Page:Debrett's Illustrated Peerage and Titles of Courtesy.djvu/64

 TITLES, ORDERS, AND DEGREES OF PRECEDENCE AND DIGNITf trnlo him a verge of gold, we do really invest,' " &c. It is needless to say that the many ceremonies formerly attending the creation of dukes and other peers are 110 longer observed. Between the Wars of the Roses and the decapitations under the Tudor princes, the ducal order was extinct or in abeyance during Elizabeth's reign, and was revived by James I. in the person of his favourite Villiers. The mantle or surcoat, which a duke wears at the coronation of king or queen, is of crimson velvet lined with white taffeta, and the mantle is doubled from the neck to the elbow with ermine, having four rows of spots on each shoulder. His parliamentary robes are of fine scarlet cloth, lined with taffeta, and doubled with four guards of ermine at equal distances, with gold lace above each guard, and tied up to the left shoulder by a white riband ; his cap is of crimson velvet, lined with ermine, having a gold tassel on the top ; his coronet is a circle of gold enriched with precious stones and pearls, and set round with eight strawberry leaves. He is styled His Grace, and by the Sovereign in public instruments, Our right trusty and right entirely beloved cousin, with the addition of and counsellor when a member of the Privy Council. MARQUESS is another comparatively new dignity in England, which, by the poten- tial will of the Sovereign, was raised to precedency over the ancient style and dignity of the earls. The title appears to be of German origin, and, as the name implies, is derived from the government of marches, or frontier provinces ; it was called by the Saxons, Marlcin Reeve / and by the Germans, Mafkyrare. It has the next place of honour to that of a duke, and was introduced many years subsequent to the establishment of that dignity in England. The first on whom that honour was conferred was the great MARQUESS. favourite of King Richard II., Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford, who was created Marquess of Dublin, and placed in Parliament between the dukes and earls. The marquesses were created by the Bang by " cincture of the sword, and imposition of the cap of honour and dignitie, with the coronet, as also by the delivery of a charter or writing." The creations, how- ever, were not very numerous, and it would appear that the new honour was not greatly coveted by the old nobility ; for in the Parliamentary Rolls, it is recorded that "John de Beaufort, from being Earl of Somerset, was, by Richard IE., created Marquess of "Dorset, and afterwards, by Henry VI., deprived of that title, the time when the Commoners of England made humble suit in Parliament to the King, that he would restore him to his title of marquess, which he had lost. He opposed him- self against that petition, and openly said that It was a new dignitie, aed altogether unknown to his ancestors, and that therefore he neither craved it nor in any wise would he accept of it." The creation to this dignity was with nearly the same cere- mony as that of a duke ; but it now takes place by patent under the Great Seal, with- out any additional ceremony. The coronation robes are of crimson velvet lined with taffeta, and have four guards of ermine on the right side, and three on the left, set at equal distances, with gold lace above each guard, and tied up to the left shoulder by a white riband ; the cap is of crimson velvet lined with ermine, having a gold tassel at top ; the coronet is of gold, and has pearls and golden strawberry leaves