222 DISTINCTION BETWEEN 



were obliged to expose to public view some time before the 

 lists were opened. Pray., mamma, do heralds now go round 

 to register the arms of the different families, as they used for- 

 merly to do 1 ? 



MRS. F. 



No; that custom has been abandoned; the earliest visitation 

 was in 1529, the latest in 1686. 



HENRIETTA. 



What was their object] 



MRS. F. 



These visitations were conducted every thirty years by 

 Norroy in the north, and by Clarenceux in the south of 

 England. On these occasions each of these kings at arms, 

 attended by their suite, summoned the neighboring gentry to 

 their county town, to have enregistered the births, deaths, 

 and marriages that had occurred in their families since their 

 last visitation. Such persons as had usurped titles or digni- 

 ties, or had borne ensigns of gentility which did not belong 

 to them, were obliged, under their own hands, to disclaim all 

 pretence or title to them, and, for their presumption, they 

 were moreover degraded by proclamation made by the com- 

 mon town crier, in the market place nearest to their abode; 

 and, under the names of these plebeians who had assumed 

 coats of arms, was written "ignobiles."* 



ESTHER. 



What confusion, what stripping of borrowed plumes would 

 such a visitation cause now, when so many assume arms to 

 which they have no title, and all style themselves " gentle- 



Yes; it is quite absurd to see how indiscriminately the title 

 is applied; but I believe that this abuse of it is mostly con- 

 fined to England. In France they are not so ridiculous; on 



* Lawrence on the Nobility of the English Gentry. 



