Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-02-22
ENGLISH NOBILITY.

ENGLISH NOBILITY. SHADES IN THE RANKS OF THE
 TERRACE OF GREAT BRITAIN. How Titles Are Conferred and What They
 Signify-Lords and Honorables by Cour-
 tesy-what the Wives and Daughters
 Are Called-Some of the Notablcs.
 In no country in the world is so great a social and political influence yielded by so small number of persons as the British peers. In this peerage are five grades dukes, marquises, earls, viscounts and barons. The highest title, that of duke, is held by six royal princes and by twenty-one others. It is derived from the Latin dux, 8 leader, and is found on the continent of Europe as well as in England. The oldest dukedom is that of Norfolk, which was created in 14SS. As a duke has passed through the lower grades of the peerage he holds all the lower titles as we'll The eldest son of duke is called by the second title of his father, and is thus usually a marquis, but this is only ''courtesy," and not real title, as the cour- tesy title confers no substantive rank on it's
 
 the Cavendish family Is the Duke of Devon shire and sits under this title in the house of lords. His eldest son is Mir. Cavendish, com monly called by courtesy by his fathers sec- ond title, the Marquis of Harrington, but he is in the eye of the law only private gen. tleman, and accordingly sits in the house of commons, which he could not do if he were actually peer. The other sons of the duke are called by the family name, as Lord Arthur Cavendish, while the daughters are called the Lady Mary Cavendish, the Lady Gwendolen Cavendish, and so on. The fam fly name of the Duke of Marlborough is Spencer Churchill and the eldest son is the courtesy Marquis of Blandford, while younger son is Lord Randolph Churchill, who is also @ member of the lower house.
 HISTORY OF SOME TITLES.
 The corouet of the duke, which on great occasions is carried on 6 cushion in front of him, is surrounded by strawberry leaves, and hence a man who is hankering after @ dukedom is said to be wanting the straw berry leaves" The next title, that of mar quis, or marques, is derived from the word marches" and meant a noble whose duty it was to protect with his retainers the marches or frontiers of England and Wales, or Eng land and Scotland, from enemies. The cid est son of marquis takes his fathers second 
 called Lord Henry -, or Lord John --. The daughters are called Lady Caroline -, etc. The title is held by fewer persons than any other in the peerage, there being only nineteen marquises. The oldest marquisate Is that of Winchester, created in 1851.
 The title earl is derived from the old Saxon word "eorl," meaning elder, a root which survives also in alderman. The eldest son of an earl takes by courtesy his fathers second title, while the younger sons are called the Hon. Edgar -, etc. All the daughters are called Lady Anne, Lady Augusta, etc. There are IF earls of the United Kingdom, the old est creation being the earldom of Derby, which bears date 14S5. The eldest son of Earl Nelson is called from his ancestors fa- nous victory Viscount Trafalgar. The Latin equivalent of earl is "comes," companion or count, but though there are no counts in England an earl's wife is called a countess. The heirs to the earldoms of Albemarle and Amherst are already peers in thier own right under the titles of Viscount Bury and and Viscount Holmesdale. On succeeding to the earldoms the lower title will merge in the higher, but will still be borne by the eldest son. Several earls' sons are members of Parliament, but on succeeding to the peer age they will have to leave the lower house and ascend to the dull responsibility of that Ol or one in the place of count or earl. His sons and daughters are called the 'Hon. James -" ''the Hon. Kathleen - etc.
 Between the viscounts and the barons come the bishops, who sit in the house of lords as spiritual peers, all the others being temporal peers, except the two archbishops of Canter bury and York, who rank at the head of the dukes. There are twenty-four spiritual peers, but alas for human vanity! the wife of a bishop has no precedence at all; her husband Is ''the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of -," but she is plain "Mrs. --,' and her sons and daughters are not honorables.
 EMINENT NAMES TO BE FOUND.
 Tho lowest title in the peerage is baron, 8 title of Saxon origin. Of barons there are 200, the wives of whom are ladies and the sons and daughters honorables. Among the viscounts, of whom there are twenty-six, the oldest creation is the viscounty of Hereford, dated 1850. By far the oldest existing titles in England are the Baron De Ross and the Baroness Le De Spencer, which both bear the date 1884. But some of those now bearing higher titles in the peerage have had older patents which have become merged in newer earldoms, marquisates, dukedoms, @. g.: the earldom of Arundel, now merged ill the dukedom of Norfolk, bears the date 11SO.
 Among the barons are to be found several
 
 ards, whose family name is Sugden; Baron Westbury, family name Betheil and Baron Thurlow, a descendant of Lord Chancellor Thurlow. The lord chancellor is always created a baron, and sometimes an earl Such peers are called flaw lords, |" and hear the cases which come before the house of lords as the final appellate court. The holders of the more ancient dignities sometimes af- feet Q certain contempt for these newer cre- ations, for among British peers hereditary titles are esteemed more honorable than earned oneS
 All the peers are called indinerently lords, and their wives ladies. Earl Cairns would usually be spoken of as Lord Cairns, and the countess as Lady Cairns. There are seven peeresses in their own right, one of whom holds very ancient title, the Baroness Le De Spencer, whose patent is dated 1264. Miss Burdstt-C -Coutts, whose munidcent charity is 50 we'll known, was made a baroness in 1871, but she has no heir to whom the title can de- scsnd Lord Henry Cavendish- -Bentinck ii A11 lavn NF a.