Part 36 (1/2)

THE first name of dignity, next beneath a peer, was anciently that of _vidames_, _vice domini_, or _valvasors_[g]: who are mentioned by our antient lawyers[h] as _viri magnae dignitatis_; and sir Edward c.o.ke[i]

speaks highly of them. Yet they are now quite out of use; and our legal antiquarians are not so much as agreed upon their original or ancient office.

[Footnote g: Camden. _ibid._]

[Footnote h: Bracton. _l._ 1. _c._ 8.]

[Footnote i: 2 Inst. 667.]

NOW therefore the first dignity after the n.o.bility, is a _knight_ of the order of St. George, or _of the garter_; first inst.i.tuted by Edward III, _A.D._ 1344[k]. Next follows a _knight banneret_; who indeed by statutes 5 Ric. II. st. 2. c. 4. and 14 Ric. II. c. 11. is ranked next after barons: and that precedence was confirmed to him by order of king James I, in the tenth year of his reign[l]. But, in order to int.i.tle himself to this rank, he must have been created by the king in person, in the field, under the royal banners, in time of open war[m]. Else he ranks after _baronets_; who are the next order: which t.i.tle is a dignity of inheritance, created by letters patent, and usually descendible to the issue male. It was first inst.i.tuted by king James the first, _A.D._ 1611. in order to raise a competent sum for the reduction of the province of Ulster in Ireland; for which reason all baronets have the arms of Ulster superadded to their family coat. Next follow _knights of the bath_; an order inst.i.tuted by king Henry IV, and revived by king George the first. They are so called from the ceremony of bathing, the night before their creation. The last of these inferior n.o.bility are _knights bachelors_; the most antient, though the lowest, order of knighthood amongst us: for we have an instance[n] of king Alfred's conferring this order on his son Athelstan. The custom of the antient Germans was to give their young men a s.h.i.+eld and a lance in the great council: this was equivalent to the _toga virilis_ of the Romans: before this they were not permitted to bear arms, but were accounted as part of the father's houshold; after it, as part of the public[o]. Hence some derive the usage of knighting, which has prevailed all over the western world, since it's reduction by colonies from those northern heroes. Knights are called in Latin _equites aurati_; _aurati_, from the gilt spurs they wore; and _equites_, because they always served on horseback: for it is observable[p], that almost all nations call their knights by some appellation derived from an horse. They are also called in our law _milites_, because they formed a part, or indeed the whole of the royal army, in virtue of their feodal tenures; one condition of which was, that every one who held a knights fee (which in Henry the second's time[q] amounted to 20_l._ _per annum_) was obliged to be knighted, and attend the king in his wars, or fine for his non-compliance. The exertion of this prerogative, as an expedient to raise money in the reign of Charles the first, gave great offence; though warranted by law, and the recent example of queen Elizabeth: but it was, at the restoration, together with all other military branches of the feodal law, abolished; and this kind of knighthood has, since that time, fallen into great disregard.

[Footnote k: Seld. t.i.t. of hon. 2. 5. 41.]

[Footnote l: Seld. t.i.t. hon. 2. 11. 3.]

[Footnote m: 4 Inst. 6.]

[Footnote n: Will. Malmsb. _lib._ 2.]

[Footnote o: Tac. _de morib. Germ._ 13.]

[Footnote p: Camden. _ibid._ Co. Litt. 74.]

[Footnote q: Glanvil. _l._ 9. _c._ 4.]

THESE, sir Edward c.o.ke says[r], are all the names of _dignity_ in this kingdom, esquires and gentlemen being only names of _wors.h.i.+p_. But before these last the heralds rank all colonels, serjeants at law, and doctors in the three learned professions.

[Footnote r: 2 Inst. 667.]

ESQUIRES and gentlemen are confounded together by sir Edward c.o.ke, who observes[s], that every esquire is a gentleman, and a gentleman is defined to be one _qui arma gerit_, who bears coat armour, the grant of which adds gentility to a man's family: in like manner as civil n.o.bility, among the Romans, was founded in the _jus imaginum_, or having the image of one ancestor at least, who had borne some curule office. It is indeed a matter somewhat unsettled, what const.i.tutes the distinction, or who is a real _esquire_: for it is not an estate, however large, that confers this rank upon it's owner. Camden, who was himself a herald, distinguishes them the most accurately; and he reckons up four sorts of them[t]: 1. The eldest sons of knights, and their eldest sons, in perpetual succession[u]. 2. The younger sons of peers, and their eldest sons, in like perpetual succession: both which species of esquires sir H. Spelman ent.i.tles _armigeri natalitii_[w].

3. Esquires created by the king's letters patent, or other invest.i.ture; and their eldest sons. 4. Esquires by virtue of their offices; as justices of the peace, and others who bear any office of trust under the crown. To these may be added the esquires of knights of the bath, each of whom const.i.tutes three at his installation; and all foreign, nay, Irish peers; and the eldest sons of peers of Great Britain, who, though generally t.i.tular lords, are only esquires in the law, and must so be named in all legal proceedings[x]. As for _gentlemen_, says sir Thomas Smith[y], they be made good cheap in this kingdom: for whosoever studieth the laws of the realm, who studieth in the universities, who professeth liberal sciences, and (to be short) who can live idly, and without manual labour, and will bear the port, charge, and countenance of a gentleman, he shall be called master, and shall be taken for a gentleman. A _yeoman_ is he that hath free land of forty s.h.i.+llings by the year; who is thereby qualified to serve on juries, vote for knights of the s.h.i.+re, and do any other act, where the law requires one that is _probus et legalis h.o.m.o_[z].

[Footnote s: 2 Inst. 668.]

[Footnote t: _Ibid._]

[Footnote u: 2 Inst. 667.]

[Footnote w: Gloss. 43.]

[Footnote x: 3 Inst. 30. 2 Inst. 667.]

[Footnote y: Commonw. of Eng. book 1. c. 20.]

[Footnote z: 2 Inst. 668.]

THE rest of the commonalty are _tradesmen_, _artificers_, and _labourers_; who (as well as all others) must in pursuance of the statute 1 Hen. V. c. 5. be stiled by the name and addition of their estate, degree, or mystery, in all actions and other legal proceedings.

CHAPTER THE THIRTEENTH.