6. Michel Masson-Nouveaux Contes de l'Attelier. 2 vols. Un Coeur de Jeune Fille. 7. George Sand-Indiana. 2 vols. Le Secrétaire Intime. 2 vols. Metella. La Marquise. Lavinia. Valentine. 2 vols. Rose et Blanche. 2 vols. Lelia. 2 vols. Jacques. 2 vols. André. Leone Leoni. IV. History of the War in the Peninsula and the South of France, from the Year 1807 to the Year 1814. By W. F. P. Napier, C.B., Colonel H. P. 43rd Regiment, V.--1. First and Second Reports of the Commissioners of Public Instruction for Ireland. 2. Second Report of the Commissioners of National Edu- 3. A Tour round Ireland in the Summer of 1835. By VI.—Journal of the Arctic Land Expedition to the Mouth of the Great Fish River, and along the Shores of the II.1. List of the Animals in the Gardens of the Zoological Society, with Notices respecting them, and a Plan of the Gardens, showing the Buildings and Enclosures in which the Animals are kept. 2. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 3. Transactions of the Zoological Society of London. 4. Six Views in the Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park. likanischen zur monarchishen Verfassung; oder Pom- pejus, Cæsar, Cicero, und ihre Genossen, nach Ges- chlechten, und mit genealogischen Tabellen. Von W. Drumann, Professor der Geschichte zu Königsberg.- (The History of Rome during its Transition from a Re- publican to a Monarchical Constitution; or Pompey, Cæsar, Cicero, and their Contemporaries, according to IV.-1. A Commentary on the Memoirs of Theobald Wolfe Tone, &c. By Colonel Philip Roche Fermoy. 2. Life of Theobald Wolfe Tone, Founder of the United 3. Full and Accurate Report of Debates in the Parliament 4. Ireland: the Policy of reducing the Established Church, V.-1. Winchester, and a few other Compositions, in Prose and Verse. By the Reverend Charles Townsend. VI.-Herinneringen uit Japan. Van Hendrik Doeff, ond Op- perhoofd der Nederlanders in Japan, op het Eiland VII. History of the War in the Peninsula, &c. By Lieut.- Colonel W. F. P. Napier, C.B. Article Second. VIII.-1. The Chinese: a General Description of the Empire of China and its Inhabitants. By John Francis Davis, Esq., late his Majesty's Chief Superintendent in China. 2. An Historical and Descriptive Account of China. By Hugh Murray, F.R.S.E.; J. Crawfurd, Esq; P. Gor- don, Esq.; Capt. T. Lynn; W. Wallace, F.R S.E., Professor of Mathematics in the University of Edin- burgh; and G. Burnett, Esq., late Professor of Bo- By Samuel Warren, Esq., F.R.S., of the Inner Temple 521 X.-1. England im jahre 1835. Von Friedrich von Raumer. 2. England in 1835: being a Series of Letters written to Friends in Germany, during a Residence in London, and Excursions into the Provinces. By Frederick von Raumer, Professor of History at the University of Ber- lin; Author of the History of the Hohenstauffen;' of the History of Europe from the End of the 15th Cen- tury;' of Illustrations of the History of the 16th and THE QUARTERLY REVIEW. APRIL, 1836. ART. I.-The Controversy between Sir Richard Scrope and Sir Robert Grosvenor, in the Court of Chivalry, A.D. MCCCLXXXV -MCCCXC. Vols. 1 and 2. By Sir N. Harris Nicolas, K.C.M.G. Folio. London. 'IN 1832. N our days,' says Bailey-writing at the beginning of the last century all are accounted gentlemen that have money; and if a man have no coat of arms, the King of Arms can sell him one.' This is equally true, at least, in the present day. The aristocracy of wealth, to speak modestly, closely rivals that of rank; but our estimable friends, Garter, Clarencieux, Norroy, Lyon, and Ulster, with their dependent heralds and pursuivants, are, we believe, still fully occupied in supplying its members, as they spring up, with a variety of ingenious devices, in imitation of the coat armour of olden time, for emblazonment on the pannels of carriages and the covers of side-dishes. The fashion of armorial bearings is one which some may be surprised to find still maintaining itself in defiance of the Utilitarians. It would seem, at first view, a task of difficulty to account for its resistance to that 'reforming spirit of the age,' which announces such a philosophical scorn for hereditary honours of any kind. For, in truth, besides its apparent inutility,' the noble science of blazon, with its quaint language and strange symbols,the chiefs, pales, bends, fesses, chevrons, saltires, and so forth,is such an unknown tongue to the million, nay, even to the thousands who inscribe these hieroglyphs on their equipages, that it really is almost a matter of marvel how so antiquated, and, with our present habits, incongruous a practice, should not long since have gone out of use, with the jousts and tournaments of the age of chivalry to which it appropriately belonged; whereas, on the contrary, it has not, that we are aware of, been in the least degree relaxed. It is a strong example of the tenacity of associations once generally adopted. The bearing of heraldic arms,' when the arms they represent were really borne by knight and squire, was the distinctive mark of gentility-none being permitted to assume them who was not entitled to them by his rank: And so enduring is a notion which has once rooted itself in the mind of a people, that even now, though centuries have elapsed since the armour of chivalry VOL. LVI. NO. CXI. B chivalry was consigned to the museums of the curious, no one who lays claim to gentility would like to be supposed deficient in his due attributes of helmet, crest, shield, and motto. There must needs be consolation in the inveterate obstinacy of these ancient though mysterious attachments, for such persons as believe them to guarantee the continued veneration of the people of this country for some at least of those more intrinsically valuable institutions and opinions, from an association with which the former derive all their importance. These will entertain no serious fears for the Peerage, whilst radical tailors sport coat armour on their dennetts, and believe in the endurance of a general respect for blood and title so long as wealthy cottonspinners write themselves armigero,' and sue out their liveries and arms at the Herald's Office. How we ourselves view this question, we shall not at present say; but we certainly never have seen anything at all ridiculous or irrational in the desire of those among the middle classes, who have attained wealth by honourable exertions, to distinguish themselves from the common herd, who bear perhaps the same surname with themselves, by heraldic devices. Several of the most powerful families of our titled aristocracy, and some even of the oldest, inherit their wealth and consequence from a clothier, a goldsmith, or a merchant of a former age, who felt as much pride in bequeathing to them the armorial bearings he had obtained from the Herald's College, as the property accumulated by his prudence and industry. It is the peculiar boast of this country that, almost from the foundation of the monarchy, the ranks of her aristocracy have been thus gradually fed, and their numbers kept up, by addition of the eminent and enterprising from the general mass; so that no one has ever been so lowly in birth or station that he might not aspire, by the exercise of his talents and energies, to become the founder of a family which should eventually take rank with the direct descendants of the Knights of Battle-Abbey, or the Barons of Runnymede. Are they, then, right who would ridicule, as childish pageantry, objects which have engaged so much of the attention and affections of mankind? Or can those things be justly called useless, the desire of which has often stimulated the flagging spirit of industry, and called forth the latent energies of genius? But there is more to be said, even than this, on the matter. The inheritance of heraldic honours is usually coupled with that of substantial advantages-manors and messuages, lands and tenements. The rules of descent are the same for an estate as for a coat of arms. The elder son carries off the honours of the 'entire' family escutcheon with the patrimonial acres ; the younger branches taking it only with a difference,' or mark of inferiority. |