The Sun.
London, England, 1857-04-22 00:00:00

BURKE'S PEERAGE.

I A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the
_Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire.
By Sir Bernard Burke, Ulster King of Arms.
Nineteenth Edition. Hurst and Blackett.
Everybody remembers what " The Peerage" was
in Mrs. Hob; on Neweome's estimation ! And we
all know perfectly well how much truth there is
sweetening into something palatable as well as
wholesome that agreeably acidulated sarcasm of
e Mr. Thackeray. Excellent Mrs. Hob on Newcome
2 is not, by any means, we take it, an exceptional
3 personage. She only does "above board" what the
majority do " covertly "—turning always, with an
exquisite relish, to the great biblical authority of i
what is tilled "The World" par excellence—what
I Mr. Dickens flings a casual sneer at in the last
number of " Little Dorrit," where he speaks of it as
"the habitable glove," meabiiig the precincts, for
t example, of Mayfair, the Circles essentially known
as those that are Fashionable. Every one, how-
ever, is not by any means recess wily what Mr.
Titmarsh of the Barracks regards with such M-
effitble and ineradicable disgust, namely, a Snob,
who glances with unaffected interest through the
pages of that magnificent repertory of infer-
metion relating to the British Patricians.
The Peerage of Peerages —.he truly Noble
Volume 1-efore us, one of the most ornate
and ela)-orate compilations in the whole
range of literature—has an attraction of a more
elevated and elevating kind than any ever dreamt
of in the scope of the Hobson Newcome Philo-
sophy. It is to the student, who cares as little for
the ermine and the strawberry leaves as even Mr.
Williams, of Larntreth—it is to the mere student, to
the merest bookworm, an encyclopaedia of ever-
interesting and sometimes even enthralling infor-
mation, historical, biographical, heraldic, genealo-
gical, antiquarian. It is a Dictionary of Knows'
ledge, having reference not certainly to all, but to
a very considerable portion of all that constitutes
the aggregate of our grand, national, historical re-
cellections. Shakspere, the woolcarder's son,
Wolsey, the butcher's son, Cromwell, the brewer's
son—have no record in it, it is true. But how many
great and gifted sons of the people have their
memories perpetuated in these thousand and
odd pages through the lordly titles won
(some of them centuries ago) by their genius
or by their valour, and still untarnished in the
possession of their remote descendants ! The
present issue of this superb compilation by Sir Ber-
nard Burke, 'Ulster King of-Arms, is literally, as
the title-page intimates, the nineteenth. Extended
and revised through so many successive editions, it
is now as nearly perfect as a work so comprehen-
sive in its
outlines and so minute in its details
could be reasonably expected to be. It carefully enu-
' merates, in the first instance, "The Royal Family"
—not simply, observe, the surviving members of
the existing Royal Family, nor yet again merely
the various members of the present Dynasty, but
the whole of "The Royal Family," alt the various
Dynasties in succession from 1025 to 1857—from
William Duke of Normandy, surnamed The Con-
queror, down to our present gracious Sovereign.
Tracing the Royal Lineage, step by step, genera-
tion aft er generation, through the four Normans, the
the eight Plantagonets, the three Lancasterians,
the four Yorkites, the four Tudors, the six Stuarts,
and the six members of the Reigning House of
Brunswick. Afterwards the Kings of Scotland are
enumerated. Followed by a genealogical table of
the House of Guelph. Succeeded by a list of peers
still entitled to quarter the arms of the Planta-
genets. Then comes a very essential Scale of Pre-
cedence, and ultimately, The "Dictionary "—a
Dictionary Genealogical and Heraldic—almost in a
manner, we may say, microscopically descriptive of
the Peerage and Baronetage of the United King-
dom. The last-mentioned division of the work is,
of course, the very pith and marrow of it, although,
as we lave intimated, the others aro by no
means unimportant. The Royal Lineage, in
fact, monopolising the chief historical interest
of the production—notwithstanding that it extends
over less than a score of pages, while the subse-
quent Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage
spreads over upwards of a thousand 1 The Appen-
dix itself, running over more than a hundred sup-
plemental pages, will be found fraught with in-1
terest of a very diversified character. It has re-
ference in one section to the " Spiritual Lords," iu
another to " British Subjects enjoying Foreign
Titles of Nobility," in another to "Peerages re-
cently extinct," though of families still represented
among us by surviving descendants. It embraces
a catalogue of the " Peerages Claimed," and gives
an alphabetical list of the " Surnames of Peers and
Peeresses, with Heirs apparent and presumptive."
The "Courtesy Titles of Eldest Sons" are succeeded
by the names of the " Daughters of Peers married
to Commoners." Then follow the " Peerages of
the Three Kingdoms, collectively, in order of
Precedence"—succeeded by the "Baronets, in order
of Precedence." The Privy Councillors coming
next in array, and the Right Honourables being
immediately afterwards followed by the members of
the various " Orders of Knighthood"—the Garter,
the Thistle, St. Patrick, the Bath, St. Michael and
St. George, and the Guelphic f A very panoply of
gorgeous and haughty titles ! The "Knights
Bachelors" bringing up the rear of the superb pro-
cession. Appended to the Appendix, supplemen-
tary to the supplement, there are " Translations of
the Mottoes, with Illustrations." An Addenda
full of pleasant, thoroughly readable, and some of
it really recondite information. The last-mentioned
characteristic applying, of course, exclusively to
the Illustrations. Ex. gr., the familiar motto of
the Nehions " Palmam qui meruit ferat" —is
traced back to an " Ode to the Winds" iu
the Lustre Poetici of Dr. Jortin, the author
of the "Life of Erasmus." The original
being
Et nobis faciles partite et bostibus :
Concurrant paribus cum ratibus rates ;
Spectent numina ponti, et
Palmam qui meruit, ferat.
The original application of the motto to our great
naval hero having been the happy thought of Lord
Grenville. It is curious to observe, however, how
large a proportion of these mottoes are mere
scholarly excerpts from the pages of Horace and
Virgil or, more numerous still perhaps,
fragmentary portions of St. Jerome's Latin
Vulgate of the Holy Scriptures. Altogether as in-
contestibly the Genealogical and Heraldic Dic-
tionary of our native Patricians, this far-famed
oompilation by Sir Bernard Burke has acquired
the authority due to its undoubted excellence. It
is to the " British Peerage anti Baronetage"
—only upon a more magnificent scale—what Han-
sard is to the " Debates," what Kelly is to " Lon-
don," what Dod is to the "Legislature." It is con-
siderably more than this, for, as a Book of Reference,
it combines within itself the precision and accessi-
bility of a Dictionary, with the amplitude and in-
formation of an Encyclopaedia.

LITERATURE.

Russia after the War. By Selina Bunbury,
Author of-" Life in Swedmi, " Our Own Story,"

kc. 3 vols. Hurst and Blackett.

Miss Bunbury is already well known as a writer
of lively and pleasant books of travels, as well as a
novelist. The north of Europe appears to have pos-
sessed a Brea' er fascination for her than the mote
gorgeous southern regions of historical and artistic
celebrity. In addition to her description of life in
Sweden, she gave us last year an agreeable sketch
of a summer's tour in Northern Europe. Attracted,
no doubt, by the curiosity everywhere excited
about Russia by the events of the last few years,
she has paid a visit to the Russian capitals, old and
new, during the important epoch of the Emperor's
Coronation. Influenced, she admits, by a desire to
defend what every one else attacked, she was deter-
mined to likeßussian people and manners, orrather
she went preparedto find subject for approval instead
of blame. The extravagant notions that were for.-.
merly entertained respecting many phases of then
domestic life are now considerably modified, but
the condition of the labouring classes, and. the very
institut'on of serfdom, prove that their civilisation
is but little advanced. The approach to St. Peters-
highly spoken of ; but
burg up the Nova has been
our authoress, who had anticipated much gratifica-
tion from the view, was greatly disappointed. The
glittering spires
and golden cupolas were at a dis-
tance, the shores were flat and low, with wooden
sheds, factory buildings, ct. c., .as the most rromi-
nent features. The city etseltis built on a level,
even the citadel lying low. The cold, flat grey
aspect completely disenchanted the traveller', who
asserts that she always felt a depression of
spirits , when staying
in St. Petersburg.
She admits,
however, that three remark-
able objects impressed themselves on her
memory. One is the granite case of the Neva,
the canals of which would, it is said, cover a space
of 20 miles in length. The second object of admi-
ration is the statue of Peter 1., which stands in a
vast open space ; and the third, the column of
Alexander 1., erected by Nicholas to his brother's
memory. In height it exceeds the old works of
E4ypt in its single piece of stone, and the difficulty
of raising it was immense. The subjection of every
one and everything to official routine would delight
modern red-tapists. A soldier fell overboard and
was nearly drowned, but he was obliged to be
dressed in uniform and taken before the police be-
fore be could go to the hospital. The chase after a
missing portmanteau, of which a ludicrous descrip-
tion is given in the first volume, occupied the
authoress six hours and a half. She had reason to
consider herself very fortunate in obtaining it so