LORD WATERFORD 201 English gentlemen gathered together as at the Eglinton Tournament. It was a sad and singular fact that three of the young noblemen who took part in this memorable event died comparatively young men. The generous and liberal founder of the pageant, who spent, it is said, nearly £80,000 in his attempt to revive a chivalric pageant from the records of the Middle Ages, was consigned to the tomb at the premature age of little more than fifty. Another was Lord Alford, the heir to the princely estates of the Earl of Brownlow and of the Earl of Bridgewater; another was the Marquis of Waterford, whose melancholy and sudden death, from a fall in the hunting-field, caused such widespread regret. In appearance, the Marquis of Waterford was a "genuine Beresford, with the clear, searching eye, and regularity of features, hereditary for generations in that noble race. In bodily form he was conspicuous for a chest and shoulders of rare development. At thirty years of age Lord Waterford was probably the strongest man in the kingdom, and his activity was equal to his vigour." Lord Waterford was the third peer who, within a short period, lost his life from hunting. The others were the Earl of Harewood and Lord Fitzhardinge, who also died from bad falls in the field. The perfect type of gentlemen, I suppose, would be that known as an "Admirable Crichton." Many, many years ago, in the Forties of the last century, Mr. Rawdon Browne told us some interesting historical facts concerning the handsome young Scotchman in connexion with whom this expression first came into use. His biography, in which the accomplishments of James Crichton of Cluny are described in somewhat inflated language, has been written by Sir Thomas Urquhart, the translator of Rabelais. More reliable information, however, was provided by Mr. Rawdon Browne, who, knowing that Crichton had paid a visit to Venice, made diligent search amongst the old archives for some trace of the celebrated Scotchman. Eventually he found, amongst the minutes of the Council of Ten for 19th August 1580, a statement that "A young Scotchman in this city, by name Gaicomo Crichtonio, of very noble lineage, from what one hears about his quality; and, from what has been clearly seen by divers proofs and trials made with very learned and scientific men, and especially by a Latin oration which he delivered extempore this morning in our college, of most rare and singular ability; in such wise that, not being above twenty years of age, or but little more, he astounds and surprises everybody; a thing which, as it is altogether extraordinary, and beyond what nature usually produces, so ought it extraordinarily to induce this council to make some courteous demonstration towards so marvellous a personage, more especially as from accidents and foul fortune "ESQUIRES" 203 which has befallen him, he is in very straitened circumstances. Wherefore it will be put in the ballot, that of the moneys of the chest of this Council there be given to the said Crichton, a Scottish gentleman, 100 golden crowns.-Ayes, twenty-two; noes, two; neutrals, four." Three years later the gallant Scotchman was killed at Mantua in a duel with his pupil, Kincenzo di Gonzao. To-day, of course, almost every one is a gentleman and an esquire, but in Crichton's day a far more sparing use was made of such terms. The present use of the distinction "Esquire," conveys not the remotest idea of its origin or appropriation in past ages. The esquire originated in the days of chivalry, when the sons of gentlemen, from the age of seven years, were brought up in the castles of superior lords, which was an inestimable advantage to the poorer nobility, who could hardly otherwise have given their children the accomplishments of their station. From seven to fourteen, these boys were called pages or varlets; at fourteen they bore the name of esquire. They were instructed in the management of arms, in the art of horsemanship, in exercises of strength and activity, so as to fit them for the tournament and battle, and the milder glories of chivalrous gallantry. Long after the decline of chivalry, the word esquire was only used in a limited sense, for the sons of peers and knights, or such as obtained the title by creation, or some other legal means; it was the next degree of title after that of knight. Even at the present day the strict definition of an esquire is a gentleman entitled to bear a coat of arms; nevertheless it is applied with reckless and frequently ludicrous indiscrimination. Much the same indiscriminate popularization has befallen the cockade, which is supposed to have been first adopted during the wars of York and Lancaster, when the white or red roses worn by the adherents showed to which party they belonged. The cockade certainly has a certain resemblance to the old badge of the rose. In later times only servants of those in any way connected with the army or the navy or the naval defence of the country, were supposed to wear cockades; but at the present day numbers of grooms or coachmen wear them, though their masters or mistresses have but a remote connexion with either of the services. It is always, I think, pleasant to find inoffensive and pretty old customs preserved, and for this reason one must not cavil at those scarcely entitled to it sporting the cockade. Of late years, I am glad to observe, there seems rather a tendency to revive certain ceremonial usages, witness the installation of Prince Edward as a Knight of the Garter. The late King, it may be added, was never installed at all, a circumstance chronicled by the following inscription on the plate on his stall in St. George's Chapel, Windsor. This runs KING EDWARD VII 205 "Du très haut, très puissant, et très illustre Prince Albert Edouard Prince de Galles, Duc de Saxe, Duc de Cornwall et de Rothesay, Comte de Chester, Carrick, et Dublin, Baron de Renfrew et Seigneur des Iles, Grand Maïtre d'Ecosse, Colonel aux Armées de la Reine, Chevalier du très Noble Ordre de la Jarretière. Dispensé des ceremonies d'Installation par des Patentes datées du ix. me jour de Novembre, MDCCCLVIII." This mention of King Edward VII recalls to my mind the deep and genuine expressions of regret that, during these times of social unrest, his genial, tactful personality is no longer with us. The late Duc d'Aumale once said, "The best and most popular of our French Kings, Henri IV, said one day, in one of his public addresses, 'when I am no more you will regret me.'" The thing happened as he predicted; his great popularity began after his death. The late King Edward might have said the same thing. Certainly he was esteemed and popular during his life, but only now that he is lost to this world is the full extent of his immense services and merits fully appreciated. In social matters the late King exercised an enormous influence of a quite peculiar kind, his knowledge of life being intimate and unique. Not only was he a king, but a man of the world with enormous experience of men and things, together with great tact, besides which he had the most extraordinary gift for recognizing faces which anyone has ever |