI mony of" the dift'erent witnesses who were cited in tlie subsequent judicial inquiry, to which I shall by-and- by have to refer. He was eccentric ; but his sole eccentricity consisted in his irrepressible passion fur a nautical life, and his voluntary association on the most familiar terms with men in the humblest ranks. It strikes one as grotesquely curious to find a Scotch earl of large estates, great social influence, and illus- trious lineage, demanding and receiving from the teacher in a riding school in America a certificate of character such as tlic following : — " Boston, 4th Feb., 1867. " To whom it may concern : " This is to certify that Mr. George H. Osborne has lived in my house the past four months, and I can most cheerfully recommend him as a young man of good habits and kind disposition. " F. E. Pearson. " 158, Tyler Street." Of good habits and kind disposition our eccentric hero undoubtedly was. During the period of his resi- dence with Mr. Pearson he had been assiduously study- ing navigation at the Boston Nautical College, where he obtained from the college authorities an attestation that he possessed the requisite skill aiid judgment for a, first officer of any ship in the merchant service. It is rather amusing, although, regard being had to his incognito, not at all wonderful, to hear Mr. Sewell Small, who was promoted to the situation of mate on. 11 162 THE ABERDEEN ROMANCE. board the schooner Zeyla, speaking of the disguised Scottish peer in a patronizing tone : — " I became mate when Howes became Captain. The mate divides the watches with the captain. As mate, it was my duty to select one man to be in my watch, and I selected George for this purpose. I knew I coidd chat freely with him, though I was an officer. He would not take advantage of it as many men would." No. Lord Aberdeen was humble, " shy and modest," as one of the witnesses says ; and would not take ad- vantage of the intimacy he had previously enjo^^ed ^vith Mr. Small to use any unbecoming familiarity with that gentleman, now that he had soared aloft to the •exalted position of mate. Osborne's manners, his friendly disposition, his readi- ness to oblige, attracted all with whom he came in contact. He possessed many accomplishments, which lie had carefully cultivated. Among his humble asso- ciates was an American carpenter named Green, who says— " He drew beautifully. He was an excellent sea- man and navigator. He was very fond of reading and of music. He used to , play very often on a piano in my house. He was very good to children. My wife bad a little sister who was often in the house, and George used to take a great deal of notice of her, and often buy her little presents. She was four or five years old. ... I remember George had a revolver on board the ^Ycdton, and I have often seen liim at sea Tin: Ar.KRDKKX lloMANX'i:. 103 throw a corked bottle overboard, and break it with a shot from his revolver. He was a first-rate shot both with pistol and riHe. I have seen him snufF a candle Avith a pistol bullet at live or six yards. He told me that he liad a friend who used to hold an envelope in his liand at ten or twelve paces off, and George would hit the stamp in the corner of the envelope." His disposition to ol)lige, as also his liandiness in trivial matters, were displayed in his making a clothes- bag for Captain Wilbur, of tlie ship IT. Malloi'ij. A much more important exercise of his nuiltifarious abili- ties was required on board the Pomona. Four men fell from aloft. One had his thigh broken, sim])Ic fracture ; another his collar bone ; another three « »r four ribs. " We had no materials," says George Os- borne, in a letter to his mother, " but I made splints out of a board, and his leg is now joined and quite straight, and as long as tlie other one." He had shown in earl}' youtli a turn for mechanics, and frequently worked with the carpenter on his tathei's estate. Perha[)s it was from tlms mixing with trades- men and fishermen that he formed tlie wish to asso- ciate on terms of equality with the labouring classes, in order to understand their habits and opinions. During his .sailor career he prescribed to himself the, most rigid economy. He was anxious not only to live on liis wages as a seaman, but t(j save money from tlie slender means thus furnished. He lodwd in a bank small sums, collectively amounting to fifty dollars. Eut on one occasion he deviated so far from his ccono- 164 THE ABERDEEX ROMA^X■E. luical rules as to draw two cheques upon his bankers in Scotland for a hundred pounds each, which cheques were cashed in New York. This was on the 11th February, 18G7; and so keenly did he reproach him- self with this single deviation from the plan of self- support he had laid down, that in a letter to his mother, dated the 7th of the following March, he says, " I have never had any self-respect since I found means to get that money in New York. I have never had any pleasure in life since. I despise myself for my foolish weakness. I shall never again hold up my head." Before I pass from the incidents illustrative of Osborne's personal character, I must mention two traits, both most honourable to his memory. One is his profound sense of religion. The other is the en- during tenderness of his family affection. With re- gard to the first of these traits, it is recorded that his morality was irreproachable, and that he was accus- tomed to use any influence he acquired among the sailors to fix their attention on religious subjects. He writes to his mother, with reference to his term on board the Pomona, " We used to read aloud on Sun- days the Bible and bits out of a Boman Catholic prayer-book. The captain never had service or any- thing. He was a Welshman." Osborne's daily perusal of the New Testament is frequently mentioned by the various companions of his American adventures. He was, I believe, a Pres- byterian. When in America he chiefly attended the Congregational churches. It is probable that his TIIF ABERDEEN ROMANCE. 10-> Sunday selection, ^vhen at sea, of bits tVuni a Catliolic ])rayei'-book, was caused by the fact that there was no other prayer-book to be found on board. There was a song of which he was remarkably fond. It was found among liis papers, and his preference for it indicates the contemplative and devotional tone of his mind. I give the verses, which he adapted to music : — THE PvAINY DAY. " The day is cold, and dark, and dreary ; It rains, and the wind is never weary ; The vine still clings to the mouldering wall. But at everj^ gust the dead leaves fall, And the day is dark and dreaiy ; And the day is dark and dreary. " My life is cold, and dark, and dreary ; It rains, and the wind is never weaiy ; !My thouglits still cling to the mouldering past, And the hopes of youth fall thick on the blast ; And the days are dark and dreary ; And the days are dark and dreary. " Be still, sad heart, and cease repining ! Behind the clouds is the sun still shining ; Thy fate is the commoVi lot of all ; .Some rain into each life must fall — Some days must be dark and dreary ; (Some days naust be dark and dreary." The following verses, of which tlie subject is very :.superior to the execution, were also found in Osborne's handwriting : — " Alas ! those chimes so sweetly stealing, Gently dulcet, gently dulcet to the ear, Sound like pity's voice revealing To the dying, Death is near. IGG THE ABERDEEN EOMA^X'E. " Still he slumber.s how serenely, Not a, sigh disturbs his rest ; Oh, that angels now might waft him To the mansions of the blest ; Oh, that angels now might waft him Tu the mansions of the blest. " Yes, yes, those chimes so softly swelling. As from some holy sphere, as from some holy sphere ;. >Sound like hymns of spirits telling To the dying, Peace is here. " Come ! abide with us in heaven, Here no grief can reach thy breast ; . Come ! approving angels Avait thee, In the mansions of the blest ; Come ! approving angels wait thee In the mansions of the blest." Osborne's love for Lis family was as strong- as his religious impressions were profound. It comes beauti- fully out in his letters to his mother. I give a few ex- tracts. The first is from a letter, elated New York, 12th August, 1867 :— "My Dearest Mamma, — I hope you are keeping-^ well. I am now with a v^ry good man. It is good for me to be here ; he is the same I went to Galveston with, but I must leave him to-day. I hope you will get this letter, and that it will cheer your heart; it tells you of my undiminished love, though I have not heard of or from you for more than a year." On the 1st December, 1868, he writes to Lady Aber- been : — " I must come and see you soon, though it is so long since I have heard that a sort of vague dread fills my mind, and I seem to feel rather to go on in THE ABERDEEN llOMANX'E. 167 douLt than to learn what would kill iiie or drive nie to worse — T mean, were I to return and not find you. How man}^ times has this thought come to me in the dark and cheerless night watches ; but I have to drive it from me as too dreadful to think of. T wonder where you are now, and what you are doing. I know you are doin^: somethinrj good, and a blessing to all around you." To his brothei", the Hon. James Gordon, Osborne writes from Houston, Texas, March 15, 1867: — "I have never seen an approach to a double of you or of mamma. I know there cannot be her double* in the world. She has not an equal My best love to dear mamma ; I think of her only ; she is always in my thoughts." It was by no means his purpose to be permanently absent from Scotland. He was, however, induced to prolong his nautical career, from finding that his health, which had been delicate in Great Britain, was much improved l>y change of climate. His letters to liady Aberdeen were frequent, and they often contain graphic and amusing descriptions of the scenes and persons he encountered on his travels. From Palmas he ^vrites, 2.5tli July, 18GG :— " This is a splendid place on the coast of Africa. It is pretty hot during the summer, and, I believe, temperate in winter; the natives speak Spanish, and are the most obliging, civil, hardworking, and honest people I ever saw. ... I saw the most magnificent spectacle in passing far-fomed Teneriffe at sunset; the bold, rugged, 1G{)0 to over 2,000 tons register, or larger than a P. and 0. steamer ; they can go twenty- two to twentj^-four miles an hour. The saloon is the whole length of the boat, probably larger than any ballroom you ever saw, and certainly much more gor- geously and elegantly fitted and decorated. The roof of the saloon, which is about twenty feet high, is arched, moulded something like that of a cathedral, and supported by massive Corinthian pillars. It is lighted by numerous bronze chandeliers, burning no- tliing but gas. All the state-rooms, of which there are about a hundred, are also lighted by gas. The saloon hiis lots of arm-chairs and lounges scattered about, and is carpeted with the softest and most beautiful pro- ductions of Brussels." He complains that no Englishman had ever wi'itten an impartial book about America ; English writers all repeating the same lying stories of the American people. He regi'ets that he had not kept a journal, which would have enabled him to write a good book on the subject. He thus recurs to his complaint against the British censors of America, in a letter to his brother James, dated March 1.1, 18C7: — " You ought certainly to come to America for a short period, just to see what a noble country it is, and what lies are told by so-called travellers about it. One •of the commonest is that Yankees are always asking 170 THE ABERDEEN' ROMANCE. strangers questions. Now this is a lie — ^they don't; they never speak to a stranger unless introduced. I have travelled all over New England, and never been asked a question as to where I was going, or why." His favourable judgment was not extended to the Texans — at least to those in the vicinage of Houston, whom he pronounced to be the most villanous, cut- throat-looking heathens he ever beheld ! In Osborne's nature there seems to have been a strong democratic element^ which was everywhere in- terwoven with his adventurous disposition. He tells his brother James that he despises people who think they have seen the world because they have made a trip in a Cunard boat. He says that the limited ex- perience derivable from such a trip cannot make them, either wiser or better. " No, let them get behind they scenes, and then their eyes will be opened. Then they will make good resolutions for the future ; then they will begin a little to know themselves ; then they will' understand what makes a man and a brother." I shall now give three extracts as samples of Os- borne's descriptive powers, and as proofs that in em- bracing the profession of a sailor, he encountered, in common with his chosen confreres, perils from which the mere dilettante adventurer would have recoiled with horror. From New York, 12th August, ]807, ha writes as follows to Lady Aberdeen : — " I have just arrived here from Mexico. As I told you in my letter from A^era Cruz, I thought I was in THE ARKr.DEEN ROMANCE. 171 for more than I expected. And so it turned out, for I have been all this time on a barren coast, with nothing interesting except the wrecks of other vessels, which had ventured on this inhospitable and dangerous coast,, and paid dearly for their rashness. We, too, got ashore, and were a whole night and part of a day bumping on a sand-bank. We toiled all night laying- out the kedcje and haulino- it home, and at last we undertook to lay out the bower anchor, but it was a ticklish job, for the ponderous anchor sunk our boat so low in the water, that every swell washed into her, and threatened to swamp her. We succeeded at last,. however, and glad we were to get safe back to the vessel,. for the sea was full of sharks. We remained on this howling coast, where sand-flies^ horse-flies, and mos- quitos abound, and where at night can be heard the savage roar of the tigers and wild animals which inhabit the impervious tropical jungle which lines the coast, and comes quite down to the beach." To Lady Aberdeen, 10th February, IcSGS : — " When I wrote last I promised you a longer letter, but unfortiuiately my journal, from which I meant to cull materials for a letter, was totally destroyed during a very severe gale of wind, which we experienced in the Gulf Stream on New Year's Eve and three follow- ing days. But for this misfjrtune, I could have told you of a very wonderful and brilliant meteor which I observed on a certain night about 4 a.m. ; of seehigtwo corposantes, or St. Elmo's fires, accompanied by the 172 THE aih:rdki:x iio^rA>X"E. heaviest rain and the darkest darkness ever known to me, and this on the very day of the gi-eat St. Thomas Earthquake, which you probably have not yet heard of ; of mv ffoinof out on the main boom to cast off the reef earing, and of the boom tackle getting adrift; of the general consternation ; the old man kept shouting to me to hold on — very needless advice under tlie cir- cumstances. Our boom was seventy-six feet long. Imagine iltat swinging back and forth, and bringing up v<;hort by the sheets at every roll, and you can guess Avliat a jerk it gave me at every swing." Tliis imminent peril Osborne escaped ; but his ocean life soon exposed him to another. On the first Decem- ber, 1868, he describes the event in a letter to Lady Aberdeen : " Xot many weeks ago T thought my last hour was come. I was in a small vessel, deep loaded, and very leaky. A furious gale came on, right on shore. The water gained on us — we could not keep her free. As morning dawned, the gale increased, if possible, in violence. To windward there was nothing but rain and wind, and the ever-rising white-capped billows. To leeward was the low quicksand, with roaring breakers, on to which we were slowly but surely drifting. "We carried an awful press of sail, but the poor water-logged schooner lay over on lier beam ends, and made two miles to leeward for every one ahead. We were toiling at the pumps, and thro vvdng overboard THK AISKHDKKX ROMANCE. 173 our deck-load ; but already there was five foot of water in the hold, and nothing could have saved us but a miracle, or a eliauge of wind. At 10 A.^r. God in his mercy sent a sudden change of wind all in a moment right off the shore, with perfect floods of rain, which beat down the sea, and in half an hour the wind mode- rated. Alter toiling seventeen hours, we got a suck on the pumps, and took heart of grace, and eat a little food. Next day we made the harbour of New York, where I now am. To-morrow we start for a coast famed for its tales of piracy, wrecking, and murder — the coast of Florida. But those times are passed, and now it is only dangerous on account of its numerous shoals and sunken rocks. Give my love to all dear ones, and believe in the never-dying love of your afiectionate son, " George." We have heretofore followed Osborne's adventures "with the interest not only derived from the events themselves, but from the admirable personal qualities of the man. He was pious, strictly moral, brave^ active, energetic, accomplished, intelligent, affectionate. His capacity for the naval profession was described by one of the witnesses, in these words : — " He was a first- rate navigator, and no calculation ever puzzled him."' In several of his letters the intention to return home is intimated. Alas! Providence had otherwise decreed. In the course of his maritime wanderings, he engaged himself as mate on board the Hera, which vessel onlv 174 THE ABERDEEX ROMANCE. numbered a crew of eight persons beside the captain. The Hera sailed from Boston to Melbourne on the 21st January, 1870. When the vessel, on her way to Melbourne, had reached latitude 40° 10', and longitude o8° 14', Lord Aberdeen was washed overboard in a state of weather which rendered it impossible to rescue him. The sad event is thus described by Captain Kent, who commanded the Hera : — *' We sailed on the 21st of January. We had very bad weather indeed. On the morning of the 27th of January I was alarmed in my cabin with the cry of ' a man overboard !' It was abovit the time of chano-ino- the watch. The second mate had the watch from twelve to four, and Osborne from four to eight. About the time Osborne's watch began, I was alarmed in the way I have said. I rushed on deck, and I found the man overboard was Osborne. Everything that my ■experience could suggest as possible was done to save him. Ropes and planks were thrown to him. The boat was cleared away, but it was impossible to launch it in time to do any good. She is a very hea^y boat. If it had been in time to launch her, I doubt if she could have lived or cleared the vessel. The Avaves were very high. When I saw it was too late, I knew it was my duty not to launch the boat. The danger of losing all her crew would have been very gi-eat. I saw Osborne struggling in the water. I am quite sure he must have been drowned. He cannot have been picked up. We wore ship, and laid-too till daylight, but Ave saw nothimr of Osborne. We did see one of THE ABERDEEN ROMANCE, IT") ■the planks which liad been thrown out to him. There were no vessels in sight. When I came first on deck after the ahirm, I heard Oshornc cr}?- out from the watei'; but the cries soon ceased, and before it was pofc.'^ible to lower the boat. The water was very cold, and even a good swimmer must have pcrislied very soon." The second mate of the Hera, "William Scott, adds the following particulars of the mournful catastrophe : " We were lowering the mainsail. Osborne and I were side by side, hauling on the same rope. I was between him and the sea. The ship gave a heavy roll, and the down-haul got slack ; then, with another roll the down-haid got taut. Osborne and I were both cauixht in the bight of the down-haul. The first shock came on him, because he was nearer the sail than I. I had time to lay myself down, and the rope passed over me, while Osborne was dragged across me, and into the sea. I saw him fall into tlie sea, but I could do nothing to prevent it. It was the work of a second. I saw him come to the surface. It was not a dark nifrht. I threw him a rope as soon as I possil^ly could I heard what I believed to be Osborne's last cry before the boat was ready. We never heard or saw him a Portugal, and Italy, where they .speedily made them- selves names and fortunes in the lands of their adop- tion. Each country in which they settled gave a local flavour to their names. In Normandy they were ily clouded, caused him to leave Jersey for Paris. He took with him his devoted servitor and friend, the Colonel, who made such an impression upon Louis XIV. that the Grand Monarque, in his most superb manner, created Stephen Payne a Baron of France and a Knight of St. Michael. The Prince did not return to Jersey until after the death of his father ; and then, at the earnest advice of Cardinal Mazarin. The young Duke of York, about this period, was anything but the gloomy and nervous man that history has painted him. He lacked, no doubt, the dry humour, the happy repartee, and the amorous tendencies of his elder brother ; but his nature was much more easily iniderstood, if not more quickly appreciated. Local contemporary writers amply prove that James was quite a sharer with Charles in the popular furore with which the royal guests w^ere received and entertained by the hons Jcrsiais. The Duke w^as passionately attached to the Colonel, who had, not long before, wooed and won a fair wife almost amid the smoke and thunder of the battles of the Rebellion. Mistress Payne, or " Madame la Coro- nelle," as she w^as quaintly termed in Jersey, was about to present her husband with a first-born, at the time when the Duke of York was on the point of leaving for France; and his Royal Highness had especially desired to become godfather to the child, if it should prove a boy. Wishes being parents-in-ordinary to thoughts, the Colonel made up his mind that the child was to be A son. THE midwife's CURSE. 199 Alas, for tlie vanity of human wishes ! tlie long- looked-for donum Dei proved to be a girl! Daughters, as a rule, are no unwelcome additions to a fond family circle, and the Jersey people are proverbially happy in their domesticities. In this case, however, it w^ould liave been provoking to the most lymphatic to have thus missed an honour which, in those days of Court ftivour and patronage, meant far more than it would do now. Objurgation had evidently obtained in the British army before the Flanders' campaign; and in this accomplishment the cavalry, if we accept as true the axiom of " swearing like a trooper," were specially eminent. In this mortification to his pride. Colonel Payne gave the fullest play to his power of anathe- matization ; and formally devoted, in succession, his ha})less wife, his infant daughter, himself and his be- longings, and finally the entire world — to the infernal deities. Douce Yardon was an old and faithful retainer of the Payne family, in an island where a strict feudalism leads to the most ardent and continuous affection be- tween all the members of a household, irrespective of rank and position. She listened to the Colonel's tor- rent of denunciation with grief and terror, for two special reasons. Firstly, because the Jersiais are, pro- bably from their Norman ancestors, possessed of the most deeply religious and superstitious sentiments to be found, perhaps, in any other nationality; and, secondly, because her warmly affectionate heart bled for the hapless wife and infant, both of whom were 200 THE midwife's ctjese. included in the penalties of the senseless wrath of the husband and father. In those days, there were no pro- fessional doctors in Jersey, and all the mysteries of the healing art were carried out by females. Therefore, Douce Yardon was physician-in- ordinary, after her simple ft^shion, to the household she and her ancestors had served for some three centuries : she held, in con- sequence, a position which has no parallel in nineteenth- century servitude, and what she said was listened to both by her chiefs and fellow-servitors wdth respect and attention. She retired to rest, after the exciting scene of the day, with a heavy heart, and with that strong sense of foreboding which the gift — real or supposed — of pro- phecy gives to its ])ossessor. One of the most ancient as well as the most curious of feudal customs, termed the " Clameur de Haro" has outlived nine centuries of changes ; and despite royal commissioners and stipen- diary magistrates, is in full force in Jersey in this very year 1872. It was only the other day that a vrai Jerslais, a landholder and a magistrate, nused the clameur against a railway company, whose navvies threatened to desecrate the sacred soil of the island with their new-fangled notions. Hence, Ro or Rollo has ever been looked upon as a patron saint, and as one whose very name is to be mentioned with awe and reverence. Wlien Douce Yardon had at length fallen to slumber, it was with a sentiment of heart-felt sor- row, unmixed, however, with surprise or alarm, that she saw the shade of Normandy's first Duke appear. THE midwife's CURSE. 201 and commission her to announce to her master that, as a token of Heaven's displeasure at tlie impious wrath of Stephen Payne upon the birth of a daugliter, the innocent child would die in infancy ; and further, that neitlier he, nor any one descended from him, would ever again he blessed ivith a daughters love. The duty — sacred to poor Commhre Douce — was both difficult and distasteful for this faithful old woman to perform ; and it was only when the fiicnds and relations of the family were assembled in full conclave, at the christen- ing of '' La Malvenue," as the child was sorrowfully called, tliat the old midwife summoned courage enough to deliver the message from beyond the tomb. As the respectful and humble retainer of the house, she felt, indeed, that she lacked courage for her mo- mentous announcement ; but as an ambassador of the supernatural, her voice and manner unconsciously assumed a tragic force and dignity which fully im- pressed her hearers with the solemnity and reality of her mission. The cloud of foreboding and sense of misfortune that overshadowed the family were deepened not long after by the death of the infant, whose in- voluntary coming had been the cause of the Payno €urse ; and it was not until some generations after- wards that this occurrence was mentioned except in whispers and in times of sorrow. That heaven is merciful, Stephen Payne experienced in his own person ; for his wife subsequently presented him with a son who was sponsored by the Duke of 202 TH?: midwife's curse. York by proxy : but Stephen died somewhat a disap- pointed man, as the volatile Chai'les IT. omitted him, by some strange oversight, from among that host of hungry retainers who shared the monarch's good for- tune at the Restoration. Six generations of the descendants of Colonel Stephen Payne have come and gone since the period of this " ower true tale," hut fJiey never yet have had « (laughter horn to them. So strongly is the immuta- l)ility of this decree felt, even now, by the family, thab a scion of it, still under his first lustrum, was actually named six months before his Ijirth I To the reader, however, shall be left the point wliether the veritable incidents of this narration are to be accounted for by an hypothesis less romantic than the "midwife's curse ;" or whether, leaving elucidation aside as im- possible, one must simply add it as another incident to the many which have preceded it, in proving that, indeed, " Truth is stranger than fiction." ^ht ^oxzbUxs daughter. *' Her lot is on you — silent tears to "vveep, And patient smiles to wear through suffering's hour, And sumless treasures, from affection's deep, To pour on broken reeds— a wasted shower ! And to make idols, and to find them clay, And to bewail that Avorship — therefore pray." Mrs. Ileinmis. When it was objected to Madame dii Deffand, that man's sorrow came to liim through woman''s instru- mentality, she asked in reply, " If woman brought grief to man, has she not devoted her whole existence to him, that she may repair the wrong ?" She has. Poverty and shame have not separated her from him. In his sickness, she is his ininisterino- angel. She has tracked his footsteps to the battle-field. She has shared with him the dungeon. She has stood by his gibbet. Leal-hearted and loving, she has demonstrated that no place is too squalid, no situation too painful, if 204 THE forester's daughter. only she can show herself to be the helpmeet for him that her and his Creator designed her to be. I have liad lately narrated to me a tale of the affections, of so touching a character, that I shall give it some record in these pages. The friend from whose lips I write it down^ was personally acquainted with a chief actor in it, and had submitted to him docu- mentary evidence of the matter on which the story is hinged. He assures me of the authenticity of its minutest details, and sums up all by saying, " 'Tis true, 'tis pity ; and pity 'tis, 'tis true." Among the old Celtic families of the South of Ireland, that yet flourish as gentry, is that of E. , once a "nation," or independent sept, and using then the accustomed tribal prefix of " O', " i.e., " Ui," or nepoies. From remotest records, its members have exhibited certain leading characteristics. Seldom, if ever, appears the name in the lists of great warriors ; but the native annalists have numerous records of their piety as ecclesiastics, of their skill as leeches, of their eminence as poets, of their faithfulness as historians. In short, averse from war, they constantly devoted them- selves to the refined accomplishments and gentle avo- cations that can be only followed in peace. Nor have they lost their reward. Attainder and confiscation seldom crossed their path. Cromwell's iron rule stripped them of their property ; but, on the restora- tion of the monarchy, they established their non- participation in the dark deeds of 1G41, and obtained THE forester's DAUGHTER. 205 decrees of their "innocence," with right of recovery of estates — which deeds were enrolled in Dublin, 11 June, 1G03. A century ago, and my story opens. The family tree, that liad bravely battled with the storms of a<^es, had put fortli at this time numerous healthy branches. Of these, some had lifted themselves aloft in eminence ; some were extending themselves in mediocre uni- formity ; and some were drooping lowly to the earth. Different houses, in various degrees of cousinship, were to be found in the two shires of Cork and Waterford. The heads of these in some instances occupied good country seats, and filled all offices to which Catholics were then eligible ; and in others were located in the towns, where they employed themselves in trade and commerce. A free unaffected intercourse subsisted between them all. The lines marking out the several grades of the community were less sharpl}^ drawn then than now ; and the onode of society was not so artificial in those days as in the nineteenth century. In the midst of a charming district, intersected by that fairest stream, the Southern Blackwater, in an old Hall, surrounded by pleasant woods, dwelt the family of whom I have to speak. Their head had been for many years a widower ; but never had he desired to replace the wife of his youth. She had left him an only son, and three girls — all of whom were approach- ing maturity. After his children, the most cherished member of Mr. R.'s household was his cousin and chaplain, good " Father John," as he was universally 20 G THE forester's daughter. called, who, besides his spiritual duties, was tutor of the young heir, and tlic sole physician, as well as lawyer, of the simple-minded peasantry of the district. Like other ecclesiastics of his day, this gentleman had been educa'ted abroad. He had studied at Douay, and graduated at Salamanca. His learning was extensive. He had seen much of the world ; and he spoke several continental languages with ease and fluency. If Father John had a weakness, it was to be found in his devoted attachment to his pupil. Childless necessarily himself, he poured out upon young Maurice E,. the full tide of his affection ; and, when years swiftly came and went, and the boy grew into the youth, and the youth ripened into - the man, personal regard was heightened by feelings of family pride. In the tall stalwart figure, in the firm elastic tread, in the bright happy temperament, in the clear ringing voice were presages of good— -evidences of non-degeneracy in the old race — and high hopes for the future, when his own place would know him no more, and his cousin too would be laid with his fathers. The young man attained his majority, and his natal day had accustomed celebration by those most in- terested in it. For a fortnight there was open house. Hospitalities, always profuse, grew into almost un- limited dimensions. On the day itself, there was given a ball for the local gentry; while, evening after evening, a huge barn was opened for the amusements of the tenantry. The first dance in the barn was honoured by the presence of young Maurice, who took for his THE forester's DAUGHTER. :^<»7 partner the forester's daughter, fair Aileen Kennedy. A montli before, by the unanimous choice of her co- inates, Aileen had been crowned Queen of the May ; and who so fitting on this joyous occasion to share in the merry ring, even with " the young master " him- self, as Aileen ? If she were envied by some of her sex, she was rejoiced in by more, who felt as she was honoured that they were honoured themselves. The dance was done ; and Maurice led his rustic partner to a seat, placing himself by her side. New strange feelings possessed him. Half dizzy with the mazes he liad trode, he was thrilled with pleasurable sensations such as he had never until now experienced. Beauty was beaming upon him. He felt himself spell-bound by its influence. Disparity of rank was seemingly imnihilated ; and, had he world upon world in his gift, he would have placed them at Aileen's feet, if only he could gain her affection. He rose to leave, that the dancers might have unconstrained liberty and cnjo}'- ment for the evening; but the pressure of his hand in parting, and the glance of his earnest eyes, told his secret to Aileen ; and the child of nature only too truly reciprocated his feelings. Little sleep had Aileen that night, and even less slumber visited young Maurice's couch, and, with wearied eyelids and fevered brow, he greeted the coming of daylight, to quit his perturbed chamber. The morning's breezy freshness soothed his brow, as, quit- ting the Hall, he crossed some meadows dripping in the night-dew, and sought the river's side for a solitary 208 THE forester's daughter. stroll. He had now time for sobered tliouglit. The garish lights of the evening Avere extinguished. Its occurrences resembled the scenes of a melodrama, and the part he had taken in them was ignoble. Naught said or done was wrong ; but it was all unworthy of him. A peasant girl ! What at any time could she be to him ? A wife ? It Avas impossible. His mis- tress ? He felt insulted by the thought. He was de- pressed and humiliated. It was an illusion, that would vanish in the daylight ; but all the while stood by his side a Phantom, with eyes of unfatliomable tenderness — v/ith waving ringlets, that bound him in silken fetters — with clinging touch, that forbade his disen- thralment. Whither he went, the Presence followed him, and where'er he gazed, it filled his vision. The youth could no longer cheat himself. He was madly, wildly in love. Laugh as we may at the little god, it is the univei-sal law to bow before his sovereignty. "Whoever you be," wrote the epigrammatist on his statue, "behold your Master ! Either he is, or he was, or he is yet to be." And so with young Maurice, before whom woman had first burst in her loveliness, he could see in the uni- verse but one shape, could hear but one voice. Aileen^ he felt, had become to him all, and in all. In boyhood's troubles, in his youth's few pei'plexities, Father John had always been to his young pupil guide, counsellor, and friend. Maurice fancied, or found, in his own father something of sternness that repelled his confidence, while his gentle preceptor had opened to THE forester's DAUGHTER. 209 him ;i heart that beat sympathetically with his own. To liim. to his kind teacher, he would make his con- fession ; he would ask his direction ; he would commit to him his ])crploxity. That Aileen should be his wife was his desire. Would the good priest listen to his pleading for her ? Would he seal their irrevocable vows ? Might they hear from his lips the matrimonial blessinsr ? In the quaint, quiet room, endeared to him by gentle memories of his childhood's teaching, and consecrated by the higher emotions of religious impressions — for it served as Father John's private oratory — young Maurice artlessly confessed his attachment for Aileen. It was the same old story — as old as the creation — as beautiful to-day as then, for, in all its freshness, it is just now fascinating some son and daughter of Adam's race, and as enduring as man's existence, for the world to its end will witness the marrying and giving in marriage. It was the same old story of love, and truth, and devotedness ; and, with kindling eye, the youth avowed his passion. With Aileen he desired to live, and for Aileen he was ready to die. I need not enlarge on Father John's astonishment at this intelligence. Amazement for some time en- chained him in silence. He was growing into age, and was becoming feeble. Tears traced their way down his furrowed cheek. Sobbing shook him with almost convulsive energy. A piteous cry brought his young 14 210 THE forester's DAUGHTER. kinsman to his side, that he might support him, and, as Maurice drew near, he clasped liim to his heart, wildly saying, "My child! my child I" And then, by every argument that reason could suggest, by every appeal that affection could make, by every expostulation that sobriety could set forth, he besought young Maurice to remember his family and himself, and not to stoop to such an alliance. For himself, his Ime of conduct was plain. He could not promise them the Church's sanction, nor would he have auQ,ht to do with the matter. They parted, grieved and disappointed with each other. For the first time Maurice deemed his teacher impassive and cold. Perhaps, had the old man pos- sessed more tact, if not guile, had he entered more fully into the youth's feelings, and placed himself more in the lover's position, he might have prevailed. Had he laid less stress on pedigree, and admitted more largely the weakness of man in the presence of Beauty, he might have made an impression. Maurice went away hurt, angry, and resolute. Father John spent the remainder of the day alone. Indisposition was pleaded, not without good reason, and he was in this way secured from interruption of his meditations. Some minds are more impressible than others, but strong affection can warp the sternest judgment, and cause the sturdiest purpose to vacillate. Shapes and forms of things seem to change, though, in truth, it is the beholder who is changed himself Im- possibilities become possibilities before liim. Possibili- Tin: I'ORESTKRS DAUCiHTKR. 211 ties grow into probabilities. Probabilities appear to be tilings ripe for accomplishment. At last the dreamer admits the desirability of what he had hitherto denied, and eventually finds himself an active instrnniont in accomplishing things he had repeatedly and in all sincerity declared to be chimerical. Thus the aged ecclesiastic, who was unconsciously blinded by his affection for Maurice, began to look favourably upon the matter that so wholly absorbed him. It was man-iage. This was right, though it might not be expedient. It would be the young man's safeguard. jNIaurice, confessedly, was sorely tempted. AVhat folly it was, the priest now saw, to attempt to shake his purpose by cold reasonings. He would argue with him no longer; but he would plead with him tenderly, and endeavour to melt him by love. In this he might fail, and then — what then ? He could not tell. Yet, if he looked Avithin, the whisperings of his own heart could have given the old man a reply, and the response was no other than this — that, if Maurice persisted in his choice, he must be gratified. Ojiposition was vain ; it might be even sinful. They were married. In the (il monies of the Catholic Church, ' Maurit'iuiii R , generosiLin, et Elenam, vidgo Alice a, Kennedy, vlr- glnevi' and that he now granted this certificate, that the thing might be kept in perpetual commemoration. The parties, Doctor R assured me, were his parents, I had until now considered him to be tlie illegitimate son of the late Mr. E , of , a property that the other day passed from its ancient owners, in the En- cumbered Estates Court, This document establishes his legitimacy, and proves hini to be rightful heir of large estates in the county of ; but, so far as the property, it comes too late, and he must pursue his course as a medical practitioner." 15 itt^moms of the Wtz IS^egal ^oxxxt .EVER was there Court more brilliant than the Vice Regal Court of Ire- land. The very mention of it evokes memories of the noblest W^yJ^^^^^^ and fairest of the land — of " Silk- en Thomas," Essex, Straffoi'd, Ormonde, Chesterfield, Rutland, and Townshend; of ^' The Fair Geraldine," of whom Surrey sang ; of Fanny Jenyns, Duchess of Tyrconnel, once "the loveliest coquette in the brilliant Whitehall of the Restoration ;" of Miss Ambrose, the " Dangerous Papist;" and of the sisters Gunning, eventually " Countessed and Double-Duchessed," as Horace "Wal- pole says* * In a letter to Sir Horace Mann, dated loth June, 1751, Horace Walpole thus describes these famous Irish belles: — "The two Miss Gunnings, and a late extravagant dinner at Wlute's, are twenty times more the subject of conversation than the two brothers (Newcastle and Pelham), and Lord Granville. These are two young Irish girls, of no fortune, who are declared the hand- MEMORIES OF THE VICE RFIGAL COURT. ±17 The old (lames of the last generation used to love to gossip of the surpassing gaieties of Dublin in its hal- cyon days ; of its streets so full of fashion and bustle ; of its grand mansions, with Ireland's nobility resident in them ; and of society sparkling and intellectual ; Ijut those recollections, lacking a chronicler, have well ni'^di faded away. Little of certainty can now be gleaned of the Court of Dublin in the time of Ormonde, and somest ■women alive. I think there being two, so handsome and both such perfect figures, is tlieir chief excellence : for, singly, I have seen much handsomer v/umen than either ; liowever, they can't walk in the Park, or go to VauxLall, but such crowds follow them that they are generally driven away." Many years after, Horace Walpole, in a letter to Miss Berry, dated from Strawberry Hill, asserts that " The two beautiful sisters (Gunning) were going on the stage, when they were at once exalted almost as high as they could be, were Countcssed and Double-Duchessed." And Cunningham, in his " Memoirs of George III.," repeats the statement. "It is remarkable," says Cunningham, " that the Duchess of Hamilton, and her sister. Lady Coventry, had been originally so poor, that they had thought of being actresses ; and when they were presented to the Earl of Harrington, the Lord Lieutenant, at the Castle of Dublin, Mrs. Woffington, the actress, lent clothes to them." This may be true; the improvidence of Irish country gentle- men at that time was proverbial, and the Gunnings seem to have been as extravagant as their neighbours. There is no doubt, liowever, that their father, John Gunning, Esq., of Castlecoote, in the county of Roscommon, and of Heminf- ford Grey, Huntingdonshire, was of ancient descent and high county position, and that their mother, the Hon. Bridget Bourke, was daughter of the Lord Bourke, of Mayo. Their presentation at Court was not long after that of Miss Ambro.se. Lord Harrington was the successor of Lord Chesterfield in the Viceroyalty of Ireland. 228 MEMORIES OF THE VICE REGAL COURT. what scanty information we possess concerning the courtly doings of a later period — even of the days of the two Stanhopes, Chestei'field and Harrington — is given in high-flown description, such as this : "Nothing in the memory of the oldest courtier living," (I am quoting the words of Mr. Victor, who attended Court on the Birth night, 30th October, 1748), " ever equalled the taste and splendour of the supper- room at the Castle on that occasion. The hall was in the new room designed by Lord Chesterfield, (now St. Patrick's Hall), which is allowed to be very magnifi- cent. After the dancing was over, the company re- tired to a long gallery, where, as you passed slowly through, you stopped by the way at shops elegantly formed, where was cold eating and all sorts of wines and sweetmeats, and the whole most beautifully dis- posed by transparent paintings, thi-ough which a shade was cast like moonlight. Flutes and other soft instru- ments were playing all the while, but, like the candles, unseen. At each end of the long building were placed fountains of lavender-water constantly playing, that diffused a most grateful odour through this amazing fairy scene, which certainly surpassed everything of the kind in Spenser, as it proved not only a fine feast for the imagination, but, after the dream, for the senses also, by the excellent substantials at the sideboards." " Luckily there still remains among the records in the Tower of Dublin Castle, a curious manuscript, giving " the Forms of the Court of Dublin," and explaining the ceremonies of Vice Regal Receptions, State Balls, -MHMORIKS OF THK VICE IIKGAL COURT. 22!) ^nd State Dinncr.s, a long while ago. It appears to be about a hundred and fifty years old, and it describes graphically the exact inner life of Dublin Castle in the days of the early Georges. The reader cannot fail to smile at the combination of regal pomp with frugal homeliness, and at the singularity of some of the old- fashioned customs of our great-grandfathers and great- grandmothers. Times are indeed changed. The Battleaxe Guards and tiie Candles so sparingly lighted are gone : The " Basset Table " for the " Lady Lieutenant" at Draw- ing Rooms is a thing of the past : the Toast of the *' Glorious Memory," given by the Lord Lieutenant, on State occasions, and drunk to the accompaniment of " Lillibullero," has dropped away, and so has the cus- tom, after a Vice Regal Banquet, of " the Women and Girls" being allowed to scramble " for the sweetmeats." All these customs are seriously chronicled, and autho- ritatively enjoined in this "Book of Forms," which was considered and handed down as the lex loci One or two hundred years since, as this quaint MS. proves, a Vice-Regal Leve6 was pretty much the same as a levee of the present day — only it was gene- rally held on a Sunday; but Drawing Rooms and Private Vice Reo.vl Balls were essentially different from those of the Duke of Abercorn or Earl Spencer, and were very characteristic of the times. The hour of the ladies assembling was somewhat earlier than now. " At half an hour after six o^clock," says the Vice Regal Record, " a few candles are to be lighted 230 MEMORIES OF THE VICE REGAL COURT. up ill the Presence Chamber, Privy Chamber and Drawing Room, the remainder of the candles to be liglited up when the gi"ooms find the ladies coming. " The Gentleman Usher to the Lady Lieutenant ta be in waiting before seven of the clock, and to see that the Rooms be in proper order, and to take a list of the Ladies who are to be presented ; which he is to show to the Lord and Lady Lieutenant, before they go into the Drawing Rooms. At eight o'clock the Lady Lieute- nant goes into the Drawing Room, handed by her Gentleman Usher, her train supported by her Pages. When the ladies have been presented, her Gentleman Usher acquaints the Lord Lieutenant of it ; who goes to the Drawing Room, attended by all his Family, (i.e., Household,) and they draw up at each side of the Drawing Room door, and the Lord Lieutenant goes^ into the Drawing Room, and is presented to the Ladies. After which the Lady Lieutenant plays at Cards, and her Pages stand behind her chair until she retires. The Gentlemen in Waiting on the Lord Lieutenant are dis- missed their attendance, excejit the aide-de-camp, who keeps near him during his continuance in the Rooms." This was the Drawing Room etiquette when Ches- terfield was Vice-Roy and Miss Ambrose the beauty of his Court ; when Harrington represented George II., and the Gunnings reigned supreme. Presentation was absolutely necessary : " it is very improper,'^ says the MS., " that either ladies or gen- tlemen should dance before they have been presented/* MEMORIES OF THE VICE REGAL COURT. 231 {111(1 tliu Drawing Room was then as now the " open sesame" to Vice Regal gaieties. The old MS. describes, with minute detail, the programme of the Private Balls, directing that on Private Ball Nights '■ The Battleaxe Guard Room to Le lighted up at six o'clock ; the Antichamber and Dining Room as soon as any company come ; and to have a few candles lighted in the Ball Room. The Company are all to go up the Great Stairs, through the Guard Room. "At half an hour after six, two Battleaxes to be posted at the great door of the Guard Room, two at the door of the Antichamber, and two at the door of the Ball Room ; those at the door of the Ball Room are not to admit any gentlemen into it, until the Lord and Lady Lieutenant liave got within the Cross Benches ; except Lords and Gentlemen of the Family (i.e. Household), who are to be admitted at all times. "Before the Ball Room is opened for ladies, four Battleaxes are to be posted, with orders not to suffer any ladies to sit on the Red Benches, but such as shall be placed there by the Lady Lieutenant, Gentleman Usher, or Gentlemen at large. " At a (quarter after seven o'clock, all the candles to be lighted up in the Bali Room. " The Gentlemen at larffe to attend and hand the O ladies from the Battleaxe Guard Room into the Ball Room, and place them ; tiiking care not to let any, but ladies of quality, sit on the Red Benches. " At eight o'clock, the Lord Lieutenant (preceded by his Pages, two Gentlemen at large. Gentlemen of the 232 MEMORIES OF THE VICE REGAL COURT. Bed Clianiber, Gentleman Usher, Aide de Camp, and (Japtain of tlie Battleaxes) goes into tlie Ball Room, and is iminediately followed by the Lady Lieutenant, who is handed by her Gentleman Usher, and her Train supported by her Pages. As soon as they enter the E,ooin, the Ladies stand up, the music plays, and the Battleaxes, who were placed at the Bed Benches, are to retire to the Cross Benches (two in the centre and one at each end), who are not to admit any gentlemen within them but those who are called in to dance, by the Gentleman Usher : And as soon as they have danced they are to retire without the Bar. " When the Lord and Lady Lieutenant are seated (the Gentlemen in Waiting standing on each side their chairs), the Gentleman Usher begins the Ball with the first Lady of Quality, and takes out all the Ladies within the Cross Benches who choose to dance, except the young ladies who do not wear Lappets. " When the French dances are over, and one Country Dance danced down by the first couple, the Lord Lieutenant rises and mixes with the company, and all the attendance from his family is over ; and the Lady Lieutenant goes to the Great Dining Room and plays at cards. As soon as Country Dances begin, a side board is opened, and the Battleaxes at the Cross Benches cany them to the Passage into the Ball Room. " x^.B. — No ladies are to be presented to the Lord or Lady Lieutenant on Ball Niglits, except in case of ill- ness or maniage, when they had not an opportunity of being presented at a Drawing Room." MEMdlUKS OF THE VICE REGAL CoUllT, 233 One can easily imagine the stately formality that opened these Vice Regal festivities. Quadrille and waltz were unknown. " The French dances " were the Minuet de la Cour and the Cotillon. Then fol- lowed the old national amusement, the Country Dance and, no doubt, the real enjoyment of the evening. It shoidd be remarked that in these official programmes the wife of the Vice Roy is invariably described as " the Lady Lieutenant," and I find the same words used by the Duke of Richmond in jjublic documents, when speaking of the Duchess, down to a very recent time. Brilliant, gay and attractive, were the festive doings of the Court of Dublin; but there is always a dark side to every picture. The ordeal, an ill-fated Vice Roy was subjected to, when he dined at Triidty College, and was no doubt ready and anxious for his dinner, appears to have been severe and trying. Again I have recourse to my Vice Regal Guide, which seems to dwell with merciless precision on the Latin speeches and the English verse. " The Lord Lieutenant goes in his chariot, w^itli the Aide de Camp (the Pages on the Braces), the Horse- guard, a Battleaxe Guard, a Leading Coach with the Gentleman Usher, Gentleman of the Bedchamber, Master of the Horse, and a Gentleman at large : two advance Troopers go before the Leading Coach. " When the Lord Lieutenant enters the College, he is received by a subaltern officer, one sergeant, one cor- poral, one drummer, and thirty })rivate men. As soon 234 MEMORIES OF THE VICE REGAL COURT. as lie alights, he is met by the Provost, Vice Provost, and Fellows at the door leading into the Hall. At the upper end of the Hall he is addressed in a Latin Speech, by one of the Senior Fellows. From thence the Lord Lieutenant goes into the Chaj^pel, from the Chappel to the Printing House, where he is addressed by a Lord's son, in a Latin Speech, from the Printing House to the Laboratory, where he is addressed in English Verse by a Lord's son. From the Laboratory to the National Philosophy Room, where he is ad- dressed in a Latin Oration by a young gentleman. From thence to the Library, where he is addressed in a Latin Oration by one of the Senior Fellows. After which he is shown into a Drawing Room by the Provost and Fellows, until dinner is served up ; then he walks down, with all his attendants in Form, to the Hall, where he dines at the Fellows' Table. " The Gentlemen attending dine at a Side Table, in the Hall, with some of the Fellows. " The Pages attend on the Lord Lieutenant all the time of dinner. " The Lord Lieutenant returns to the Castle in the same form." One more extract from "The Book of Vice Regal Ceremonies" must suffice : it is the form of a Grand Banquet given by the Lord Lieutenant to the Lord Mayor, Recorder, Aldermen, and Sheriffs of Dublin : " The Lord Lieutenant generally invites the city to dine with him, soon after Twelfth Day, which is done by the Gentleman Usher who sends the Lord Lieute- MEMORIES OF THE VICE REGAL COURT. 235 nant'.s Footmen with cards of invitation : The day they are to dine, the Lord Mayor, &e., meet at the Tholsel ; at half an hour after tliree o'clock they come to the Castle : The City Mace and Sword are carried before them, as far as the Presence Chamber, where they are received by tlie Gentleman Usher, who conducts them into the Privy Chamber. Then the Gentleman Usher acquaints the Lord Lieutenant that the Lord Mayor, &;c., are come, and he goes from his chamber, attended by the Aide-de-Camp and Gentleman Usher, into the Privy Chamber, to them. " The Steward, Comptroller, Gentleman of the Bed- chamber, Gentlemen at Large, and Pages, attend in the Presence Chamber, to be ready to go before the Lord Lieutenant to Dinner. When dinner is on the table, the Steward and Comptroller, with their white staves, acquaint the Lord Lieutenant of it, who proceeds to dinner with the Aide de Camp, Steward, and Comp- troller, Gentleman Usher, Gentleman of the Bed- chamber, all the Gentlemen at Large, and the Pages. The Band Music plays in the room next the Dining- room during the dinner. At dinner the Lord Lieute- nant drinks the Comjjany's health by calling to his light and left hand man. When the two courses are removed, and the dessert is set on the table, the Lord Lieutenant calls for servers of wine, he being first served by one of the Pages, and all the Company having their glasses filled, the Lord Lieutenant rises, as does all the Company, and drudvs ' the Kmg,' soon after 'the Prince of Wales, the Duke, and all the 23G MEMORIES OF THE VICE REGAL COURT. Koyal Family/ next ' the Glorious Memory of King William,' and afterwards ' the 1st of July 1690,' at which toasts the music plays ' LillibuUero.' Water is called for. Then the Lord Lieutenant drinks the fol- lowing Bumper Toasts, ' Prosperity to the City of Dublin,' ' Prosperity to the Linen Manufactory of Ire- land,' ' Prosperity to Ireland and the Trade thereof.' " The Lord Lieutenant then rises, Grace is said, and he takes his leave of the Lord Mayor, &c., recommend- ing tliem to the care of the Steward, Comptroller, and Gentleman Usher. As soon as the Lord Lieutenant is gone, the Lord Mayor, Recorder, &;c., are conducted from the dining parlour, by the Steward, Comptroller, and Gentleman Usher, into THE Cellar, where a table is placed with glasses. The Butler fills a large glass with wine, which he gives to the Lord Mayor, who puts a piece of gold into it, and drinks 'the Lord Lieutenant's Health,' and passes it to the Recorder, and so it goes round all the company, who aU put a piece of gold into it. When that is over, they return to the Dining Room and take theii* seats, the Lord Mayor at the head of the table, the Comptroller and Gentle- man Usher at the foot. The Steward gives the first toast, by calling to the Comptroller or Gentleman Usher : so the Steward calls for every one's toast, and the company pass the evening. " N.B. The Steward, Comptroller, Gentleman Usher, and such Gentlemen of the Lord Lieutenant's Family, as are to stay, to entertain the Lord Mayor, are to be provided with something for dinner in the Steward's MEMORIES OF THE VICE REOAL COURT. 237 appartment at two o'clock, all the other Gentlemen attendino; ctq to the Green Cloth, when dinner is over at the Lord Lieutenant's table." If the Lord Mayor, Recorder, Aldermen, Sheriffs, fee, are not sufficient to fill the table, the Lord Lieutenant invites as many gen- tlemen as will fill it, wIjo are l^est acquainted with the citizens." The curious custom referred to in the foregoing pro- gramme of the Lord Lieutenant directing; his Steward and Comptroller to conduct his guests to the Wine Cellar after six toasts were given, is an illustration of the convivial habits of bygone Irish society. This custom was of very old standing, and can bo traced as far back as the time of the great Duke of Ormonde. In " the Carte papers," at Oxford, there is an amusinor reference to it : " Among the remains of old English and Irish hospitality, it was a custom in Parliament time for the members to go down into the Lord Lieutenant's Cellar, where each man, with a glass in his hand, tasted what hogsheads he pleased. Some being thus drinking in the cellar, and dwelling longer on the wine than usual, sent up to the Duke of Ormonde, asking him to order them chairs, but he returned for answer, " that he could not encourage any gentleman's drinking longer than he could stand." Singular as this custom was, it is still more singular that its abolition should have emanated from those much-libelled gentlemen, the Lord Mayor and Corpora- tors. On the 12th Feb., 1762, the Earl of Halifax, then 538 MEMORIES OF THE VICE REGAL COURT. Lord Lieutenant, after he liad given the sixth toast, recommended, as usual, the City to the care of the Steward and Comptroller, but the Lord Mayor begged His Excellency to allow them to be excused from going to the wine cellar. The Lord Lieutenant con- sented, and from that time forward the practice, " more honoured in the breach than the observance," has been given up. Such were the forms of the Castle of Dublin during the reigns of the first Georges, when grace, wit and loveliness threw their charm over the Irish Court. The fame of Irish beauty was not only celebrated at St. James's, but it reached the courts of Versailles, Vienna, and Madrid. Beauty is, however, proverbially evanescent, and evanescent too its celebrity. Of all the belles who adorned the salons of Ormonde, Chester- field, and Rutland, there is scarcely a memory left. There was no Grammont, or Pepys, or Horace Walpole to immortalize them, no gossiping pen to tell of the heroes and heroines of Dublin Castle, and to interest all the world in them. But there is one remarkable exception : Eleanor Ambrose, "the Dangerous Papist," is still a popular personage : possibly her being of the old faith, and of an old Catholic race, made the people feel a peculiar pride in her courtly triumphs.* * The great-grandfather of j\Iiss Ambrose was John Ambrose, Esq., of the Castle of Anock Ambrose, co. Kerry. He mar- ried Honor, daughter of O'Connor Fahe, and was father of William Ambrose, Esq., of Westniee Eves, otherwise Ambrose MEMORIES OF THE VICE REGAL COURT. 23l> Of exquisite face and form, of delicacy of feeling, and of captivating address, she occupied the throne of beauty at the brief and brilliant court of Lord Chesterfield. The daughter and co-heiress of a Catholic gentleman of good family, Miss Ambrose inherited a considerable for- tune and was connected with the leading Catholic aristo- cracy. At that time, when the door to professional ad- vancement was closed against members of the old faith, the cadets even of the chief Catholic houses had to fight the battle of life as best they could. Michael Ambrose, Miss Ambrose's father, a younger son of the old stock of Ambrose, of Ambrose Hall, took to commercial pursuits and gained wealth as a Brewer in Dublin, while his elder brother, William Ambrose, continued to reside at the family seat, Ambrose Hall. Mr. Michael Ambrose died comparatively young, and his two daughters were left to the care of their mother, Hall, CO. Dublin. He married Clare, daughter of Robert Deey, Esq., of Arclee, and left two sons and two daughters. The eldest son, AVilliani Ambrose, Esq., of Ambrose Hall, whose will bears date 'Nov. 4, 1731, married Bridget, daughter of Sir Gerald Aylmer, Bart., and had a son, Admiral John Ambrose, and other issue. The second son was ^Michael Ambrose, of Dublin, Brewer, who married Eleanor, daughter of Richard Archbold, Esq., of Eadestown, and left two daughters, Clare, married to O'Neill Segrave, Esq., of Cabra ; and Eleanor, "the dangerous Papist," married 1752, to Roger Pahner, Esq. Catherine, the elder sister of ]\Iichael Ambrose, married Richard O'Ferrall. Esq., of BalUnree, and was grand- mother of Ambrose O'Ferrall, Esq., of Ballina, co. Kddare, and of ^lajor General James O'Ferrall (Chamberlain to the Emperor of Austria), who assumed by royal licence in 1811, the surname and arms of Ambrose. 240 MKiroIUKS OF TIIK VICK RKfiAL C'JURT. originally a Miss AvchLold, of Eadestown, a Catholic lady of high connection. Miss Eleanor Ambrose, at the time Lord Chesterfield came to Ireland, was about five or six and twenty, in the full bloom of beauty and height of fashion. The courtier-Earl was instantly charmed, as much by her appearance as by the fasci- nation of her manners. Before he accepted the vice-royalty, he had been warned of the perils he was likely to encounter from the disturbed state of the country and the machinations of the Catholic party. But shortly after his arrival, he wrote home that Miss Ambrose was " the only dan- gerous Papist " he had met with. Thence originated the sobriquet that has ever since been identified with the lady. Many were the gi-aceful speeches of Ches- terfield to this matchless beauty of his court. There was a custom among the Court Ladies on the 1st July, to wear, in commemoration of the battle of the Boyne, orange lilies at the Castle. At one of the anniversaries Lord Chesterfield, observing that Miss Ambrose wore a like favour, addressed her in these extemporary lines — " Say, lovely Traitress, wliere's the jest Of wearing orange on thy breast, When that same breast uncover'd shows The whiteness of the rebel rose 1" There is, however, another version of this im- promptu. Mr. O'Callaghan, in his " History of the Irish Brigades," relates that, early in the present cen- tury, his father, who resided in Upiier Gloucester MEMOIUES OF THE VICE REGAL COURT. 241 Street, Dublin, had for neighbours two old maiden ladies, named Archbold. They were first cousins of Miss Ambrose, and by them Mr. O'Callaghan's mother was introduced to "the dangerous Papist," then far advanced in years. On the authority of these old ladies, Mr, O'Callaghan quotes Lord Chesterfield's lines. thus : — " Tell me, Ambrose, where's the jest Of wearing orange on thy breast, When, nnderneatli, that busom shows The whiteness of the rebel rose." Another of Chesterfield's compliments has been handed down. A delegation from Drogheda came ta the Castle, to present to the Lord Lieutenant the free- dom of their Corporation in a gold casket. Miss Am- brose, happening to be present, and admiring the exquisite workmanship of the offering, laughingly asked his Excellency to give it to her: — "Madam," replied Chesterfield, " you have too much of my freedom already." Numerous suitors came to Miss Ambrose, noble as well as gentle ; coronets were within her reach, and riches at her feet. But from her train of lovers, she at last selected a county Mayo gentleman of large foiiune, Mr, Roger Palmer, of Castle Lacken, M.P. for Portar- lington. The marriage took place in 1752, and was- thus announced in one of the Dublin papers : — " The celebrated Miss Ambrose, of this kingdom, lias, to the much-envied happiness of one and the grief of thonsands, abdi- cated her maiden empire of beauty, aud retreated to the temple 16 242 JIEMORIES OF THE VICE REGAL COURT. of Hymen. Her husband is Roger Palmer, Esq., of Castle Lacken, Co. J^Iayo, M.P." The remaining portion of the life of " the dangerous Papist" has no peculiar or general interest. She adorned the circle in which she moved ; was always admired for the graces of her person and mind ; became Lady Palmer on her husband's elevation to a baronetcy in 1777 ; and died, universally esteemed, lOth February, 1818, at the advanced age of ninety-eight. Her long, very long life embraced the most eventful period of the world's history. It began when Queen Anne was only six years dead, and it lasted to the year before Queen Victoria was bom. In her infancy, the Duke of Marlborough died ; and in her old age, the Duke of Wellington was resting on the laurels of Waterloo. Sir Robert Walpole, Voltaire, Chatham, Burke, Fox, Grattan, Goldsmith, Johnson, Canning, Peel, and O'Connell were among her contemporaries. "She was in her teens when Pope was writing his " Moral Essays," and she lived to know personally Byron and Moore. Chesterfield died nearly half a century before her, and she survived to see twenty- seven Viceroys after him, holding their state in the Castle of Dublin, The fair faces that had been eclipsed by her surpassing loveliness, the gallant beaux that had fluttered around her — all had long gone to their last home ; and three generations of their descendants had passed through the Vice regal Drawing-rooms. In her extreme old age, Shiel paid her a visit, and has left so sparkling a description of "the dangerous Papist," MEMORIES OF THE VICE REGAL COURT. 243 in the last year of her life, that I cannot resist giving it, as a suitable conclusion to this passing notice of Ireland's most memorable Court beauty : — " The admiration which Lord Chesterfield is known to have entertained for this lady induced me," says Shiel, " to seek an introduction to her. Although rich, she occupied a small lodging in Hemy Street, where she lived, secluded and alone. Over the chimney-piece of the front drawing-room was suspended the picture of her Platonic idolater. It was a half-length portrait, and had, I believe, been given to her by the man of whose adoration she was virtuously vain. I was en- gaged looking at this picture, while I waited, on the day of my first introduction, for this pristine beauty of the Irish Court. While I gazed upon the picture of a man who united so many accomplishments of manner and of mind, and observed the fine intellectual smile which the painter had succeeded in stealing upon ani- mated canvas, I fell into a somewhat imaginative train of thought, and asked myself what sort of woman ' the dangerous Papist' must have been, in whom the master of the Graces had found such enchanting peril. ' What a charm,' I said, ' must she have possessed, upon whose face and form those bright eyes reposed in illu- minated sweetness — how soft and magical must have been the voice, on whose whispers those lips have hung so often — what gracefulness of mind, what an easy dignity of deportment, what elegance of movement, what sweet vivacity of expression, how much jx)lished gaiety and bewitching sentiment, must have been KJ— :> 244 MEMORIES OF THE VICE REGAL COURT. united 1' I bad formed to myself an ideal image of the young, the soft, the fresh, the beautiful, and tender girl who had fescinated the magician of so many spells i The picture was complete. The Castle, in its quondam lustre, rose before me; and I almost saw my Lord •Chesterfield conducting Lady Palmer through the movements of a minuet, when the door was slowly opened, and in the midst of a volume of smoke, which, during my phantasmagoric imaginations, had not inap- propriately filled the room, I beheld, in her own proper person, the being in whose ideal creation I had indulged in a sort of Pj^gmalian dream. The opening of the door produced a rush of air, which caused the smoke to spread out in huge wreaths about her, and a weird and withered form stood in the midst of the dispersing vapour. She fixed upon me a wild and sorceress eye, the expression of which was aided by her attitude, her black attire, her elongated neck, her marked and strongly moulded but emaciated features. She leaned with her long arm, and her withered hand of dis- coloured parchment, upon an ivory-headed cane, while she stretched forth her interrogating face, and with a smile, not free from ghastliness, inquired my name. I mentioned it ; and her expression, as she had been in- formed that Iwas to visit her, immediately changed. After the ordinary formulas of civility, she placed her- self in a huge chair, and entered at once into politics. She was a most vehement Catholic, and was just the sort of person that Sir Harcourt Lees would have ducked for a rebel and a witch. Lord Chesterfield and MEMORIES OF THE VICE REGAL COURT. 245 the Catholic question were the only subjects in which she seemed to take any interest. Upon the wrongs done to her country, she spoke not only with energy, but with eloquence ; and with every pinch of snufi", poured out a sentence of sedition. ' 'Sdeath, sir, it is not to be borne,' she used to exclaim, as she lifted her figure from the stoop of age, with her eyes flashing with fire, and struck her cane violently on the ground. Wishing to turn the conversation to more interesting- matter, I told her I was not surprised at Lord Chester- field having called her ' a dangerous Papist.' I had touched a chord which, though slackened, was not wholly unstrung. The patriot relapsed into the woman, iind passing at once from her former look and attitude, she leaned back in her chair, and drawing her withered hands together, while her arms fell loosely and lan- guidly before her, she looked up at the picture of Lord Chesterfield with a melancholy smile. ' Ah,' she said, but I have extended this note beyond all reason- able compass. I think it right to add, after so much mention of Lady Palmer, that although she was vain of the admiration of Lord Chesterfield, she took care never to lose his esteem, and that her reputation was without a blemish." By a natural transition, I pass from Miss Ambrose and the Castle Drawing-rooms to tlie Castle itself. The Castle (JF Dublin has been, from the time of the Livasion, the seat of the English Governoi-s, and, it may be said, of tlie Government of Ireland, for here 246 MEMORIES OF THE VICE REGAL COURT. dwelt not only the Governor, but here, from the earliest days, was the Great Hall, with the Law Courts, the State Prison, and the Store of arms, and, in later time, the Magazine of gunpowder, a source of constant apprehension to the Lord Deputy and the citizens. It was a blast of gunpowder in Queen Elizabeth's day that ruined this Hall in the Castle, and drove the Courts of Law to Carey's Hospital (afterwards pur- chased by Sir Arthur Chichester, and called Chichester House), and thence to some buildings attached to Christ Church, where they remained to the year 1796, when the present Four Courts were opened. In the Castle sat also the few Parliaments, six only in number, held in the reigns of Queen Elizabeth,. James I., and Charles I. Subsequently to the Kesto- ration. Parliament was held at Chichester House (re-built in 1732), and here it sat till the Union, In April, 1684, a fire broke out at the Castle, and so rapid was the conflagration, that it burned the bed Lord Arran had just time to fly from, and it was only by blowing down the gallery which communicated with the magazine, that a frightful explosion was jDrevented. " What damage your Grace and I have suffered by this accident," writes Lord Arran to his father, " I cannot yet learn, but I find the King has lost nothing except six barrels of powder, and the worst Castle in the worst situation in Christendom." On this occasion, there were projects for building a new residence elsewhere for the Lord Lieutenant, and a King's letter was actually drawn by Sir John Temple^ for Ormonde's MEMORIES OF THE VICE REGAL COURT. 247 signature for pulling down the Castle, and selling the site and materials. Arrau, however, interfered, and was of opinion that if the walls were lowered to the height of thirty feet, it might be made a wholcsoiue place to live in. Until the suppression of Religious Houses, the Deputies had no official summer residence. Thence- forth, Kilmainham Abbey was used for that purpose, but was abandoned at the end of Queen Elizabeth's reign, Sir William Fitzwilliam being the last that occupied it. It was afterwards only used as a store for the Deputy's grain. Sir Arthur Chichester asked liberty to repair it, but this was not granted, and he dates his letters from Rathfarnham, Leixlip, Howth, Merrion, and from other places, hired, or possibly lent, by the proprietors. The Earl of Strafford excused his vast expenditure in buildino; his o-reat house at Gi^sinstown, near Naas, which was never finished, and still stands a striking monument of his interrupted career of ambition, by saying that he intended to make it fit to receive the King, on his visit to Ireland, his Majesty having uo house in that kingdom suitable for his dwelling. The King's Manor House of the Phcenix, which was built probably in the reign of Charles I., and stood in the Phoenix Park where the Magazine Fort now stands, was a poor residence, by Ormonde's account^ and was deserted by him and his family for Chape lizod Manor House, purchased with its adjacent grounds 248 MEMORIES OF THE VICE REGAL COURT. from Sir Maurice Eustace, the Lord Chancellor, in 1662, to enlarge the Park. This continued to be the summer residence of the Lord-Lieutenants, until the present Vice Regal Lodge was purchased about 1780. The Lodge had been pre- viously the official residence of the Ranger of the Park, and passed from Gen. Sir John Ligonier in 1751, to the Right Hon. Nathaniel Clements, father of the first Earl of Leitrim. By him the Ranger's Office was surrendered, and the Lodge given back to the Crown for the use of the Lord Lieutenant. But to return to the gaieties of the Irish Court : It was certainly under the Stuarts that the Castle of Dublin became the festive HaU in peace, rather than the stronghold in war, and began to assume something of the character and appearance of what it is at present. A writer of the time of James I. expresses his opinion that "if the Lord Deputy should withdraw himself but for two years together into any other part of the country, the greatest portion of the citizens of Dublin would be ready to beg;" so dependent were they on the Viceroy's residing amongst them, and on the expenditure consequent on the gathering together in the Metropolis of the Council of the Realm, the Captains, Pensioners, and other military officers, the lawyers and the gentry. " Houses, chambers, and lodgings,^' says the writer, " are dearer rented in Dublin than they be in London, and satins, silks, fine clothes, lace of gold. &c., are easily sold." MEMORIES OF THE VICE REGAL COURT. 249 But it was Thomas, Lord Wcntworth, afterwards the famous Earl of Strafford, who gave to the Castle the splendour of a Court. The records of Ulster King of Ai'ms abound in Programmes of State Processions and State Ceremonials during his Viceroyalty. He found the Castle falling to ruin, and he restored it to a con- dition so befitting a Royal residence, that a traveller writes from Dublin at the time : " Here is a most splendid Court kept at the Castle, and except that of the Viceroy of Naples, I have not seen the like in Christendom, and in one point of grandeur the Lord Deputy here goes beyond him, for he can confer honours, and dub knights what that Vice- roy cannot, or any other I know of" Of Strafford's successor, the great Duke of Ormonde, and of the Court he held, we catch a glimpse in the midst of the jDolitics of a very excited period, the eve of what is called the " Popish Plot," in a publication of the 5th February, 1G79, from which it appears that gaming was one of the Court's principal amusements. "The proclamation," the pamphlet tells us, "forbids Papists to have any houses in Dublin, yet this week Colonel Talbot and the Earl of Clancarty took houses ; and most of the Irisli gentry and nobility are come into the city. Lord Dungan, Clanrickarde, Purcell, Dimpsey, Luttrell, Netterville, with many more, with Sheldon and English Papists, notwithstanding the proclamation for going out of town, and not commg into the Castle, yet are they every night with the Duke and Arran at play until twelve, one, two, and 250 MEMORIES OF THE VICE REGAL COURT. three o'clock in the morning, and then comes through the gates with their coaches, gives the word to the guard, and if stopped, they draw upon and hector them." It may be observed that the Colonel Talbot here mentioned, was an-ested the following year in the gallery of the Castle of Dublin, and from amidst the splendid company, was thrust into the adjacent prison. Ten years more, and the same Colonel Talbot, then Duke of Tyrconnel, was himself holding the Vice Regal Court in the Castle. During the civil wars, Dublin Castle had to yield to the exigencies of the times. Instead of pageant and banquet, came battles and sieges. But the Court of the Restoration, with the cavaliers and beauties fresh from Versailles, extended its influence across the Channel. " The Castle " became once again, under Ormonde, the gayest of Courts, and such it has ever since remained. ^3trplcxitic5 of ^Jvccclicnce. ' Stand upon the order of your going." HE laws of precedence in this country are strict as the laws of the Medes and Persians, and the slightest deviation from them is never allowed. It is therefore much to be regretted that they are scarcely comprehensive enough. The despotic Code makes na provision for many who ought to be on the Roll. Place and Precedence are surely due to the Prime ^linister, to Field-Marshals, and Admirals of the Fleet, to Naval and Military Officers, to Church Dignitaries, Deans and Arch- deacons, to Queen's Counsel, and Barristers ; and yet all these personages are altogether disregarded. In France — even in the palmy days of the old noblesse — the rank of a Field-Marshal was first of any — co-equal with that of Cardinal, and Avith us in former times the Prime Minister was generally the Lord High Treasurer, 9n-7 PERPLEXITIES OF PRECEDENCE. ranking before all Dukes. Now, however, the office of Lord High Treasurer, being in commission, confers no precedence, and Mr. Gladstone, although First Lord Commissioner of H. M. Treasury, takes no rank as such. He is placed simply as a Privy Couiicillor. Again, our English Scale of Precedence is most un- gallantl}^ exclusive of ladies. The wife of the Arch- bishop of Canterbury, or of the Archbishop of York, or, ■a fortiori, the wife of a Bishop, has to follow the wife or daughter of a City Alderman, if his worship happen to be a Knight. In point of fact, at the time when precedence was established, churchmen never married, and there was then no necessit}^ for placing wives that did not exist ; but now-a-days the case is altered, and the exclusion operates as a great injustice. Again, the wives of our grandest officials — the Prime Minister, the Lord Chancellor, the Speaker, the Secretary of State, the Privy Councillors, the Chief Justices and Judges — have legall}'' no position whatever, unless then* husbands chance to possess personal dignity. The Motto of the old regime in France was "place aux Dames," Madame la Marechale, Madame la Presidente, and Madame la. Fenniere-Generale, were considered as dignified as their husbands. The rank of Privy Councillor, as being higher than that of Chief Justice, creates a curious anomaly. It often happens that a Puisne Judge, who may be a mem- ber of the Privy Council of an early date, takes in conse- ■quence precedence of the Lord Chief Justice. Under this regulation, the present Recorder of Dublin — an old PERPLEXITIES OF PRECEDENCE. «).^n Privy Councillor — goes before the Chief Justice of Ireland. There is another and still more remarkable incon- sistency in the authorized Roll of Precedence. It is the giving place to " the eldest son of the younger son of a Peer." This placing rests altogether on an Order of the Earl-Marshal, dated 18th March, 1G15, and is opposed to the grand principle that precedence cannot be derived from one who does not himself hold n dignity. No place being assigned to tlie eldest son of the eldest son of a Peer, it follows by this rule, that the eldest son's eldest son would have to yield prece- dence to the younger son's eldest son. The truth is, the times have outstripped the old Precedence Code. That which was applicable to the days of the Tudors and the Stuarts, is somewhat out of date in the reign of Queen Victoria. The remedy is at hand. The three Kings of Arms, Garter, Lyon, and Ulster, aliould be required to examine the Statutes, Ordinances, and Regulations of Precedence in this country, to consider the best means of rendering the law suitable to the exigencies of the present age, and to draw up conjointly such a report as might embody all points of interest, and place the whole bearings of the subject clearly before the Crown. A Royal War- rant, or, if need be, an Act of Parliament, might then be obtained, to settle authoritatively a very " vexata qucestio," and to remove all perplexities, inconsistencies, and anomalies from the Law of Precedence. 254 PERPLEXITIES OF PRECEDENCE. " I have known my friend Sir Roger de Coverley's ilinner almost cold," says the Spectator, "before the <;ompany could adjust the ceremonials of precedence, and be prevailed upon to sit down to table." To guard against the possible recurrence of so great a calamity, to protect the privileged Orders in the advantages of their rank, and moreover to enable the guests of a future Sir Roger de Coverley to sit down before the dinner is quite cold, I purpose recalling some of the principles and axioms of Precedence — not with the intention of writing a treatise on the subject, and carrying back the reader to Roman or ev^en Saxon precedents, but merely for the purpose of assisting those who " stand upon the order of their going." There is a popular notion that the rules of Prece- ilence are merely the regulations of Heralds and Chamberlains, framed according to their whimsical fancies of etiquette and court subserviency, but this is a fallacy. Many people are not aware that the Law of Precedence is as good a law as any other in Westminster Hall ; is in reality a law established not only by Royal Decrees, but by Act of Parliament. In the thirty-first year of King Henry VIII., Parlia- ment, by statutory enactment, took cognizance of Precedence. It then passed the " Act for Placing THE Lords," which has since been considered the chief authority for the marshalling of dignities. This act was originated by the desire of the King, and it is declared, as a preliminary, that although it appertained PERPLEXITIES OF PRECEDENCE. 255 altogether to the Royal Prerogative to give such honour, reputation, and placing to his Councillors and others his subjects as should be seeming to the King's most excellent wisdom, the King was nevertheless pleased and contented for an order to be had and taken in liis Most High Court of Parliament for the placing of the Great Officers and Lords. In addition to this Act of Parliament, the scale of precedence is sustained by royal ordinances and ancient usage. The least interference, unless made by Eoyal or Parliamentary authority, would be destructive of the right of some one entitled to rank on the scale. The Law of Precedence, though thus confirmed temp. Henry VIII., dates from a far more distant era than the Act " for placing the Lords." Regulations con- cerning it were officially issued at various periods long antecedent. The first, in point of date, was "the Order of all Estates of Nobles and Gentry of England," framed in 1399, and the last officially issued before the Statute of Henry VIII., the series ordinuin of the reign of Henry VII., which Coke considers of the highest authority. The Statute of Henry VIII. was in the nature of a declaratory Act, confirming the ancient and j)re- existing Law of Precedence, and, in confirmation of this, it is a matter of historical fact that the advice of Garter King of Arms was taken before the BiU was brought in. The next important decrees on Precedence were those of King James I., dated 1G12 and 1G16. A dis- pute had arisen between Barons' and Viscounts' ^Ob PERPLEXITIES OF PRECEDENCE. younger sons, and the then newly created order of Baronets, as to which should take the higher place, and it was finally determined by the King himself in fiivour of the Peers' sons. A leading principle of the Law of Precedence is that precedence emanates from father or husband, and cannot be derived from a female, unless in the case of a Peeress in her own right. The daughter and sole heiress of the first Duke of the kingdom (unless a Peeress in her own right), would confer no higher precedence on her son, than if she were the daughter of a simple bourgeois. It is Men's rank that confers precedence and regu- lates State Ceremonials. At the Queen's Courts, where husbands and wives pass Her Majesty together, the precedence of the husbands is that which is regarded. The Wives and Children of Great Officers of State, and of all those who derive their places on the scale from Official rank, have no consequent prece- dence, nor have the wives and children of Archbishops and Bishops. A Lady having Precedence by Birth (for instance, the daughter of a Peer, Baronet, or Knight), retains her innate rank and precedence, although married to a Commoner ; but if she be married to a Peer, her prece- dence is that of her husband. Widows of Peers, Baronets, and Knights, on marrying Commoners, continue by the courtesy of PERPLEXITEES OF PRECEDENCE. 237 society, though not by law, to retain their titles and precedence. A woman, who has acquired a dignity by marriage, loses that dignity and all the rights and privileges annexed to it, on contracting a second mar- riage with a Commoner. This doctrine was formerly doubted; but, in lG91,the House of Lords declared that if tlie Widow of a Peer be marrie d to a Commoner, she shall not be allowed the privilege of Peerage, and, con- sequently, at a Coronation, or other state ceremonial, Widows of Peers, who have married Commoners, are not summoned to attend. This rule was followed at the Funeral of the Duke of Wellington. In society it is different, and the Widows of Peers, Baronets, and Knights, married to untitled gentlemen, generally adliei'e to the titles acquired by their first marriages, although the practice is not derived from actual right. But Widows of "Honourables," who subsequently marry Commoners (not sons of Peers), are not allowed, even by the courtesy of society, to retain the prefix of " Honourable " after such subsequent marriages. I use the word " Commoner " simply in the sense of an un- titled gentleman. A Peeress in Her own Right does not lose her rank and precedence by marriage or widowhood. If she be married to a Peer of hifjher degree than her own, she has her husband's precedence. Lord Coke maintains that the Widow of a Duke, if married to a Peer of less rank than her first husband, is still entitled to the position of Duchess, because her 17 258 PERPLEXITIES OF PRECEDENCE. second husband is still of the Peerage. This assertion is, however, denied by other authorities, and most cer- tainly, at the Coronation of George III., the Dowager Duchess of Leeds, then the wife of the Earl of Port- more^ claimed to walk as a Duchess, but was refused. Daughters of Peers, Baronets, and Knights, and of other persons of dignity, take rank next immediately after the wives of their eldest brothers. A curious inconsistency arises from tliis regulation, coupled with that by which the daughter of a Duke or Marquess intermarrying with a peer of lower rank is required to adhere to the precedence of her husband. For instance, a Duke has three daughters : the eldest two marry Barons, and are consequently placed as Baronesses. The third chooses for husband a simple bourgeois, retains her OAvn innate rank, and takes the precedence of a Marchioness, while her coronetted sisters must be satisfied with an inferior position. Lady Charlotte Egerton ranked, while her husband was U7ititlcd, next to Countesses, but the moment Mi'. Egerton was elevated to the Peerage, she receded to the place of a Baroness. Dowager Peeresses and Baronets' Widows take precedence of the wives of the existing Peers and Baronets of the same creations, from their being senior in the dignity ; for instance, the Dowager Duchess of Richmond has precedence of the wife of the present Duke of Richmond. PERPLEXITIES OF PRECEDENCE. :259 Peers, ftncl Peeresses take rank among themselves, thus :— I., of England ; II, of Scotland ; III, of Great Britain ; IV, of Ireland ; and V, of the United King- dom and of Ireland, created since the Union, according to the dates of the respective patents. The eldest son of a Duke, Marquess, or Earl, created vitd iKdviH a Baron by patent or summons, is entitled in society to his innate precedence : for instance, the Marquess of Kildare, although only a Baron among Peel's, takes rank and place as a Duke's eldest son. The Baronets of England, the Baronets of Ireland, the Baronets of Scotland, the Baronets of Great Britain, and the Baronets of the United Kingdom, take rank among themselves according to the dates of their respective patents. The Act of Union of Great Britain and Ireland, which fixes the precedence of the different orders of the Peerage, enacts no other prece- dence, nor does it interfere with or disturb in the sliglitest degree any other forms of precedence that mi(;ht then have been in force. It is silent as to Eno-- lish, Irish, or Scotch Baronets, and consequently, whatever precedence their original patents conferred, is not affected by that enactment. For instance. Sir Charles Coote inherits a Baronetcy of Ireland con- ferred in 1020, and has, by right, the precedence of that date. There is no law or statute to deprive him of it, or to make him give place to Sir Arundell Neave, whose gi-eat-grandfather, Richard Neave, was created a Baronet of Great Britain in 1795. Some argue that 17—2 2G0 PERPLEXITIES OF PRECEDENCE. tis the Act of Union fixed the precedence of the Peers of the three Kingdoms, the precedence of the Baronets may be assumed by analogy ; bvit surely no lawj^er or lierald would admit the power of " analogy," to destroy a right derived by patent from the Crown. Neither the Lieutenant of a county, nor the High Sheriff is assigned any place on the Scale of Prece- dence, and consequently neither derives any social pre- cedence from the office he holds. A particular place on the Scale of Precedence is an honour derived from the Crown or Parliament, or confirmed by authorized usage, and can no more be interfered with than the right to the dignity of the Peerage which a royal patent has conferred. A person, not a Peer, might as well be placed on the Roll of the Peerage, as a person not recog- nized by the authorized scale, on the Roll of Prece- dence. Between the two — the Lieutenant of a county and the High Sherifi" — the higher local position apper- tains, I think, to the Lieutenant of a county. The question of the precedence of the Great Officers of State of Ireland and Scotland with reference to similar officers in England, is not provided for by the Acts of Union, and has never yet been definitely settled, unless, indeed, the placing of the Lord Chan- cellor of Ireland next to the Lord Chancellor of Great Britain, at the Coronation of King William IV., be deemed a royal settlement of the point. Selden is of opinion tliat " the lists that show practice and custom in matters of precedence, are seen in the published PERPLEXITIES OF PRECEDENCE. 201 asseinlilies of the States and other solemnities of Coro- nations, funerals, and the like." It is very difHcult to determine when precedence, in the descendants of Dukes, Phinces of the Blooj> Royal, ends. Milles, in his Catalogue of Honour of the time of James I., a work of deep research, compiled from the MSS. of his uncle, the learned Robert Glover, Somerset Herald, at a period when the subject of precedence was much canvassed and considered, asserts that "Dukes descended of the Royal Blood," take place above Dukes not descended of the Royal Blood. How far Glover was borne out in this state- ment, I have not been able to discover, but I must confess my own opinion is very much in accordance with his. At the Court of France, under the old regime, the Royal Family and its descendants were always first. The point is this : — If the Duke of Edin- burgh should marry and have descendants, what would, be the status and designation of (for instance) the children of the younger sons of His Royal Highness's grandson ? There is another curious point connected with royalty. Sovereign Princes* were not imder the ncces- * Lord Bacon, in one of his Essays, thus marshals Sove- KEIGXS : — 1. Couditoreti Imperiorum, the founders of Empires. 2. Leyislatores, the Lawgivers. 3. Fropar/atores, or Pugnatorea Imperii, those who extend their territories or resist invasion ; and 5. Patres patriae, those who reign justly and make good the times wherein they hve. Tlie first pLace should, most people will consider, be given these last. 262 PERPLEXITIKS OF PRECEDENCE, sity, or required to assume surnames, and as a general rule, surnames do not attach to Sovereigns. For in- stance, the reigning house of Saxe Coburg, atavi» edita regibus, has no surname. Consequently the late Prince Consort had none, and the Prince of Wales is also without one. When the adoption of surnames became general, the ancestors of that illustrious race of Saxe were Kings, and needed no other desig- nation than the Christian name added to the royal title. But Plantagenet is different. Assumed ante- cedently to the inheritance of the English throne, the sobriquet originated a surname. Such it was con- sidered by Dugdale, Segar, Brooke, and Nicolas, and as such it may be found on the Parliament Bolls. Henry VIII. was the first Kino- of Eno-land who adopted the title of " Majesty." Before his reign, the sovereign was usually addressed "My Liege," and " Your Grace." The latter designation was originally conferred on Henry IV. " Excellent Grace " was given to Henry VI. ; " Most high and mighty Prince," to Edward IV. ; and " Highness," to Henry VII. " High- ness," and sometimes " Grace," were at first used by Henry VIII., but later in his reign, "Majesty" be- came the Boyal appellation. Francis I. addi'essed King Henry as " Your Majesty," at their interview, in 1520. The present Archbishops and Bishops of the Dis- established Church of Ireland are, by a clause in the Act, allowed their former precedence, but newly- PERPLEXITIES OF PRECEDENCE, 2G3 made Protestant Prelates in Ireland will be lience- forvvard in the same position as the Roman Catholic Prelates. The proper place of the Lord Mayor, when out of the precincts of his city, might fairly be that accorded to a Privy Councillor, not that he is a Privy Coun- cillor, but because he bears, by Act of Parliament, the title of " Right Honourable," and should as such take the rank on the scale which is assigned to those entitled to that designation, in the same way as the prefix of Honoiirahle is allowed to the Judges of the Superior Courts, in consequence of the place those learned personages hold on the Scale of Precedence. Foreign Titles of honour, conferred on British subjects, are not allowed to be borne in the British dominions without the permission of the Sovereign, granted under the Royal sign manual, and even when so borne, foreign titles do not confer prece- dence ; but if a Duke, Marquis, or Count of France, Germany, Russia, Spain, or indeed of any foreign country, not a British subject, whose rank was real and acknowledged, were to come amongst us, the courtesy of this country would concede to him and his family, whatever titles, precedence, or designation they used at home. The last position but one on the scale of precedence is assigned to "Esquires;" but it is somewhat diffi- cult to determine who is an Esquire. :264 PERPLKXITIES OF PRECEDENCE. The highest degree of Esquire is that of " Esquire •of the King's Body," and then that of "Esquh-es of the Knights of St. Patrick," and " Esquires of the Knights of the Bath." Sons of all the Peers and Lords of Parliajient are, in law, Esquires, and so are the heirs male of their bodies. Foreign Noblemen; the Sons of Baronets and the Eldest Sons of Knights, the Heralds, and all other persons who wear the collar of S. S. ; Deputy Lieutenants, Justices of the Peace, and Mayors ; Field Officers, and Captains in the Ai-my ; Adiniials, Captains, and Commanders in the Royal Navy ; Barristers-at-Law, and Attorneys in Colonies where the department of Counsel and Attorney are ^^nited, and Persons who are styled Esquires in Royal Patents, Commis- sions or Appointments, are all entitled to the rank and designation of Esquire. The mere possession of land, however extensive, or of personal property, however large, does not confer a right to the title. Ambassadors yield precedence only to members of the Royal Family of the Court to which they are accredited, and to the sons and brothers of Crowned Heads. Foreign Ministers have no real claim to pre- cedence. The question was raised and settled at the Congi-ess of Vienna, in 1815, but of late years prece- dence has been granted to them in this country, after Dukes and before Marquesses. Sir John Finett, Master of the Ceremonies to James I. and Charles I., described as " that knoAving knight FRANCE AND SPAIN. 205 and \vcll-acompli«hed courtier," wrote a curious voluiuu on the subject of diplomatic precedence. It was pub- lished in London, in IGoG, and is entitled, " Some Choice Observations touching the reception and pre- cedence, the treatment and audience, lind the punc- tillios and contests, of foiTen ambassadors in England." The motto "Legati ligant mundum," appears on the title-page. A copy may be seen at the King's Library, British Museum. The list of the contents, especially of the disputes— -" clashes," as Finett calls them — is <|uaint and amusing. The following extracts, taken here and there, explain the nature of the work : — " 1. Passages of Ambassadors about invitations to the Earl of Somerset's marriage. " 2. A clash betwixt the Savoy and Florence Am- bassadors for precedence. " 3. The Spanish Ambassador excepting against the States for sitting with him in the King's presence. " 4. A clash between the Spanisli and French Am- bassadors. " 5. The Russian Ambassador's punctilio for pre- cedence. " G. Question betwixt the Imperial and Venetian Ambassadors concerning titles and visits. " 7. The French Ambassador gets fjround of the Spanish. " 8. A clash betwixt the Spanish and French Am- bassadors. " 9. Reason of the Venetian Ambassador for parity with crowned heads. 2G(i PERPLEXITIES OF PRECEDENCE. " 10. The great clash betwixt the Persian Ambas- sador and Sir Robert Sliirley. " 11. The French cashiered fiom Court. " 12, Question and punctilios between regal and ducal Ambassadors. " 13. The Lord Mayor refusing to give place to the Ivino- of Denmark's Ambassador. "14. A clash betwixt the Ambassador of Savoy and the Duke of Buckingham, because he gave sanctuary to my Lady Purbeck. " 15. Inoojosa, the Spanish Ambassador, clasheth with Don Diego Hurtado, an Ambassador, also Extra- ordinary, from Spain. " IG. The Lord Mayor of London to give place to no other but the King." The greatest " clash " betwixt the Ambassadors of Spain and France occurred, however, in 1661, when an Ambassador from Sweden was to arrive at the English Court. The etiquette at such a state recep- tion was that the carriages of the other Ambassadors should be placed according to their national precedence. The French Ambassador, the Marquis d'Estrade, re- solved on being next the Swede, and so did the Baron de Batteville, the Spanish Ambassador. King Cliarles II. issued a proclamation prohibiting any Englishman from interfering, and forbidding the use of fire-arms. The Ambassadors were left to fight it out. On the appointed day, vast crowds assembled on Tower Hill to witness the combat. The ambassadorial carriage FRANCE AND SPAIN. 2G7 of Spain, protected by fifty men, armed witli drawn swords, arrived at the landing-place five hours before the Swedish ambassador was expected, thus gaining an advantage over their opponents. The French were a little later, but thoy had a stronger guard, no less than a hundred soldiers on foot and fifty ou horseback, armed, in defiance of the King's order, with pistols and carbines. The moment the Swedish ambassador landed, a desperate struggle ensued. The Spaniards formed across the road. The French fired a volley, and charged their opponents sword in hand, but the Spaniards repulsed them. The coachman of the French carriage was killed, whereupon the Spanish camage drove off, next to the Swede, and the battle for pre- cedency was so far lost and won. A vain attempt of the French, of whom an outlying detachment was posted on Tower Hill, to cut the traces of the Spanish carriage, was frustrated by their finding that the traces Avere of iron. Pepys, " in all things curious," hastened to the French embassj'' to judge how the French bore their defeat. He found them chop-fallen. They all, in his words, " looked like dead men, and not a word among them, but shake their heads." But the matter was not allowed to rest here. Louis XIV. declared that he would wage war upon Spain if his precedence wore not ad- mitted in every court of Europe, and, after much diplo- macy, gained the point, by causing the King of Spain to issue orders to all his ambassadors to abstain from any kind of rivalrv with the Ambassadors of France. 2G8 PERPLEXITIES OF PRECEDENCE. The disputes between the Ambassadors of France and Spain for precedence were of long standing. Sir Dudley Carleton in a letter to Winwood, in 1604, refers to the ill-will between them : On Twelfth-night the Queen had a Mask or Pageant in the Banqueting House, Whitehall. At the further end of the room a great Shell or Escallop was placed, containing four seats : on the lowest sat the Queen with my Lady Bed- ford ; on the rest the Ladies Suffolk, Rich, Effingham, Walsingham, and others. Instead of Masks, the Queen and her ladies had their faces and ai'ms painted black. "It became them," writes Sir Dudle}^, "nothing so well as their red and white, and you cannot imagine a more ugly sight, then a troop of lean- cheeked Moors. The Spanish and Venetian ambassadors were both present, and sate by the King in state, at which Monsieur Beau- mont quarrels so extremely, that he saith the whole court is Spanish. But by his favour, he should foil out with none but himself, for they w^ere all indif- ferently invited to come as i:>rivate men, to a jjrivate sport, which he refusing, the Spanish ambassador willingly accepted, and being there, seeing no cause to the contrary, he put off Don Texis, and took upon him El Senor Embasadour, wherein he outstript our little Monsieur. He was privately at the first Mask, and sate amongst his men disguised ; at this he was taken out to dance, and footed it like a lusty old gallant with his country women. He took out the Queen, and for- got not to kiss her hand, though there was danger it would have left a mark on his lips." ENGLAND AND SPAIN. 2G1> But it was not with France alone that Spain con- tended for pre-eminence. So far back as the beginning of the fifteentli century there was a violent controversy between the Ambassadors of the Sovereirjns of England and Arragon on the subject of pre-eminence and prece- dence. The question was first mooted at the Council of Pisa, and, the second time, at the Council General of Constance. The dispute was this : — The Nations represented in the Council, previously to its twenty-second session, were four, Italy, France, Germany, and England ; but in that session it was determined to make a fifth, by uniting Arragon, Cas- tile, and Navarre into one nation, designated Spanish. This led to many complications and to violent discus- sions, but England finally prevailed upon the Council to give precedence to England. It is asserted that this decision was come to on the ground that the kingdom of Ireland was shown to be, by Albertus Magnus and Bartholoma?us Glanvilla, one of the four most eminent ancient Christian churches, and that moreover, England had tlien possession of Ireland. The disputed point was, however, a constant cause of controversy for centuries after. In 1000, the negotia- tions for peace between England and Spain proved abortive, simply on the ground of the lelative prece- dence of the two kingdoms. Elizabeth maintained that from time long past, the kingdom of Castile and Arragon had yielded precedence to the kingdom of England, being as o'iie nation gi-eatly inferior in point of antiquity. Spain, on the contrary, claimed pre- '270 PERPLEXITIES OF PRECEDENCE. eminence, on account of superior extent of power. The English Queen, bent on peace, offered to accept equality, but the Spanish Monarch held to superiority. The consequence was a failure of the peace negotiations. Corporate Precedence is undefined, and ofttimes leads to " clashes," doubts, and difficulties. The con- test for precedence, which occurred in the years 1863 and 1864 between the cities of Dublin and Edinburgh, was a memorable passage of arms. It thus originated : On the 26th day of March, 1863, on the occasion of the presentation at Windsor Castle of the addresses of con- gTatulation on the marriage of the Prince of Wales, Her Majesty, remembering that George IV. had granted to the Lord Mayor of Dublin the privilege of jDresent- ing an address to the Sovereign on the throne — a priA^ilege not enjoyed by Edinburgh — gave pre-audience to Dublin. The Lord Provost lost no time in vehe- mently protesting. The very next day, a letter was forwarded by his Lordship to the Home Secretary, Sir George Grey, explaining that he had given way solely to prevent any unseemly discussion or unpleasantness ut the Castle ; but that he felt, and believed the people of Scotland would feel, most deeply disappointed with what had occurred. He went on to express his opinion that Scotland was entitled to precede Ireland in all questions in which precedence could be raised — that it was an integral part of Great Britain, and that its privileges in every respect, as an independent king- dom, were guaranteed by the Treaty of Union nearly a century before the Union with Ireland ; tliat in all DUBLIN AND EDINBURGH. 271 State ceremonials that precedence had never been <[iiestioned ; that the Peerage and other dignities of Scothind took rank next to those of England, and that in the State ceremonial at the funeral of the Duke of Wellington, the Corporation of Edinburgh took precedence of the Corporation of Dublin. As the Lord Provost conjectured, the susceptibilities of Scotland were deeply touched by this loss of posi- tion, by this depreciation, as it were, of their national prestige. The country was stirred to the centre by patriotic agitation. Public meetings were held, Scot- tish M.P.s were appealed to, and Government put under the most influential pressure. The Scottish motto, "Nemo me impune lacessit," everywhere re- peated, reached Whitehall. Garter King of Arms was at length referred to, and that heraldic authority sup- ported the pretensions of Scotland. The result was that a few weeks after, when Addresses were presented at Marlborough House to the Prince and Princess of Wales, a change in the order of precedence was made, and Dublin received after Edinburgh. Thus, for the moment, the Irish capital was placed third. This event, hailed as a great triumph north of the Tweed, as a kind of civic Bannockburn, wounded Irish feeling to the quick. The citizens of Dublin, and the people of Ire- land generally, were no less excited than the Scots had been, and they resolved on making every exertion to regain what they deemed their right — the second position for their city in the United Kingdom. Old memories came back upon them ; the times were not 272 PERPLEXITIES OF PI^ECEDE^X•E. forgotten when Dublin — still the metropolis of a sepa- rate kingdom — was the seat of an independent Parlia- ment, long after Edinbin-gh had become, as they deemed it, a provincial town ; when Dublin more than rivalled London in the graces and hospitality of society, and when her streets and squares were crowded with a resident nobility. They were reminded that from the time of Henry II., Dublin had always been recognised as the second city in the English dominion, as the Corporation next in honour and pre- cedence to the city of London. They bore in mind that the early Plantagenet sovereigns had conferred on its Chief Magistrates the rights and privileges of the Mayors of the city of London — the Sword of State, the Cap of Maintenance, and the Collar of S. S. ; that the title of Lord was assigned by King Charles I. to the Chief Magistrate of Dublin in 1642, and that twenty- five years after, in 1667, when the Chief Magistrate of Edinburgh was granted the title of Lord Provost, King Charles 11. gave at the same time to the Provost of Edinburgh the precedence " that was due to the Mayors of London and Dublin." Public opinion became so strong in Ireland, that the Lord Lieutenant, the Earl of Carlisle, deemed it advis- able to intervene. His Excellency directed Ulster King of Arms to investigate the claims of Dublin, and to prepare a report on the subject. Consequently on the 14th May, 1863, Ulster submitted the result of his researches to the Irish Government, and gave it as his opinion that the reasons put forward on behalf of DUBLIN AND EDINBURGH. 273 the city of Edinburgh were quite insufficient to estab- lish any right of precedence over the city of Dublin, and that on the contrary Dublin was entitled to pre- audience on the grounds set forth in his report. The storm raised in the two kingdoms was too violent to blow over. Garter and Lyon were one side, and Ulster on the other. Few are the precedents for such a contention — two of the countries of the United Kingdom arrayed one against the other, and the Kings of Arms doing battle as antagonists in the arena of heraldic debate. No mediaeval tourna- ment was more energetically or more honourably fought. Every weapon likely to do good service on either side was taken down from the armoury of heraldry ; no chance was given by neglect or heedless- ness, and every hitting pass was made. In the end, the Royal mandate stopped the contest, and victory was held suspended. At last, in 1864, this great precedence controversy was submitted to a commit- tee of the Lords of the Council, with a view to the question being decided by the authority of Her Majesty in Council. It was rightly considered that the point at issue would be thus more becomingly settled than in the ante-chambers of Windsor or St. James's. It was on Monday, February 22nd, 1864, that the Lords of the Council met at the Council Chamber, Whitehall, for the purpose of hearing this famous cause. It was a dark, gloomy, winter's day. The Hall, with lamps burning, presented the appearance of what 18 274 PERPLEXITIES OF PRECEDENX'E. ^ye may imagine the Court of Chivalry or the Star Chamber to have been. The Lord President, the Earl ■of Granville, sat as Chief Judge, and by him the other Lords of the Council, the Lords Kingsdown, Eversley, and Sydney, and the Rt. Hon. Robert Lowe, Vice- President of the Council of Education. There were also in attendance the Attorney General and the "Solicitor General, Sir Roundell Palmer, and Sir R. P. Collier. Ranged at the Bar stood Sir Hugh Cairns and Mr. Serjeant Burke, representing Dublin, and the Lord Advocate, MoncreifF, and Mr. Rolt, Q.C., repre- senting Edinburgh. The two Civic Kings were like- wise present. An amusing incident occurred at their meeting. The Lord Provost, Lawson, whose good feeling through the litigation was only equalled by his •earnestness in the cause of the city of which he was ■chief Magistrate, expressed a wish that he and his opponent should evince their personal regard by in- terchanging the usual courtesies. A difficulty, how- ever, arose as to which, with due regard to the question of Precedence then suh lite, should first proffer his hand. Tlie elaborate reports and pleadings of the Kings of Arms were placed before the Lords on the Council Table, and at eleven o'clock, Sir Hugh Cairns opened the case for Dublin. His powerful and exhaustive address, which lasted more than two hours, put forth all the arguments tending to establish the superiority of the L'ish Capital. The Lord Advocate, Moncreiff, replied with singular ingenuity and eloquence, and DUBLIN AND EDINBURGH. 275 fought gallantly for Edinburgh. At three o'clock, the Court broke up, and the judgment they had arrived at was announced a few days after. It was to the effect that neither city had estabUshed precedence one over the other, and that they were to be considered ex, oaqiio — to be, as it were, bracketed together for second place. This decision, though it did not disturb the Northern Capital, virtually restored Dublin to the position she was contending for— the second place among the cities of the United Kingdom.* True, it was, Edin- burgh shared that honour with her, but Dublin was still second only to London. It was also arranged that the right of pre-audience "f * The Corporation of Dublin met and gave expression to their satisfaction at the result. They ordered the speech of Sir Hugh Cairns to be printed as a record of the contest, and Edinburgh did the same with respect to the Lord Advocate's. In the next year, when Lord Provost Lawson was entertained by the Provost a,nd ^lagistrates of the Burghs of iScotland, he referred to the " clang of war,"' of the precedence question. " I venture to say," were his concluding words, " that whoever peruses the able and eloquent defence of Scotland and her rights, made by the Lord Advocate, before the Privy Council, will not only be convinced of the claims of Edinburgh to precedence ; but will learn how much Scotland and Edinburgh has to boast of. Our Umpires, I suspect, were men of peace, and decided upon a drawn battle ; but even that is better than losing our rights, or having our shield tarnished." t This exercise of alternate precedence has a very old pre- cedent : Humphrey, sixth Earl of Stafford, was, in consequence of his services, and his near alliance in blood to the royal family, created, 14 September, 1444, Duke of Buckingham, with precedence before aU Dukes whatsoever, next those of the Blood Pioyal ; but a great dispute regarding this matter imme- 18—2 276 PERPLEXITIES OF PRECEDENCE. should be alternate, and that as Edinburgh had been allowed it on the last State occasion, Dublin should have it the next. I have endeavoured in the foregoing statement to be as impartial as possible, and I have studiously avoided entering on the details of the antagonistic arguments urged by Garter and Ulster, Those arguments can readily be referred to. They are given, at full length, in two Parliamentary Reports, ordered to be printed by the House of Commons, on the 16th of June and 24th July, 1863. Years have elapsed since this memorable precedence battle was fought, and both cities seem to approve of the royal policy which gave victory to neither, but placed them co-equal, side by side, next to " famous London town," to typify in their harmony the well- knit union of the kingdom. A less judicious judgment might have turned international rivalry into inter- national animosity. diately arose between him and Henry Beauchamp, Duke of Warwick, Avhich required a special Act of ParUament to adjust. This enactment gave to the rival Dukes precedence alternately, year about. The question was, however, finally set at rest by the death of the Duke of Warwick, without issue, in two years after. %om ^te^U. AarONG the careers that merit to bo characterised as "strange, but true," is assuredly that of Mr. Steele, whose notoriety as an Irish agitator, during the great Repeal Movement, inaugurated and led by O'Connell, is still fresh in the public recollection. I learn from a memoir of him in Mr. Daunt's work, entitled Ireland and Her Agitators* that he first saw the light in 1788, eriod. William Pitt, the son of Chatham, never married, and the only brother to survive him, John, second Earl of Chatham, the unlucky general of the ill- starred Walcheren expedition, died in 1835, leaving no son to hand down the illustrious name he bore. The rivalry of the houses of Chatham and Holland continued in the next generation between William Pitt and Charles James Fox. But the house of Holland lasted not much longer than that of Chatham. Charles James Fox, like William Pitt, left no descendant. The third Lord Holland, who displayed talents not unworthy of the reputation of his uncle, Charles James Fox, had an only sou, the last Lord Holland, who died at Naples in. 1859 Avithout issue. EXTIXCTION OF FAMILIES OF ILLUSTRIOUS MEN. 293 Edmund Burke had one only son, in whom he centred his hope and affection. In the fulness of manhood, this son, Richard Burke, was taken from him, and the father, broken-hearted, exclaimed, "His was a grief which could not be comforted." A peerage had been designed for Burke, and the title was to have been Lord Burke of Beaconsfield, but, his son gone, it was declined. Henry Grattan's descendants had a more prospe- rous career, but, nevertheless, passed away in the male line in the next generation. Francis Bacon, " the wisest, best, and meanest of mankind," had no child ; nor had the other philoso- phers, Locke, Newton, or Davy. Hume, Gibbon, and Macaulay were never mar- ried. Hogarth wedded, despite the father's opposition, Sir James Thornhiirs only daughter, but had no child. Eeynolds and Lawrence did not marry. David Garrick and John Kemble died without issue ; and in Charles Kean, the male issue of the great tragedian, Edmund Kean ended. It cannot be said of the poets that, wedded to the Muses, they chose no other brides. Most of those I have named, were married, and had children, but their descendants, in the male luie, are all gone. 294 EXTINCTION OF FAMILIES OF ILLUSTKIOUS MEN. OHN Shakespeee, William Shakespere's father, was of Stratford-upon-Avon, co. War- wick, where, after passing through the regular gradations of muni- cipal offices, he became one of the Chamberlains in 1561, and Bailiff or Chief Magistrate in 1569. In 1599 he obtained a grant of arms from Dethick, Garter, and Camden, Glarenceux. The con- firmation recites that '■' John Shakespere, now of Strat- ford-upon-Avon, in the county of Warwick, Gent., whose parent great-grandfather, and late antecessor^ for his faithful and ajiproved service to the late most prudent prince, King Henry VII,, was advanced and rewarded with lands and tenements given to him in those parts of Warwickshire, where they have con- tinued for some descents in good reputation, credit,"^ &c. John Shakespere, who appears to have been a wool-dealer, married Mary, daughter and co-heir of Robert Arden, of WiUingcote, co. Warwick, who was- buried at Stratford, 9 Sep.^ 1608. He left, at his de- cease in 1601, four sons and one daughter, viz., I., WILLIJ^.M, baptized at Stratford-on-Avon, 26 April, 1564, " England's bard supreme ;" II., Gilbert, resident at Stratford, living in 1602; III., Richard, died 1613; IV., Edmund, born in 1580, an actor, buried in the church of St. Mary Overies, South wark, in 1613; and, I., Joan, baptized at Stratford in 1569, who became wife of William Hart, a hatter in Stratford. SHAKESPERE. 295 William Shakespere, the eldest son, married, in 1582, when little more than eighteen, Anne Hath- away, the daughter of a substantial yeoman in the neighbourhood of Stratford. It is stated that a con- siderable disproportion existed in their ages, for the maiden was in her twenty-sixth year ; but Oldys seems to have learned by tradition that she possessed great beauty ; and it is indeed scarcely probable that one, devoid of personal charms, should have won the youthful affections of so imaginative a being as Sliakespero. By her he had three children : one son, Hamnet, baptized 2nd February, 1584-5 ; and two daughters, Susaima, baptized 26th May, 1583, and Judith, twin with her brother. Of these, Hamnet died in 159G ; Susanna became, in 1607, the wife of John Hall, a Medical Practitioner, at Stratford, " medicus peritis- slrnus ;" and Judith wedded in 1616 Thomas Quiney a vintner at Stratford. Mrs. Hall, to whom and her husband Shakespere bequeathed the bulk of his pro- perty, then valued at ^6300 a-year, equal to £1000 at least in the present time, expired 11th July, 1649, distinguished for piety and mental endowments. Dug- dale has preserved the inscription on her tomb : — " Witty above her sexe, but that's not all, Wise to salvation was good Mistress HaU ; Something of Shakespere was in that ; but this, Wholy of him Avith whom she's now in blisse. Tlien, passenger, hast ne're a teare To weep with her that wept with all 1 That wept, yet set herselfe to chere, Them up with comfortes cordiall 1 29 G EXTINCTION OF FAMILIES OF ILLUSTRIOUS MEN. Her love shall live, her mercy spread, When thou hast ne're a teare to shed." Mrs. Hall left an only child, Elizabeth, who mar- ried first Thomas Nash, Esq., a country gentleman ; and, secondly. Sir John Bernard, Knt., of Abington, near Northampton, but died s/p., in 1669. Mrs. Quiney, the poet's other daughter, had three sons — Shakespere, Richard, and Thomas, who all died unmarried under age : and thus expired the bard's issue. Collateral descendants, however, exist to the ]3resent day, in an humble sphere of life, sprung from Shakespere's sister, Mrs. Hart, " The descendants of Shakespere," Southey wrote, " are living in poverty and the lowest condition of life." Of course, Southey meant collateral relations. All the poet's descendants passed away in his daughter's only daughter. Edmund Spensee, born in East Smithfield, near the Tower of London, A.D. 15.53, and entered a sizar in Pembroke College, Cambridge, in 1569, is stated — I know not on what authority — to have been descended remotely from the same stock as the Spencers of Althorp ; and to this presumed, but in no wise ex- plained, ancestry Gibbon thus elegantly refers : " The nobility of the Spencers has been illustrated and enriched by the trophies of Marlborough, but I exhort them to consider the Faery Queen as the most precious jewel in their coronet." Biographers seem to have known little or nothing of Spenser's early life, or the locality whence his parents SPENSER. 2.07 came. Recent investig'ations, however, tend to show tliat he sprang from the Spensers of Hurstwood, near Burnley, in Lancashire, and that his immediate prede- cessors were resident on a beautiful little projDerty called Spensers, situated in the forest of Pendle, about three miles from Hurstwood. Spenser's earliest patron was Sir Philip Sydney, to whom he dedicated Tlte ShepltercVs Calendar, and through whose powerful interest he obtained, in 1580, the appointment of Secretary to Lord Grey de Wilton^ Lord Lieutenant of Ireland ; and subsei|uently, in 1586, a grant of 3028 acres in the county of Cork, out of the forfeited lands of the Earl of Desmond. Obliged by the terms of the gift to settle on the property, Spenser fixed his residence at Kilcoleman, and became Olerk of the Council of Munster. While in Ireland, he was visited by Sir Walter Raleigh, whom he celebrated imder the title of " The Shepherd of the Ocean," and whom he accompanied the following year to England with the MS. of the " Faery Queen," which was pub- lished shortly after. In 1594, the poet, then fort3^-one years of age, married — some accounts say — the daughter of an Irish peasant, and continued to reside in Ireland, devoted to literature and the Muses, until the breaking- out of Tyrone's rebellion, when he was forced to aban- don his estates and escape to England. His flight was effected in such haste and confusion, that an infiint child was left behind, whom the merciless cruelty of the insurgents burnt with the house at Kilcoleman. Broken down by these misfortunes, the unfortunate 298 EXTINCTIOX OF FA:\IILIE.S of ILLUSTEIOUS MEN'. i:)oet sui-vived but a few months, dying January 11,. 1598-9. He left issue, three sons and a daughter, \iz. : — 1. Sylvaxus, of Kilcoleman, who married Ellen, < laughter of David Xagle, Esq. of Moneaminy, and, dying before 1638, left three sons : Edmund, William, and Nathaniel. The youngest, the Rev. Nathaniel Spenser, of Ballycaimon, co. Waterford, married Mar- garet Deane, and died intestate, 24th Sept., 1669. The- eldest son, Edmund Spenser, Esq., had his estates created into the Manor of Kilcoleman by patent, dated 18th February, 1638. The second son, William Spenser, of Rinny, co. Cork, was father of a daughter, Susannah, and of a son, Nathaniel Spenser, Esq., of Einnyj heir to his uncle Edmund. Hi.^ will, dated 14th August, 1718, was proved 8th July, 1734. B}' Rosamond, his wife, he left three sons ; Edmund, of Rinny, who married Anne, daughter of John Freeman, Esq. of Ballinguile, and died in 1789, leaving an only child, Rosamond : Nathaniel, of Strabane, and John, died without issue, and one daughter, Barbara, the wife of Edmund Connelly, Esq. 2. Lawrence, of Bandon Bridge, co. Cork, died s.p. 3. Peregrine, of Rinny, whose son, Hugolin Spenser, was restored to 429 acres of land in the county of Cork, under the Act of Settlement. 4. Catherine, married to William Wiseman, Esq. of Bandon Bridge, co. Cork, and died .9.^). Spenser's sister, Sarah, married John Tra-.ers, Esq., register of the united sees of Cork, Cloyne, and Ross.. MILTON. 29i> and had a son, Sir Robert Travere, Knight, who, by Elizabeth, his wife, daughter of Richard Boyle, Bisliop of Cork, was ancestor inter alios of three brothers, John Moore Travers, Esq. of Clifton, near Cork ; General Boyle Travers, and Thomas Otho Travers, Esq. of Birch Hill. ilton'.s ancestors, of respectable lineage, were from j^lilton, near Thame, in Oxfordshire, whence came their patron3-mic. They were Catholics^ so zealous, that John Milton the father of the poet was disinherited by his father (who held the post of Ranger of the Forest of Shotover) for becoming a Protestant, and was forced, in consequence, to earn his livelihood in London as a scrivener. Milton's father was a good classical scholar, and possessed skill in music. He married Sarah Castor, a lady also of good family, and had two sons and one dauirhter — John, born in Bread Street, at "The Spread Eagle," where his family resided, 9th December, 1608 ; Christopher, who became one of the Judges of the Common Pleas; and Anne, married, fii-st, to Edward Phillips, Secondary at the Crown Office, and, secondly, to Mr. Agar, The eldest son, John Milton, the poet, mai-ried, first, in 1G43, Mary, daughter of Richard Powell, Esq. of Forest Hill, a magistrate of the county of Oxford — secondly, Catherine, daughter of a Captain "Woodcock, which ladv died within less than a year — and, thii'dlv. 300 EXTINCTION OF FAillLIES OF ILLUSTRIOUS MEN. ill 10G4, ElizaLctli Minshull, sprung from respectable ancestry in Chesliire, and nearly related to Milton's es- teemed friend. Dr. Paget. The two last wives died with- out issue (Elizabeth Minshull, fifty-two years after her husband), but by the first lie had three daughters, Anne, Maiy and Deborah ; tlie j^oungest and last survivor of whom, who lived to the age of seventy-six, was gene- rously patronized by Addison, and received from Queen Caroline a donation of fifty guineas. She was married to a Spitalfields weaver, named Abraham Clarke, and was mother of seven sons and three daughters, all of whom died without issue except two, who had children, viz., Caleb Clarke, parish clerk at Madras (who married ■and had issue) ; and Elizabeth, who became the wife of Thomas Foster, a weaver in Spitalfields, and eventually kept a small chandler's shop near Shoreditch Church. For the benefit of this impoverished descendant of our illustrious Milton, the "Masque of Comus" was per- formed in 1750, but the receipts amounted to less than £150. A newspaper of the year 1754 has this an- nouncement : — " On Thursday last, 9tli May, died at Islingion, in the G6th year of her age, after a long and painful ill- ness, which she sustained with Christian fortitude and patience, Mrs. Elizabeth Foster, grand-daughter of Milton." The death of Milton took place on November 10, 1674, at his residence in Bunhill Row. He was buried in St. Giles's, Cripplegate, in the chancel of the church, his funeral being attended by a gi'cat number of noble- BUTLER. 301 men, as well as \>y a large concourse of the populace. In 1737, a nionunient was raised to his memory in Westminster Abbey, and some few years back, another small one was placed in the church where his remains lie interred. The author of inimitable " Hudibras," SAMUEL BUT- LEii, died unmarried, 1G80, in extreme poverty, if not in actual want. — " On Butler who can think without just rage, — Tlie gloiy and the scandal of the age 1 Fair stood his hopes when first he came to town, Met everywhere with Avelcomes of renow^n : Courted and loved by all, Avith wonder read, And promises of princely favours fed. But what reward for all had he at last, — After a life in dull expectance pass'd? The wretch, at summing up his mis-spent days, Found nothing left, but poverty and praise. Of all his gains by verse he could not save Enough to purchase flannel and a grave. Eeduced to want, he in due time fell sick, "Was fain to die, and be interred on tick ; And well might bless the fever that was sent To rid him hence, and his worse fate prevent." John Drydex was the eldest son of Erasmus Dr}-- den, Esq., by Mary, his wife, daughter of the Rev. Henry Pickering, D.D, It is supposed that his birth took place on the 9th August, 1G31, but the most diligent enquiry has failed in fixing, with precision, the exact place and date. The poet has himself in- formed us that he was born on an estate belonging to the Earl of Exeter., and Anthony Wood adds that the o()2 EXTINCTION OF FAMILIES OF ILLUSTRIOUS MEN, village was Aldwincklc All Saints, in Northampton- shire. Undetermined, however, though this point may be, certain it is, that the family from which he sprang was of ancient descent and considerable station — its chief, Sir John Dryden, of Canons Ashby, uncle of the poet, being an influential Baronet in the county of Northampton, and one of its knights in parliament. Canons Ashby was acquired in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, by the marriage of John Dryden, of Staff- hill, with Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Sir John Cope. This John Dryden, who, according to Wood, was by profession a schoolmaster, and the intimate friend of the great Erasmus, appears, from some pas- sages in his will, to have entertained puritanical prin- ciples. He died in 1584, leaving a son, Erasmus Dryden, Esq., of Canons Ashby, who was created a Baronet in 1619. He married Frances, second daughter and co-heiress of William Wilkes, Esq., of Hodnell, in Warwickshire, and had by her three sons and four daughters. The former were 1, John, the second Baronet, whose male issue be- came extinct ; 2, William, of Earn don, whose son. Sir John Dryden, was the fourth Baronet ; and 3, Eras- mus, father of John Dryden, the poet, three other sons and ten daughters. Of these, the poet's brothers and sisters, I may add that Erasmus, the eldest, who became eventually sixth Baronet, was direct ancestor, in the female line, of the present Sir Henry Edward Leigh Dryden, Bart., of Canons Ashby ; Henr}^, the second brother, went to Jamaica, and James, the third. DIIYDEX. 303 followed the trade of a tobacconist, in London. Of Dry den's sisters, Agnes married Sylvester Emelyn, of Stanford ; Rose, Dr. Laughton, of Catwortli ; Luc}', Stephen Umwell, a merchant of London ; Martha, Mr. Blesto, of Northampton ; and Frances, Joseph Sandwell, a tobacconist at Newgate Street. There Avas another, whose Christian name is not recorded, who married one Shermardine, a bookseller, in Little Biitain. Dryden received his education as a king's scholar at Westminster school, under the tuition of the celebrated Dr. Busby, and on one of the school forms there maj' still be seen the words " John Dryden," cut by the poet's own hand. From Westminster Dryden was elected scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge, in IGoO. In I6G0, the poet, who had long enjoyed the friend- ship and patronage of Sir Robert Howard, a younger son of Thomas, Earl of Berkeley, married that gentle- man's sister, the Lady Elizabeth Howard, but the union proved anything but happy. The issue of the marriage were three sons, Charles, John, and Eras- mus-Henry. Charles, the eldest and the favourite son, obtained some distinction as a poet. About 1692 he went to Italy, and through the interest of his kinsman. Cardinal Howard, became Chamberlain of the household to Pope Innocent XII. His way to this preferment was smoothed by a pedigree compiled by his father in Latin, of the Drydens and Howards, which is said to have been deposited in the Vatican. Charles Dryden survived until 1704, in which year he 304- EXTINCTION OF FAMILIES OF ILLUSTRIOL'S MEN. vras unfortunately drowned at Datcliet Ferry, near Windsor. He never married. John, the poet's second son, was placed, when at the University of Oxford, under tlie private tuition of the celebrated Obadiah Walker, Master of University College, and adopting his preceptor's religious views, became a convert to the Roman Catholic faith, as his father did shortly after. Tlie younger, John Dryden, wrote a Comedy entitled " The Husband his own Cuckold," and translated the Fourteenth Satire of " Juvenal." He died unmarried at Rome. Erasmus-Henry, the poet's third son, went, like his brothers, to Rome^ and obtained the rank of Captain in the Pope's Guards. In 1708 he succeeded to the family baronetcy, but the estate of Canons Ash- by, which should have accompanied and supported the title, had been devised by Sir Robert Dryden, to Ed- ward Drj^den, the eldest son of Erasmus, the younger brother of the poet. Sir Erasmus-Henry died unmar- ried, in 1711, and thus, within about ten years of their father's death, ended the poet's family. Dryden died on the 1st of May, 1700, and was buried with considerable state in Westminster Abbey, in a space between the graves of Chaucer and Cowley. Alexander Pope, the son of a silk mercer, was born in Lombard Street, London, 22nd May, 1688. His mother was the widow Rackett, daughter of a RoyaKst gentleman, William Tui'ner, Esq., of York. Both parents were Roman Catholics, and Pope was brought up and GOLDSMITH. 30;1 continued in the ancient faith. Speaking of his an- cestry, the poet writes : — " Of gentle blood (part shed in honour's cause, While yet in Britain honour had applause,) Each parent sprang." Pope died unmarried, 30th May, 1744; his nearest relatives were his half- brother, Charles, whose wife was "the sister Rackett" frequently alluded to in his letters, to whom and her sons he left the principal share of his property. One of Pope's aunts, the sister of his mother, married Samuel Cooper, the miniature pointer. Oliver Goldsmith was born on the lOtli November. 1728, at an out-of-the-way village called Pallace, in the county of Longfoixl. His father, the Rev. Charles Goldsmith, was clergyman of the parish — " passing rich on ^40 a-year." His mother, Anne, was daughter of the Rev. Oliver Jones, Master of the diocesan school of Elphin, through whom the poet used to maintain he had some connec- tion with Oliver Cromwell. It is certain that one of Cromwell's sisters was wife of Colonel John Jones, the regicide. The poor parson, whose stipend was the ^40 a-year, was son of Robert Goldsmith, and grandson of the Rev. John Goldsmith, rector of Newtown, co. Meath, in 1675, and of Jane, his wife, daughter of Robert Madden, Esq. of Donore, co. Dublin. Oliver Goldsmith never married. The one romance of his life was, " The Jessamy Bride." In 17G9, he 20 S06 EXTINCTION OF FAMILIES OF ILLUSTRIOUS MEN, made the acquaintance of two sisters of the name of Horneck, resident at Barton, near Bury St. Edmund's, distant relatives or connections of Sir Joshua Reynolds, and wards of Edmund Burke. The elder, Catherine Horneck, was then engaged to Henry William Bun- hur}'", the caricaturist. Their marriage took place in 1771, and their eldest son was the late Lieutenant- General Sir Henry E. Bunbury, Bart., K.C.B. The younger sister, Mary Horneck, named by the poet, "the Jessamy Bride," was the object of Gold- smith's silent but deep affection. But his love, unselfish and respectful, was left untold. Poor Oliver felt too conscious of his indigence and un- gainly appearance to venture even on the thought of seeking the beautiful girl for his wife. With the Hornecks he made a tour in France, in the autumn of 1770, and in Mary Horneck's company he passed his last Christmas day at Barton, in 1773 ; but the visit — Goldsmith's last gleam of happiness — over, he turned his steps back to his lonely chamber in the Temple, and, in the following year, was carried thence to his last resting-place. The Jessamy Bride married General Gwynn, equeiTy to George III., and survived until 1840. In her old age, she used to go and sit with Northcots in his studio. " I do not know," said Northcote, " why she is so kind as to come and see me, except I am the last link in the chain that connects her with all those she most esteemed when young — Johnson, Reynolds, Goldsmith —and remind her of the most delightful period of her SIR WALTER SCoTT. 307 life. She had gone throuo-h all stages of life, and had lent a charm to each. In her, the Graces had triumphed ■over time. She was one of Ninon de I'Enclos' people — of the last of the immortals ! I could almost fancy the shade of Goldsmith in the room, looking round with <;omplacency." Goldsmith, as I said, died unmarried ; but there were several Goldsmith relatives of his father, some settled in the county of Roscommon, who may possibly have left male descendants. '•' Died on the 8th February, 1847, at the Cape of •Good Hope, Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Walter Scott, Bart., of Abbotsford, the last surviving son of ' the Author of Waverley.'" How forcibly did this announcement tell of the vanity of human wishes and the instability of all -earthly plans ! Scott's ruling passion was ancestral pride ; and his chief ambition to be the founder of the family of " Scott of Abbotsford," as a separate branch •of the eminent house of which he was a scion. Hence may be traced his never-ceasing anxiety to augment his position, his acquisition and adornment of Abbots- ford, and the thousand consequent embarrassments and cares which at last wore his life away. And yet, within the brief space of less than twenty years, not one male descendant survived to succeed to an inheritance acquired at so costly a price. Of Scott's four children, the elder son died childless, far from 20—2 308 EXTINCTION OF FAMILIES OF ILLUSTRIOUS MEN. home, and the otlier, unmarried, in Persia. The younger daughter died not long after her father ; and Mrs. Lockhart, four years later. Mrs. Lockhart's elder son, for whom Sir Walter had written " The Tales of a Grandfather," had died some years before. There was another son of the Lockhart marriage, Walter Scott Lockhart, of Abbotsford ; but he, too, soon followed the rest to the grave, dying unmarried on the 10th January, 1853, aged twenty-six. His sister, the last grandchild of the author of " Waverley," married James Robert Hope, Esq., Q.C., but survived only to 1858, leaving an infant daughter. The baronetcy became extinct with Sir Walter's son. The family of Scott, renowned in border song and border foray, ranks in antiquity and eminerice with the most distinguished in North Britain, and has pos- sessed at various times great landed possessions. The senior line now vests, through female descent, in the Duke of Buccleuch, while the male representation has devolved on Lord Polwarth, who derives from the re- nowned freebooter, Walter Scott of Harden, of whom many interesting anecdotes are told in " Tlie Min- strelsy of the Scottish Border." This ancient laird mar- ried Mar}^, daughter of Philip Scott, of Dryhope, cele- brated as " the Flower of Yarrow," and had four sons. By the marriage contract the bride's father, Philip Scott, of Dryhope, engaged to find Harden in horse meat and man's meat at his Tower of Dryhope for a year and a day; but so great was the dread of the free- booter's lawless spirit that five barons pledged them- sill WALTER SCOTT, SOi) selves that, at the expiration of this fixed j^eriod, tlie son-in-kw shoukl depart without attempting to liold possession by force ! A notary public signed for all the parties to the deed, none of whom could write their names ! The original still remains, I believe, in the diarter-room of Harden. Of the four sons of Walter Scott and tlie "Flower of Yarrow," the eldest was Sir William Scott, fifth Laird of Harden; the second, Walter, who was killed in a fray at a fishing party by one of the Scotts of Gilmanscleugh ; the third, Hugh, from whom came the Scotts of Gala; and the fourth, Francis, who was ancestor of the Scotts of Synton. The fifth Laird of Harden enjoyed in an especial degree the favour of King James VI. Inheriting his father's tur- bulent character, he appears to have been mvich con- cerned in the feuds of his time, and to have been fre- quently engaged in hostilities with the neighbouring- proprietors. On one occasion, after a bloody conflict, lie was made prisoner by Sir Gideon Murray, of Eli- bank, and sentenced to lose his head, but was offered pardon on condition that he married the daughter of his captor, known by the descriptive appellative of " Muckle-mouthed Meg." To this alternative he con- sented, but not before he had ascended the scaffold; he lived, however, long and happily with the lady, and had by her eight children ; the second son. Sir Gideon Scott, father of Walter Scott, Earl of Tarras, husband of Mary, Countess of Buccleuch, the gi'eatest heiress of her time in Scotland, was ancestor, by a second marriage, of the present Lord Polwarth ; the third son, Walter 310 EXTINCTION OF f'.UIILIES OF ILLUSTRIOUS MEN. Scott, became of Raeburn, co. Selkirk; the fourtl> son, James Scott, founded the family of Thirlestane ; and the fifth, John Scott, that of Scott of Woll. Walter Scott, the first of Raebum, appears, by acts^ of the Pri\y Council, to have been " infected with Quakerism," and to have suffered, in consequence, im- prisonment and persecution. By Ann Isabel, his wife, daughter of William Macdougal, of Makerstoun, he had two sons — William, direct ancestor of the Lairds of Raeburn, and Walter, progenitor of the Scotts^of Abbotsford. The younger, who was generally known by the name of " Bearded Wat," from a vow which he had made to leave his beard unshaven until the resto- ration of the Stuarts, married Jean, daughter of Camp- bell of Silvercraigs, and had three sons, of whom the second, Robert Scott, of Sandyknow, realized a con- siderable foi-time by agriculture. His wife was Bar- bara, daughter of Thomas Haliburton, of New Mains, and by her he had, besides four daughters, as many sons, all referred to in Scott's correspondence — viz., Walter, Thomas, Robert, and John. Of these the eldest, W^ALTER Scott, Writer to the Signet, married Anne, daughter of John Rutherford, M.D., and had, with other issue, a third son, Sir Walter Scott, Bart., of Abbotsford, the author of " Waverley." Sir Walter, bom in the College Wynd of Edinburgh, loth August, 1771, married 24th December, 1797, Mar- garet Charlotte, daughter of Jean Charpentier, of Lyons, a devoted Royalist during the French Revolution, and by her, who died 14th May, 1826, had issue : — MOORE. :U1 I. Waltkh (Sir), second Bart., Lieut.-Col. loth Hii.s- sai-s, h. 28tli Oct., 1801, who m. 3rd Feb., 182o, Jane, daughter and heir of John Jobson, Esq., of Lochore, Co. Fife, but died without issue in 1847, at the Cape of Good Hope, of dysentery. II. Charlks, student of Brasennose College, Ox- ford, died unmarried at Teheran, in Persia, A.D. 1841, being Attache to the British Emba.ssy there. I. Charlotte Sophia, the ftivourite companion of her father, in. 28th April, 1820, John Gibson Lockhart, Esq., Advocate, Editor of the " Quar- terly Review," son of tiie Rev. John Lockhart, D.D., and died 17th May, 1837, leaving one daughter, the late Mrs. Hope, and one son, Walter Scott Lockhart, a cornet of dragoons, who succeeded to Abbotsford, and died unmar- ried in 1853. Mrs. Lockhart's eldest son, who died in youth, is immortalized in the writings of Sir Walter under the playful .sobriquet of Hugh Littlejohn. II. Anne, who died unmarried 25th June, 1833. Over a .slioi». No. 12, Aungier Street, Dublin, may be seen the bust of Ireland's lyric poet. In that house, on the 28th of May, 1779, Thomas Moore was born. His father, John Moore, who came from Keny, carried on the business of a grocer, and had previously kept a small wine-store in Johnston's Court, Grafton 312 EXTINCTION OF FAMILIES OF ILLUSTRIOUS MEN. Street. His mother was Anastasia Codd, daughter of Mr. Thomas Codd, also a tradesman. This was the lowly home and humble beginning of one who, in a few years after, thanks to his own genius, was the courted of the fashionable and brilliant society of London, the honoured friend of Lord Moira at Don- nington^ the associate of Princes and Peers, and the flattered guest at tlie houses of the nobility. The literary life of the author of " The Irish Melodies " has been already told by Earl Russell, and would be out of place here. I have only to cairry down his domestic story to its close. While engaged in private theatricals in Ireland he formed the acquaintance of a young lady. Miss Bessie Dyke, who had recently made her debut on the stage, and he married her on the 25th of March, 1811, at St. Martin's Church, London. Of this union there were five children, who all preceded their parents to the grave. The last survivors were Thomas Lansdowne Parr Moore and John Russell Moore, who both obtained commissions in the army, and both died in early manhood. The climate of India broke down the health of the younger. He returned home to breathe his last in November, 1842, Moore's " Journal " of the following month has this entry : — " Decemher. — I have not had the heart to return to this journal for some weeks past. All is over. Our dear boy expired on the 23rd of last month, and the calmness, sweetness, and manliness of his last moments were such as to leave, even in the mother's heart, not only comfort, but almost pleasure." MOORE. iSlS In less than four years after, Moore's last surviving child, Tom, who had left the British army, and joined the foreign legion of Algiers, also died. He had long caused deep anxiety to his father. High-spirited, thoughtless, and extravagant, he contracted debts which Moore was no longer able to pay, and the sale of the young man's commission was rendered obli- gatory. He then joined, as I have said, the French service, and in broken health, and with enfeebled constitution, soon succumbed to exposure and fatigue. In March, 184G, his father makes this entry in his journal : — " About the middle of March we received a strange and ominous-looking letter, which we opened with trembling hands, and it told us that my son Tom was dead! The shock was at first almost too much to bear ; but, on reading the letter again, we saw reason to doubt the account it contained, and sent imme- diately to London and Paris to know if there was any truth in the rumour. It was, alas ! but too true. The last of our five children is now gone, and we are left desolate and alone. Not a single relative have I now left in the world." Moore's spirits never recovered this affliction ; his heart was well-nigh broken. He survived, however, until 26th February, 1852, when he was laid, by the side of four of his children, in the little churchyard of Bromham, Wilts. His wife was placed next him in 1805. 314^ EXTINCTION OF FAMILIES OF ILLUSTRIOUS MEN. Lord Byron had no son, but left, as everyone knows, an only child, Ada, whom he apostrophizes with much pathos in one of his most touching poems. She became the wife of the eighth Lord King (now Earl of Lovelace), and died 27th November, 1852. In ten years after, the death of her eldest son, Lord Ockham, was announced, and caused much commen- tary in the newspapers, not so much from the fact of his being Byron's grandson, as from the circumstance that, reckless of his position, he became a common sailor, and went out to America in a sailing vessel, working his way before the mast ; and that, tired of his newly-adopted profession, he next turned up as a common workman in Mr. Scott-RusseU's ship- yard in the Isle of Dogs, where he took his wages, week by week, along with his plebeian brethren. 3^)i0t0rii:al (^MtxxzB. The historical pictures at Versailles have always been to me of wondrous interest. To the Art Student, the Louvre^ the Galleries at Rome, Florence^ and Dresden, and our own National Collections have far greater attractions. The critic takes exception to the artistic merits of some of the miles of canvas that adorn the walls of the old Palace of Louis XIV. ; but the lover of history wanders on delighted and improved. The pic- tures at Versailles, notwithstanding occasional exagge- ration, recall men and acts so heroic and brilliant that even the memory of them is ennobling, and will yet, when the results of corruption and mismanagement have finally disappeared in France, excite the chivalric race, whose history they pourtray, to emulate the glory of the past. Sometimes, however, French painters make their eountiy appear ungrateful. A very conspicuous battle-piece at Versailles, bj^ Horace Vernet, com- memorates Fontenoy. The moment chosen is when Marshal Saxe is announcing the victory to Louis XV. The Due de Richelieu and other French ofli- •810 HISTOIIICAL GALLERIES. cers are around, and a Highlander, a prisoner, is in the foreground ; but not a single soldier of the Irish brigade has been introduced ; neither Lally Tollendal, nor Lord Clare, nor even a trooper of Lord Clare's dragoons, and yet the Irish hrigade had something to do tvith the ivinning of Fontenoy. Pictorial representations of famous historical events, of the distinguished men associated with them, and of the battle-fields, with which from childhood we are familiar, teach a lesson to be learned easily and pleasantly by all. The want of knowledge of their own history is a reproach applicable far more to Englishmen than Frenchmen. Irishmen are also too frequently liable to the same censure. Our Schools, intent on classical instruction, occupied with the annals of Greece and Rome, seem to despise a branch of education that, of all others, most helps a man in his after career. It has often occurred to me that nothing would tend more to re- medy this evil, and to create a taste for historical reading, than the formation of a comprehensive na- tional HISTORIC GALLERY in each of the three metro- politan cities — London, Dublin, and Edinburgh — com- memorative of the great events and great men of whom our country is so justly proud. Such a Gallery could readily be formed from the collections already in exist- ence, and by the emj)loyment of living artists to supply deficiencies. Besides, the public spirit, and perhaps the family vanity, of Englishmen would contribute by gifts and bequests to the perfection of the series. HISTORICAL GALLERIES. 317 The success of the Loan Portrait Galleries of South Kensington and Dublin suggests another more extended application of the idea — the formation of Local Loan Portrait Exhibitions in the chief towns of our most important counties, each county to exhibit portraits of personages of distinction, county-men by birth or parentage. Who can turn over the pages of our grand County Histories, the folios of Surtees, Ormerod, Nichols, or Whitakcr, and not at once admit that such Local Portrait Galleries could be formed ? Yorkshire, Cheshire, Oxfordshire, Durham, Somersetshire, Lan- cashire, Kent, and Northumberland would each afford ample materials ; and Devon is so rich in eminent per- sonages born within her precincts that it required a whole volume by Prince to record her " Worthies." Many a curious story of neglected biography would be illustrated, and many a name, associated with some stirring event, now almost forgotten, would be advan- tageously recalled to people's minds. There would thus be diffused among all classes, the educated and the uneducated alike, a taste for and knowledge of the history of their country. From the peculiar pride which every Englishman feels in his own lo- cality, from that feudal attachment Avliich is still his characteristic, I am satisfied that if the plan I venture to suggest were once originated, it would readily be carried out. To the Portrait Gallery of the Dublin Exhibition of 1872, ]iictures were sent of men heretofore scarcely realized, and considered by many as m}thical as the "318 HISTORICAL GALLERIES. early annals of Ireland. The Dublin Portrait Gal- lery was a great success. For once, at all events, there was found a neutral meeting-place in Ireland, where all parties and all creeds, Northern and Southern Irishmen, lovers of art and of tlieir country's intellec- tual greatness — from Belfast and Cork, from Derry and Kilkenny — could come together around a common centre of national interest, admiration, and instruction. The birthplace of Ussher, Berkeley, Swift, Burke, Goldsmith, Sheridan, Plunket, and Moore; of Ormonde, Sarsfield, and Wellington; of Grattan and O'Connell; the land of adoption of Raleigh and Spenser, Bedel, Petty, and Ware, and the field of distinction of Sidney, Mountjoy, Strafford and Cornwallis — Ireland was rich in materials, and no pains were omitted to render those materials available. It was as encouraofiner as it was gratifying that England, not less than Ireland, contributed with unsparing hand. AI thorp, in North- amptonshire; Knole, in distant Kent; Howick, in Northumberland ; Bowood, Knowsley, and Chatsworth vied with the Irish provinces in helping on the national effort. The mansions of the resident nobility sent up valuable portraits, the more secluded homes of the gentry enriched the collection with pictures that had never before left their owners' Halls, and even America contributed from across the Atlantic. Nor did the O'Donnells, of Spain, forget the land from which they sprang. In the words of an accomplished critic, the Dublin Portrait Gallery " for the first time did justice to the genius of Ireland. " Here," said the Saturday HISTORICAL GALLERIES. 319 Pteviewer, "the visitor could trace the personal history of Ireland in the lives, the physiognomies, and the figures of statesmen, lawyers, orators, and dramatists." How suggestive are these words ! A delightful book miglit be written, taking these "lives" for its text. Two of the lady-portraitures that attracted most attention were those of tlie Jacobite beauties — "La Belle Hamilton, Countess de Grammont," and " La Belle Jennings, Duchess of Tyrconnel," both lent by Lord Spencer. There is a charm and romance — a story of vicissitude — clinging to the biography of Fanny Jennings, that leads me to enter on it, though already familiar to the historical student. Even such a meagre outline as this will indicate how much miglit be made of the subject. LA BELLE JENNINGS, DUCHESS OF TYRCONNEL. "La Nature Tavoit embellie de ces charm as, qu'on ne peut exprimer, les Graces y avoient mis la derniere main;— sa figure donnoit line id^e de I'Aurore ou de la d(5esse dii Printems." Count Hamilton. The family of Jenyns, or Jennings, was of some antiquity. Sir John Jennings, made a Knight of the Bath at the creation of Charles, Prince of Wales, served as High Sheriff of Herts in 162G, and sat in Parliament for St. Albans; and Soame Jenyns was the wit of the succeeding century. Of the grand- daughters of Sir John Jennings,* Sarah became * His "wife was Alice Spencer, niece of Sir John Spencer, first Lord Spencer, of Wormleighton. 320 HISTORICAL GALLERIES. Duchess of Marlborough, and her eldest sister Frances, "La Belle Jennings," Duchess of Tyr- CONNEL. A famil}' that was destined to produce two Duchesses at a period when " Love ruled the camp, the court, the grove," must have had amongst its female members many dis- tinguished by pre-eminent loveliness. Faii"est amongst the fair was Frances Jennings, eldest daughter and one of the co-heiresses of Richard Jennings, of Sandridge, near St. Albans, born in 1G48. Even in her extreme youth tongues ran riot in her praise, and, long ere she had reached womanhood, she was the pride of all circles and the idol of her own. No wonder that such perfection should determine the Duchess of York to add Miss Jennings to the brilliant circle by which she was surrounded. Grand ladies of that time deemed they borrowed lustre from the beauty of theii' atten- dant handmaidens. It might be at the suggestion of the Duke of York that La Belle Jennings was invited to leave her country home for the post of Maid of Honour at Court. Miss Temple and Miss Churchill had previously accepted the dangerous but coveted position. Miss Jennings was only sixteen when she was appomted, and no sooner had she made her ap- pearance at Court, than the rumour of her surpassing loveliness was confirmed, and she was at once pro- claimed the Queen of Beauty. The morality of the Court of Charles II. was at that time at a veiy low HfSTORICAL GALLERIES. 321 ebb, and it required no little firmness and propriety to merit, as Fanny Jennings did, a character of unsullied purity. But one or two foolish frolics in which .she took part somewhat compromised her reputation. Pepys, referring in his gossip to the " mad freaks of the Maids of Honour," says, " Miss Jennings the other day dressed herself like an orange wench, and went up and down, and cried ' Oranges !' till falling down, or by some accident her fine shoes were discovered." Not long after, in company with Miss Price, another Maid of Honour, she paid a visit to a famous fortune-teller, who discovered everyone's secrets, and foretold every- one's fate. This seer turned out, however, to be no other than the ]n'ofligate Lord Rochester, wlio had dis- guised himself for the purpose. Addressed by many admirers. La Belle Jennings seemed to favour Henry Jermyn, then the beau 'pur excellence, and to discourage Dick Talbot, the hand- somest man at Court, whose ofier of marriage she refused. In 1GG5 she had to accompany the Duke and Duchess to York, and as Talbot, in his official capacity of Groom of the Bedchamber, was of the party, he availed himself of a second opportunity to throw him- self at her feet and again to sue for her liand. He was again rejected, but in the same year another as- pirant carried ofi" the prize — Count Hamilton's brother George. He was second son of Hon. Sir George Hamil- ton, Bart., fourth son of James, first Earl of Abercorn. It would be hard to conceive a more difficult posi- tion than that of this young bride, this fascinating girl 21 322 HISTORICAL GALLERIES, of seventeen. Flattered and fawned on by a host of young gallants, who professed to live but for her smiles, neglected by a husband that had soon learnt to care little for the lovely flower he had won, and perse- cuted by Royalty itself. La Belle Jennings, despite of all, remained to the end "pure as unsunned snow." The propriety of the lady's married life was above all praise. Her husband, too, won at last by the wife's noble example, endeavoured to prove himself deserving of such a treasure. EveljTi styles him a "valiant and worthy gentleman," and Hamilton merited the encomium. Appointed Cap- tain of the Gens d'Armes Anglais, and created a Count by Louis XIV., he fell in an engagement near Zebern- stieg, in 1676. At his death his widow, shortly before become, like her husband, a Roman Catholic, was left with six children, inconsolable and penniless, save a small pension from France. The manner in which the Countess Hamilton conducted herself in this critical and unprotected position, won the just admiration of all who knew her. In 1679, while at Paris, when she must have been in her thirty-first year, she again met her first and early admirer. Colonel Richard Talbot, then in exile. The tallest and handsomest man of the day, he was not long in gaining his suit, now for the third time urged. In that very year he had lost his wife, Catherine Boynton, and was thus left free to make a second choice. His marriage to the widowed Countess Hamil- ton took place soon after in Paris. HISTORICAL GALLERIES. 323 In 1685 Talbot, still groom of the bed-chamber to James II., was created Earl of Tyrconnel, and his Countess received the honour of the appointment of lady of the bed-chamber to the Queen. In 1686, having previously been made Lieutenant-General of the army in Ireland, Tyrconnel was constituted Vice- roy of that kingdom, and for the next three years held Court, with his beautiful wife, in Dublin Castle. As Vice-Queen, " la belle Jennings " was true to her antecedents. Pure, dignified, and brilliant, she threw a charm over the elevated sphere in which she moved. In 1689 the Lord Lieutenant received from the abdi- cated Monarch the Dukedom of Tyrconnel. Shortly after the Battle of the Boyne, Tyrconnel sent his Duchess, " with all his own wealth and the Kino-'s treasure," into France, and after the first siege of Limerick, having rejoined the King at St. Germains, was invested with the Order of the Garter. In 1691, while defending Limerick for King James, the Duke was seized with apoplexy, under which he died. " On the eleventh of August," says Macaulay, " he (Tyi-con- nel) dined with d'Usson. The party was gay. The Lord Lieutenant seemed to have thrown oft* the load which had bowed do\vn his body and mind : he drank : he jested : he was again the Dick Talbot who had diced and revelled with Grammont. Soon after he had risen from table, an apoplectic stroke deprived him of speech and sensation. On the fourteenth he breathed his last. The wasted remains of that form which had once been a model for statuaries were laid 21 2 324 HISTORICAL GALLERIES. under the jDavement of the Cathedral (of Limerick) ; but no inscription, no tradition preserves the memory of the spot." It was during her reign in Ireland (for such it might be called), that the Duchess married her three daugh- ters, by Hamilton, to three of the wealthiest men in that country, Elizabeth, the eldest, to Richard Parsons, Viscount Rosse ; Frances, the second, who inherited aU her mother's beauty, to Henrj^, eighth Viscount Dil- lon ; and Mary, the youngest, to Nicholas Barnewall, Viscount Kingsland. And what became of this re- markable mother, sister, and wife ? Continuing to reside at the Court of St. Germains, she was on Novem- ber 9th, 1695, one of the four ladies attending Queen Mary Beatrice, when King James paid a visit to Louis XIV. at Versailles. After the death of the Duke of Tyrconnel, the Duchess determined to remain abroad till the disper- sion of the Coui-t of St. Germains, and the marriage of her daughters by Talbot. Narrow circumstances were again her lot, and to such straits was she reduced, that she was glad to avail herself of the kind support of the Jacobites, and of £400 generously awarded out of the pension which James II. received of the Pope. In 1708 she was in England, and had a private interview with her brother-in-law, the Duke of Marl- borough, then at the height of his power. A stor}^ is current, but not authenticated, that at that time a part of the Royal Exchange being let out in small stalls or shops, tlie place was a favourite resort of HISTORICAL GALLERIES. 325 women of rank and fashion, and that the Duchess of Tyrconnel maintained herself by the sale of trifles, and small haberdashery ! To escape discovery, con- tinues the tradition, she wore a white mask, which she never removed ; desirous, if possible, to screen from ob- servation the traces of that flne form which had been worshipped as a Hebe or Aurora ! By the interest of her brother-in-law and sister, the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough, the Duchess of Tyrconnel obtained a small portion of her husband^s property, and per- mission to reside in Dublin, a city endeared to her for that husband's sake, and on the site of her house she established a Nunnery for Poor Clares. At length she closed her sad, eventful history, at her residence near the Phoenix Park, 6th March, 1730-1. On that cold wintry night she fell out of bed, and, too feeble to call for assistance, she lingered a few lethargic hours, and expired in her eighty-second year. She was interred in the Cathedi'al of St. Patrick. Lady Charlotte, her eldest daughter by Talbot, was married to the Prince Vintimiglia. Comte de Verac and Prince Belmonte married two giund-daughters, but neither of them left issue. The annals of the aristocracy present many striking instances of vicissitudes, but no episode "points a moral or adorns a tale," like the romantic career of La Belle Jennings, the wonderful Duchess of Tjo-connel. In Lord Spencer's gallery at Althorp, and in Lord Talbot's at Malahide, portraits of the Duchess are pre- •served. The letters of Lady Racliel Russell, Gram- 326 HISTORICAL GALLEllIES. mont's Memoirs, Mrs. Jameson's writings, and Mr. Steinman Steinman's graceful volume, entitled " Al- thoi-p Memoirs," printed for private circulation, contain interesting records of a lady who will be remembered while beauty, wit, and grace, have a hold on British hearts. Jfragmcnte of Jiainilg imt) |]tr00nal ^jtBtorj}. Parish Registers afford occasionally amusing and suggestive information. At Llanmaes, near Cowbridge, Glamorganshire, there is an entry which would, had he seen it, have astonished Sir Oornewall Lewis. The following is a verbatim copy, as certified by the rector : " ' Ivan Yorath buried a Saterdaye the xvi day of July, anno doni 1G21 et anno regni regis vicesimo primo, annoque setatis circa 180. He was a sowdiar in the figlits of Boswoorthcj and lived at Lantwitt Major, and hee lived muche by fishing.' " I hereby certify the above writing to be a true copy, taken from the Register Book of Burials of the parish of Llanmaes^ in the county of Glamorgan. " W. Leigh Morgan, M.A., " 15th July, 1872." " Rector and R.D. The Parish Register of Huntingdon of the year 328 FRAGMENTS OF FAMILY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 1599, has an entry of baptism of the deepest interest. It is in these words: — "Anno D"' 1599 Oliverus, filius Robti Cromwell, genor. et Elizabeth Ux. eius natus vicesimo quinto die Aprilis et baptisatus vicesimo nono eiusdem mensis." "In the year of our Lord 1599, Oliver, son of Kobert Cromwell, gent., and Elizabeth his wife, bom 25th of April, and baptized 29th of the same month." Just between the date of the year and the name of the child, this line has been inserted : " England's plague for five years." An effort has been made to erase it, but the words can still be easily read. This Oliver, the son of Robert and Elizabeth his wife, was no less a personage than Ohver Cromwell, the Lord Protector, The Burial Register of Westminster Abbey has, amidst the records of its illustrious dead, this brief notice : — "11 Jan., 1672-3, the Lady Hatton and her daughter." Curious to discover whom the obituary line com- memorated, Colonel Chester, an American antiquary, gave some attention to the enquiry, and finally arrived at a positive conviction that it referred to Lady Hatton, the mother, and Lady Hatton, the wife of Christopher, 2nd Lord Hatton of Kirby. If that be so, a most melancholy and tragic story lies behind these simple words. FRAGMENTS OF FAMILY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 329 Lord Hatt(jn held the Governorship of Guernsey in 1672. Towards midnight, on tlic 29tli December in that year, a terrific thimderytorm broke over Cornet Castle, his lordshi[)'s official residence. " Heaven's black artillery " resounded fearfully over the devoted spot, and the powder magazine, struck by the light- ning, exploded. There were in the castle at the time the Governor, Lord Hatton, his mothdr, the Dowager Lady Hatton, his wife, and his two infant children; besides a waiting- woman and nurse. They were all fast asleep. Old Lady Hatton, who was in the upper part of the castle, was crushed to death by the falling in of the ceiling of her apartment. Lady Hatton, the Governor's wife, who, with a mother's instinct and love, had run to her children in the nurser}', was also killed. Tlie poor nurse was found dead with the younger child in her arms, unhurt, stUl holding in its little hands a plaything, a small silver cup, which was bat- tered and bruised by the falling cUhris. The baby, who lay in a cradle completely filled with rubbish, but protected bya beam, likewise survived without having received the slightest injury. Providence threw its protecting mantle over the sleeping infonts, and they were saved. Still more miraculous was the presei'vation of Lord Hatton himself By the force of the explosion, he was actually carried in his bed to the battlement of a wall some yards distant. Imagination can scarcely picture a scene more dis- tressing than this Christmas night at Cornet Castle. 330 FRAGMENTS OF FAMILY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. One solitary doorway alone remained of the building. Everything else was a wreck. It used to be said of the first Earl of Eldon, that, notwithstanding his strong religious opinions, he went rarely to Divine worship, and was " rather a buttress than a pillar of the Church, for he supported it only from without." The following entry in the Parish Register of Hert- ingfordbury, Herts, goes far, either to relieve the Lord Chancellor's memory from the reproach, or else, by registering, as a remarkable occurrence, his lordship's attendance at church, to add corroboration to the charge : — "June, 1821. "On Saturday, June 9th (Whitsun eve), the Lord High Chancellor (Eldon) and Lady Eldon, arrived at the Rectory House at Hertingfordbury, on a visit to their relatives. Rev. Dr. Ridley, Mrs. Ridley, and family. On the next day Lord and Lady Eldon attended Divine Service at the Church of Hertingfordbury." Not content with thus recording the Earl's going to church, the register contains another entry, as a kind of postscript, to record for future generations the important event, that " Mr. Hand, the Sealer of the Great Seal, having arrived express from London, the Great Seal was affixed to the Proclamation for the Coronation of George IV., on the 19th day of July, in the Rectory House, at Hertingfordbury !" FRAGMENTS OF FAMILY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 331 At the Austrian Military Engineer Academy, there arc two Brady scholarships, founded for youths of Irish birth and extraction. The value of each of these scholarships is about £80 a year, and the right of pre- sentation vests in the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin. At the end of the course, the holder receives his commission, and is fully equipped as lieutenant, for whatever arm he may select, infantry, cavalry, or ar- tillery. The patriotic Irishman, who thus, in the days of his prosperity, did not forget the old land from which he sprung, was the son of a small farmer in Cavan. He gave early promise of ability, and his father found means, through the kindness of Colonel Wogan Browne, of Rathcoflfy, to have him sent to an Ecclesi- astical college at Vienna, to study for the priesthood. One day the Empress passed the students in review, and, observing the figure and bearing of young Brady, who had been spoken to by his patron, said, " Colonel Browne, what a pity it is so fine a young feUow should not be in the army ! What was he saying to you just now?" "Your Majesty," replied Browne, with Irish readiness, " he said that you were a beautiful lady, and he only wished he had the honour to serve your Majesty." The Empress, pleased either with his ap- ])earance or flattered by the comj)liment, had young- Brady transferred to a military college, whence he entered the army. His subsequent career is matter of history. When Napoleon was making war on Austria, Brady, then Field Marshal and Baron, fought for his adopted country S32 FRAGMENTS OF FAMILY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. with the highest distinction. He married an offshoot of tlie royal family, and died without issue in Vienna in 1826. Once, at the period of his elevation, Baron Brady returned to Ireland, and visited, amongst other gen- tlemen, Mr. Nesbit. One morning he requested his host to drive to a cabin he indicated. On arriving at the cabin door, the old Marshal burst into tears. Mr. Nesbit inquii-ed what gTieved him ? " I am not grieved," he said ; " but here I was born, and I rejoice to see the spot. Old memories crowd upon my heart, and my feelings have overcome me." He then went to visit his brother, a small farmer hard by. Brady's mother was a Maguire, of Fermanagh, and of this he was vastly proud. " On that side," he used to say, " I have as good blood as any of them." Twenty years ago. Field Marshal Laval Prince Nu- gent, then seventy-four years old, arrived in London, on his way to a little village in Westmeath, where he was born. He had some intention of purchasing the old family estate of his branch of the noble house of Westmeath, then announced for sale in the Incumbered Estates' Court. Just sixty-two years before, he had passed through London a little boy of twelve to seek his fortune in Austria. Strange the contrast of the un- noticed lad, with only hope and ambition before him in 1789 ; and the great soldier. Prince and Field Marshal, returning home, that ambition accomplished, in 1851 ! FRAGMENTS OF FAMILY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 833 During the interval, of all Irishmen in foreign service Nugent had played the most conspicuous part — ^the Plenipotentiary of Austria at Peace Congresses, and her General in great battles. The mere enumeration of the decorations and honours he won tells a tale of brilliant service : Field Marshal, His Excellency Laval Nugent, a Roman Prince, Count of the Austrian Empire, and Life Member of the Council of the Empire, Magnate of Hungary, an hereditar}^ Lord of the Estates of Carniola, Knight of the Golden Fleece ; Knight Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of Leopold, Knight of tlie First Class of the Iron Crown, Knight Commander of the Military Order of Maria Theresa ; Knight of the Russian Orders of St. Andrew, St. Alexander Newski, Saint Anne (First Class), and the White Eagle ; Knight Grand Cross of the Neapolitan Orders of St. Ferdi- nand and Merit, and of St. George ; Grand Cross of the Sardinian Orders of S.S. Maurice and Lazarus ; Grand Cross of the Hanoverian Guelphic Order ; Grand Cross of the Tuscan Order of St. Joseph; Grand Cross of the Modenese Order of the Eagle of Este ; Knight Commander of the Bath ; Senior Field Marshal of Austria, a Captain General in the Neapo- litan, and a Lieutenant General in the British Armies ; A Privy Councillor and Chamberlain of His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty; Colonel in Chief of the 30th Infantry Regiment of the Austrian Army. One of the objects Prince Nugent informed me that lie had in coming to England, was to claim for his* "33i FRAGMENTS OF FAMILY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. son, Count Albert Nugent, the Scottish Peerage of Lennox. He was under the impression that such a claim was tenable, as his son was the direct descend- ant of Mary Stuart's husband. Lord Darnley, eldest son of Matthew, Earl of Lennox, and was alone capable of succeeding, all the intermediate and pre- vious heirs being aliens. The descent came thus : the wife of Prince Nugent and the mother of Count Albert Nugent, was Jane, Duchess of Riario Sf)rza, who was in a direct line from the second daughter and co-heiress of Edward Count Palatine of the Rhine, orandson of James I., King of England, and gi-eat- o-randson of Henry, Lord Darnley. Of course there was no ground for such claim, but the Prince argued that all the intermediate heirs being foreigners, were to be considered as dead branches of the family tree, and that his son, being the son of an Irishman, was not barred by alienage. I explained, however, that this was not our Peerage Law, and that no one but the real heir in blood could succeed to a Peerage dicmity. He was satisfied, and did not proceed further in the matter. All he did was to authenticate and to have registered in Ireland his pedigree from the Earls of Westmeath. It was this false notion of alienage that induced the Eyres of Hassop to assume for several years the title of Newburgh. They did so on^the presumption tliat the real heirs, the Princes Giustiniani of Rome, were foreigners, and' incapable of succeeding. The House of Lords, however, at last took cognizance of the case. FRAGMENTS OF FAMILY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 33;") and confirmed in 1858 to Cecilia Princess Giustiniani, who was naturalized in the previous year, the Earldom of Newburgh, the Viscounty of Kynnaird, and the Barony of Levingstone. Her eldest son, Lord Kynnaird, who resides at Rome, was also naturalized at the same time. Prince Nugent liad all honour and consideration done to him both in England and Ireland. Her Majesty invited him to Windsor Castle, and the highest personages in London received him with the distinction due to his military renoAvn. Curiously enough, on his arrival in Ireland, the "national" party accepted him as one of themselves, forgetful that the old Marshal was an unbending Austrian of the legiti- mist school. At that particular time, Europe was con- vulsed by political agitation, and by demands for con- stitutional government. One morning, the Prince, irri- tated at fresh news from the Continent, about constitu- tional rights, exclaimed, " A constitution forsooth ! I'd give them a Constitution, and express it in one word, ' Bayonet f " Subsequently, on his return to Austria, he held several high appointments. When the war with France broke out in 1859, the spirit of the Field- Marshal was roused, and, disregarding his eighty-two years, he joined the Austrian army as a volunteer, and fought with his old gallantry at Solferino. The Lady Ann Barnard, daughter of James, fifth 336 FRAGMENTS OF FAMILY AND PERSONAL HISTORY; Earl of Balcarres, and grand-aunt of the present Earl of Crawford, wrote the beautiful ballad of " Robin Gray," but kept the secret so well, that a controversy- arose as to the probable date of the production, some asserting- that it was of considerable antiquity, and had been composed by David Rizzio. " I was perse- cuted," says the lady herself in a very interesting letter, dated 1823, " to avow whether I had written it or not, or where I had got it. However, I kept my counsel in spite of the gratification of seeing a reward of twenty guineas offered in the newspapers to the person who should ascertain the point past doubt, and the still more flattering circumstance of a visit from Mr. Jerningham, Secretary to the Antiquarian Society, who endeavoured to entrap the truth from me in a manner I took amiss. I must also mention," continues Lady Anne, " the Laird of Dalziel's advice, who, in a tite-a-tete, afterwards said, 'My dear, the next time you sing that song, try to change the words a wee bit, and, instead of singing, " To make the crown a pound, my Jamie gaed to sea," say, " To make it twenty merks ;" for a Scottish pund is but twenty pence, and Jamie was na such a gowk to leave Jenny and gang to sea to lessin his gear. It is that line,' (whispered he) 'that tells me that sang was written by some bonny lassie that didna ken the value of the Scots money quite so well as an auld writer in the town of Edinburgh would have kent it.' " FPtAGMENTS OF FAMILY AXD PERSONAL HISTORY. 337 SoAME Jenyns, the cousin of two Duchesses, was a celebrated wit, as ugly as Fanny and Sarali Jen- nings were beautiful ; he has been thus described : — '•'He came into your house at the very moment you had put upon your card ; he dressed himself to do your party honour, in all the colours of the jay ; his lace, indeed, had long since lost its lustre, but his coat had faithfully retained its cut since the days wlien gentlemen wore embroidered figured velvets, with short sleeves, boot cuffs, and buckram skirts. As nature cast him in the exact mould of an ill-made pair of stiff stays, he followed her so close in the fashion of his coat, that it was doubted if he did not wear them ; because he had a protuberant wen just under his poll, he wore a wig that did not cover above half his head. His eyes were protruded, like the eyes of the lobster, who wears them at the end of his feelers, and yet there was room between one of them and his nose for another wen, that added nothing to his beauty ; yet this good man was lieard very innocently to remark, when Gibbon published his history, " that he wondered any- body so ugly could write a book." Such was the exterior of a man who was tlie charm of tlie circle, and gave a zest to every company he came into. His pleasantry was of a sort peculiar to himself; it harmonized with everything ; it was like the bread to your dinner, you did not perhaps make it the whole or principal part of the meal, but it was an admirable and wholesome auxiliary to the other viands. Soame Jenyns told you no long stories, engrossed not much of 22 338 FRAGMENTS OF FA^kllLY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 3^our attention, and was not angry with those that did. His thoughts were original, and were apt to have a very whimsical affinity to the paradox in them. He ^\Tote verses upon dancing, and prose upon the origin of evil, yet he was a very indifferent metapliysician, and a worse dancer. If the disputed question as to Irish Baronies in fee be ever decided by the House of Lords, the precedents of Slane and other similar titles incline one to think that judgment will be given for the Heir Male. Should this anticipation be borne out, many an ancient dignity would be restored to the Peerage of Ireland. Delvin would fall to the Earl of Westmeath ; a Ber- minghan would inherit Athenry ; and Lord Dunboyne become Lord Le Botiller, of a creation as old as 1324. Other old Baronies might be claimed and established. The Barony of Power, of Curraghmore, created by Patent, 13th September, 1535, seems to belong to Mr. de la Poer, of Gurteen, M.P. for co. Waterford. The title was assumed and borne so late as 1725, In The Historical Register of that year is this announce- ment, " 20 Aug. Dyed at Paris, the Lord Power, a Peer of the Eealm of Ireland, aged about 80 years." This is the same person that Dr. King mentions in the *' An- ecdotes of his Oivn Times" a curious gossiping book, written when the Doctor was seventy-five years old, in 1760 : " I remember," says King, " a Lord Poer, a Roman Catholic Peer of Ireland, who lived upon a small FRAGMENTS OF FAMILY AXD PERSONAL HISTORY. 33!) pension wliicli Queen Anne had granted him; he Avas a man of honour and well esteemed, and had formerly been an Officer of some distinction in tlie service of France. Tlie Duke of Ormonde had often invited him to dinner, and he as often excused himself. At last the Duke kindly expostulated with him, and would know the reason why he so constantly refused to be one of his guests. My Lord Poer then honestly confessed that he could not afford it ; ' But,' says he, ' if your Grace will put a guinea into my hands as often as you are pleased to invite me to dine, I will not decline the honour of waitmg on you.' This was done, and my Lord was afterwards a frequent guest in St. James's Square." Questions are often asked as to the present state of the Earldom of Berkeley, which the following details will answer : — The Earldom of Berkeley was conferred by patent, in 1679, on George, four- teenth Lord Berkeley, of Berkeley Castle, co. Glou- cester ; and has remained unassumed since the decease of Frederick Augustus, fifth Earl, in 1810. Shortly after that event, the late Col. William Berkeley, who then bore, as presumed Heir Apparent, the courtesy title of Lord Dursley, and had a seat, under that desig- nation in the House of Commons, presented a petition to the Crown for a writ of summons, as Earl of Berke- ley ; but some doubts having arisen touching the niamage upon whicli the petitioner's right to the peerage rested, the petition was i-cferrcd to the con- 340 FRAGMENTS OF FAMILY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. sideration of the Lords, and a decision come to adverse to the claimant. By that judgment, the alleged mamage of the deceased Lord in 1785 was disallowed, and the inheritance to the title opened to the eldest son, born after the nuptials of 1796, which the decision of the Peers confirmed, viz., the Hon. Thomas Moreton Fitz- hardinge Berkeley, who is, in point of fact, now Earl OF Berkeley, but does not assume the title. As he is unmarried, his next younger brother, the Hon. G. C GrantleyFitz-Hardinge Berkeley, is heir-presumptive to the honours. By the will of the late Earl (in which the marriage of 1785 is solemnly declared to have taken place), Berkele}^ Castle and all the extensive estates of the family in Gloucestershire were devised to his eldest son, Col. Berkeley, and an annuity of £700 a year bequeathed to each of his Lordship's other sons, the estates being strictly entailed (after the death of Col. Berkeley and the male heirs of his body) on each in succession ; but a proviso forbade the assump- tion of the title by any one of them under penalty of a forfeiture of all benefit to be derived from the testa- mentary bequest. The deceased Earl's public marriage, as confirmed by the Lords' decision, took place, as I have already men- tioned, in 1796 ; prior, however, to this date, four of his Lordship's children, by the same lady, were born ; but the Earl declared that he had been privately married to the Countess, in Berkeley Church, 30th March, 1785, assigning as a reason for the second nup- tials that the witnesses to the first were all dead, and FRAGMENTS OF FAMILY AND PERSOXAL HISTORY. 341 the vouchers to -establish it all destroyed, in conse- quence of the great secrecy observed ; and he con- firmed that assertion in his last will and testament. It appears that the Earl's will did not comprise the v/hole of the Berkeley property. The London o Berkeley Square estate, in addition to that in Dorset- shire, remained attached to the Earldom ; but the Hon. Thomas Moreton Fitzhardinge Berkeley, who did not choose to assume the family honours, assigned his life interest in it, on attaining his majority, to his eldest brother, Col. Berkeley, who had already succeeded to Berkeley Castle, and who was eventually created an Earl under the title of Fitzhardinge. His Lordship died unmarried in 1857, when his great property passed, under the entail, to his brother, Admiral Sir Maurice Fitzhardinge Berkeley, who made a vain attempt before the Committee for Privileges to estab- lish a right to be a parliamentary Baron in right of the feudal tenure of Berkeley Castle. He was subse- quently made, by patent, Baron FitzHardinge. The rise of Lord Lyndhurst, the son of John Singleton Copley, the painter, and the grandson of a County Limerick gentleman, Avho emigrated to Boston in America, was due to his own great ability. At Trinity College, Cambridge, the brilliancy of his career aave earnest of his future success. I have heard a story from good authority with reference to that period of his life. In the list of B.As, to whom the University assigned " The Travelling Bachelor's " grant. 842 FRAGMENTS OF FAMILY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. occurs in l79o the name of Jolm ' Singleton Coplej^. This annual grant was made out of the interest of a fund bequeathed for that purpose, but the money is now, by the direction of the Privy Council, be- stowed in a somewhat different, and, it is thought, a more useful manner. At all events, Copley re- ceived it, and was thus enabled to visit the New World. On arriving in America, he formed the ac- quaintance of a French gentleman of his own age. They soon became intimate, and were companions in many of their journeys through the States. At length they parted with much regret, and with strong feelings of friendship. Copley returned to England, became a barrister, reached by degrees the head of his profes- sion, and eventually attained the Woolsack, from which he retired in 1830, on. the advent of the Whigs to power. Some time after, visiting Paris, he went to the Tuileries to be presented. The moment, however, he entered the Throne Room, and before his name was announced, the King, Louis Philippe, stej)ped forward and exclaimed, " Good God, is it you, Copley ?" and with French eiwpTessement, embraced Lord Lynd- hurst. His Majesty was the French companion who, under the adopted name he used in exile, had accom- panied Copley on his American travels, some forty years before. I have mentioned that Lord Lyndhurst's father was Copley, the Royal Academician, so well known by his picture of " The Death of Chatham," in the National Gallery. Amongst the unpublished papers of FllAGMENTS OF FAMILY AXD PERSONAL HISTORY. 343 the first Earl of Charlemont, there is a letter from Copley, evincing his desire to paint a similar historical picture for Ireland. The letter is worth preserving: — • " My Lord, " London, March 22,^1783. " The subject that now presents itself for the exercise of the pencil, and is one of the finest that modern times has given bhth to, is the institution of the new Order of St. Patrick, a subject replete with every picturesque beauty, and invaluable from the por- traits it will contain. " I should feel much regret should I meet with any impediments that should deprive me of the honour of making it one of the monuments I am ambitious to leave behind me. It is this desire, my Lord, that has so far superseded every other consideration, and has led me to presume on your Lordship's goodness, for the necessary means of information for that purpose. A near relation of Mr. Pelham, who has the honour of being known to your Lordship, and who is well qualified to transmit to me sketches of the buildings where the scene lay, of the dresses, &c., is going to Ireland in a few days, and I shall feel myself im- pressed with a sense of your Lordship's condescension if you will permit him to wait on you, and explain more particularly my design. •' I have the honour to be, " My Lord, your Lordship's " Most obedient humble servant, " Lord of Charlemont, " J. S. CoPLEf . " Leicester Fields." 844 FRAGMENTS OF FAMILY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. Unfortunately Copley did not carry out his intention. The only painting, one by Sherwin, (now at Carton), that commemorates the institution of the Order of St. Patrick, is but a poor work of art. The engraving made from it is infinitely better. The recent marriage of the Marquess of Bute and the Hon. Gwendoline Howard, recalls a brilliant ceremony at the wedding of the Marquess's ancestors, the Lady Susan Verb and Sir Philip Herbert, afterwards Earl of Pembroke, in the reign of James I. The bride was the daughter and eventual co-heiress of that Earl of Oxford, the soldier and poet of the court of Eliza- beth, who first introduced perfumes and embroidered gloves into England, and the bridegi^oom was Philip Herbert, eventually Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, Knight of the Garter, and Lord Chamberlain of the Household to King Charles I. As heir-general of this marriage, the Marquess of Bute is one of the co-heirs of the De Veres, and should, according to the present law of genealogical descent, be, with the Duke of Athole and the Earl of Abingdon, Joint Hereditary Great Chamberlain of England. " On St. John^s Day," writes Sir Dudley Carleton, to Mr. Winwood, Jan., 1604, " we had the marriage of Sir Philip Herbert and the Lady Susan, performed at White- hall, with all the honour could be done a gi'eat favour- ite. The court was great, and for that day put on the best bravery. The Prince and Duke of Hoist led the FRAGMENTS OF FAMILY AND PERSONAL HLSTORY. 345 bride to church ; the Queen followed her from thence. The King crave her ; and she in her tresses and trinket.s brided and bridled it so handsomely, and indeed, became herself so well, that the King said, if he were unmarried, he tvoidd not give her, but keep her hhnself. The marriage dinner was kept in the great chamber, where the Prince and the Duke of Hoist, and the great lords and ladies, accompanied the bride. The ambassador of Venice was the only bidden guest of strangers, and he had place above the Duke of Hoist, which the Duke took not well. But after dinner he was as little pleased himself; for, being brought into the close to retire himself, he was then suffered to walk out, his supper unthought of At night there was a mask in the hall, which for conceit and fashion was suitable to the oc- casion. The actors were the Earl of Pembroke, the Lord Willoby, Sir Samuel Hays, Sir Thomas Germain, Sir Kobert Car^^, Sir John Lee, Sir Richard Preston, and Sir Thomas Eager. There was no small loss that night of chains and jew^ells, and many great ladies were made shorter by the skirts, and were well enough served that they could keep cut no better. The presents of folate and other things given by the noblemen were valued at £2500 ; but that which made it a good mar- riage, was a gift of the King's of £500 land for the bride's jointure. They were lodged in the Council Chamber, where the King gave them a reveille matin before they were up. No ceremony was omitted of bride cakes, points, garters, and gloves, which have been ever since the livery of the court; and at night there 346 FRAGMENTS OF FAMILY AND PERSONAL HISTORY, was sewing into the sheets casting off the bride's left hose, with many Qther pretty sorceries." A letter Irom Mr. Ynyr Burges, of East Ham, in Essex, written last century to his sister Alice, after- wards Mrs, Methold, descriptive of another wed- ding ceremonial, may be appropriately added : Mr. Burges was an Essex gentleman of large fortune, which eventually devolved on his only child Margaret, Coun- tess Poulett. " I know that most young ladies are fond of hear- ing (when they cannot see) the appearance of a Bride and Bridegroom : I confess myself unable for such a description, although my v/ife yesterday told me the names of every part of her dress for your information. I have left her at Wansted, and also my memory ;. however, as well as I can, you have here an account thereof. " On Tuesday, the 15th instant, we were married at Gray's Inn Chapel. Her dress a white silk, with gold Facings and Bobins; shoes ditto, and a laced mob. Mine a white Cloth Coat and Breeches, with gold buttons and button-holes ; a red cloth waistcoat, laced with Gold, and a Boh-vAg ; we were that day very elegantly entertained by John Waple, Esq., of Gray's Inn, and in the evening sett out for Wansted. " Sunday last was appointed for our appearance at church, where we were attended by the two Miss Malyns (each £20,000 fortune). My wife's dress a White and Silver Gown and Petticoat of three ofuinea;; FRAGMENTS OF FAJVIILY AND TEIISONAL HISTORY. 347 a yard, a Lappifc Head of £100; a Solitaire and Ear- rings, £500, an enamel watch and Tweeze, £200. My dress a Brown Coat and Breeches, the former lined with silk of the same colour, a AVhite Sattin Waist- coat Avith a gold shape, a Bag Sword, and Silk Stock- ings. In the afternoon we sat in those Dresses to receive Company, among whome we had the honour of the Earl of Tylney, Lord Castclmain, and Lady Dorothy Child. " Next Sunday we appear in Dresses to return the compliments, which will be Mrs. Burges in a rich flowered gown and petticoat. Me in a cloth mixture, embroidered with silver, a Blue Sattin Chain, silk Broad Hose, with silver and velvet Breeches." A favourite and popular fallacy exists with regard to the use of Heraldry and the labours of the Heralds. So far from being, what some su^Dpose it, a mere con- ceit of our ancestors, heraldry is an essential institution in a country, like England, of hereditary descent and settled property, and, among the records which eluci- date family histoiy, and keep intact the transmission of titles and of property, none are so important, and generally none so correct, as the pedigrees and infor- mation derived from the Heralds' researches. The Visitations made by the Kings of Arms in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, are the real de- positories of English genealogy, and are received as evi- dence in all law courts in the kingdom. True enough ■348 FRAGMENTS OF FAMILY AND PERSONAL HISTORY, iiirtCcuracies occur, but nevevtheless the pedigrees of the Visitations are of infinite value. Hundreds of instances could be adduced in which honours would have been obscured, and inheritances lost, but for the genealogical documents preserved in the London Heralds' College. In Ireland, the neglect and loss of Parish Registers, and the destruction of public and private documents in times of civil commotion, have been such that Irish personal and family history could scarcely be traced at all without the aid of the Office of Arms there. A visit to the old Tower of Dublin Castle, now devoted to the heraldic records and state papers of Ireland, is full of interest. This Tower is the only remnant of antiquity in the Castle, and was formerly its prison. Here in one room is shown the very cell from which Hugh Roe O'Donnell, Prince of Tyrconnel, efifected his escape in 1591. With all the traditions ckistering around its mediaeval walls, the place has been wisely chosen for its present use, and is appro- priately the home of the documents which refer to the public and private history of the country. People are little aware how important are the col- lections garnered in the College of Arms, London, in the Lyon Oflace and Advocates' Library, Edinburgh, and in Ulster's Ofiice, Dublin. Of the records of Ulster's Ofiice, I may be permitted to say a few words. Among them is to be found a series of MSS., entitled " The Records of the Rolls," compiled about one hundred years ago by the famous John Lodge, Keeper of the Berming- FRAGMENTS OF FAMILY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 841) liam Tower, wliicli contains, in twelve folio volumes, a description of all the grants of land in Ireland made by the Sovereign to the subject. The actual grant is not only given, but the full description of the grantee, the sub- denominations of the lands, the acreage, the conditions, etc. In proof of title to land, tithes, fisheries, etc., and often in proof of pedigree, this collection is invaluable, cruidino- the litio-ant to the best sources of evidence. Another valuable series of volumes is entitled '' Will Books," and includes pedigTces of persons named in the Wills preserved in Dublin from the earliest period. One of the most curious of the purely Heraldic MSS. is the collection of " Funeral Entries." In former times, and up to the end of the seventeenth century, when a great personage died, a funeral entry was made giving many important genealogical facts. Some of these entries are illustrated by heraldic drawings and emblems, and by contemporary representations of processions, costumes, etc. Several modern Causes Celebres have been settled hy reference to the records of Ulstei's Office. The pro- ti-acted litigation for the Tintern Abbey Estates, in the CO. Wexford, and the various contests the late Mr. Ross- borough Colclough had to go through, attracted much public attention. After years of law and trouble and enormous expense, Mr. Colclough was well nigh in de- spair, when, at the eleventh hour, a clue was discovered in " The Book of Converts," in the Office of Arms, •which led to the required evidence establishing the legality of the marriage of an ancestor, and thus finally ■350 FRAGMENTS OF FAMILY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. determining the case. Again, the heirship of the un- devised property of the late Sir Charles Hastings, Bart,, of Willesley, co. Derby, was traced, through Ulster's Office, to a poor farmer in Westmeath,who recovered and divided with his cousin the property in dispute. Still more recently, after the death of the late Mrs. Gerrard, of GibbstoM^n, information which discovered her heirs turned up amongst Ulster's records. The succession to Irish Peerages is invariably established by the proofs derived from "The Lords' Entries" in the Irish Office of Arms. Indeed, in many instances, without such evidence, it would be impossible to satisfy the Committee for Privileges, or any legal tribunal. In the Taaffe case, which was tried a few years ago. Lord Taaffe would have been considered an alien, and no decision could have been had, unless a statement made by his ancestor, Nicholas, Viscount Taaffe, in these "Lords' Entries," in the year 1766, had been forthcoming, to the effect that both his sons were born in London, a statement Vv^hich took the claimant out of the category of aliens. The Founder Knights of the Order of the Garter were Edward III, (Sovereign) ; Edward Plan- tagenet, the Black Prince ; Henry Plantagenet, Earl of Lancaster ; Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick ; John De Greilly, Captol De Buche ; Ralph Lord Stafford ; William Montacute, Earl of Salisbury ; Ro- bert Mortimer, Earl of March ; John, Lord L'Isle, of FRAGMENTS OF FAMILY AND TERSONAL HISTORY. 351 Eugemont ; Bartholomew Lord Burgliersh ; John Lord Beauchamp ; John Lord Mohiin, of Dunster ; Sir Hugh Conrtenay ; Sir Thomas Holand ; John Lord Grey, of Rothcrfield ; Sir Richard Fitz-Simon ; Sir Miles Staple- ton ; Sir Thomas Wale ; Sir Hugh AVrottesley ; Sir Nigel Loring ; Sir John Chandos ; Sir James Audeley ; Sir Otho Holand ; Sir Henr}^ Gam ; Sir Sanchet Da- bridgecourt ; and Sir Walter Pavele3\ All these Founder Knights had partaken of the recent glories of the campaign in France, and were all present at the Battle of Cressy. In point of fact, the Order of the Garter was in early times conferred as the chief reward of military merit, and its recipients were frequently of the degree of simple Knights. Now-a-days, the Ribbon of the Garter is confined exclusively to the higher orders of the peerage. There have been only four Viscounts elected since the reign of James I., not one Baron since the time of Queen Anne, and during the last and present centuries only three Commoners, two of whom. Lords North and Castlereagh, were heirs apparent of Peers. The first Scotchman decorated with the Garter was the Earl of Douglas in the time of Edward IV,, and the first Irishman, the Earl of Kildare, in the time of Henry VII. In the existing peerage, the families which have contributed most Knights to the Order of the Garter, are those of Howard, which has given 22 ; Orey and Pkrcy, 13; Stanley, 12; Talbot and Seymour, 10; Cavendish, Nevill, and Somerset, 9; Russell, Herbert, Manners, Spencer and Cecil, 8; oo2 FRAGMENTS OF FA:MILY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. Hastings, Sackville, Leveson-Gowee, Lennox, and Clinton, G. Since the accession of George III., in 1760, the fol- lowing are the creations of Knights of the Garter : — By George III., 73; by George IV., 14; by William IV., 14 ; and by Queen Victoria, 82. This last num- ber is composed of 4 members of the royal family,. 24 foreign sovereigns and princes, and 54 subjects. In another page I have told " The Story of Pamela ;" and here I take the opportunity of expressing my ac- knowledgments to my esteemed friend, Dr. R E, Madden, the historian of the " United Irishmen," for much valuable information on the subject. Every minute j)articular connected with the death of Pame- la's husband. Lord Edward Fitzgerald, has interest, Moore gives a description of the dagger Lord Ed- ward used in his death struggle, and at the Dublin Exhibition of 1872, a dagger was exhibited pur- porting to be the weapon in question. The annexed letter, however, sets the matter at rest, and gives a curious and authentic account of the custody of the real dagger from the day it was wrested from Lord Edward. It is nov/ in the possession of Mr. William R. Le Fanu, Commissioner of Public Works in Ire- land, together with this letter from his mother, the late Mrs. Le Fanu. FRAGMENTS OF FAJIILY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 353 " I was almost a child when I possessed myself of the daf]f;il origin of fa- milies, 41. Finett, Sir John, 264. Fiuett's Book on Precedence, con- tents of, 7(1 FitzGerald, Lord Echvard, mai-- riaf^e of, 70. FitzGerald, Lord Edward, 77. FitzGerald, Lord Edward, dagger used by, 352. Pitzniaurice of Kerry, 34. Fontenoy, battle of, 315. Foreign Families in the Peer- age, 51. Foreign Nobility, 54. Foreign Nobles, ]-)recedence of, 263. Foreign Envoys and Ministei'S, precedence of, 264. Forester's Daughter, 203, Fox, Charles James, 292. Fragments Of Personal and Family History, 327. Garter, Ladies op the Order OF, 182. Garter, Order of, 350. Garter, aiTnlet of, 190, fJarter's Roll, 32. Gaunt, John of, 117. ( loraldines, 5. (Goldsmith, Oliver, 305. CJcmT, Viscounts, descent of, 53. (irattan, Henry, 293. Great Families, Rise of, 1. Grenville Family, Rise of, 17. Grey Family, Rise of, 21, Grorvenor and ScROPE, 113. Grosvenoi"s, 33. (iULi>, Sir W. W., Bart., grant of honorable augmentation, 364. Gunning, the Misses, 226, Hamiltons, 5. Hampden, John, 290. Harcourt, Lady, 183. Hardwicke, Bess of, 28. Hatton of Kirby, 328. Heire.sses in heraldry, 23. Heraldic heiresses, 23. Heraldry, Advantages of, 347. Heralds' Pedigi-ees, 348. Herbert and Jones, 146. Herbert, Sir Philip — Marriage of, 344. Hereford, Viscount, 6. Hertingfordbury Parish Regis- ter, 330. He^\ntt, Sir William, 18. High Sheriff of a County, Pre- cedence of, 260. Historical Galleries, 315. HoUes, 34. House of Lords, present num- ber of, 36. Howard, Duke of Noi-folk, 6. Hudson, the Railway King, 30, HUNTINGFIELD, LoRD, 53. Illustrious Men's Families, Extinction of, 289. Irish Baronies, 338, Irish Peerage, 48. Irish Rebellion of 1641, A True Romance of, 87, Irish Lord Cliaucellor, Prece- dence of, 260. Irish Prelate, Precedence of, 262. SG8 INDEX. Jennings, La Belle, 319. Jenyns, Soame, 337. John of Gauut, 117. Jolmson, Samuel, 292. Jones and Herbert, 146. Keppel Family, Eise of, 52. Kiiiephausen, Lordship of, 52. Knighthood, Degradation FROM, 362. Kuights' wives re-married, 257. Knights' daughters, Precedence of, 258. La Belle Jennings, 319. Ladies of the Order op the Garter, 182. Lansdowne, Marquess of, 34. Law — ^the origin of families, 42. Lawyers created peers, 43. La'O'yers foiuidei-s of families, 43. Leeds Dukedom, 18. Le Fanu, Mrs., Letter of, 353. Leiuster, Duke of, 6. Leveson-Gower, Eise of family of, 19. Lieutenant of a county. Prece- dence of, 260. LONDESBOROUGH, LORD, 30. Longman, Messrs., 132. Longman's Life of Edward III., 184. Lord Mayors, Founders of peer- age-families, 45. Lord Mayor's precedence, 263. Lucas, Baroness, 21. Lyndhurst, Lord, 341. Macdouald, Lord, 46. Mackintosh of Mackintosh, 137. Macpherson of Chuiy, 138. Madden, Dr. E. E., historian of the " United Irishmen," 352. Majesty, Title of, 262. Manners, Duke of Eutland, 17. Marlborough, Duke of, 291. Mari'iage, Eise of families by, 17. Maskelyne, Miss, 358. Mechanical invention, 31. Memories op the Vice Eegal Court, 226. Merchant families, 29. Midwife's Curse, 191. Military peerages, 43. Milton, 299. Monastic lands, 41. Monk, George, Duke of Albe- mai'le, 291. Montgomery, 55. Montgomery, Alfred, 102. Montrose, Duke of, 23. Montrose, Duke of, 46. Moore, Thomas, 311. Naval Peerages, 44. Nelson, Lord, 291. Nevdll, Earl of Abergavenny, 5. Newcastle, Duke of, 34. New Peers not new men, 33. Nobility, Definition of, 62. Norfolk, Duke of, 6. Norwich city, 9. Nugent, Field - Marshal Prince, 332. O'CONOR, 142. Officers of State, tlieii' wives and children, 256. INDEX. 369 OHicers of State in Ireland aud Scotlanil, Precedence of, 260, Origin of great families, 37. Ormonde, Dukes of, 14. Ormonde, Duke of, 291. Osborne Family, Rise of, 19. Pagans, 193. Palmer, Lad)'', 242. Palmer, Sir Roundell, 151. Pamela, Story of, 65, 352. Papist, The Dangerous (Miss Ambrose), 238. J*arish Eegistei-s, 327. Payans, 194. Payne, Family of, 196. Peerage of Ireland, 48. Peerages on Plantagenet rolls, 33. Peerages, Military, 43. Peerages, Naval, 44. Peerages, Indian Service, 44. Peerages derived from Prime Ministers, 50. Peeress in her own right. Prece- dence of, 257. Peel's and Peeresses, Number of, 36. Peers descended from Speakers of the House of Commons, 44. Peers descended from Prelates, 45. Peers descended from Lord Mayors, 45. Peers of Danish origin, 47. Peers of France in 1789, 56. Peers', Baronets', and Knights' widows, 256. Peers' wives remarried, 257. Peers' daughter. Precedence of, 258. Peers aud Peeresses' rank amonf themselves, 259. Perplexities of Precedence, 251. Peterborough, Earl of, 291. Picture Galleries, 315. Pitt, William, 292. Plantagenet, a surname, 262, Pope, 304, Portland, Duke of, 52, Powell of Perthyr, 147. Power, Lord, 338. Precedence, Perplexities of, 251, Precedence, Privy Councillors', 252. Precedence, Origin of. 254. Precedence, Authorities for, 255. Precedence derived only from men's rank, 256, Precedence by birth in a Lad}-, 256, Precedence emanates from father or husband, 256, Precedence lost by marriage, 257. Precedence controversy be- tween France and Spain, 266, Precedence contest between England and Spain, 269, Prelates, founders of peerage families, 45. Prelates' wives, 252. Prendergast, J. P,, Visit to Dangan, 98, Pretensions, Rival, 1 13. Prime Ministers, 252, Prime INIinisters' Peerages, 50. Prime Minister's Precedence, 252, 24 S70 INDEX. Princes of tlie blood royal, 261. Private Balls, Vice Regal, 231. Privy Councillors' Precedence, 252. Proger of Werndee and Powell of Perth ye, 147. Rabxor, Earl of, 51. Raleigh, Sir Walter, 290. Receptions, Vice Regal, 228. Rendlesham, Lord, 53. Ripon, Earl of, 50. Rtse of Great Families, 1, Rise of families by marriage, 1 7. Rival Pretensions, 113. Rochefoucauld, Liancourt, Due de. Anecdote of, 56. Roman Catholic gentry, 63. Romance of the Earl of Aberdeen, 155. RoMiLLY Family, Rise of, 54. Rogsmore, Baron, 53. Rothschild Family, Rise of, 356. Roxburghe, John, Duke of, K.G., 126. Royal surnames, 262. RusHOUT Family, Rise of, 53. Russell Family, Rise of, 24. Rutland, Duke of, 17. Scliaw of Greenock, 154. ScoTT, Sir Walter, 307. Scrope of Danby, 63. ScROPE and Grosvenor, 113. Shakespere, 294. Shirley Family, 60. Shrewsbury, Earl of, 5. South Kensington Portrait Gal- lery, 317. Sovereign Princes marshalled by Lord Bacon, 261. Spanish nobility, 58. Speakers of the House of Com- mons founders of Peerage families, 44. Spencer, Earl, 128, 319. Spenser, 296. Stafford and Bagot, 132. Steele, Career of, 277. Strafford, Earl of, 291. Story of Pamela, 65. Story of the Sword, 108. Strutt of Belper, Rise of, 31. Sunderland's Peerage Bill, 49. Surnames in royal families, 262. Surrey, Earl of, iniquitous exe- cution, 8. Sutherland, Dukes of, 19. Swift, Dean, 292. Sword, Story of, 108. Sydney, Sir Philip, 290. Tablots, 5. The Midwife's Curse, 191. The Aberdeen Romance, 155.. Thellusson Family, Rise of, 53. Thii-lewall, .John, 120. ToUemache Family, 60. Tom Steele, 277. Trafford, of Trafford, 64. Trench Family, Origin of, 53. True Romance connected avith the Irish Rebellion of 1641, 87. Tufnell, Mr. JoUiffe, 108. Tyrconnel, Duchess of, 319. Ulster's Office, 348. INDEX. 371 Ulster's Roll, 32. Untitled Families, 63. Vanneck Family, Rise of, 53. Venetian nobility, 58. Verekers, 53. Vernon, 33. Vernon, Sir Ralph, 121. Versailles Gallery, 315. Vice Regal Private Balls, 231. Vice Regal Court, Memokies OF, 226. Vice Regal Receptions, 228. Vicissitudes of families. Letter on, 360. Visitations, 347. Walpole, Horace, 292. Walpole, Sir Robert, 292. Wellington, Duke of, Birth, Birthplace and early home, 94. Westenra Family, Rise of, 53 Widows of " Honourables " re- married, 257. Wrottesley, Baron, 33. THE END. :!-:sii, ru'XTKR, '^i'ildi'diu^, suiiKKy. In tv:o volumes, price One Chdnea. THE VICISSITUDES OF FAMILIES, BY J SIE BER^AED BUEKE, O.B., NEW AND REMODELLED EDITION. This compact edition of " The Vicissitudes of Families " has been very carefully revised, remodelled, and in many parts re-written. New Stories have been introduced ; and anecdotes and details in further elucidation of the subject, thus forming a substantive and complete record of the changeful fortunes of our great houses, — a work, in fact, illustrative of that portion so eventful, and yet so little known, of this country's domestic history. My topic is the greatness that has gone by, — passing, either rapidly, like the lion struck down in his pride, or slowly, like the oak for ages withering away. The theme in itself is so instructive that I do hope I am not too presumptu- ous in the pleasing anticipation that these "Vicissitudes" may attract and interest my readers, and turn their hearts to the sorrows and sufferings of those Avho have fallen. 2 oft not deservedly, from high estate and dazzling glory, into litter misery and oVjlivion. ' ' This work contains as many examples of strange adventure and capricious fate as Avould suffice to render even a story of romance intensely interesting and ^s,th.etic."— Examiner. " . . . . Curious collection of the decays and lapses of hereditary glory." — PaU Mall Gazette. ' ' The clever and profoundly interesting history of ' The Vicissi- tudes of Families' is one of great attractions." — Globe. " In this work there is a ricli mine for the writers of romances in real life, who generally think tliat real life is more real if it is high."— Mornlnr/ Post. ' ' These two volumes contain a series of some of the most interest- ing narratives to be found in the domain of actual fact."- — London lie view. "The subject is good, and the labour has been well bestowed." — Athenceum. ' ' The present edition is entirely remodelled, and represents in its new form a substantive and complete record of the changeful for- tunes of great houses." — Observer. " The subject so ably treated by Sir Bernard is one of surpassing interest, forming an important chapter in the general history of the empire, and possessing all the charm and vividness of a romance." — Dublin Express. ' ' The se remodelled volumes are to the sensational literature of the day what the green lield and the harvest moon are to the daubed canvass and circular transparency of the scene painter and property- man. Strength is the characteristic of the work, fulness the sur- prising feature, gentleness the ch&vm.." —Freeman^ s Journal. LONGMANS, GEEEN, EEADER, AND DYER, PATERNOSTER-ROW, LONDON. TO BE HAD OF ALL BOOKSELLERS. JiiHt Pu'jllih/'d, Price O/i" ShUlin[/, THE SOVEREIGNS OF ENGLAND FKOil ^hz JlornuTU Conquest, IN RHYME. " This pretty little book will certainly ])e both attrac- tive and useful to the rising generation. We are all well aware that any rhyme learned in childhood is retained in the memory; while, perhaps, particulars which we have more carefully studied pass from our minds, never to be recalled. The importance of an accurate knowledge of the principal facts and dates connected with English historj^ is an undeniable advantage ; and no surer way can be de- vised for fixing them in the youthful mind than by the method made use of in this little volume. "We have here the date, and an epitome, in rhyme, of the reign of every English sovereign from the time of William the Conqueror." — DiihJ'm Evening Mail. " Here we have an excellent history of England for chil- dren, in miniature, and in music. . . . The work was Avritten for the children of the author, who thinks that the his- tory of England ' is the most amusing of books, far more interesting than fairy tale or romance. The " Babes in the Wood " is a pretty tale, but, after all, it is mere fancy. The story, quite as sorrowful, of the little Princes murdered in the Tower, is true from beginning to end. Henrj- VIII. was as terrible a personage as Blue Beard ; and Charles II., concealed in the oak, j^layed the part of "The Invisible Prince," Avithout the aid of the fairy, Gentilla. Besides, the information gleaned from history will be of use to j'ou Mdien you grow uj:), and will stand your friend on many occasions.' " — Irish Times. DUBLIX : HODGES, FOSTEE, & CO. LONDOX : HARRISON, BOOKSELLER TO THE QUEEN, 59, PALL MALL. /) UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY AA 000 845 402 7 CENTRAL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY University of California, San Diego DATE DUE [yiAR_241973_ __JUIUJU9I4 __jjLiuiuai