The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-07-06
CURIesIT1Es OF ENGLISH FEERAGE.

Three centuries and half ago the ancestors OF |
many of our peers were what would be called |
obscure country gentlemen, Of the untitled aris-
toeracy. OF our present peers there are but
seventy. five whose ancestors were land-holderC |
at the period Just named. The rest are mere
mushrooms compared with county squires, whose
ancestors held land at the same period. IL is
found that the Scottish peerage will stand this
test better than the English. We can think of
only two titled Scottish families whose ancestors
did not possess land at the beginning Of the six
teenth century--Primrose and Hope. The pre-
sent head Of the former family, the Earl ofhose-
berry, descends from James Primrose the
printer who in 1916 had license 70 print the tract,
SGod and the King" for twenty eight years, In
English OF Latin, abroad or at home.
We have spoken of "mushrooms;" and it Is
manifest that IL peers only reckOned their no
bility from the date of their patents, they would
be Of the mushroom quality. But the newest
peer may have very old pedigree, aud after
being on the list of noble English gentry, may
attain as peer to a higher rank in that nobility,
and enjoy privileges which were previously De-
yond his reach. So, when proud old squire
declines TO be made modern Pee-, ms prlde
would not at all affect his being an ancient gen
tleman.
Al the close of the last centuryshere we're
9548 families in England entitled to bear arms.
To the founders of those families the sovereign
had at some time granted this privilege, and
snch a grant ennobled the reeipient and
his successors. Il mattered nothing whether
there was a title or handle 10 the name
or not. The owner held l:nd and were coat
armor, as the shield of his arms was called;
and herewith " John Hampden, twenty
fourth hereditary LORI of Grest Hampden,"
the squire being Lord of the Manor, vas
as gaNd q nobleman as Buckingham-better,
II be true that Buchingham's mother Mary
Beaumont, had been q menial servant. In old
times, at least, man was not noble who coGid
not prove his "sixteen quarters NOBILITY un-
taintedin his family, on both sidesa q ON the tune
Of his great great -grandmothers. Under the later
Bourbons, whose subjects assuL4ed titles with the
alacrity Of "the most noble Count Bassett,' no
one was permitted 10 take paft in the royal hunts
whose. obity did not date from before the year
1400. In France, too, Which assumed TO be the
most polite Of nations, descent through female
branchlessened the honor Of those so descended /;
but In England all che most anceht baronies
descend through females without deterioration
or disparsgement. Even If the wife be OF the
humblest condition2, she ranks with her husband.
Roger de Cliffofd so loved his meanly born
mistress, Gillian, that he would wed with no
other woman. The Yelverton who married his
cook did little oy no harm TO the blood OF Avon,
more. The lady Juliana Talbot, who married
Bryan, the strolling actor, and lady Fox Strange.
ways, weddGd with O'Brien, of Drury Lane
Theatre, did neither harm nor honor TO the
families into which they married LORD Man
sells son married the daughter OF Sir Cloudesley
Shovel, ykho had been shoemaker, without
tainting mis- fathers blood There was Dowa
ger Cogntess Of Winchelsea who married wine
merchant by which there was less harm dont
than (might have been by the marriage OF the
Martkhioness of Antrim, in her own right, VIII
Mr.. Phelps, q chorus-singer, which marriage
however, was without issue.
kThe peerage however, has suffered in othe
ways It's members having contributed very
large number TO the untender hands or the exc
I eutioner. Since the Conquerors days some tonr
score temporal and spiritual lords have tasteS
the bitter quality Of that grim official. Inc lis
opens with waitheof, Earl of Northumberland
Huntingdon, and Northampton, who was , t,5 6e
headed by order of King William, his wife.
uncle, ia 1915. The gloomy record closes Will
Lawrence Shirley, Earl FerTers, who was hange
for murder in l760. Almost midway betwee
che Saxon earl politically beheeded by his MOI
man uncle and the half-mad and entirely ba
earl who went TO Tyburn in his wedding sun
stands the first prince Of the blood who steppe
on the scaffold doomed legally to death, in th
Henry III, and Earl Of Lancaster and Leicester
of whom the common people made saint. 5
FeNsred was the memory OF this troublesome an
turbulent prince, that at one time Thomas
Lancaster threatened TO supersede Thoma
Very few, indeed, are the cases In which peer
have been rightly executed for any but politics
ofenses, such as high treason, whereby the
were made traitors because of their lack OF SUE
cess. Two or three have suffered Tor CRIME
of unutterable enormity but in the very Wor
OF these cases there is room for suspicion thu
the witnesses were of q class ready 70 prove 10
much. The spiritual peers have for the mo
mari. suffered enforced oehtn, Wncn chAtcA uPDi
with great dignity. Human sympathy Is AWAY
with them. We know of no exception, save
the instance of en- unworthy member OF Il
Irish prelacy, who was, however Somerse
shire gentleman, Atherton Bishop OF Waterfor
He was hanged at Dublin, in l6il, to the gree
satisfaction of every honest and pure mlhde
man.
preted against noble offenders, It's enactmen
were as carefully applied for the protecuOn
she good fame Of the well-deserVing. inc
enactments still exist. According 10 thelr q
elAIation, a man may say Of commOner Wh
would be scaBdalllHt n0QndtuDl when spOke
even truly, of peer. So DIR. Hughes discover
when he said OF my Lord Townshend lie
an unworthy man, and sets against law al
reason and found, to his cost, that the wor
we're actionable, as being used against pee
The recent Libel act OF Queen Victoria, howeVe
has probably taken the sting out oil the On
terrible writ OF ScGndatUHs hdgndtam
Ii was not merely by the block or attaind
that PEERS and peerages Ia the old times ceased
exist In those early days utied noniem'
often grew weary of his dignity, and yleldlng
40 his he irs withdrew 10 a monastery. The
stances are not few OF peers nylng from M Mtn'
estates, stripping themselves OF thelr 1lgnill'
and immuring themselves IN some lSo'9teu @
treat because they were stricken WIN lepros
We NAV notice as n cumulative sample, the
stance Of Baron Brian Fitzcount, Whosetwo sol
becoming incurable lepers, Brian and ms "
MauCe after providing for the care OF tue "
hlckless heirs, shut themselves up IN reIlglo
houses and heard unmOYed that the King, lSu
/, had seized their lands, as ii lepers were as DC
men, Incapable of inheritance OF title or estate,
Surrenders of title were, otherwise, not uhii
ouept We could enumerate at least 1oz
peers who were thus "degraded" because OF tn'
poverty. One of the BeauiOrts, in Henry v
reign, descended from the rank OF Marquis
Dorset 70 that of Earl of Somerset lndigence
peer was probably supposed to render hlg i d9
geTous 70 the Government, and IL was unoou.
edly an ancient rule Of the civilians that noDlll
was annuled by poverty. But the rule cou
not hold thus tnterpre,ed; poverty did not ann
nobity-it only suppressed the title. Eve
cadet Of a noble house, hough he be a gray
dioger. Is as noble as the dtled head Of'th
bonse! but in old times if esave.digger cou
lave nroyed himself TO be the rishtfui heir 20
aersPe. the law would have recognized b
pobiiity. but neither law nor cnstoS nor kir
onid have hailed him by his tile
In one respect, extreme PERIODS anords Us SIN
~ ilinstrations IN by-gone ages dlsappdnt
Lnnes drove more than one peer IRON m s.a.e a' :
roiyer into the deepest seclusion' ln our our =
tors tbere exists an Irish earl and an ~, Ing
Ssyon. who could not indeed resign nus W litigi H
sho' las made surrender 20 his con o. sii, al
@rivileees and enjoyments ne oeIigeu .,, l,v,1 ~
khis eaYl resided in tho most losely ~. ~, ~
i.aiand- -hpioying the paradise Oh "1lsIi ~ ~
AtN N"t"l 9TH q wife who WAS 70 nun tti