THE Commonalty, like the nobility, are divided into several degrees; and, as the lords, though different in rank, yet all of them are peers in respect of their nobility, fo the commoners, though fome are greatly fuperior to others, yet all are in law peers, in refpect of their want of nobility.

THE first name of dignity, next beneath a peer, was antiently that of vidames, vice-domini, or valvafors: who are mentioned by our antient lawyers" as viri magnae dignitatis; and fir Edward Coke fpeaks highly of them. Yet they are now quite out of ufe; and our legal antiquaries are not agreed upon even their original or antient office.

Now therefore the first personal dignity, after the nobility, is a knight of the order of St. George, or of the garter; first instituted by Edward III, A. D. 1344 *. Next (but not till after certain official dignities, as privy counsellors, the chancellors of the exchequer and duchy of Lancaster, the chief juftice of the king's bench, the master of the rolls, and the other English judges) follows a knight banneret; who indeed by ftatutes 5 Ric. II. ft. 2. c. 4. and 14 Ric. II. c. II. is ranked next after barons: and his precedence before the younger fons of viscounts was confirmed to him by order of king James I, in the tenth year of his reign'. But, in order to entitle himself to this rank, he must have been created by the king in perfon, in the field, under the royal banners, in time of open war". Elfe he ranks after baronets; who are the next order; which title is a dignity of inheritance, created by letters patent, and usually defcendible to the iffue male. It was first instituted by king James the first, A. D. 1611. in order to raise a competent fum for the reduction of the province of Ulfter in Ireland; for which reafon all baronets have the arms of Ulfter fuperadded to their family coat. Next follow knights of the bath; an order inftituted by king Henry IV

and revived by king George the first. They are so called from the ceremony of bathing, the night before their creation. The last of these inferior nobility are knights bachelors; the most antient, though the lowest, order of knighthood amongst us for we have an instance" of king Alfred's conferring this order on his fon Athelftan. The cuftom of the antient Germans was to give their young men a fhield and a lance in the great council: this was equivalent to the toga virilis of the Romans: before this they were not permitted to bear arms, but were accounted as part of the father's houfhold; after it, as part of the community. Hence fome derive the ufage of knighting, which has prevailed all over the western world, fince it's reduction by colonies from those northern heroes. Knights are called in Latin equites aurati: aurati, from the gilt fpurs they wore; and equites, because they always ferved on horfeback: for it is obfervable P, that almost all nations call their knights by fome appellation derived from an horfe. They are alfo called in our law milites, because they formed a part of the royal army, in virtue of their feodal tenures; one condition of which was, that every one who held a knight's fee immediately under the crown (which in Edward the fecond's time amounted to 20 l. per annum) was obliged to be knighted, and attend the king in his wars, or fine for his noncompliance. The exertion of this prerogative, as an expedient to raise money in the reign of Charles the first, gave great offence: though warranted by law, and the recent example of queen Elizabeth : but it was by the statute 16 Car. I. c. 16. abolished; and this kind of knighthood has, fince that time, fallen into great disregard.

THESE, fir Edward Coke fays', are all the names of dignity in this kingdom, efquires and gentlemen being only names of worship. But before thefe laft the heralds rank all

n Will. Malmb. lib. 2.
o Tac. de Morib. Germ. 13.
Camd. ibid. Co. Litt. 74.

q Stat. de milit. 1 Edw. II.
• 2 Inft, 667.

colonels,

colonels, ferjeants at law, and doctors in the three learned profeffions.

TABLE OF PRECEDENCE.

The king's children and grandchildren. † Speaker of the house of commons.

Lord chancellor or keeper, if a baron. Knights of the Garter.

* Lord prefident of the council. ifbarons. Chancellor of the duchy.

ESQUIRES and gentlemen are confounded together by fir Edward Coke, who observes, that every efquire is a gentleman, and a gentleman is defined to be one qui arma gerit, who bears coat armour, the grant of which adds gentility to a man's family in like manner as civil nobility, among the Romans, was founded in the jus imaginum, or having the image of one ancestor at leaft, who had borne fome curule office. It is indeed a matter fomewhat unfettled, what constitutes the distinction, or who is a real efquire: for it is not an eftate, however large, that confers this rank upon it's owner. Camden, who was himself a herald, diftinguishes them the most accurately; and he reckons up four forts of them: 1. The eldest sons of knights, and their eldest fons, in perpetual fucceffion": 2. The eldest sons of younger fons of peers, and their eldest fons in like perpetual fucceffion: both which fpecies of efquires fir Henry Spelman entitles armigeri natalitii". 3. Efquires created by the king's letters patent, or other inveftiture; and their eldeft fons. quires by virtue of their offices; as juftices of the peace, and others who bear any office of trust under the crown. To these may be added the efquires of knights of the bath, each of whom conftitutes three at his inftallation: and all foreign, nay, Irish peers; for not only thefe, but the eldeft fons of peers of Great Britain, though frequently titular lords, are only efquires in the law, and must be fo named in all legal proceedings. As for gentlemen, fays fir Thomas Smith, they be made good cheap in this kingdom: for whofoever ftudieth the laws of the realm, who studieth in the univerfities, who profeffeth the liberal sciences, and (to be short) who can live idly, and without manual labour, and will bear the port, charge, and countenance of a gentleman, he shall be called master, and shall be taken for a gentleman. A yeoman is he that hath free land of forty fhillings by the year; who was antiently thereby qualified to serve on juries, vote for knights of the

$2 Inft. 668.

Ibid.

u 2 Inst. 667.

w Gloff. 43.

x 3 luft. 30. 2 Inft. 667.

4. Ef

y Commonw. of Eng. b. 1. c. 20.

fhire, and do any other act, where the law requires one that is probus et legalis homo2,

THE reft of the commonalty are tradefmen, artificers, and labourers; who, (as well as all others) must in pursuance of the statute 1 Hen. V. c. 5. be stiled by the name and addition of their estate, degree, or mystery, and the place to which they belong, or where they have been converfant, in all original writs of actions personal, appeals, and indictments, upon which process of outlawry may be awarded; in order, as it should seem, to prevent any clandeftine or mistaken outlawry, by reducing to a specific certainty the perfon who is the ob ject of it's procefs,

7 2 Inst. 668,