Memorials of the Order of the Garter, from its Foundation to the present Time; with Biographical Notices of the Knights in the Reigns of Edward III. and Richard II. By George Frederick Beltz, K.H. Lancaster Herald. Royal 8vo. pp. ccxxiv. 440. IT is with very great pleasure that we welcome the appearance of this long expected volume; which, though it comes as a substitute for a design once promising to be more extensive and therefore more important, is still a contribution of high value to the substantial and authentic history of some of the most illustrious characters that have graced the English annals. It is now many years since Mr. Beltz first announced a History of the Order of the Garter and of its Knights. The difficulties of the task, when executed with the care and research that he has expended upon it, have now induced him to limit the memoirs in the present publication to the knights elected in the reigns of the Founder and his successor. He says,

"Our researches and collections were adapted to a much later period; but the time which we have been able to devote to the pursuit, has proved insufficient for the completion of that branch of our original plan. We are but slightly consoled by the reflection that our distinguished predecessors, Ashmole and Anstis, experienced a similar disappointment,-and for the same cause, namely, the difficulty, almost insuperable, of adequately supporting by coetaneous testimony the narratives and assigned dates of transactions belonging to the early part of our history; and without which a compilation of this nature would be comparatively of little value."

Mr. Beltz commences his preface by a warm testimony to the merits of Ashmole, who presented his Commentaries on the Order of the Garter, the result of a research commencing some years before the restoration of the monarchy, to the Sovereign and Knights in chapter in 1674:

"Clear and precise is the classification GENT. MAG. VOL. XVI.

of the several subjects of which they treat; they have left nothing to be desired for all purposes of reference upon points affecting the laws and ceremonies of the Order, from its foundation to that time."

Ashmole, nevertheless, failed in making his lists of the early Knights complete or correct in chronology, and subsequent editors have not attempted to improve it, being content with appending the modern additions to the series. Mr. Beltz's recapitulation of the errors in so illustrious a catalogue is, indeed, not a little surprising. In the first place, Ashmole mistook the persons of two of the founders of the order, Grey and Audeley and during the three first reigns, there are the following discrepancies observable in

his list:

:

"Under that of Edward III., the names both of Sir Fulk and Sir William Fitzwarine are inserted; but the former, although a very distinguished commander in the wars of that period, was not honoured with the Garter.

"Richard Fitzalan earl of Arundel, and Sir Thomas Felton, are incorrectly comprehended within that reign; they having been elected by Richard II.

"Henry Percy the first earl of Northumberland, William Ufford second earl of Suffolk, Thomas Holland second earl of Kent, and Thomas Percy earl of Worcester, are wholly omitted; whilst William Beauchamp lord Bergavenny, Sir Thomas Granson, and Sir Robert Namur, who were elected during the reign of Edward III. are placed under that of Richard II.; and Sir John Sully, called "Sulby," who had been also elected by the royal Founder, is numbered among the Knights chosen by Henry IV.

"Under the sovereignty of Richard II., the names of Michael de la Pole earl of

Suffolk, Sir Robert Knolles, and Sir

Robert Dunstanville, are given; but there exists no evidence that they were Knights of the Order.

"Richard lord Grey is stated to have been chosen by Richard II.; but was in fact admitted into the Order under the reign of Henry IV. Robert de Vere duke of Ireland, Sir Henry Percy, called "Hotspur," Thomas le Despenser earl of Glou

H

in celebrated;" and, though he has committed the error of stating the number of the Knights at forty instead of twenty-six, it is now proved that he supplies the correct date, viz. on St. George's Day, 1344. It is singular that no description of this memorable feast should be given by any native chronicler; but so it is, and we must be grateful to Froissart for his aid. "There were present," he says, "the earls, barons, knights, ladies, and damsels of the Kingdom of England. The festivities were on a grand and noble scale, with much feasting and tourneying for fifteen days. Many knights from Flanders, Hainault, and Brabant crossed the sea, in order to be present on the occasion; but from France there came none.'

"Of the principle which governed the nomination of the first knight companions,

we know as little as of the form in which the election was conducted. The fame of Sir Reginald Cobham, Sir Walter Manny, the earls of Northampton, Hereford, and Suffolk, had been established by their exploits, long before the institution of the Order; and would have amply justified their admission amongst the Founders, if military merit had been the sole qualification. Those distinguished captains of the age were elected subsequently upon the vacancies created by the deaths of persons of less apparent pretensions. Is it, therefore, an improbable conjecture (more especially considering the youth of several of the primary knights, and the small celebrity of others), that the distinction was, in the first instance, bestowed upon those who had excelled at the joust which shortly preceded the foundation?"

We should say this supposition has every appearance of being the truth. The foreigners who were included among the primary Knights of the Garter were Jean de Grailly, Captal de Buch in Gascony; Sir Henry Eam of Brabant, a name unknown to the English records before the foundation of the order, but afterwards a knight attached to the service of the Black Prince; and Sir Sanchet d'Abriche court, of Hainault, but whose father (as supposed) had served in the army of England.

On the popular traditions regarding

the adoption of the Garter as the name and symbol of the order (such as the Countess of Salisbury dropping her garter, &c.) we will not stop to dilate: they are duly considered and disposed of by Mr. Beltz; no other result, however, is arrived at, but that the Garter was assumed as an emblem of the tie or union of warlike qualities.

Mr. Beltz has given a complete and carefully compiled series of all the Knights of the Garter, the last of whom, Robert Marquess of Westminster, elected on the 11th March 1841, is the 688th that has received this illustrious distinction. Next follows a List headed, "Ladies of the Order," or the names of those ladies for whom robes of the order were provided for the Feast of St. George from the reign of Edward III. to that of Henry VII. From Mr. Beltz's observations in another place (pp. 244-6), it appears that there is ancient authority for the title here given to them, as they are sometimes designated "Dominæ de Secta et Liberatura Garterii," and, at others, "Dames de la Fraternité de Saint George." There is, however, ceremonies of admission for ladies; and no account of any form of election or it is found, that "the favour was not limited to the consorts and relicts of the Knights of the Order, but extended to others of their families," and very probably to any ladies resident at Court, whom the Sovereign, from his own grace, or at the nomination of a Knight Companion, was pleased to invite to be present at the festivities and solemnities; as at its very foundation, Froissart says, "the Queen of England, accompanied by three hundred ladies and damsels, all noble and gentle women, and uniformly apparelled, were to be present." It is possible that the delivery of robes to the King of Spain (p. xiv.) and some other males mentioned in the preface, may be explained in the same way.

We have looked at the annals of the order in the reigns of Mary and Elizabeth on a point which excited some interest at the commencement of the present reign, the mode of wearing the order by female sovereigns.

Nothing, however, there occurs on the point; but under the reign of Anne we find the following:

"Queen Anne, upon her accession,

commanded the chancellor of the Order

to summon a select number of the knights, for the purpose of obtaining their opinion touching the manner in which she should wear the ensigns as Sovereign. The companions to whom the consideration of the point was committed, were the marquess of Normanby, the duke of Somerset, the earls of Rochester and Feversham, the duke of Devonshire, and the earls of Portland and Pembroke. They expressed their opinion that the George might be worn pendent from a ribband about the Queen's neck; the Garter on her left arm ; and the star upon her breast; which was accordingly, by the direction of the knights, reported to her Majesty by the chancellor."

Subsequently, at an installation, she "assumed her stall, wearing the mantle and collar of the Order."

To return to the "Ladies of the Order." A note in p. ccxxi. informs us that

Garters, of the same fashion as those of the knights, were also provided for ladies; but the delivery was not annual, like that of the robes. Ashmole, p. 218, states that the figure of the countess of Tancarville upon her tomb (probably An. tigona, wife of Henry the 2nd earl, and natural daughter of Humphrey duke of Gloucester.) was decorated with a Garter around the left arm, a little above the elbow; and, in the church of Stanton Harcourt, the figure of Margaret Byron, the wife of Sir Robert Harcourt, K.G. is represented with the like decoration. Both these ladies were living in the reign of Edward IV. The figure of Alice Countess of Suffolk at Ewelme, temp. Hen. VI. is also represented with the Garter round her left arm."

In the reign of Charles I. on the 22nd May 1638,

"An attempt was made to revive the ancient custom of issuing the ensigns and robes of the Order to LADIES. Sir James Palmer, acting as deputy for Sir Thomas Rowe, chancellor, moved the Sovereign, That the Ladies of the Knights Companions might have the privilege to wear a Garter of the Order about their arms; and an upper robe, at festival times, according to ancient usage.' Upon which motion the Sovereign gave orders that the Queen should be made acquainted

therewith and her pleasure known, and the affair left to the particular suit of the ladies.' On the 10th of October in the ported to the Sovereign in chapter the year following, the deputy-chancellor reanswer which the Queen was pleased to give: whereupon it was left to a chapter, to be called by the Knights-companions, to consider of every circumstance, and how it were fittest to be done for the honour of the Order.' A chapter was appointed to be held for the purpose; but owing, at it is supposed, to the civil wars nothing was done therein."

We have derived the foregoing remarks from that part of Mr. Beltz's work which relates to the corporate history of the Order, as best suited for comment and extract within our space; but we must distinctly state, before we conclude, that the author's personal memoirs of the Knights, and his genealogical details, inasmuch as they are the result of long and unwearied research, and are full of original and important information, are those portions of the work which deserve the highest credit and approbation. The active and chivalrous period in which his heroes flourished is one very favourable to the interest of biographical narrative; and few readers will fail to derive gratification from so authentic a history of the captains of Cressy and Poictiers, and the gentle and gallant knights of the pages of Froissart.

A more attentive and complete perusal than we have yet been able to bestow upon these memoirs would probably fail in suggesting any material remarks upon so elaborate and wellconsidered a work. We may, however, mention that Mr. Beltz, in p. ccxxiii, has forgotten the article in the first volume of the Collectanea To

pographica et Genealogica, which proved the distinction between Beatrix countess of Arundel and Beatrix lady Talbot.

With regard to Sir William Fitzwaryne, K.G. there appears to remain some little obscurity not yet cleared up. He is identified (p. 96) with the person called "William Fitzwaryne le Frere" in public records, and with the Sir William who was once (only) summoned to Parliament, in 1342. It is suggested in a note that "the de

scription le frere may warrant the conjecture that he was brother to the chief of the family, Fulk lord Fitzwaryne, a person of great distinction at the period." We do not dissent from the opinion so expressed; but, as we believe such distinctions were usually applied to distinguish two persons of the same name, we would inquire, was there another William? and, if so, what relation? A sepulchral effigy of the Knight of the Garter still exists in Wantage church, Berkshire (see a plate recently published in Hollis's Monumental Effigies): but, as for the person buried in the Grey Friars' church in London, as mentioned by Stowe (Beltz, p. 97), together with his wife "Isabella quondam Regina Man,"* there is every probability that he was William Bourchier lord Fitzwaryne,† who died in the reign of Edward the Fourth, and the wife of whose son, together with her father Sir John Dynham, was interred in the same place. If the lady bearing the lofty title of "Queen of Man," could be identified, this point would probably be determined.

The History and Antiquities of Leath Ward, in the County of Cumberland; with Biographical Notices and Memoirs. By Samuel Jefferson. Carlisle, 8vo. pp. 516.

THE county of Cumberland is divided, not into Hundreds but into Wards, an arrangement which, according to this author, is owing, in common with the subdivision of other counties into hundreds, “to the wise policy of Alfred the Great." But had Alfred any jurisdiction over Cumberland? We rather imagine not. And if so, in what ancient record are the Wards first mentioned? This should be one of the first questions to be investigated by a Cumberland historian. Dr. Burn gives a more satisfactory account of this peculiar division of Cumberland and Westmorland. He says the Wards were "the districts of the like number of High Constables, who presided over the wards to be sustained at certain fords and other places, for re

pelling plundering parties out of Scotland." (Burn's Westmorland, pp. 12, 13.)

A very recent alteration has taken place in the division of Cumberland. The five Wards of which it consisted have been formed into six. Leath Ward, however, remains unaltered (p. 496.) It comprises the southeastern portion of the county; is about thirty-five miles in length east and west, and in breadth north and south very irregular, in no part exceeding fourteen miles. It contains twentyone parishes, of which that of the town of Penrith is first noticed in the present volume. The history of Cumberland has been described by a very competent judge, (Mr. Hodgson, the historian of Northumberland,) as a wide and rich, but uncultivated field." It has only been surveyed, not cultivated, by Messrs. Nicolson and Burn, by Mr. Hutchinson, and the Messrs. Lysons. But we should not forget another survey made by the historian of Northumberland himself, and contributed to "The Beauties of England and Wales," an early evidence of his love of topography, and his patriotic affection towards his native county. Mr. Jefferson discloses the circumstance, that

"The History of Cumberland which bears Mr. Hutchinson's name is usually attributed to him; but that gentleman appears merely to have written a few parts, furnished notes for some parishes, and left the management and editorship to others. His Histories of Northumberland and Durham having established his fame as a writer, he lent his assistance and countenance to that of Cumberland, which now bears his name."

And now we are called upon to give our opinion of Mr. Jefferson's own performance: We could not conscientiously give it the highest praise: for to bring it into a comparison with the erudition and taste of Mr. Hodgson would be extravagant. We think its compilation has been rather hurried; but life is short, and topographers are not immortal. On the tomb of too