470 PEE 
ecclefiaftics, and fix laymen. The Archbifliop ofRheirns 
and the Biftiops of Laon and of Langres, were dukes and 
peers; and theBiftiops of Noyons, Chalons on the Marn, 
and Beauvais, were counts and peers. The Dukes of 
Burgundy, Normandy, and Aquitaine, were lay-peers 
and dukes; and the Counts of Flanders, Champagne, 
and Thouloufe, lay-peers and counts. Thefe peers af- 
fifted at the coronation of the kings in ceremony, and by 
way of reprefentatives ; where each performed the func¬ 
tions attached to his refpeftive dignity : but, as the lay- 
peerftiips were in reality all, except that of Flanders, uni¬ 
ted to the crown, fix lords of the firft quality were chofen 
to reprefent them. The ecclefiaftical peers ufually af- 
lifted in perfon. The moft probable opinion is, that 
peers were firft; inftituted by Philip the Young of France, 
about the year 1179, and that they firft afted in capacity 
of peers at the coronation of his fon. 
At a later period, the title peer in France, was be- 
ftowed, as in England, on every perfon whofe fee was 
erefted into a lordlhip or peerlhip. And it is to be ob- 
ferved, that the title and rank defcended to all the chil¬ 
dren, (as in Norway and fome other countries,) though 
the property went to the eldeft alone. Hence the vaft 
number of needy nobles depending on the court. And 
Mr. Nichols, contrafting the French with the Englith 
peerage, obferves, that “ the circurnftance which moft 
contributed to the French revolution was the diftinftion 
between noblejfe and bourgeoijie . Thirty thoufand noble 
families were fuppofed to comprehend 150,000 individu¬ 
als. Thefe claimed exemption from the moft burdenfome 
taxes, and exclufive advancement in the army, in the 
navy, in the church, and in the parliaments. In Eng¬ 
land no fuch diftinftion exifts. Our hereditary nobles 
are few, not exceeding in number two hundred and fifty; 
they poffefs no exemption from the payment of any tax ; 
nor are they entitled to exclufive advancement in the 
army, the navy, the church, or the law: their children 
are of the order of the commonalty. In truth, Britilh 
peers are magiftrates, hereditary legiflators, hereditary 
judges, and hereditary advifers of the crown: they have 
as little refemblance to French noblejfe as they have to the 
order of mandarins in China.” (Nicholls’s RecolIe6tions, 
1820.) And in another place he adds, that after a ftrug- 
gie of twenty-feven years, the French have obtained the 
grand objects of their revolution, viz. “ the abolition of 
the privileges of the noblejfe, of feudal fervices, of the 
power and wealth of the church, and have fecured all 
their rights by the eftablifhment of national reprefenta- 
tion.” 
A clafs of nobility, fuch as that which exifts in this 
country, (Great Britain.) we hope will ever continue, 
becaufe we believe it to be highly • beneficial to the 
whole community, and one of the ftrongeft fafeguards 
which can be devifed againft the oppreffion or ufurpations 
of the crown : but a clafs of beings fuch as thofe which 
exifted in France, who at home were the tyrants of their 
wide domains, and in Paris the jackalis and retainers of a 
profligate court; who, as they were exempt from paying 
taxes, in their own (hort-fightednefs fancied themfelves 
merely interefted to maintain and extend the abufes of 
the crown ; whofe immunities ferved only to pervert their 
judgment and to deftroy their fenfe of juftice ; and whofe 
ieignoral rights tended but to reduce the reft of the com¬ 
munity to the condition of bondfmen and brutes; we 
rejoice that fuch a clafs of beings has been fwept away 
from the furface of France. Wherefoever elfe on the 
continent, alfo, fuch privileges ftill exift, not founded in 
the general good of fociety, but which render one part of 
the community the drones and caterpillars to feed on the 
vitals of the reft, we truft that fuch loath fome impoft- 
humes and excrefcences will in the courfe of time be dif- 
cuffed or lopped off. We are therefore glad to announce, 
that the prelent peerage of Norway is to be aboliflied ; to 
ceafe at the death of thofe who now (Aug. 17, 1821) en¬ 
joy it, and their exilting children. But a new nobility is 
PEE 
to be created, (not till after 1824.) which will be tranf- 
miftible to the eldeft fon of each peer only, as with us. 
PEER, or Pere, f. According to Roberts’s Indian 
Gloflary, this word has, in the Eaft Indies, very various 
and contradictory fignifications. 1. Monday. 2. A 
mendicant; a monk ; a helper in a tavern. 3. A teacher; 
founder or chief of a fed; prior of a Chriftian monaftery. 
Peer Maghan, chief prieft of the Magi; Peer Derwijhan, 
fuperior of the Dervifes. 
PEER, a town of France, in the department of the 
Lower Meufe : thirty miles north-eaft of Louvain, and 
thirty north of Liege. 
PEER, a ftnall ifland in the Eaftern Indian Sea. Lat. 
5. 18. S. Ion. 118, 20. E. 
To PEER, v. n. [by contraction from appear .] To 
come juft in light.—See how his gorget peers above his 
gown. B.JonJbn. 
As the fun breaketh through the darkeft clouds, 
So honour peeret/i in the meaneft habit. Shakefpeare. 
To look narrowly; to 'peep.—Now for a clod-like hare 
in form they peer. Sidney. 
Peering in maps for ports, and piers, and roads, 
And every objeCt that might make me fear 
Misfortune to my ventures. SkaheJpeace's Merck, of Veil. 
PEE'RAGE, f. The dignity of a peer : 
His friendlhips he to few confin’d; 
No fools of rank or mongrel breed, 
Who fain would pafs for lords indeed ; 
Where titles give no right or power, 
And peerage is a wither’d flower. Swift. 
The body of peers.—Not only the penal laws are in force 
againft papifts, and their number is contemptible, but 
alfo the peerage and commons are excluded from parlia¬ 
ment. Dryden . 
PEE'RDOM, /I Peerage. Ainfnorth. 
PEERE-WIL/LIAMS (William), an Englilh law-wri¬ 
ter, died 1736. 
PEE'RESS, f. A woman who is noble by defcent, crea¬ 
tion, or marriage; for, as we have noblemen of feveral 
ranks, fo we may have noblewomen. Thus, king Henry 
VIII. made Anne Bullen marchionefs of Pembroke; 
James I. created the lady Compton, wife to fir Thomas 
Compton, countefs of Buckingham, in the life-time of 
her hufband, without any addition of honour to him; and 
alfo the fame king made the lady Finch, vifcountefs of 
Maidftone, and afterwards countefs of Winc'nelfea, to 
her and the heirs of her body; and George I. made the 
lady Schulenberg, duchefs of Kendal. 
If a peerefs by defcent or creation marry a perfon under 
the degree of nobility, (he ftill continues noble : but, if 
(lie obtain that dignity only by marriage, (lie lofes it on 
her afterwards marrying a commoner, as noticed under 
the article Heraldry; yet, by the courtefy of England, 
(lie generally retains the title of her nobility. 1 In ft. 16. 
2 lift. 50, 
PEERGA'OW ; a town of Hindooftan, in Dowlatabad : 
thirty-five miles fouth of Amednagur. 
PEERGOT'CHY, a town of Bengal : twenty-eight 
miles weft of Dinagepour. 
PEERGUN'GE, a town of Bengal: thirty-nine raiies 
north-eaft of Purneah. 
PEE'RLESS, adj. Unequalled ; having no peer.—The 
peerlefs light of her immortal praife. Milton's Arcades. 
Her peerlefs- features joined with her birth 
Approve her fit for none but for a king. Shakefpeare. 
PEE'RLESSLY, adv. Without an equal; matchlefsly. 
—The gentlewoman is a good, pretty, proud, hard-fa- 
vour’d, thing; marry, not fo peerlefsly to be doted 
upon, I muft confefs. B. JonJ'on's Every Man out of his 
Humour. 
PEE'RLESSNESS, f. Univerfal fuperiority. 
PEERNAGUR', 
