Curialia: or an Hiftorical Account of fome Branches of the Royal Houfhold, &c. &c. Part I. By Samuel Pegge, Esq. 410. 35. 6d. Payne.

Curialia: or an Hiftorical Account of fome Branches of the Royal Houfbold, &c. &c. Part II. By Samuel Pegge, Ejq. 410. 5. Payne.

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IT is a fubject of fome curiofity, if of no great use, to obferve the progrefs of customs and manners, and to trace the influence which different fituations, or revolutions in the ftate of fociety may have on them. The changes of fashion, and the fucceffion of a new folly for one more ancient, is of little importance; the variety, which alone deferves our attention, is to be deduced from a better fource. It cannot have efcaped the most fuperficial obferver, that the pride of station, and the pageantry of office, are now endured rather than coveted; and, instead of the oftentation, fometimes neceffary, but often the affumed importance of him who cannot acquire it by his own merits, every one wishes, at prefent, to flide into that eafy equality, and happy freedom, which grandeur has often envied, and dignity in vain afpired to. Courts have, on this account, been ftripped of a great part of their fascinating glare; and kings, fometimes doomed to feel what wretches feel,' have aimed also at thofe pleasures which fubjects alone used to enjoy. On this account, the names of offices remain without the duty; and the reader of hiftories and memoirs understands imperfectly, or mistakes the force of the defcription, because he is unacquainted with the rank or the dignity of the actors. There is alfo fome amusement in the apparently barren difquifition on the offices of those who have attended kings and heroes in their more retired moments, and feen the man, feparate from the monarch or the general; who have obferved the anxieties of greatnefs, the terrors of grandeur, or the liftleffness attendant on defires, almost checked by gratification. It is to fome of thefe caufes, and perhaps to each, that we have followed Mr, Pegge in his very accurate enquiry, with great pleasure: indeed, lefs perfeverance than a reviewer ought to poffefs, will enable the reader to pursue an author, who felects his inftances with propriety, and en, livens a dreary path with every occafional entertainment in his power.

The firft Differtation is on the Efquires of the King's Body, Efquires are well known to have been the attendants on knights; and, in the times of feudal magnificence, where wealth, dignity, and ftrength, confifted in the number of retainers, rather than the bulk of poffeffions: the efquires be

longing

longing to the houshold were forty; but of thefe, four only were appropriated to the perfon of the fovereign. We shall felect the original account of their offices, from the Liber Niger, in the time of Edward IV.

:

Efquires for the king's body four, noble of condition, whereof always two be attendant on the king's perfon, to array and unarray him, watch day and night, and to drefs him in his cloaths and they be callers to the lord chamberlain if any thing lack for his perfon or pleafaunce. Their business is in many fecrets, fome fitting in the king's chamber, fome in the hall with perfons of like fervice, which is called knights fervice. Taking every of them for his livery at night [ a certain quantity of bread, wine, and ale, and in winter certain allowances of candles, wood, &c.]" and wages in the counting, houfe, if he be prefent in court, daily feven-pence halfpenny, and cloathing with the household winter and fummer, or elfe forty fhillings, befides his other fee of the jewel house, or of the treasurer of England, and, befides his watching-cloathing of chamber of the king's wardrobe. He hath abiding in this court but two fervants [and] livery fufficient for his horses in the country by the herberger,"

The great object of their fervices was the king's person; and it was fo exactly limited, that while the efquire attended at his meals, and dreffed him loosely in his bedroom, the principal parts of his dress were put on by the gentlemen of the privy chamber. In the night, the efquire's power was abfolute; he flept in the prefence, next the guard chamber, received every meffage, and had a right to enter the king's bedchamber,' when it was neceflary to deliver a packet or letter into his own hands. We fhall extract Mr. Marfham's account of this part of the office, as it will give a ftriking proof of the extenfive privileges of the efquire during the night.

In all the time of my duty and fervice upon my royal mafter, his late majesty of bleffed memory, I, being efquire of the body, did always come into the king's bed,chamber without afking leave of any; and I did every night, having my fword and cloak on, bring in the morter into his majesty's bedchamber, and flayed there as long as I pleased, which was com monly till his majefty went into bed; and, having received the word from his majefty, I fet the guard, and after all-night was ferved up, I had the fole and abfolute command of the houfe above and below ftairs, as his majefty did declare upon feveral occafions to be the right of my place. And in the time of war, upon all occafions that required, I went into the bed. chamber, and awaked his majesty, and delivered all letters and meffages to his majefty and many times, by his majefty's command, I returned anfwers to the letters, and delivered or ders. And I remember that, coming to the king's bed-chamber

door,

door, which was bolted on the infide, the late earl of Bristol, then being in waiting, and lying there, he unbolted the door upon my knocking, and afked me what news?-I told him I had a letter for the king. The earl then demanded the letter of me, which I told him I could deliver to none but the king himfelf: upon which the king faid-The efquire is in the right; for he ought not to deliver any letter or meffage to any but myself, he being at this time the chief officer of my houfe; and if he had delivered the letter to any other, 1 fhould not have thought him fit for his place.'

"And before this time I never heard that any offered to hinder the efquire from coming to the king, and I have frequently brought letters and meffages to the bed-side when the duke of Richmond was in waiting."

This access to the bed-chamber was however fcon afterwards abolished; and the office was at laft reduced to a poft of honour only. Mr. Pegge then examines the efquire's rank, and the ftation which he occupies in proceffions; but this fubject cannot be easily abridged. The origin of the office feems to have been coeval with knighthood. Chaucer was certainly a 'fquire of the body to Edward the Third; for, in two fucceffive commiffions, he is ftyled fcutifer & armiger, which are fuppofed to be progreffive ranks; the duty of each branch of the office is afcertained by the title. Two lines of Chaucer have, we think without reafon, been adduced to fhow his rank :

For by that morter, which I fe bronne,

Know I full well, that day is not far henne.'

The morter was a wick in the middle of a cake of wax, which, when burned, refembled the inftrument called a mortar. It was fuppofed, that unlefs Chaucer had had access to the king's chamber, after ALL-NIGHT was ferved, he could not have known this word. But the reason and the etymology are alike fanciful. Mortier a veille is, at this moment, in old French authors, a name for a wax taper; and the name of a • mortar, wherein you bray spices,' is comparatively modern. Some of the terms in this, and the fubfequent Differtation, feem to us to admit of a more simple explanation. We would fubmit, with deference to Mr. Pegge, whether callers to the lord chamberlain, if any thing lack, for his perfon or pleafaunce,' does not mean that it was part of the 'fquire's office to call the lord chamberlain, instead of styling them retainers' to him. Again, the berberger feems to be the officer who provides the forage; and not the harbinger:' in the fubfequent Differtation, the gentlemen of the privy chamber are said to have berbigage for their horfes. But thefe hints are only fug

gefted

geted for the author's attention: errors are as eafily com-mitted by looking too deep for a meaning, as by a careless inattention.

The gentlemen of the privy chamber, whofe inftitution and hiftory Mr. Pegge next examines, are the confidential officers by day; though in rank they feem to have been, at least in the privy chamber, fubordinate to the gentlemen ufhers. A certain number of these gentlemen, who were ufually of rank and weight, always attended the king in war, in proceffions, journeys, &c. They feem to have been alike attendants and companions of their fovereign; their falary was not mean; and, in point of precedence, they were refpectable. But, from the reign of James I. they have been reduced almost to a poft of honour; for, in the fatal hour of retrenchment, their falary was abolished, though their duty was for a time. continued. In a fubfequent period, their office was ftill refpectable they basked in the sunshine of a court, and probably were confidered as in a state of probation for embassies and other offices.

The prefent appointment of a gentleman of the privy chamber runs in general terms, viz. "To have, hold, exercise, and enjoy, the faid place, together with all rights, profits, privileges, and advantages thereunto belonging, in as full and ample manner as any gentleman of his majefty's most honourable privy chamber doth or hath held and enjoyed, or of right ought to hold and enjoy the fame." Thefe are the words as they ftand at this day; but anciently the rights and privileges were defcribed at large, and in an appointment, anno 1662, (the 14th of king Charles the Second), are thus fet forth.

His perfon is not to be arrested or detained without leave first had and obtained-neither is he to bear any public office, nor to be impanelled on any inqueft or jury-nor to be warned to ferve at affizes or feffions, whereby he may pretend excufe to neglect his majesty's fervice." This points immediately at an exemption from the fhrievalty of a county, where the nomination is in the king-and the reason is given for the difpenfation.'

This is now the only advantage of the office; but the duty is alfo confined. Thefe gentlemen appear at a coronation, a royal funeral, and the folemn entrance of a Venetian ambaffador, which happens only once in a reign. A description of this procession, in 1762, is added from the Gazette of that time.

The Second Part of this work is just published; and our account of the former was delayed from the expectation of it. Mr. Pegge's object in this Part is the establishment and history of the band of gentlemen penfioners, who retain a greater

fhare

share of duty than the gentlemen of the privy chamber, but who have alfo lost a great part of their ancient fplendour and importance.

The early period of their hiftory has been little known to themselves or their hiftorians. The inftitution of this band was attributed to Henry VII. but the industry of Mr. Pegge has difcovered the original ftatutes, and confequently fixed their origin in the early part of his fucceffor's reign. The prudent and cautious father of the fpirited and magnificent Henry, indeed eftablifhed a band of fifty archers, under the title of yeomen of the guard; but his fon wanted a more splendid retinue. He confequently formed his new and fumptuous troop of gentlemen, as attendants and companions. We cannot enter into a long detail of the nature of this inftitution, and fhall only observe, that it confifted of the fons and brothers of the first noblemen in the kingdom; and in its rolls are to be found the names of perfonages most distinguished for their Spirit and gallantry, as well as for political judgment and extenfive learning. Their own drefs was fplendid; and they had each a page, one or two archers, and a fervant. It is not to be doubted, but the decorations, of the gentleman penfioner, and his attendant, were in the gayeft ftyle, fince his time of life, family, and fortune were fuch, as would infpire a love of fhew, and he was in the fervice of a young prince, whose Splendour was confpicuous in the eyes of Europe. Henry had however a pattern for this inftitution, in the gens d'armes of France their cuftoms were fimilar; and they feem under mutual obligations, in this refpect, to each other.

It is commonly fuppofed, that this band was foon diffolved on account of the expence; for each Speare, including the attendants, received three fhillings and four-pence per day, (6ol. 16s. 8d. per ann.) Indeed, from its firft inftitution, in 1509, it fcarcely again appears till 1539; but, in the Eltham ftatutes, we find them complete, more fully officered than at first, though, probably on that account, the pay is there limited to 50l. per annum. They appear again in 1550; and were mutered in 1551. The first description of the band is in Hall.

"This band," fays he, confifted of fifty gentlemen to be Spears, every of them to have an archer, a demi-lance, and a couftrill, and every fpear to have three great horses, to be attendant on his perfon; of the which band the earl of Effex was captain, and fir John Peachy lieutenant. This ordinance continued but a while, the charges were fo great; for there were none of them, but they and their horfes were apparciled and trapped in cloth of gold, filver, and goldfmiths work."

They