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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. ix. MARCH 22, 1902.

counts now made) already possessed an Iris/ viscountcy.

At the coronation of Charles II., 23 April 1661, twelve peerages were created (six earl doms and six baronies), three of which number (earldoms) were bestowed on holder of hereditary peerages of Parliament, while the other nine (three earldoms and sir baronies) were additions to the House o Lords ; one of these nine, however, the Earl dpm of Anglesey, was conferred on an Irish viscount. Of the two remaining earldoms one (Bath) was given to the son and heir o the gallant Sir Bevill Granville, and tin other (Carlisle) to the renegade Charlei Howard, " who, even less than three yean before, had stooped to accept a peerag< from Cromwell himself."

At the coronation of Charles I., in 1626 eight earldoms were bestowed on holders o; hereditary peerages of Parliament, but no other peerage was created, so that there was no addition to the House of Lords. At that of James I., 25 July, 1603, eleven peerages (three earldoms and eight baronies) were created, of which two (earldoms) were bestowed as above, while the other nine were additions to the House of Lords ; oi this nine, however, the Earldom of South- ampton was conferred (with the ancient precedence) on one who, but for his attainder in 1601, would have been such earl.

At the coronation of Queen Elizabeth, in 1559, four peerages (one earldom and three baronies) were created, all being additions to the House of Lords, though the earldom (Hertford) was granted to one who, but for his father's attainder, would have been Earl of Hertford as well as Duke of Somerset. Queen Mary, some four weeks before her coronation (30 September, 1553), conferred the (now existing) Earldom of Devon on Edward Courtenay, who but for his father's attainder would have been such earl as well as Marquess of Exeter.

At the coronation of Edward VI in 1547 eight peerages were created-viz., the (now' existing) Dukedom of Somerset, the Mar- quessate of Northampton, and the Earldoms of Warwick and Southampton, all four being bestowed on holders of hereditary peerages of 1 arliament ; as also four baronies, these last being additions to the House of Lords As to the previous coronations, no peerages were

& by H ? Diy Ff ; Henr y TO" however? m 1485, conferred (1) the Dukedom of Bedford

on his uncle, the Earl of Pembroke, and (2) the Ear dom of Derby (still existing) on the Lord Stanley ; while Richard III, n 1483 conferred (1) the Dukedom of Norfolk (a

title still held by the heir male of the grantee's body) on John, Lord Howard ; (2) the Earldom of Nottingham on William, Viscount Berkeley ; and (3) the Viscountcy of L'Isle on Edward (Grey), Lord L'Isle.

" With Richard III. we begin the long series* of precedents [for creation of peerages at coronations] which, however fitful at first, have now crystallized into custom." There was, however, one " anticipation " of this practice, about 100 years prior to Richard III. viz., at the coronation of Richard II., 13 July, 1377, when four earldoms (Buckingham, Northumberland, Huntingdon, and Not- tingham) were conferred respectively on the king's uncle, Thomas of Woodstock (afterwards Duke of Gloucester) ; on Henry. Lord Percy ; on Sir Guichard D'Angle ; ana on John, Lord Mowbray. Nine chevaliers were made at the same time, while at the next ensuing coronation, that of Henry IV., 13 October, 1399, no fewer than forty-six persons were, after bathing, made Knights of the Bath, the creation of knights (not of peers) being, as is pointed out in the valu- able article above quoted, "the essential feature" of the early coronations, and one which continued in them down to and includ- ing that of Charles II.

As to baronetcies, Mr. Round mentions that the number conferred at the 1821 coronation was twenty-four, increasing at that of 1831 to twenty-eight, and (" instead of undergoing, like the peerage honours, a sharp reduction ") at that of 1838 to thirty. G. E. C.

SHAKESPEARIANA. ' ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA,' II. ii. 211-16.

Enobarb. Her gentlewomen, like the Nereides, So many mermaids, tended her i' the eyes And made their bends adornings : at the helm A seeming mermaid steers : the silken tackle Swell with the touches of those flower-soft hands That yarely frame the office.

This is unquestionably the greatest crux in the play. The ' Variorum Shakespeare ' devotes six pages to the conjectures of various critics. The difficulty is " tended her i' the eyes and nade their bends adornings." Steevens and the majority of modern editors interpret the words thus : "The gentlewomen waited upon Cleopatra's looks, and each inclined her Derson so gracefully that the very act of mmiliation was an improvement of her own Deauty." But Shakspere is here following North's 'Plutarch' very closely, as a reference o the corresponding passage will show, and t is expressly stated of Cleopatra's gentle- women that there were " some steering the ielm, others tending the tackle and ropes."