ster Hall, mounted on a white horse, and in complete armour. Advancing from the entrance towards the throne, his herald proclaims, at three different stages in his progress, the following challenge: "If any person, of what degree soever, high or low, shall deny or gainsay our Sovereign Lady, Queen (Victoria) of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c., to be right heir to the imperial Crown of Great Britain, or that she ought not to enjoy the same, here is her champion who saith that he lieth, and is a false traitor, being ready in person to combat with him, and in this quarrel will adventure his life." The Champion, at the conclusion of each challenge, throwing down his gauntlet. Having reached the throne, a gold cup full of wine is brought to the Sovereign, who pledges the Champion, and then, sending him the cup, the latter drinks, and finally carries off the cup and its cover as his fee.

Such was the ceremonial observed at the coronation banquet of Queen Anne.

The Championship is an office of an hereditary character, and none will doubt its antiquity after reading the ceremonial of its duties. The feudal manor of Scrivelsby, in Lincolnshire, carries with it the possession of this office, and the Championship constitutes the tenure by which these lands are enjoyed. This manor was anciently vested in the Marmion family, who it is said were hereditary champions to the Dukes of Normandy long prior to the Conquest of England. However true this may be, the Conqueror granted the castle and manor of Tamworth, in Warwickshire, and the manor of

Scrivelsby, in Lincolnshire, to Robert de Marmion, to be held per baroniam, subject to the performance of the duties of Champion at the coronation of the Sovereigns of England. For four generations, the office descended in the male line without any interruption; but about the twentieth year of Edward the First's reign, Philip de Marmion, the fifth in descent, died without male issue, and the possessions of the family became divided among daughters. One of the daughters received the manor of Tamworth, and another, who was much younger, the manor of Scrivelsby. The great-grandson of the elder daughter (Lord Freville) claimed the Championship in the 1st of Richard II., by the tenure of Tamworth Castle; but the claim was decided against him, and in favour of Sir John Dymoke, who was husband of Margaret the heiress of Philip's younger daughter, who held the manor of Scrivelsby. Thus the Championship was decided to be annexed to the Scrivelsby estate, as the caput baroniæ, and with it continued to descend in the male line of the Dymoke family for sixteen generations, when the manor and championship became vested in the Reverend John Dymoke, rector of Scrivelsby, prebendary of Lincoln, &c. This gentleman, being called on to officiate at the coronation of King George IV., preferred a petition to the Court of Claims; and in consideration of his clerical character he was allowed to act by deputy. His son, therefore (who succeeded him in 1828, and received a baronetcy in 1841), represented the father at the last coronation banquet which has been held in this country; and on that occasion all the customary ceremonies were gone through; which, while

they exhibit and revive an ancient practice, serve as a practical demonstration of the antiquity and reputation of that family by whom the office has been exercised for so many centuries, generation after generation.

THE HERALDS' COLLEGE, OR COLLEGE
OF ARMS.

"Oft have I traced, within thy fort,

Of mouldering shields, the mystic sense,
Scutcheons of honour or pretence,

Quarter'd in old armorial sort,

Remains of rude magnificence."

SCOTT, Marmion, canto iv.

THE Heralds' College was incorporated by Richard III., and invested with many privileges and immunities. In the third year of Edward the Sixth's reign it received a further charter; and many new privileges were also added by Queen Mary, under whose charter of incorporation it now exercises its functions. Its head has always been the Earl Marshal, and by him the vacancies occurring in the college are filled; for although the appointments are made by the Crown, yet it is always on the nomination of the Duke of Norfolk, hereditary Earl Marshal. Together with the Lord High Constable, the Earl Marshal anciently presided over the Court of Chivalry, as it was called, a tribunal of considerable utility in former times, for the investigation of all questions touching the laws of honour, and for the control and examination of coat-armour, precedence, and descents. Wherever the common

law could give redress this court was unable to interfere; it has therefore happened as a natural result of the improved condition of our laws, and as a consequence of the inefficacy of almost any tribunal to regulate matters of such delicacy, that the Court of Honour has fallen totally into disuse, a result, perhaps, hastened by the extinction of chivalry, and undoubtedly influenced by the fact that neither pecuniary satisfaction nor imprisonment were ever in the power of this tribunal to inflict. To publish all royal proclamations, and to arrange the solemnities of coronations, royal marriages, christenings, funerals, and other ceremonies, fall, however, within the province of the Earl Marshal as head of the college. But the evidence of heralds to support pedigrees is not received in courts of justice, unless the testimony has relation to their original visitation books, which were compiled when solemn and regular circuits were periodically made throughout every part of the kingdom. These being authorized registers of marriages and descents, verified by the heads of families, are allowed to be good evidence in matters of pedigree. The members of the college are mainly occupied in giving assistance to those who desire to trace their descents for the recovery of property, titles, or for other purposes; but they are consulted like other professional persons, and the records they keep are not to be confounded with the books of the college, in which only proved pedigrees are entered. The college has the power of granting armorial bearings to individuals who were previously not known to possess these distinctions, and such honourable augmentations or

grants of supporters as the Crown may confer, are registered, arranged, and devised by them.

The corporation consists of thirteen members, viz. three kings of arms, six heralds of arms, and four pursuivants of arms. Their meetings are termed chapters. The kings of arms are Garter, Clarenceux, and Norroy.

THE GARTER KING OF ARMS is the first and principal. The office was instituted by Henry V., in 1417. He must be a native of England, and a gentleman entitled to bear arms; he is usually knighted on his appointment, and to him belongs the power of granting armorial bearings, and of devising supporters for the nobility, and knights of the Bath. It is his privilege to carry the ensigns of the Garter to any foreign prince who may be elected into that order; and in solemn ceremonies he is engaged in marshalling distinguished persons to their respective places.

CLARENCEUX and NORROY are called provincial kings, because their jurisdiction divides England into two provinces. That of Clarenceux comprehends all to the south of the river Trent, and Norroy all to its north. The former officer received his present name after the Duke of Clarence, the third son of King Edward III., but provincial kings existed long before this period. Norroy's name is evidently North King, indicative of the province in which he surveys and registers the arms, descents, and marriages of all under the rank of nobility.