franking was abolished by the Aet 2 and 3 Vict. cap. 52, which established the present uniform rate of Postage.

REPORTING OF PARLIAMENTARY SPEECHES.

The practice of reporting originated in 1736, with Mr. Cave, the proprietor of the Gentleman's Magazine, but William Woodfall, the printer of The Diary, 1789, was the man who first reported the Parliamentary debates in a proper manner. He was to be seen every night in the gallery of the House of Commons, with his cane-head in his mouth, never varying his posture, and never taking a note; and yet the following day reporting the speeches without the loss of a single word, though perhaps he would call at the theatre in his way home to see a new farce, or a new performer, for his criticism; and yet his memory disposed of such various gleanings without the least confusion, or any apparent technical help. What an enviable talent!

BUDGET.

M. Ch. Coquelin says, that the word budget, in its present signification, has passed into France from England: the latter country having first borrowed it from the old French languagebougette signifying (and particularly in old Norman) a leather purse. It was the custom in England to put into a leather bag the estimates of receipts and expenditure presented to parliament; and hence, as Coquelin observes, the term passed from the containant to the contained, and, with this new signification, returned from this country into France; where it was first used in an official manner in the arrêtés of the Consul's, 4th Thermidor, year X., and 17th Germinal, year XI.

HERALDRY, TITLES AND DIGNITIES, VARIOUS ORDERS AND INSIGNIA, ORIGIN OF VARIOUS ROYAL AND NOBLE FAMILIES,

CHRISTIAN NAMES, &c.

HERALDRY.

The late Lord Courtney, who was of one of the oldest families in Great Britain, having married a Miss Clack, who was much inferior in point of birth, a conversation took place (at which the late Bishop of Exeter was present) on the disparity of the connection. "What is your objection?" said the bishop to a lady, who took the principal part in the conversation. "Want of family, my lord." "Want of family!" echoed the bishop. "Why, I'll

prove her of better family than his lordship's. He may, perhaps, trace his family as far back as the conquest, but the family of the Clacks are as old as Eve!"-So, reader, it may almost be said of Heraldry, the true origin of which is lost in the mazes of antiquity. In a small work, published in 1721, entitled The British Compendium, or Rudiments of Honour, is the following passage:Abel, the second son of Adam, bore his father's coat quartered with that of his mother Eve, she being an heiress, viz., gules and argent; and Joseph's coat was party-per-pale argent, and gules."

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Heraldry came first into general use about the year 1100. As regards crests, the assumption of them took its data from Edward the Black Prince assuming the device of the blind king of Bohemia, who was slain at the battle of Crecy. Prior to that period, they were only allowable by grant. Another writer says, Harry, surnamed the Fowler, Emperor of the West, who regulated the tournaments in Germany, was the first who introduced those marks of honour, Armouries, or Coats of Arms. Before that time we find nothing upon ancient tombs but crosses, with Gothic inscriptions, and decorations of persons entombed. The time of Clement IV., who died A.D. 1268, is the first whereon we find any arms; nor do they appear struck upon any coins before the year 1336. Camden refers the origin of hereditary arms in England to the time of the first Norman kings. Chronology says, coats of arms and heraldry were introduced in 1100, and that the arms of England and France were first quartered by Edward III., 1358."

HERALDS.

In the days of chivalry, the principal employment of the herald was to carry messages of defiance, or proposals of peace, from one sovereign prince or chieftain to another; and in such high esteem was the office held, that the senior heralds were styled kings, and the sovereign himself vested them with the dignity by pouring a gold cup of wine on their heads, and proclaiming their style and title. In modern times, the principal business of the herald is to proclaim peace and war, to superintend all royal and state ceremonies, particularly coronations, and the installations of the knights of different orders; to arrange public funerals, to record and emblazon the arms of the nobility and gentry, and check all spurious assumptions in this respect.

HERALDS' COLLEGE.

The College of Arms, commonly called the Heralds' Colle situated on the east side of St Bennet's Hill, Doctors' Con at the south-west end of St. Paul's Churchyard. It was des by the fire in 1666, but rebuilt about three years after. jon Titles spacious brick edifice, having an arched gateway in front, leto reside

into a handsome quadrangle. The society was first incorporated by Richard III. The Earl Marshal of England is superior for their college, and has the right of appointing the members of which it consists: namely, three Kings at Arms, six Heralds at Arms, and four Pursuivants at Arms.

The Kings are, Garter, Clarencieux, and Norroy. Garter was instituted by Henry V. for the service of the order of the Garter, and is acknowledged as principal King at Arms. Clarencieux and Norroy are called provincial kings, the former having jurisdiction over that part of England south of the Trent, and the latter over the country north of that river. The distinguishing colour of Garter is blue; of the two provincial kings, purple.

The six heralds are styled, of York, Lancaster, Cheshire, Windsor, Richmond, Somerset, who rank according to seniority of appointment.

The four Pursuivants are Blue-mantle, Rouge-croix, Rougedragon, and Port-culles.

CRESTS.

A crest, which derives its appellation from crista, the comb of a cock, denotes in heraldry aud armour the uppermost part of an armorial bearing, or that part which rises over the casque or helmet, next to the mantle. In heraldry only, the crest is a figure placed upon a wreath, coronet, or cap of maintenance, above both helmet and shield; as, for instance, the crest of a bishop is the mitre. The right to assume these distinguishing emblems was originally deemed one of the principal marks of nobility; which may be inferred from their having been borne at tournaments, to which none were admitted unless they had given strong proof of magnanimity, courage, or merit, or possessed the advantage of superior birth. Hence also the crest is esteemed a criterion of higher nobility than the armour generally.

The ancient warriors wore crests, to strike terror in their enemies, as the representations of animals they had killed: or to give them a more formidable mien, by making them appear taller and more martial. Hence, the term crest-fallen is often used figuratively, to express a want of spirit or courage. Sometimes the crest has served to distinguish sovereigns and commanders in the field; at others, to mark the several branches of a family; and, on some occasions, as the distinguishing badge of factions.

who todom is thus defined by Bailey.

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The dignity of a peer

my lord to a great fee. Of late years, we believe, it has been nary to take a great fee from the Peer.

ST. GEORGE, PATRON SAINT OF ENGLAND.

St. George was chosen the tutelar Saint of England by our ancestors, under the first Norman kings; and the Council of Oxford, in 1822, commanded his feast to be kept a holiday of the lesser rank. Under his name and ensign, our Edward the Third instituted the Order of the Garter. Butler informs us, that St. George was born in Cappadocia; that he went with his mother into Palestine, of which country she was a native, where she had a considerable estate, which fell to her son George, who was a soldier, and became a tribune or colonel in the army, wherein he was further promoted by the Emperor Dioclesian, to whom he resigned his commissions and posts, when that empire waged war against the Christian religion, and who threw him into prison for remonstrating against bloody edicts, and caused him to be beheaded. St. George became the patron of the military because he had been military himself, and that his apparition encouraged the Christian army before Antioch, which proved fortunate, under Godfrey of Bouillon. There are many idle tales about the dragon, but this was no more than an emblematical figure, purporting that by his faith and Christian fortitude he conquered the devil, called the dragon in Apocalypse. An old popular ballad not only gives the genealogy of St. George, but assigns to him marks, which have a direct reference to the institution of the garter:"A blood-red Cross was on his arm, A dragon on his breast:

A little garter all of gold,
Was round his leg exprest."

ST. DENIS, PATRON SAINT OF FRANCE.

All that we learn of St. Denis, or St. Denys, is, that he was, with other martyrs, beheaded in the year 252, near to Paris, at a place which has since been called Mons Martyrum (Montmartre), the mountain of martyrs, in honour of them. Ribadeneira says, the body of St. Denis rose upon its feet, and took its own head up in its hands, as if he had triumphed, and carried in it the crown and token of its victories. The angels of Heaven, he continues, went on accompanying the Saint, singing hymns choirwise, with a celestial harmony and concert, and ended with these words, "gloria tibi, Domine, alleluia;" and the Saint went with his head in his hands about two miles, till he met with a good woman called Catula, who came out of her house; and the body of St. Denis going to her, it put the head in her hands. He was Bishop of Paris; and the abbey of St. Denis is named in honour of him. His festival is kept, October 9th.

TITLES AND DIGNITIES.

Opinions have changed upon all things, and greatly upon Titles and Dignities. Who has not seen a Consul appointed to reside

in a fishing town? Who has not given a shilling to a Marquis, a sixpence to a Knight! A Roman senator was beneath the level of an English gentleman; yet not only a Roman senator, but a Roman citizen, held himself superior to foreign kings. Surely it might well be permitted our Richard to assume a rank far above any potentate of his age. If almanacs and German court calendars are to decide on dignities, the Emperors of Morocco, of Austria, and of Mexico, should precede the Kings of England and France; but learned men have thought otherwise. Rank, which pretends to fix the value of every one, is the most arbitrary of all things.

THE KING.

The title of King, given to the sovereign of these realms, is expressive of his being the chief or head of the state. The Hebrew word Rosch is considered as the root of all the present titles, denoting kingly or sovereign power; namely, the Punic Resch, the Scythian Reix, the Latin Rex, the Spanish Rey, and the French Roi. The present English appellative, King, is however derived from the Saxon word koning or cuning, from can intimating power, or ken knowledge. And it is past dispute, that all the German nations styled their ancient monarchs, according to their different dialects, Konig, Kuning, Koning, King. Egbert, grandfather of Alfred the Great, was the first king of England.

PRINCE OF WALES.

This title was first given by Edward I. to his son Edward, afterwards Edward II., to reconcile the Welsh to his conquest of that country. The Prince was born at Caernarvon, from which circumstance he also took the name of Edward of Caernarvon.

DUKE.

The title and degree of a duke is of more ancient standing in other countries than with us, for at the time of the Conquest the king himself was Duke of Normandy; which, perhaps, was the reason that neither he, nor his successors for several ages, thought fit to raise a subject to so high a dignity. About a year before, Edward III. assumed the title of King of France, in order to inflame the military ardour; and to gratify the ambition of his Earls and Barons, he introduced a new order of nobility, by creating his eldest son Edward, Duke of Cornwall.—This was done with great solemnity in full parliament, at Westminster, upon the 17th of March, 1337, by girding a sword upon the young Prince, and giving him a patent, containing a grant of the name, title, and dignity of a duke, and of several large