because no one has any exclusive right to them, for they are vested in several persons at once. Extinct peerages are not borne by any one, because the representatives of the person first ennobled have died out. But dormant peerages are those which are unassumed, from the poverty of the present heir and representative, from a delicacy on his part towards the claims of others in cases of disputed legitimacy, or from a variety of other causes of a temporary or personal nature: thus it may be known that a peerage is not extinct, but from there being several claimants, it may not be apparent who is the individual truly entitled, and in that way the peerage may be described as dormant. The word dormant is occasionally, though not correctly, applied to the condition of a dignity while it is in abeyance; but the latter is a compulsory state, which can only be removed by the exercise of the royal prerogative, or the death of one branch of co-heirs and their representatives, while dormancy is a condition dependent upon the rightful heir not pursuing and urging on his claim to the titles of his ancestors. DUKE. "Is not a dukedom, sir, a goodly gift?" King Henry VI. act v. sc. 1. "To inflame the military ardour, and excite the ambition of the earls and barons, Edward the Third, in the eleventh year of his reign, introduced a new order of nobility by creating his eldest son a duke." The term dux or duke, though never before a dis tinct dignity, was, according to Selden, used in the description of earls many centuries previously, and some antiquaries trace it to the year 690. Next after the royal family, it is the highest title in matter of rank, although it does not equal others in its antiquity. By some writers it is contended, that the first and second dukedoms created in England were enjoyed under the tenure of lands; the one was the dukedom of Cornwall, enjoyed by the eldest son of the monarch, and the other the dukedom of Lancaster, which is vested in the Crown; but others maintain, that the lands granted by the charters conferring the dukedoms were given for the maintenance of the ducal dignity, and that the peerage was not annexed as the tenure of the lands, but the lands were granted for the support of the peerage. However this question may be decided, it is clear, that although both these dukedoms are now in existence, yet no others were ever created by a course liable to a similar interpretation, and that for all practical purposes dukedoms by tenure may be put out of view. Dukes are now created by patent or charter, in which the succession to the title is always specially laid down. In the year 1572, however, this order of nobility disappeared, by the utter extinction of the heirs of all on whom it had been conferred; the first peer subsequently created was George Villiers, duke of Buckingham, in whose person James I. revived the dignity in 1623. A duke may retain and qualify eight chaplains, and a duchess two; dukes and duchesses are personally styled "Your Grace," and the superscription of their letters is to Duchess of -" "his or her Grace the Duke or At the commencement of his letters, the one is usually addressed "My Lord Duke," but the other is addressed as " Madam." By the sovereign a duke is usually designated "our right trusty and right entirely beloved Cousin and Councillor," and occasionally "Puissant Prince." In England the existing dukes, marquises, and viscounts, amount each to nearly the same number. In Scotland the viscounts equal the dukes in number, but the latter are nearly double the marquises. In Ireland there is but one duke. MARQUIS. They of those marches, gracious Sovereign, Our inland from the pilfering borderers." King Henry V. act i. sc. 2. THIS title has always been conferred by letters patent, and though of slow introduction, and, at first, not often conferred, it now holds a conspicuous place among the hereditary titles of honour. It was unknown in this country till Richard II. conferred on Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford, the title of Marquis of Dublin for life. Our ancestors, who always combined dignity with duty, honour and privilege with service to the state, are said to have given origin to the title of Marquis from the word Marchio, Lords Marchers, whose function it was to guard the Welsh and Scottish frontiers, which were called Marches. The origin and accompanying duties of the title are now, however, equally obscure. The first occasion upon which the title of marchioness is known to have been conferred, was in the 24th of Henry VIII. when Lady Anne Rochfort received that dignity in her own right. A marquis is personally styled " My Lord," and the superscription of his letters is, "The Most Honourable the Marquis of -," and not the Most Noble; at the commencement of the letter he is usually addressed "My Lord Marquis," but a marchioness is addressed as "Madam." By the Sovereign a marquis is officially designated as "our right trusty and entirely beloved Cousin," and upon some occasions he received from heralds the title of Puissant Prince. He is entitled to retain and qualify five chaplains. In England the marquises furnish the fewest number to the peerage of any rank in the nobility; as is also the case in Scotland; but in Ireland, there being but one dukedom, the title of marquis is more frequently met with. The reign of George III. almost supplied the peerage with the whole of the existing marquisates, ten having been created in England, where there remained but one, and nine in Ireland, where previously none had existed. EARL. THE Norman Conquest, the source of many of our institutions, introduced into England the title of Comes, Count, or Earl. The Danish jarl and the Saxon earldorman previously represented this title in England, though it is hardly necessary to observe, that the present condition of the dignity retains few traces of its original character and accompanying duties. Till the reign of Henry III. this dignity, together with that of Baron, wholly constituted the nobility of the realm. Between these two periods, earldoms seem in several instances to have been enjoyed like baronies, as a consequence of the tenure of certain lands; which, when forfeited to the Crown, and conferred upon others, or when inherited in the natural course of descent, carried with them to their new owner the title of Earl. But upon this point there is much difference of opinion; the Committee of the House of Lords (which was appointed to investigate the dignity of a peer of the realm) maintaining, that earldoms were personal, and that the grants of lands had not the effect of conferring the title. Mr. Cruise, in his work upon titles of honour, describes three kinds of earls:-1st, Those whose titles were annexed to the possession of whole counties, with regal jurisdiction, constituting feudal kingdoms in themselves, and being described as counties palatine; of this kind were Chester, Pembroke, Durham, &c.; but the privileges of earls palatine were much abridged by Henry VIII. 2ndly, Those who were created by the king, earls of a county, without enjoying its possession, or participating in any of the privileges of an earl palatine properly so called, but only possessing a right to the third part of the profits arising from the pleas in the County Court. 3rdly, Those to whom the Crown granted a considerable tract of land, to be held per servitium M |