Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 2 Vol 4.djvu/777

APPENDIX H 755 any lack of candidates for such honours. There was (i) Sir Henry Bedingfeld, who petitioned for the Barony of Grandison, of which he appears to have represented one-fourth of one-third; (2) Mr. Selby Lowndes, who petitioned for the Barony of Montagu, being modestly content with that (one) peerage for himself so that his cousin (3) Mr. William Lowndes of Chesham should have the Barony of Monthermer; (4) Sir John Shelley petitioned for the Barony of Sudeley; (5) Col. Kemeys-Tynte for the Barony of Wharton; (6) Mr. Dolman for the Barony of Stapleton; (7) Sir Charles Tempest (who represented one seventy-second part of one moiety of the dignity) for the Barony of Scales; (8) Sir Robert Burdett for the Baronies of Berkeley, Tyes, Latimer, Badlesmere, <yc. The cry was still "They come, they come." People began to think that the words of Sir Guy le Scroope in the " Lay oi St. Cuthbert" (then recently published in The Ingoldsby Legends) were pro- phetic of this scramble for Baronies: " What can delay De Vaux and De Saye ? And De Nokes, and De Styles and Lord Marmaduke Grey, And De Roe and De Doe .? Poynings and Vavasour, where be they . FitzWalter, FitzOsbert, FitzHugh, and Fitzjohn, And the Mandevilles," i^c, tfc. It is indeed difficult to say what did " delay " a claim to these and many other such Baronies, but happily the good sense of the Crown itself preserved the Peerage from being thus swamped, ('") and about i 841 it became generally understood that if "Jones, Brown and Robinson" were to be elevated to the Peerage, their place would be at the bottom instead of the top of the Roll of Barons,() notwithstanding that the representation of one-ninth of (*) G.E.C.'s optimism has not been justified by events, for what he calls " the good sense of the Crown " was unable to prevail against the influence of its Ministers in the enlightened 20th century, that era of political purity and ministerial self-sacrifice. Under a democratic Premier who fathered the Parliament Bill, the country saw the renewal in an unprecedented degree of the pursuit of phantom dignities. Mr. Asquith can claim the credit — if such it be — of encouraging tiie introduction of the business methods of the City in the promotion of peerage by syndicate — witness the joint claims of Burgh, Strabolgi, and Cobham — and of having furnished the prospect of "a dripping roast," as the Scots would say, for Peerage counsel, which body he adorns when he is not in office. When he was asked in the House to introduce legislation to deprive the two traitor Dukes of Cumberland and Albany of their honours he declined to spend the time of the Legislature in such a cause, yet a Bill was introduced in Parliament to remove the attainder affecting the Barony of Cobham ! When he was asked whether the Crown acts on advice in reversing attainders and calling out of abeyance ancient peerages (most of which never existed), he replied: "It is an automatic process." Being pressed on the point, he had to admit that these steps are taken by the Crown on the advice of His Majesty's Ministers. V.G. (*■) If there really was any such understanding, no respect has been paid to it. V.G.