Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 12.pdf/284

 Esquires and Gentlemen.

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ESQUIRES AND GENTLEMEN. IN common parlance we suppose every man is addressed as an esquire at the present time, even if letters sent to his shop or ware house are more generally addressed simply to John Smith, or perhaps Mr. John Smith. Some few generations back there was a true distinction which had not fallen into desue tude. Originally the term esquire (armiger, or in French escuyer) denoted a gentleman holding rank immediately below a knight. It was therefore a military office, the holder be ing the person who acted as the knight's body attendant and shield bearer. A favorite es quire was often rewarded upon the conclusion of the campaign by gifts of lands and goods, together with the privilege of bearing some armorial design. We see, therefore, so far, two varieties of esquire — one being a per son acting as armor bearer for another, the other being an armor bearer for himself. From the creation of this latter class has flowed the more modern custom of clubbing every person an esquire who might by the ingenuity of the heralds be regarded as a potential bearer of arms. Strictly speaking, there are seven ranks of real esquires. The first of these are esquires of the King's body; secondly, there are the eldest sons of knights and their eldest sons born during the lifetime of the former. This class arose from the custom prevalent in an cient times for the knight to employ his eld est son as his shield bearer in order to give him some apprenticeship to military service. Thirdly, there comes the eldest sons of the younger sons of peers; fourthly, there are persons invested by the Sovereign with the collar of S. S. These were collars studded with many of that letter in links worn by persons holding great state offices. It is be lieved that the Lord Chief Justice, the Lord Mayor of -London, Kings-at-Arms, Serjeantsat-Arms, and heralds still wear these collars. From a " Glossary of Terms in British Her

aldry," published about half a century ago, it appears that the signification of the letter is far from clear. It is conjectured that the letter of this collar, originally a badge of the House of Lancaster, denotes Souerayne, the favorite motto of Henry IV. Be this as it may, it seems sufficiently clear that the Sov ereign was wont to create esquires by invest ing them with this collar and a gift of silver spurs. Silver was the distinction of the class, as the gilt spur was peculiar to the knight hood. In the fifth class, Lowers " Curiosi ties of Heraldry " place esquires to the Knights of Bath, for life, and their eldest sons. In the sixth class we find sheriffs of counties for life, coroners and. justices of the peace, and gentlemen of the Royal House hold, so long as they hold their office. It appears that in this class must also be in cluded judges and the higher naval and mili tary officers whose patents designate them as esquires. Within the seventh class we find an answer to part of the question put by our correspondent. Barristers-at-law, doctors of divinity, law, and medicine, mayors of tqwns savor of scutarial dignity, but are not, strictly speaking, esquires. They are con sidered to rank as esquires, and to be on a strict equality with them, but they are not, it is conceived, upon the authorities men tioned, esquires in the accurate use of the expression. It is only fair to mention that other au thorities vary the enumeration which we have given above, the whole subject being one al most forgotten in the antiquarian lumberheap. Examination and comparison of sev eral qf these works seem to justify one in accepting the classification set forth in Lower. The dictionaries in common use seem to differ slightly amongst themselves. Ogilvie ap pears to regard the barrister as a genuine esquire, as does also the new " Oxford Dic tionary; " the ninth edition of the " Encyclo