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ENGLISH RECORDS OF PEDIGREE.

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which, however, was never accomplished; and accord ingly, many Noblemen are unable to exhibit any pedigrees except those which are published in the fleeting "Peerages" of the day. The recording of Genealogies, however, appears to have long held a prominent place among the duties of the English Heralds. The evidence usually produced in corroboration of pedigree is, of course, documentary consisting of deeds, inquisitions post mortem, funeral certificates, testamentary bequests, and extracts from parochial registers. According to Mr. Dallaway, "the indispensable practice of the College of Arms enjoins, that whenever a pedigree, hitherto unentered or to be compiled, is offered for their sanction, the herald retained for that purpose is obliged to submit it to the whole society in chapter, and all objections must be resolved before it is inserted in the public register, and duly confirmed."1

Besides a more general registration of Arms, it is very desirable that the Lord Lyon's Register of Genealogies should be much more extensively used than heretofore. If framed upon proper principles, the value and importance of such a record can hardly be over-estimated. First and foremost, it ought to embrace the Scottish Peerage, in whose historical associations all ranks and conditions of men cannot fail to feel some interest. Baronets, Knights, and Squires ought also to occupy its pages. In many

1 Inquiries into the Origin and Progress of the Science of Heraldry in England, p. 361.

2 In alluding to the Douglases as the most illustrious family in Scot

land, Mr. Hannay quaintly remarks that "even a Glasgow radical warms at the name" !— (Essays from the Quarterly Review, p. 41.)

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SCOTTISH FAMILY HISTORIES.

instances, indeed, the Commoner can show redder blood than the Peer, and we are sometimes apt to forget that numbers of our untitled aristocracy are strictly Noble in the old and proper sense of that term. Lastly, the wealth and intelligence of our own day, although not combined with ancient lineage, should unquestionably hold a place among the entries in the Register, as at least two or three generations can generally be authenticated.

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Unfortunately, the deficiency in question is not even partially supplied by County Histories, of which England has produced so many admirable specimens. We can boast, however, of several excellent Family Histories, embracing a large amount of genealogical detail. Among others, we may specify Hume of Godscroft's well-known History of the House of Douglas and Angus" (1644); Bishop Burnet's "Memoirs of the Dukes of Hamilton (1677); the three Genealogical Histories of the Stewarts, by Crawfurd (1710 and 1782), Duncan Stewart (1739), and Andrew Stuart (1798); Sir Walter Scott's "Memorie of the Somervilles," 2 vols. (1815); Sir Richard Maitland's "Cronicle of the Hous of Seytoun" (1829); Lord Strathallan's "Genealogie of the most noble and ancient House of Drummond" (1831); and Lord Lindsay's "Lives of the Lindsays," 3 vols. (1849), of which it has been truly said that “it appears to unite, more happily than any other performance, the old sentiment of past days with

1 66 Every British gentleman entitled to bear coat-armour, is noble, whether titled or not. It is only in comparatively recent times that this has been forgotten, and the term

'Nobility' exclusively appropriated to the Peerage."-(Lord Lindsay's Lives of the Lindsays, i. 227, note.)

See also The Nobility of the British Gentry, by Sir James Laurence.

DISTINCTION OF CADETS.

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the knowledge and clearness of the time in which we live-the heart of the fifteenth century with the eyes of the nineteenth." Probably one of the most valuable modern contributions to the subject of Genealogy and Heraldry combined is Mr. Henry Drummond's splendid folio "History of Noble British Families" (1844-9), of which only eight parts were published, embracing the Scottish Houses of Bruce, Dunbar, Hume, Dundas, and Drummond, besides seven or eight English historical families. It was suggested by Count Litta's sumptuous book on Italian families, and is profusely illustrated by facsimiles of Seals, engravings of Monuments, interesting Portraits, and gorgeous Heraldry. As two still more recent productions of a similar kind, we may mention the beautiful works privately printed by Mr. Stirling of Keir and the lamented Lord Eglinton-"The Stirlings of Keir and their Family Papers" (1858), and the " Memorials of the Montgomeries," 2 vols. (1859) —- both edited by Mr. William Fraser of the General Register House, whose remarkable familiarity with all matters connected with peerage and pedigree is now so well known, and who, we are glad to understand, is at present engaged in the preparation of a similar work relative to the ancient family of Maxwell.

SECTION II.-MODE OF DIFFERENCING CADETS.

One of the principal heraldic duties of the Lord Lyon, or his Deputy, is to assign suitable marks of difference to the Cadets, or younger branches, of families having a 1 Hannay's Essays from the Quarterly Review, p. 75.

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CONGRUENT DIFFERENCES.

right to Armorial Bearings. Like the rescinded Act of 1662, the later Statute of 1672 makes special reference to the fact of many of the lieges who were entitled to bear Arms having unlawfully assumed, "without distinctions," the ensigns of the Heads of their families; and for the purpose of enabling the Lyon to distinguish the bearings of such persons with " congruent differences," special provision is made for the transmission of authenticated certificates of their descent.

Besides an elaborate chapter in his larger work, the laborious Nisbet has produced a separate treatise on the subject under consideration, entitled "An Essay on Additional Figures and Marks of Cadency, showing the ancient and modern practice of differencing Descendants, in this and other Nations." Towards the commencement of the volume, he introduces the following advice of the learned Camden, Clarenceux King-of-Arms in England :--"No Gentleman ought to bear the differences in Armories otherwise than the office of Armorie requireth, and when younger brethren do marry, erect and establish new Houses, and accordingly do bear their Arms with such a distinction and difference that they might be known from the families from which they are descended, the King-of-Arms ought to be consulted withal, and such differences of Houses are to be assigned and established by his privity and consent, that so he may advise them best and keep record thereof; otherwise Gentlemen, by taking unfit Brisures,' may either prejudge themselves or

1 The French term for marks of Cadency, from their breaking the principal Arms of the family.

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