was meant, the Chief Priests of a parish, and next in dignity to a Bishop. This office grew more considerable afterwards, and by small degrees arrived at its present height; in which it is the reward of such as have served his Holiness well-even Princes thinking it no diminution of their honour to become members of the college of Cardinals.

The Cardinals compose the Pope's council, and till the time of Urban 8th were styled Most Illustrious; but by a decree of that Pope in 1630, they had the title of Eminence conferred upon them. The privileges of the Cardinals are very great—they have an absolute power in the church during the vacancy in the Holy See-they have a right to elect a new Pope, and are the only persons on whom the choice can fall; most of the grand offices in the court of Rome are filled by Cardinals. The dress of a Cardinal is a red soutanne, a rocket, a short purple mantle, and the red hat.

When they are sent to the Courts of Princes, it is in quality of legates a latere; and when they are appointed Governors of towns, their government is called by the name of Legation.

The Cardinals are divided into six classes or orders; consisting of six bishops, fifty priests, and fourteen deacons, making in all seventy, which constitute the sacred college.

Few men experienced a greater revolution of fortune than the celebrated Pope Sextus 5th. He was, according to a learned historian, originally a swine-herd, and upon his arrival in Rome was so completely destitute of the means of existence as to be obliged to support himself by soliciting alms. Having one day been rather more fortunate than ordinary, he was observed by a tradesman in a thoughtful posture, apparently deliberating upon a matter of importance; the man, from an impulse of kindness and curiosity, enquired into the subject that occupied his thoughts. Sextus frankly, but facetiously, told him that he was debating with himself whether he should employ the few pieces of silver, of which he was in possession, in the purchase of covering for his ten toes, or of satisfying his appetite, which was craving with hunger. The generous tradesman decided the perplexity, by inviting Sextus home to dine; who, when he arrived at the height of papal dignity, was not forgetful of his kindness. He obtained that dignity by the most deep laid manoeuvre of artifice and deception, which he practised successively for fifteen years. He counterfeited extreme debility and infirm old age with such inimitable dexterity, that it was impossible for the most sagacious to detect the imposture; and during the conclave, which was assembled to create a Pope, he constantly leaned upon his crutch, and frequently interrupted the sage deliberations of the conclave by a hollow cough and affected infirmity. This politic design completely answered the inventor's wishes; for the Cardinals thought by electing Sextus (whom they unanimously believed could not long survive), each had a chance of becoming his successor, and he was chosen without one dissenting voice. Immediately after the election was concluded, the new Pope performed a miracle: his legs became vigorous; his body, which before had been bent and curbed, suddenly acquired agility and erection; his cough was dissipated, and his whole person underwent a most complete and astonishing metamorphosis!

DIEU ET MON DROIT.

Charles the Fair, King of France, died without male issue, leaving his Queen big with child, which upon her delivery proved to be a

daughter; whereupon Philip of Valois, cousin german of the late king, assumed the crown. Edward 3d, however, who was nephew, and consequently a nearer relation to the late king, put in his claim to the crown of France, pretending that the Salic law, in excluding females from the succession to that crown, made him of right the heir. Upon this he took upon himself the title of king of France, and quartered with his own arms the fleurs de luce of France. He at the same time assumed the motto Dieu et mon droit, or God and my right, 1340.

DEFENSOR FIDII.

Defensor Fidii, or Defender of the Faith, was given to Henry the Eighth by Pope Clement the Seventh, for the ability and zeal that he manifested in his writings in support of the Roman Catholic church. Yet strange, he was afterwards, when the Papal See had given him offence, one of its principal and most active enemies.Our kings, rather inconsistently, retain the title to this day.

MOST CHRISTIAN KING.

The origin of this title of the kings of France, as well as the "eldest son of the church," takes its data from Clovis, who was the first king of the Franks that professed Christianity.

CAEZAR OR CZAR.

The title Caezar, in Roman antiquity, was borne by all the Emperors from Julius Cæsar to the destruction of the empire. It was also used as a title of distinction for the intended or presumptive heir of the empire, as King of the Romans is now used for that of the German empire.

The title took its rise from the surname of the first Emperor, C. Julius Cæsar, which, by a decree of the Senate, all the succeeding Emperors were to bear. Under his successor the appellation of Augustus being appropriated to the Emperors, in compliment to that prince, the title Caesar was given to the second person in the empire, though still it continued to be given to the first; and hence the difference betwixt Cæsar used simply, and Caesar with the addition of Imperator Augustus. The dignity of Caesar remained second in the empire, till Alexius Commenus, having elected Nicephorus Melissenus Caesar by contract, and it being necessary to confer some higher dignity on his own brother Isaacius, he created him Sebastocrator, with the precedency over Melissenus; ordering, that in all acclamations, &c. Isaacius Sebastocrator should be named the second, and Melissenus Caesar the third.

Czar in the Russian language means Caesar, and it is a title assumed by the great Dukes, or as they are now styled Emperors of Russia. Beckman makes no doubt but they took this title by corruption from Caesar-Emperor; and accordingly they bear an eagle as the symbol of their empire, and the word Caesar in their arms; yet they make a distinction between Czar and Caesar, the first being taken for the King's name, and the other for the Emperors.The first that bore this title was Basil, the son of Basilides, under whom the Russian power began to appear about 1470.

DAUPHIN OF FRANCE.

In the times of the feudal system, the kingdom of France was divided into many petty sovereignties, as the empire of Germany is at

present. Humbert, or Hubert II., the count of Dauphiny, married in 1332, Mary de Baux, who was allied to the house of France, and by her he had an only son. One day, it is said, being playing with this child, at Lyons, he let him accidently fall into the Rhone, in which he was drowned. From that fatal period, he was a prey to all the horrors of grief; and feeling, moreover, a deep resentment for the affronts he had received from the house of Savoy, he resolved to give his dominions to that of France. This Cession, made in 1343, to Philip of Valois, was confirmed in 1349, on condition that the eldest sons of the kings of France, should bear the title of Dauphin. Philip, in gratitude for a cession which thus united Dauphiny to the crown, gave the donor, 40,000 crown pieces of gold, and a pension of 10,000 livres. Humbert, next entered among the Dominicans, and on Christmas Day, 1351, received the sacred orders from the hands of pope Clement VI., who created him patriarch of Alexandria, and gave him the administration of the archbishoprick of Rheims. Hambert passed the remainder of his days in tranquillity, and in the exercises of piety, and died at the age of 43, at Clermont, in the province of Auvergne.

DUKE OF CLARENCE.

The origin of this title is possibly but little known. Clarentia, or Clarence, once a country village in Suffolk, has long been celebrated for the great men who have borne the titles of earls, or dukes of it, and possessed formerly a castle of great strength and considerable extent. There was an interregnum in the title from George, Edward the Fourth's brother, and who was drowned in the butt of Malmsey, until its revival in the present possessor. The surname of Clarencieux, adopted by the second king at arms, arises also from its having formerly appertained to the dukes of Clarence.

ROYAL TITLES.

The following is the succession in which the royal tities swelled in England: Henry IV. had the title of Grace conferred on him; Henry VI. that of Excellent Grace; Edward IV. that of High and Mighty Prince; Henry VII. Highness; Henry VIII. Majesty; (and was the first and last that was styled Dread Sovereign); and James I. that of Sacred, or, Most Excellent Majesty. That of Majesty was first given to Louis XI. of France; before, it was the title only of Emperors. The kings of Arragon, Castile, and Portugal, had the title only of Highness; those of England, Your Grace; those of France, Your Despotism.

BLACK PRINCE.

From this time, (Crecy) says a writer,* the French began to call the young Prince of Wales, Le Noir, or the Black; and in a record, 2 Richard II. n. 12, he is called the Black Prince. Yet this title does not appear to have originated, as generally supposed, from his wearing black armour, nor indeed, is there any thing to show he ever ware such at all. When, however, he attended at tournaments in

Quarterly Review.

In the painting of him, discovered on the wall of St. Stephen's Chapel, his armour is gilt; and yet Eustace and Mercoeur are there represented in black armour. Thus in the initial letter to this reign, which is taken from the original one of the grant of the Duchy of Ac

France or England, he appeared in a surcoat, with a shield, and his horse in a caparison, all black, with white feathers on them, so that it must have been from the covering of his armour, that he was so called. Yet in the field of battle, and on all other occasions, his surcoat, or guipon, was emblazoned with the arms of England labelled. The terrible effort of his prowess seems to have given another meaning to his epithet; for Froissart, having described the battle of Poictiers, in 1356, adds, "thus, did Edward the Black Prince, now doubly dyed black by the terror of his arms."

ICH DIEN.

A writer in the Quarterly Review, says, the story of the Black Prince adopting the plume of feathers from the helmet of the king of Bohemia, who fell at Crecy, is evidently erroneous.

The plume was a device which young Edward assumed from that monarch's banner, not his helmet.

SEMPER EADEM.

Semper Eadem, i. e. always the same, was first used as the motto of the arms of England, Dec. 13th, 1702.

ARGYLE MOTTO.

Vix ea nostra voco, or, "I cannot call these my own," is the motto of the dukes of Argyle; and is said to have originated thus: one of those chiefs, whose lady was a great favourite at court, was complimented on his fine family of children, “rix ea nostra voco," exclaimed Argyll.

BISHOP OF OSNABURGH.

This bishopric, which was held by the late duke of York, is an alternative between the Roman Catholics and Protestants, and was made so at the treaty of Westphalia, in 1648. On that occasion, the house of Brunswick, made some great sacrifices for the sake of a general peace, in consideration of which, the See of Osnaburgh was given, to be held alternately by the Brunswick family, and others of the German empire. But although this bishopric is alternately hereditary in our royal family, it is not so with regard to its Roman Catholic bishops; for they are chosen out of different families by a chapter of 25 canons. When they have a popish bishop, he is a suffragan to the archbishop of Cologne; but the Protestant bishop, who is a temporal prince indeed, has little to demonstrate him an ecclesiastic, but the title. The bishopric is 45 miles long, and 25 broad, and is in one of the fruitfullest parts of Westphalia.

DUKE OF CORNWALL.

In a parliament held in 1337, king Edward 3d, created prince Edward, his eldest son, duke of Cornwall, being the first in England that bore the title of duke. He was vested with the dukedom by a wreath on his head, a ring on his finger, and a silver verge in his hand; since which time, the eldest son of the king of England, is born duke of Cornwall; the title of prince of Wales, being given same days after.

quitaine by Edward 3d to the Black Prince, the King appears on a throne of marble, ornamented with a frame of gilt; but both his armour, and that of his son, are steel, with gilt knee and elbow caps.grant is in the Cottonian Library, marked Nero DVII.

BATH AND WELLS.

His late majesty had somewhat of a twang of the northern diã• lect, which he imbibed from his preceptor, lord Bute; and so had the late bishop of Bath and Wells, and which was the origin of those sees being united. It is said, that both of them being vacant at the same time, his majesty graciously offered to Dr B- -s the choice of the two On the occasion, his lordship replied, that he was extremely obliged to his majesty, and should prefer Bath From his lordship's peculiar expression of the word, and the emphasis he laid upon it, the king understood him to say, baith, i e. (in the northern dialect) both! Upon which, his majesty, understanding him to mean both, and taking into consideration the learned prelate's talents and virtues, and the poverty of the sees separately, immediately issued his conge de liere, for the inauguration of the worthy prelate into the united sees of Bath and Wells, very much to his lordship's astonishment as well as satisfaction.

ALDERMAN.

Formerly one of the three degrees of nobility among the Saxons. Athelm was the first, Thane the lowest, and Alderman the same as earl among the Danes, and answering to our earl or count at present. It was also used in the time of king Edgar, for a judge or justice; in which sense Alwin is called aldermannus totius Angliæ. But now aldermen are associates to the chief civil magistrates of a city, or town corporate. The number of these magistrates is not limited, but more or less according to the magnitude of the place. Those of London were first appointed in 1242, and are twenty-six in number, each having one of the wards of the city committed to his care. Their office is for life; so that when one of them dies, or resigns, a wardmote is called, who return two persons, one of whom the lord mayor and aldermen choose to supply the vacancy.* By the charter of the city of London, all the aldermen who have been lord mayors, together with the three eldest ones not arrived at that dignity, are justices of the peace.

SHERIFF.

The title sheriff is a corruption from Shire Reeve, as Borougheeve is from Borough Reeve. He is a kind of superior constable, through whom all writs are issued.

LORD MAYOR.

Mayor for formerly major, i. e. the chief magistrate in a town; because a minor is never elected to the civic chair.

The Lord Mayor of London, as the chief magistrate is called, is, properly speaking, only Mayor of London, and Lord of Finsbury. This latter title was conferred, on the gift of the manor of Finsbury, by Richard 2d, in consequence of Sir William Walworth, (then mayor of London) killing Wat Tyler in Smithfield.

SECRETARY OF STATE.

This office originated in the reign of Henry 8th, when Thomas Cromwell, secretary to cardinal Wolsey, and who was afterwards created lord Cromwell, was made by him secretary of state.

*This is not the case now, each ward returning its own Alderman,