4 id HERA 
nity on the Tiilh nation. The long negleifted but high¬ 
ly refpettable title of banneret , if completely revived, 
might be employed to make an admirable diltinCtion for 
gallant officers in our army and navy, where the order of 
the Bath (hall be thought too high, and fimple knight¬ 
hood, now in fo little repute, be deemed too low. We 
can hardly evince too much regard for thofe brave men 
who fight our battles abroad, While we live amidft every 
blefting of peace and comfort at home.—See Noble’s 
“ College of Arms,” qto. a work replete with curious 
and valuable information. 
Whatever idea republican governments may form of 
equality amongft.men, and of confining public remunera¬ 
tions to gold, rather than to hereditary titles of honour, 
the fallibility and ihfufficiency thereof mud be obvious 
to every critical obferver of men and manners, it has 
been judicioufly remarked, that the higheft gratification 
to the minds of deferving men is the hope of exifling in 
their defcendants. But if pecuniary or peiTpnal reward 
were the utmofl, it would be to limit our eflimations of 
well-earned merit to the fleeting moments of individual 
life, while the remembrance of having deferved well of 
fociety would fcarcely reach the knowledge of a fifing 
generation. With a mind more eminently enlarged, his 
rnajefty has honoured with hereditary armorial bearings, 
and ennobled more perfons for naval and militafy tri¬ 
umphs, than perhaps all the monarch's who have pre¬ 
ceded him. 
Whether, therefore, the great body of nobility be con- 
fidered as hereditary or otherwife, it deems to follow 
very clearly, that it mult have been in all ages, general¬ 
ly fpeaking, made up of the mod meritorious, refpecta- 
ble, and virtuous, part of mankind. “ The diftinCtiori 
of rank and honours,” fays fir William Blackftone, “ is 
neceflary in every well-governed ftate, in order to reward 
fuch as are eminent for their Cervices to the public, in a 
manner the mod defirable to individuals, and yet without 
burden to the community: exciting thereby an ambi¬ 
tion, a laudable ardour, and generous emulation, in 
others. And emulation, or virtuous ambition, is a fpring 
of action which, however dangerous or invidious in a 
mere republic, or under a defpotic fway, will certainly 
be attended with good eff'e&s under a free monarchy ; 
where, without deftroying its exiflence, its exceffes may 
be continually reftrained by that fuperior power from 
which all honours are derived. Such a fpirit, when nation¬ 
ally diffufed, gives life and vigour to the community ; it 
fets all the wheels of government in motion, which, un¬ 
der a wife regulator, may be directed to any beneficial 
purpofe ; and thereby every individual may be made 
fubfervient to the public good, while he principally 
means to promote his own particular views. A body of 
nobility is alfo more peculiarly neceflary in our mixed 
and compounded conftitution, in order to fu.pport the 
rights of botli the crown and the people, by forming a 
barrier, to withftand the encroachments of either. It 
creates and prelerves that gradual f'cale of, dignity, 
which proceeds from the peafant to the prince ; riling 
like a pyramid from a broad foundation, and diminifhing 
to a point as it rifes. It is this.attending and contract¬ 
ing proportion that adds liability to any government; 
for, when the departure is fudden from one extreme to 
another, wc may pronounce that ftate to be precarious. 
The nobility, therefore, are the pillars, which are reared 
from among the people, more immediately to fupport the 
throne, and, if that falls, they mult alio be buried un¬ 
der its ruins. And lince titles of nobility are thus ex¬ 
pedient in the ftate, it is alfo expedient that their owners 
fhould form an independent and feparate branch of the 
legiflature. If they were confounded with the mafs of 
the people, and like them had only a vote inele’ding re- 
prefentatives, their privileges would food be borne down 
and overwhelmed by the popular torrent, which would 
'effidtually level all diftindtidns. It is therefore highly 
neceffary that the body of nobles fhould have a diftinCt 
L D R Y. 
aflembly, diltinCt deliberations, and diftinCt powers, from 
the other branches of the conftitution.’’ 
It' would lead to details beyond the limits of our plan. 
Were we to explain the origin and growth of the dift'erent 
privileged orders. Suffice it to fay, that the prerogatives 
of the ancient nobility throughout Europe, may be re¬ 
ferred to. the following heads : The power of making war 
of their own private authority ; the right of life and 
death in their own territories; the levying of impplts ; 
the railing of troops, the coining of money, and the 
making of provincial laws’. Thefe were confidered as 
their unalienable rights under the early feodal jurifpru- 
dence. It were to be willied that fome inquilitive and 
judicious antiquary would collet! from the old Engliftr 
laws and records, all the circumftances to be found 
vvhich have a relation to thefe topics. He certainly 
could not offer a more valuable prefent to the public. 
Thefe powers were exercifed by all the higher nobility 
among the Anglo-Saxons ; and while the right of pri¬ 
vate war was acknowledged as a legal prerogative of 
nobility, regulations were made to adjuft its nature and 
exertion. Dr. Robertfon feems to imagine, that, in Eng¬ 
land, after the Norman invafton, the nobility loft, or did 
not exercil'e, the right of private war. See Hijl. Cka. f r . 
vol. i. It is true that the hiftorians of England have 
not been very attentive to record the private wars of the 
nobles. But this elegant writer ought, doubtlefs, to 
have remembered, that, in the higher orders of its no¬ 
bility, the right of private war was as much inherent 
as the coinage of money, the- holding of courts, or any 
other of their prerogatives; and that thefe received not 
their la It and effectual blow till the reign of Henry VIII. 
The right of peerage feems at firlt-to have been wholly 
territorial; that-is, annexed to lands, honours, cattles, 
manors, and other jurifdiCtiaris ; the proprietors and 
pofleflbrs of which had a right to be fummoned to par¬ 
liament. Even ladies, exerciling-tliefe jutifdidtions, re¬ 
tained the authority which had vetted in their lords. In 
the reign of Edward III. there were fummoned to par¬ 
liament by writ att colloquium, et traElatum by their proxies, 
Mary countefs of Norfolk,. Alienor countefs of Ormond, 
Anna Defpenfer, Philippa countefs of March, Johanna 
Fitzwater, Agneta countefs of Pembroke, and Catharine 
countefs of Athol. See Gurdon’s Hilt, of Parliament, 
vol. i. p. 202. Whenever fuch territorial land was alien¬ 
ated, the dignity paffed with it as appendant. Thus, in 
England, the bilhops If ill lit in the houfe of lords in 
right of fucceffion to certain ancient baronies annexed, 
or fup po fed to be annexed, to their epifcopal lands ; 
and thus in n Henry VI. tlie pofleffion of.the caftle of 
Arundel was adjudged to confer an earldom on its pof- 
feflbr. But afterwards, when alienations grew to be 
frequent, the dignity of peerage was confined to the 
lineage of the party ennobled, and, inftead of territorial , 
became perfonal. 
Peers of Great Britain are now created either by writ 
or by patent: for thofe vvho-claim by prefcipption mult 
fuppofe either a writ or patent made to their anceftors; 
though by length of time it is loft. The creation by 
writ, or the king’s letter, is a fummons to attend the 
houfe of peers, by the ftile and title of that barony.which 
his majefty is pleafed to confer : that by patent is a royal 
grant to a fubjeCt of any dignity and degree of peerage. 
The creation by writ is the more ancient way; but a 
mail is not ennobled thereby, unlefs lie actually take his 
feat in the houfe of lords; and it has been held that 
there mult be at leaft two writs of fummons, and a fit¬ 
ting in two diltinCt parliaments; to maintain an heredi¬ 
tary barony : and therefore the molt ufual, beCauje the 
fureft, way is to grant the dignity by patent, which en¬ 
dures to a man and his heirs according to the limitation 
thereof, though, he never hiinfelf makes ufe of it. Yet 
it is frequent to call up the eldeft fon of a peer to the 
houfe of lords by writ of fummons, in the name of his 
father’s barony : becaufe in that cafe there is no danger 
