son is by courtesy Viscount Cranbourne. The younger sons of marquises are called lords by their Christian names, as Lord John, &c.; and the daughters of marquises are born ladies; the eldest son of a marquis ranks next beneath an earl.

EARL.

The next degree of honour is an earl, which title came from the Saxons; for in the ancient Anglo-Saxon government, earldoms of counties were not only dignities of honour, but offices of justice, having the charge and custody of the county whereof they were earls, and for assistance having their deputy, called vicecomes, which office is now managed by sheriffs. The first earl in Britain that was invested by girding with the sword, was Hugh de Pusay, or Pudsey, Bishop of Durham, who, by King Richard I., was created Earl of Northumberland.

An earl's robes nowise differ from a duke's or marquis's, except that a duke's mantle has four guards, a marquis's three and a half, and an earl's but three, with a gold lace and his coronation mantle is the same as theirs, with only this difference--a duke's has four rows of spots on each shoulder; a marquis's four on the right, and but three on the left; and an earl's has but three on each. His cap is also the same, but his coronet is different; for as a duke's has only leaves, a marquis's leaves and pearls of equal height, that of an earl has the pearls much higher than the leaves. Pl. XLIII., n. 8.

After a man is created an earl, viscount, or receives any other title of honour, above the title he enjoyed before, it becomes part of his name, and not an addition only; and in all legal proceedings he ought to be styled

by that of his dignity. An earl has the title of lordship; and, being written to, is styled right honourable.

By the courtesy of England, an earl's eldest son is born a viscount if there is such a title attached to the name, otherwise he is called lord only, as in the case of the Earl of Derby, whose eldest son is Lord Stanley, and an earl's daughters are all ladies; but his younger sons have no title of peerage.

VISCOUNT,

The next degree of honour to an earl is that of viscount, which was anciently an office under an earl, who, being the king's immediate officer in his county, and his personal attendance being often required at court, had his deputy to look after the affairs of the county, which officer is now called a sheriff, retaining the name of his substitution (in Latin vicecomes); but about the 18th of Henry VI., 1440, it became a degree of honour, by his conferring this title upon John Lord Beaumont, by letters patent, with the same ceremony as that of an earl, marquis, and duke.

The mantle of a viscount has two guards and a half, each having a gold lace; his coronation mantle has three rows of spots on the right shoulder, and two on the left.

His coronet, which is a circle of gold, is adorned with twelve silver balls. Pl. XLIII., n. 9.

The title of a viscount is, right honourable and truly noble, or potent lord.

The eldest son of a viscount has no title of peerage, nor are his daughters ladies; but the eldest son and daughter of the first viscount in Great Britain and Ireland are said to be the first gentleman and gentlewoman without a title in the kingdom.

ARCHBISHOPS AND BISHOPS.

The two archbishops have superintendence over all the churches of England, and in some respects over the other bishops; and the Archbishop of Canterbury has a kind of supereminence over the Archbishop of York; for he has power to summon him to a national synod or convocation, and is primate of all England, and next in rank to the royal family; precedes not only dukes, but all the great officers of the crown; nor does any, except the lord chancellor, or lord keeper, come between him and the Archbishop of York.

He is “primate and metropolitan of all England," and has the title of grace given him, and most reverend father in God.

To the Archbishop of Canterbury it properly belongs to crown the sovereign, to consecrate a new-made bishop, and to call provincial synods: the Bishop of London being accounted his provincial dean, the Bishop of Winchester his chancellor, and the Bishop of Rochester his chaplain.

The Archbishop of York, who is "primate of England, and metropolitan of his province," has the honour to crown the queen-consort, and to be her perpetual chaplain he hath also the title of grace, and most reverend father in God.

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Next to the two archbishops in the episcopal college, the bishops of London, Durham, and Winchester have always the precedence, by a statute made 21 Hen. VIII.; and all the other bishops according to the priority of their consecrations.

The Bishop of London precedes, as being bishop of the capital city of England, and provincial dean of

Canterbury, the Bishop of Durham, as Earl of Sedburg; and the Bishop of Winchester, as prelate of the order of the Garter.

All bishops (as spiritual barons) are said to be three ways barons of the realm, viz. by writ, patent, and consecration; they precede all under the degree of viscounts, having always their seat on the sovereign's right hand in the parliament-house; and being the fathers and guardians of the church, they are styled fathers in God.

As the two archbishops are called most reverend, and have the title of grace, so the inferior bishops are called right reverend, and have the title of lordship given them.

A bishop's robe, in parliament, is of fine scarlet cloth, having a long train, and is doubled on the shoulders with miniver, edged with white ermine, as is the bosom; and when he goes to the House of Lords (the sovereign being there), his train is supported by four chaplains to the door of the house; after which, by a red riband fixed to the end of the train and tied in a loop, he supports it himself, the loop being put over his right wrist; and in that form he takes his seat, having a four-square cap on his head.

BARONS.

A temporal baron is an hereditary dignity of nobility and honour next to a bishop; and of this degree there are two sorts in England, viz. a baron by writ, and a baron by patent.

A baron by writ is he unto whom a writ of summons in the name of the sovereign is directed, without a patent of creation, to come to the parliament, appointed

to be holden at a certain time and place, and there to treat and advise with his sovereign, the prelates, and nobility, about the weighty affairs of the nation.

The first institutor of a baron by patent was King Richard II., who in the year 1388, the eleventh of his reign, created John Beauchamp, of Holt Castle, Baron of Kidderminster, and invested him with a surcoat, mantle, hood, cape, and verge. The newly-created baron is now brought into the House of Lords in his robes, between two peers of the same degree, and introduced by Garter King-of-arms, who carries the letters patent, the baron himself bearing the writ. A baron has but two guards and laces on each shoulder; and his coronation mantle has but two rows of spots on each shoulder.

A baron had no coronet till the reign of King Charles II., when he was adorned with a circle of gold, and six silver balls set close to the rim, but without jewels, as now borne. Pl. XLIII., n. 10.

A barony by patent goes to the heir-male, being almost universally so limited. But a barony by writ goes to the heirs-general; and in case of more female heirs than one, it becomes in abeyance, when the king may make his option, and grant it to which of them he thinks fit.

PRIVILEGES OF PEERS.

The nobility of England enjoy many great privileges, the principal of which are as follows:

They are free from all arrests for debt, as being the king's hereditary counsellors: therefore a peer cannot be outlawed in any civil action; and no attachment lies against his person; but execution may be taken