The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1882-04-11
[London Queen.]
Peers and PeereSSeS.


The peerage, as is well known. consists OF
dukes, marquisses, earls, viscounts and barons.
In point of antiquity, however, the dignity of
earl is the highest, and in the Anglo-Saxon
times was usually applied to the first of the
royal line. Before the time of Edward III
there was but two titles Of nobility, viz, earls
and barons; the barons were originally created
by tenure, afterwards by writ, and after that by
patent; but earls, since the time of Richard III,
have always been created by letters patent, and
nowadays all peers are created in this way.
The first duke-by that name-crsated in Eng
land was in the eleventh year Of Edward Ill,
when that sovereign created his eldest son,
then Earl of Chester, Duke of Cornwall. Since
this event. not only the first born bat the eld-
est living son of the Kings Of England have al
ways been born such, and Immediately after
ward created Princes of Wales. Accordingly,
the present Prince of Wales sits in the House
of Peers as the Duke of Cornwall, Earl of
Chester, etc. We say above that the first Duke
'by that name" was the son OF Edward III, be-
cause before then the titles of duke and earl
was synonymous, The first marquess-4by that
name was made in the reign of Richard III,
that monarch having created Robert de We're
Earl of Oxford, Marques OF Dublin for life,
and this title is derived from the style OF the
office of the Lord Marches or governors OF the
northern and western frontiers of the realm of
England. Viscount, as q title OF dignity, was
a term introduced in the eighteenth year of
Henry vi, who created Lord Beaumont Wis
count of Beaumont. Selden tells US that Wis
count is "the self same word vhich signifies
our Sheriff turned into dignity" the word
having been Uice-c0Daes, or the deputy of the
comes, count, or earl, who was always governor
OF shire.
ing, is appropriate only to members OF her Ma
jesty's Privy Council, but tits also applied to
titles below that of marques. A marques,
however, is styled "Most Honorable" and
duke "Most Noble" and the consorts Of all
peers are by courtesy styled in the same man
ner as their husbands are. A baron when for
mally addressed by the sovereign is called
sour right trnsty and well beloved" viscount
or earl "Our right trusty and well-beloved cou-
SIM; a marques "Our right trusty and entire
ly beloved cousin; while duke is "Our right
trurty and right entirely beloved cousin and
councillor" Esthetic persons may easily
formulate these graduations of grandeur BY de-
scribing the dignity of baron as "Too''; that
of viscount and earl as 'sToo too; OF mar
guess as "Too utterly too; and that OF duke
as "Quite too utterly and intensely too"
We must now glance at point OF some In
terest especially to the ladies-the effect OF IL
tied persons intermarrying with commoners.
Here again the principle is simple. A peer
may ennoble his consort, but peeress cannot
enDoble he rhusband; and to state this princi-
pie more generally, we may say that, while
woman always takes her husbands's rank IN
any walk in life, lnan does not always rise to
his wife's level; hence the unpleasantness
which sometimes accrues from woman marry
ing "beneath her." as the phrase goes vi
course, we mean where the disparity in the So
cial position of the parties is very marked in
deed: but woman with handle to her name,
whether held in her own right or by courtesy
or acquired by marriage, may retain sucn nan
die throughout her life under many, but not
all circumstances Thus if the daughter of
duke, marques or earl marry commoner,
she will still be called Lady" Elizabeth, or
whatever her Christian name may be, but TAX
ing, of course, the patronymic OF her husband,
Similarly, the daughter OF q vlscount or baron
marrying commoner will become the Honor
able Mrs Jones, Brown, or Robinson, etc. II,
however, the daughter Of any peer marry an
other peer, her courtesy title becomes merged
in the real one of her husband; but il the
daughter of a duke, marques or earl marry q
baronet-say Sir Samuel Pickwick-she will
not be called Lady Pickwick," simply, but
will be called Lady So-and-So Pickwick, just
as though sne had married commoner pure
and simple. If the daughter Of viscount or
baron, however, were to marry Sir Samuel, she
would become not only Lady Pickwick, but,
NoSe
rectly be called the Honorable Lady Pickwick.
Accordingly, any peeress in her own right
marrying commoner still retains her nobility;
but peeress merely SO by marriage. intermar-
rying as widow with commoner, has no far
tber claim to her dignity, because she acquired
and held it by marriage, and when she marries
again the dignity is, SO to speak, exhausted.
A dowager peeress Of any rank-by marriage
would appear to be in a somewhat different
position from other ladies in regard to the mat
ter now under notice. Take the following
case, erempH gratia The Earl of A. married
Miss b., daughter of Mr. c., commoner.
Miss B. becomes Countess OF A. The Earl dies
leaving his widow, and son d who marries.
and his wife becomes countess of A., the moth
er becoming, of course, the Countess Dowag-
er of A. The latter then marries E., COM
moner, and it xould seem that she may still
retain her acquired title, she being styled En-
ily''-or what ever her name may be-"Coun-
tess of A, or simply the Countess Dowager of
A. as before. And the same would be the case
even il she should marry viscount or baron;
because, as we have previously sta ted all en-
hobled persons are peers-that is, in the sense
off equals Notwithstanding the difference in
individual ranks which exists among them.