450 



PEER PEGASSUS. 



curia; and the institution was extended from the 

 court of tin- king to the principalities and lordships 

 of the spiritual ami secular barons. In France, at 

 the time of the revolution by which Hugh Capet 

 ascended the throne in 987, there were but seven 

 secular princes immediate vassals of the crown the 

 dukes of France, Burgundy, Aquitaine, and Nor- 

 mandy, and the counts of Flanders, Toulouse, and 

 Champagne. When the duke of France became 

 king, there remained but six, to whom were added 

 the archbishop of Rheims as spiritual primate of 

 France, ;iiiil tlit- bishop of I .ami, with the title of 

 duke, those of Beauvais, Noyon, and Chalons, with 

 that of count, and at a later period, under Louis VII., 

 also the bishop of Langres, because their dioceses 

 were situated within the immediate domains of the 

 crown. This ancient peerage did not exist long, 

 and the members were rather titular dignitaries than 

 active instruments in the administration of the realm. 

 The ancient principalities of peers were, by degrees, 

 united with the crown, only the spiritual lords main- 

 tained their titles. However, the immediate vassals 

 of the principalities, of the king as former duke of 

 France, of the dukes of Guienne, Normandy, Brit- 

 tany, and the prince counts, continued to appear on 

 days of slate and of the administration of justice ; 

 and when standing courts (parliaments, q. v.) grew 

 out of these, they retained their seats, until they 

 were gradually displaced by the preponderance of 

 the professional members. The ancient peerage, 

 however, has several times acted as a judicial tri- 

 bunal in the case of the trial of princes of the realm; 

 for instance, when king John of England, in 1200, 

 was cited to appear on account of the murder of his 

 nephew, Arthur of Brittany, and was declared to 

 have forfeited his fief of Brittany. Instead of the 

 old peerages, the territories of which were united 

 with the crown, new ones were created ; among 

 others the dukedom of Brittany, the counties of 

 Artois and Anjou, in 1296, the new duchy of Bur- 

 gundy, for Philip the Bold, in 13G1, which were fol- 

 lowed by the creation of other dignities, in the be- 

 ginning merely for princes of the blood, but since 

 1551, also for other eminent persons. Under Louis 

 XIV., the number of peers (dues et pairs') was still 

 increased ; yet, besides their rank, a seat in the 

 parliament was their only privilege. Among these 

 new peerages was that of the archbishop of Paris, 

 who, as a secular peer, was called duke of St Cloud : 

 the most ancient was the duke of Uzes, of the year 

 1572 ; the latest the English duke of Richmond. 

 There were thirty-seven of them. At the corona- 

 tion, the ancient twelve peers were represented. 

 The revolution of the last century, of course, abo- 

 lished the French peerage ; but Louis XVIII. re- 

 established it after the model of that of England, by 

 the charter of 1814. In the article France, we have 

 given their privileges, and the right of the crown to 

 establish them. Vill&Ie created, under Charles X., 

 seventy-six new peers at once, and when the char- 

 ter was amended in consequence of the revolution of 

 1830, several changes were made in relation to the 

 peers, and, by a special provision, " all the creations 

 of peers during the reign of Charles X. are declared 

 null and void ;" they amounted to ninety-three. It 

 was provided, also, that article twenty-third of the 

 charter should undergo a fresh examination during 

 the session of 1831. That article runs thus : " The 

 nomination of the peers of France belongs to the 

 king. Their number is unlimited : he can vary 

 their dignities, and name them peers for life, or 

 make them hereditary, at his pleasure." The new 

 law abolishing hereditary peerage very readily 

 passed the chamber of deputies; but its fate in the 

 house of peers was not settled until thirty-six new 



peers were created for life, Nov. 19th, 1831. U 

 finally passed this house, December 28th, by a ma- 

 jority of thirty-three. It was a radical fault in ihe 

 French charter of 1814, to establish a peerage after 

 the model of the English, whilst none of the founda- 

 tions, on which the English peerage rests, exists in 

 France. Napoleon's judgment on this point was 

 very correct. He said to Benjamin Constant, " The 

 peerage is not in harmony with the present state of 

 public opinion. It would wound the pride of the 

 army ; it would deceive the expectation of the par- 

 tisans of equality ; it would raise against us a thou- 

 sand individual pretensions. Where do you expect 

 me to find the elements of aristocracy which the 

 peerage requires? The ancient fortunes are hostile ; 

 several of the modern ones dishonourable. Six or 

 seven illustrious names do not suffice. Without 

 remembrances, without historical eclat, without large 

 properties, on what would my peerage rest? That 

 of England is something totally different: it is above 

 the people, but it has not been against it. It was 

 the nobles who gave liberty to England. The great 

 charter comes from them ; they have grown great 

 with the constitution, and have been born with it. 

 But within thirty years my mushrooms of peers 

 would be nothing but soldiers or chamberlains. You 

 would only see a camp or a chamber." 



In England, the peerage originated as in France. 

 This dignity belongs to the five degrees of nobility 

 (duke, marquis, earl, viscount, and baron), by right, 

 which is not the case with the French nobility, 

 though the idea of mesalliance does not prevail by 

 any means to the same extent in England as on the 

 continent of Europe. In the beginning, all the 

 crown vassals appeared at court on the days of state, 

 and attended the diets ; afterwards only those who 

 were summoned to appear by writ. This custom 

 grew at length into a rule, and the summonses were 

 considered proofs of hereditary peerage. There is 

 one lordship the borough of Arundel which con- 

 fers the dignity of earl on its possessor by prescrip- 

 tion. In regard to all other titles, the peerage is 

 personal, and descends in a direct line from male to 

 male. The chief privileges of peers are that of a 

 seat in the house of lords, of a trial by persons of 

 noble birth, in case of indictments for treason and 

 felony, and misprision thereof, and of exemption 

 from arrest in civil cases. The number of Catholic 

 peers in Great Britain and Ireland is about twenty. 

 The expenses attendant on the creation of a peer in 

 England, including the fees paid at the herald's of- 

 fice, &c., amount to 600. 



PEGASUS, in fabulous history, a winged horse, 

 sprung from the blood of Medusa, when Perseus had 

 cut oft' her head. He received his name from his 

 being born, according to Hesiod, near the sources 

 (xnyai) of the ocean. As soon as born, he left the 

 earth, and flew up into heaven ; or rather, according 

 to Ovid, he fixed his residence on mount Helicon, 

 where, by striking the earth with his foot, he in- 

 stantly raised a fountain, which was called Hippo- 

 crene. He became the favourite of the muses, and, 

 being afterwards tamed by Neptune or Minerva, he 

 was given to Bellerophon to conquer the Chimaera. 

 (See Hipponous.) No sooner was this monster de- 

 stroyed, than Pegasus threw down his rider, because 

 he attempted to fly to heaven. This act of temerity 

 in Bellerophon was punished by Jupiter, who sent 

 an insect to torment Pegasus, which occasioned the 

 melancholy fall of his rider. Pegasus continued his 

 flight up to heaven, and was placed among the con- 

 stellations by Jupiter. Perseus, according to Ovid, 

 was mounted on the horse Pegasus, when he de- 

 stroyed the sea- monster, which was going to devour 

 Andromache. 



