The House of Lords at that time (1719) consisted of these peers:

It is sufficient to say, that this destructive plan was abandoned.

This King made some other additions, but they were generally titles of England given to Irish peers. The order of the Garter was given to twenty-one, and that of the Bath was re-established with peculiar splendor. An ill-judged rebellion, speculative schemes, particularly the South Sea Company, with the extension of commerce and taxes, completely ruined the minor gentry, driving their families into the cities to engage in traffic. Before, persons of one or two hundred pounds a year had lived independently, and brought up their children, and were enabled to devise. their estate to the eldest son. Such families were, however, great incon

G

* In this statement is not included peers raised to higher titles.

veniences

veniences to the nation, for they were proud, supercilious, generally illeducated, and frequently sunk into the lowest degree of sensuality.

George II. had many virtues, without any of those traits which constitute the hero. His reign was disturbed by a dangerous rebellion, and by a constant division of the great families to obtain the administration ; yet his sun set in a blaze of glory. He was extremely accurate in giving titles, but less so in conferring the orders of the Garter and the Bath. The privileged ranks were much injured by their constant divisions, and the meanness of the unsuccessful party in copying the noisy conduct of the Roman tribunes, to catch the popular favor. Commerce rewarded her votaries with a profusion of wealth; and the lower class became much more respectable than before. Every comfort was enjoyed by them, and the nations were in an enviable situation: the people repaid the Sovereign for the just and equal laws he gave them by their loyalty and veneration.

Britain, again saw a native upon her throne, in the person of his present Majesty, whose public and private virtues are as extensively known as his name. At no time have these nations been so famed for valor, commerce, and the arts. That democratic spirit kindling in the late century, chiefly by the sectaries, was blown into a flame in this reign. America took the advantage, and braved the parent state. After a severe struggle she burst the filial bonds, and ruin was threatened to the mother-country; but, freed from an undutiful child, she, as by magic, rose to a far superior state. She now rides triumphant upon the ocean, the glory, the envy, and the terror of all her enemies, and the protectress of her allies. At no time, since the reign of Edward III., has the royal family been so numerous. The peerage has been totally changed by the King, who will for ages be remembered as the founder of the great body of the nobility. This arises from the length of his Majesty's reign, the number of extinct titles, and still more, by the vast increase of wealth, which has been poured into these kingdoms from every quarter of the globe. This has made it necessary to call up such a number of the richest commoners, as is sufficient to be a suitable balance in the second order of the legislature, or their weight in the scale must have been lost. The dukedoms, exclusive of the royal ones, are much lessened; and probably

they

they will be suffered to decrease, without ever having any new ones. The title of marquis, which has been prudently renewed, is the highest rank a subject, not of the blood royal, can receive. Numerous as the creations have been, many are only peers raised to superior titles, and others which will merge into such, or will become extinct upon the death of the person ennobled. The order of the Garter at no time has been more illustrious. That of the Bath is a suitable reward for military and naval merit. The Thistle has been extremely well supported. Ireland has been honored with the order of St. Patrick. The long neglected, but highly respectable one, of Banneret, has been in some measure revived: it would make an admirable distinction for gallant officers in the army or the fleet, where simple knighthood is too little, and the order of the Bath, perhaps, too

much.

The wealth of our gentry and our merchants is proverbial. It is unquestionable, that the families of the former are now more easily provided for than in the earlier ages of the monarchy. The church and the camp were then the only situations to which the younger sons would resort: besides these, we have now a most splendid navy, an infinite number of places of trust and profit, both at home, and in our extensive possessions in Asia, America, and our other dominions. Law, physic, merchandize, and the fine arts, afford an ample provision to very many.

The situation of the inferior order is, if possible, more improved. Our tradesmen, yeomen, and farmers are wealthy, often very rich: even the manufacturer and laborer is comfortably lodged, well fed, and clothed ornaments adorn their females. From slaves and villains they have become freemen, and are enabled, by industry and frugality, to provide for themselves and their families; sometimes to gain one, or more steps higher in the order of society. Instead of being, like the cattle, conveyed away with the soil, they have liberty to remove whithersoever they please, even to transport themselves to any part of the world.

During the period I have noticed, containing more than seven centuries, vast changes have been insensibly wrought. Our religion, our laws, customs, manners, have been altered; our monarchs are not absolute, like the Norman Kings; nor our nobility terrific to the Sovereign, and oppressive to the people, as they were in the reigns of the Plantagenets. The lesser barons, become the great commoners, with the principal in

habitants of our cities and boroughs, form a middle class these, representing the great mass of the people in parliament, make the base of the column, terminating in a point, surmounted with a crown. Thus our constitution, the work of ages, is the pride of our own, the envy of other countries. It affords a liberty universally diffused; such as no nation, ancient or modern, ever knew. We have privileged orders: we prize them as excellent incitements to glory: they are attainable by all who can merit them. Nothing can so well prove the excellence of the British constitution as the progressive, since the revolution, though rapid increase of population. William I. found in England about two millions of inhabitants: there are now more than fourteen, it is supposed. For ages she had been the prey of every lawless foe: Romans, Saxons, Danes, and Normans, had each subdued her. What is the difference now? She awes the mightiest empires. How many millions give a willing submission to her sceptre :-In how many languages is his Majesty addressed as sovereign! Whithersoever a Briton turns his eyes upon the globe, he sees reason to exult in his country's greatness, wealth, and fame. The sea is, as it were, exclusively his own: there the British navy rides triumphant. These favored islands are alike the scat of arms, of arts, and of commerce. So long as we retain our religion and our laws, our public integrity and private virtues, we may, with humble confidence, trust, that we shall never sink to the defenceless state from which we have so long immerged, to be placed amongst the most honorable of the earth,

HISTORY

OF THE

COLLEGE OF ARMS.

OF ENGLISH HERALDS.

IT is not my intention to write a dissertation upon the antiquity and office of heralds in general, or of our own in particular, nor to speak of all the immunities and privileges our English monarchs have bestowed upon them; for all these the reader is referred to Sir Henry Spelman, Weaver, Anstis, Edmondson, and others, who treat upon the subject. A volume as large as this would scarce contain all they have said.

The design of these sheets is to give the successions of the different kings, heralds, and pursuivants, since their incorporation by Richard III., with the most authentic memorials of them, interspersed with remarks, relative to the society.

We know little of the establishment of the Anglo-Saxon Monarchs' courts; but it is certain, the Normanic Kings displayed a grandeur equal to the greatest sovereigns in Europe: for as they were in puissance inferior to none, so they were not exceeded in all the external ornaments and badges of majesty. Edward III. and Henry V. raising the glory of England to the most eminent degree, chivalry became the darling of their subjects. The nobility and gentry, copying the court, affected the utmost splendor, uniting with all the elegance and pomp their ancestors had seen practised in the East, the martial manners which the feudal system had established.

The