Page:Debrett's Illustrated Peerage and Titles of Courtesy.djvu/71

 BADGE OF ULSTER. BADGE OF NOVA SCOTIA. TITLES, ORDERS, AND DEGREES OF PRECEDENCE AND DIGNITY. XXJUU BARONETS, strictly so termed, owe the origin of their order to the policy of James 1. of England. He instituted the order of English baronets to promote the "plantation" of the pro- vince of Ulster with loyal settlers. The baronetcy of Ireland followed that of^England, and was founded for the same object. The baronetcy of Scotland was founded with a view to the colonization and plantation of the province of Nova Scotia in North America. The privileges of the three orders were very nearly similar, and practically it may be said that all three are almost amalgamated. They are virtually so in all new creations. The original objects of* these institutions have long since been amongst the things of the past, and, so far as the aid of the baronets was concerned, proved complete failures, though it was effectuated by other means. But the order of baronets, though created for an ephemeral object which its members did not accomplish, is now a dignified degree of hereditary distinction, at the head of the lesser nobility of the British empire ; and the title is bestowed, and willingly accepted, as the reward of merit or eminence in any pursuit or position political, diplomatic, military, mercantile, and of late years, to the credit of advancing in- telligence, medical, literary, and so forth. As yet, however, only one or two instances of its bestowal for literarv merit have occurred. KNIGHTS. It has been remarked by a discreet writer, that though those knights who are thua called without any further addition are ranged low upon the lists of precedency, the rank is not only the most ancient, but, looking back into history, the most illustrious ; for in former ages all men distinguished by valour and military service became knights, and by all gentlemen aspiring to such distinction, admittance to the order of knighthood was a valued object. It would be going far into the depths of antiquity to attempt to trace the origin of knighthood. "We will only say here that it is essentially an institution of the days of chivalry. The latter word has itself an affinity with horsemanship, and our knights-bachelors are all equites aurati (gold en -spurred horsemen). The lioman knight was eques ' a horseman," and his rank was Eques, next below the Senatorial. In other countries, the ranks answering to our knights-bachelors indicate by their names their original occupation as military equestrians ; hence the German reiter, the French chevalier, &c. The Germans, however, have another appellation, Inect, from which our own word knight is derived. The martial kings of the Franks used to give arms, with many solemnities, to theii sous and others, and to gird them with a sword; and our own King Alfred, when he made his nephew Athelstane a knight, "gave him a scarlet mantle set with precious stones, and a Saxon sword with a golden scabbard." Further on ia the course of time, we find the ceremony of iustaUation assuming a solemnly