Punch: Punch (6.1844)

THE COMIC BLACKSTONE.

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI. 67

but some Barons are in the habit of degrading themselves, by wasting
their estates, without any interference of the Sovereign.

The first dignity beneath that of a Peer was a vidames, a title so old,
| that antiquarians quarrel greatly as to what a vidames was ; though
CHAPTER THE TWELFTH.—OF THE CIVIL STATE. [they agree pretty well in believing that such a thing as a rudaines never

existed. The first personal dignity after the nobility is consequently now
settled to be that of a Knight of the Garter, instituted by Edward
the Third to preserve tidiness in the stockings of the aristocracy—a
point that has been beautifully kept iu view by Shakespeare, who makes
Hamlet wear his stockings about his heels until he visits England,
where it is supposed he has been invested with the Garter, and he
consequently always appears in the last act with his silk hose properly
adjusted.

Next comes a Knight Banneret, or a knight made by the Sovereign ha
person on the field of battle ; so that, if a civil war should break out in
London, her Majesty might rush to Lincoln's Inn-fields and manufacture
knights bannerets. After these come the Baronets, an order instituted
by James the First to raise money to meet a bill for the reduction of
Ulster. Next follow the Knights of the Bath, instituted by Henry the
Fourth, and so called from the ceremony of taking a bath the night

The Civil State includes every one of the laity who does not belong to
the military or maritime state. But there are some of the military, such
as the sentinels on duty at the Park, who are in a very civil state, when
asked a civil question.

The Civil State consists of the nobility and commonalty, the former of
which resembles, in some respects, " ginger beer from the fountain," the
Sovereign being the fountain from which alone it is possible to draw
nobility.

The Sovereign may invent any titles he pleases ; but those now m use
are Dukes, Marquesses, Earls, Viscounts, and Barons.

A Duke is derived from the latin word dux, a military leader ; and
perhaps the practice of soldiers wearing dux or ducks in the present day,
has something to do with it. In the time of Elizabeth, the order of Dukes
became extinct—but it was galvanised fifty years afterwards. A
Marquess is the next degree of nobility, and is so called from the Teutonic
word marche, a limit, because the Marquesses ori-
ginally watched the limits of the kingdom—but,
whether they acted as a sort of coast-guard, or as a
police on the frontiers, or as beadles to beat the
bounds of the kingdom, we are wholly at a loss to
make up our minds about. An Earl is a title so early,
that it is impossible to trace its origin. It is sup-
posed that after the Norman Conquest, William made
Earls of those who were the earliest to do him
homage. The Saxons had their Ealdormen, which
got corrupted into Earldermen—or, greater corrup-
tion still, into Aldermen. An Earl was at one time
called a Count, from an old Norman pun of the Con-
queror, who said f< he could Count upon his early
friends ;" but, as the pun died off, the title was dis-
continued, leaving nothing to keep it in remembrance
but the word County.

The Sovereign, in writs, always styles an earl his
" trusty and well-beloved cousin"—a reason as old
as Henry the Fourth, who had really cousined, or
cozened, all the Earls, and was related to every one
of them.

The next degree is that of Viscount, or vice comes;
which, though we have turned on the gas of research
from the main of history, we are unable to throw a
light upon.

The last, and most general degree of nobility, is
that of Baron, which was formerly so numerous, that
the King summoned only the greater ones to the
council of the nation, and the others gradually
became extinct—except the barony of Nathan, the
holder of which, though not enjoying a seat in the
peers, occupies a seat in or near the (Kennington)
Commons.

Peerages were formerly annexed to lands ; ami
even now there are some piers—such as those of
Westminster-bridge—which only exist by the hold
they have upon the soil ; but this sort of tenure has
now become very uncertain.

Peers are now created by writ or by patent ; so
that, when a sheriff's officer serves a person with a
writ, he is said to be made a-ppear (a peer) by the
writ being served on him. But every one who is
summoned by a writ is not ennobled, and it is now
usual to make peers by the batch.

_ Let us now examine the privileges of nobility, the first of which is the , before their creation. This fact about the bath is given on the authority
right of being tried by one's peers—the last case being that of Westminster j of a case in Shower.

Bridge, which when tried by its piers was sentenced to have its head I William the Fourth instituted a Guelphic order, and a few knights
entirely removed—and was so far disgraced as to be brought down to a were installed ; but the instalments not being regularly kept up, the

lower level.

order expired.

A peer or peeress cannot he arrested in civil cases. Peers always give a Knights are called in Latin equites ; and, indeed, all nations call their

verdict upon their honour ; and there is something, therefore, very aristo- knights by some name connected with a horse, excepting the Scotch order

cratic in the term, " 'Pon honour ! " which is, probably, the reason why of the Thistle, which seems to show that the Scotch knights are akin to

dandy footmen and shop-boys " out for the day," generally make use of it. another and a much more homely quadruped.

A peer cannot be deprived of his nobility except by death or by attainder; St. Patrick is the name of an Irish order ; but St. Patrick's day—

though, in the reign of Edward the Fourth, George Neville, Duke of Bed-
ford, was reduced to such a seedy state, that he was degraded on account of
his poverty. It is probable that he attended Parliament in a cotton velvet
robe, and a squirrel cape instead of real ermine ; while, instead of the
ducal coronet,—irredeemably pledged, and the ticket out of date—he
sported a sort of theatrical property, made of tinfoil and mother-of-pearl,
cutting in every respect such a very shabby figure that the peers, amid
loud cries of « Turn him out," got unceremoniously rid of him. The Act
of Parliament by which it was accomplished was termed an " Act for Cut-
ting the Tin Kettle, from the tail of George Neville, Duke of Bedford."
It is said that, if a Baron wastes his estate, the Kins; may degrade him ;

particularly in the morning—is more associated with the idea of dis-order
than order ; at least, it is generally considered so.

The lowest order of knighthood is that of the Knights Bachelors, the
first of whom was Alfred's son, Athelstan, who must have been a single
young man ; and his wretched fate proves that he was ultimately ''taken
in and done for."

" These," says Coke, " are all the names of dignity ;" but Sir Edward
confounds together Esquires and Gentlemen, leaving the subject con-
foundedly obscure, according to the usual custom of the quaint old jurist.
It has been said that any one who wore coat armour was an Esquire ; in
which case the supernumeraries at Drury-lane, clothed as thev are ii>