ENGLAND, 191 



shoulder. The garter, which is of blue velvet, bordered with gold;, 

 buckled under the left knee, and gives the name to the order, was 

 designed as an ensign of unity and combination ; on it are embroi- 

 dered the words, Honi soit qui mat y fiense, " Evil to him who evil 

 thinks." 



Knights of the bath, so called from their bathing at the time of 

 their creation, are supposed to have been instituted by Henry IV, 

 about the year 1399 : but the order seems to be more ancient. For 

 many reigns they were created at the coronation of a king or queen, 

 or on other solemn occasions. They wear a scarlet ribbon hanging 

 from the left shoulder, with an enamelled medal, the badge of the or- 

 der, a rose issuing from the dexter side of a sceptre, and a thistle 

 from the sinister, between three imperial crowns placed within the 

 motto, Tria juncta in unum, " Three joined in one." This order be- 

 ing discontinued, was revived by king George I, on the 8th of May, 

 1725 ; and the month following, eighteen noblemen, and as many com- 

 moners of the first rank, were installed knights of the order with 

 great ceremony, at Westminster, where the place of instalment is 

 Heniy VII's chapel. Their robes are splendid and showy, and the 

 number of knights is undeterminate. The bishop of Rochester is 

 perpetual dean of the order, which has likewise a register and other 

 officers. 



The origin of the English peerage, or nobility, has been already 

 mentioned. Their titles, and order of dignity, are dukes, marquises, 

 earls, viscounts, and lords or barons. 



Baronets can scarcely be said to belong to an order, having no 

 other badge than a bloody hand in a field argent, in their arms. They 

 are the only hereditary honour under the peerage, and would take 

 place even of the knights of the garter, were it not that the latter 

 are always privy-councillors : there being no intermediate honour 

 between them and the parliamentary barons of England. They 

 were instituted by James I, about the year 1615. Their number was 

 then two hundred, and each paid about 1000/ on pretence of reducing 

 and planting the province of Ulster in Ireland : but at present their 

 number amounts to 700. 



A knight is a term used almost in every nation in Europe, and in 

 general signifies a soldier serving on horseback : a rank of no mean 

 estimation in ancient armies, and entitling the parties themselves to 

 the appellation of Sir. Other knighthoods formerly took place in 

 England ; such as those of bannerets, bachelors, knights of the car- 

 pet, and the like ; but they are now disused. Indeed, in the year 

 1773, at a review of the royal navy at Portsmouth, the king confer- 

 red the honour of knights bannerets on two admirals and three cap- 

 tains. They have no particular badge on their garments, but their 

 arms are painted on a banner placed in the frames of the supporters. 



Religion. ..The constitution of the church is episcopal, and it is go- 

 vei'ned by bishops, whose benefices were converted by the Norman con- 

 queror into temporal baronies, in right of which every bishop has a 

 seat and vote in the house of peers. The benefices of the inferior cler- 

 gy are now freehold ; but in many places their tithes are impropriated 

 in favour of the laity. The economy of the church of England has been 

 accused for the inequality of its livings ; some of them extending 

 from three hundred to fourteen hundred a year ; and many, particu- 

 larly in Wales, being too small to maintain a clergyman, especially 

 if he has a> family, with any tolerable decency; but this seems not 



