PRECEDENCE. 



is always taken by rank of place, and not 



by title. 



Knii>hts> Bachelors. 



Masters in Chancery. 



Doctors, Deans, Sic. 



Serjeants at Law. 



Eldest sons of the younger sons of Peers. 



Baronets eldest sons, ^ 



Knights of the Garter I 



eldest sons. j Vide infra for 



Bannerets eldest sons. ^''ie younger 

 Knights of the Baih eld- J --ons. 



est sons 



Knights eldest sons. J 

 Baro: ets younger sons, K t Pat. 14 Jac. 



Ibid. 

 Esquires of the Sovereign* "^ by stat. 20 



body or Gentlemen or C-EiI. IV. and 



the 'privy Chamber. ) 9 Hen. VI. 



Esquiies of the Knights ot liie Bath. 

 Esquires by creation, by stat. 20 Edw.IV. 



and 9 Hen. VI. 

 Esquires by office. 

 Younger sons of Knight*") 



of the Garter. | , , ^ 



Younger sons of Banne- | ' Jr 1V ' 



pfKnrhnth kiiwla VJ & *" 1V 



rets of both kinds. 



ft CU \/l Will (V Mill 9. \p 



Younger sons ot Knights f~ 



_X* K , 11 . K I * 



of the Bath. 



Sec. Vincent's 

 Precedence, 



Younger sons of Knights | 151 > folio 124 ' 



Bachelors. J 



Gentlemen entitled to bear arms. 

 Clergymen, Barristers at Law, Officers in 

 the Navy and Army, who are all Gen- 

 tlemen by profession. 

 Citizens. 

 Burgesses, &c 



Almost every person above the lowest 

 rank of mechanics assuming the title of 

 Esquire, it may be worth while to give 

 our readers the opinion of Judge Black- 

 stone on this subject. Esquires and gen- 

 tlemen are confounded together by Sir 

 Edward Coke, who observes, that every 

 esquire is a gentleman, and a gentleman 

 is defined to be one qid arina gerit, who 

 bears coat armour, the grant of which 

 adds gentility to a man's family : in 

 like manner as civil nobility among the 

 Romans was founded in the jus imuginwn, 

 or having the image of one ancestor at 

 least, who had borne some curule office. 

 It is indeed a matter somewhat unsettled, 

 what constitutes the distinction, or who 

 is a real esquire ; for it is not an estate, 

 however large, that confers this rank up- 

 on its owner. Camden, who was himself 

 a herald, distinguishes them the most ac- 

 curately, and he reckons up four sorts of 

 them : 1. The eldest sons of Knights, 

 and their eldest sons, in perpetual suc- 

 cession. 2. The eldest sons of younger 



sons of Peers, and their eldest sons, in 

 like perpetual succession ; both which 

 species of esquires Sir Henry Spelman 

 entitles armigeri natalatii 3. E:>quires 

 created by the King's letters patent, or 

 olhev i y,-siiture, and their eldest sons. 

 4. Esquires by virtue of their offices, as 

 justices ot 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 con- 

 stitutes three at his installation ; and all 

 foreign, nay, Irish Peers ; for not only 

 these, but the eldest sons of Peers of 

 Great Britain, though frequently titular 

 lords, are only esquires in the law, and 

 must be so named in all legal proceed- 

 ings. As for Gentlemen, says Sir Tho- 

 mas Smith, they be made good cheap in 

 this kingdom ; for whosoever studieth in 

 the Universities, whoprofesseth the 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 tor a gentleman . A 

 yeoman is he that hath free land of forty 

 shillings by the year ; who was anciently 

 thereby qualified to serve on juries, vote 

 for knights of the shire, and do any other 

 act, where the law requires one that is 

 probus et legalis homo. The rest of the 

 commonalty are tradesmen, artificers, 

 and labourers, who (as well as all others) 

 must, in pursuance of the statute 1 Hen- 

 rv V c. 5, be styled by the name and ad- 

 dition of their estate, degree, or myste- 

 ry, and the place to which they belong, 

 or where they have been conversant, in 

 all original writs of actions personal, ap- 

 peals, and indictments, upon which pro- 

 cess of outlawry may be awarded ; in or- 

 der, as it should seem, to prevent any 

 clandestine or mistaken outlawry, by re- 

 ducing to a specific certainty the person 

 who is the object of its process. 



The precedency among men being 

 known, that which is due to women, ac- 

 cording to their several degrees, will be 

 easily understood : but it is to be observ- 

 ed, that women, before marriage, have 

 precedency by their father : with this dif- 

 ference between them and the male 

 children, that the same precedency is due 

 to all the daughters that belongs 'to the 

 eldest, which is not so among the sons ; 

 and the reason of this disparity seems to 

 be, that daughters all succeed equally, 

 whereas the eldest son excludes all the 

 rest. 



By marriage, a woman participates of 

 her 'husband's dignities ; but none of the 



