CUSTOM OBSERVED BY THE LORD LIEUTENANTS OF IRELAND.

On the great road from London to West Chester, we find, at the principal Inns, the Coats of Arms of several Lord Lieutenants of Ireland, framed, and hung up in the best rooms. At the bottom of these Armorial Pictures (as I may call them) is a full display of all the Titles of the Party, together with the date of the year when each Viceroyship commenced. I have often inquired the reason of this custom, but never could procure a satisfactory answer. I do not reprobate the idea of this relique of ancient dignity, as these Heraldic Monuments were doubtless intended to operate as public evidences of the passage of each Lord-Deputy to his delegated Government. They now seem only to be preserved for the gratification of the vanity of the capital Inn-keepers, by shewing to Humble Travellers that such and such Lord-Lieutenants did them the honour to stop at their houses; and yet I will not say, but that for half-a-crown handsomely offered to his Excellency's Gentleman, they might likewise become part of the furniture of every alehouse in Dunstable.

After fruitless inquiry, accident furnished me with the ground of this custom, which now only serves to excite a little transitory curiosity. Having occasion to look into Sir Dudley Digge's "Complete Ambassador," published in 1654, I was obliged to the Editor for a solution, who, in the Preface (signed A. H.), speaking of the reserve of the English Ambassadors, in not making public their Negotiations, has this observation:—"We have hardly any notion of them but by their Arms, which are hung up in Inns where they passed."

This paragraph at once accounts for the point before us, and is sufficient, at the same time, to shew that the custom was anciently, and even in the seventeenth century, common to every Ambassador, though it now only survives with those who go in the greater and more elevated line of Royal representation to Ireland.

SAMUEL PEGGE.

THE END.

Of the Publishers of this Work may be had ANONYMIANA; OR, TEN CENTURIES OF OBSERVATIONS ON VARIOUS AUTHORS AND SUBJECTS; (Compiled by the late very Learned and Reverend Dr. PEGGE); With a copious Index.——8vo. Price 12s.

"Whether as an Antiquary, a classical, poetical, and historical Critick, a Biographer, or Enquirer into the Beauties and Niceties of Grammar and Languages, we find everywhere that Dr. Pegge's remarks are not only striking and useful, but original; and, in this last respect, we have little hesitation in preferring the Anonymiana to the greater part of the Works of this description, which have been lately published, either at home or abroad. There is scarcely a taste among the various divisions of human liking, that will not find something appropriate and gratifying. It would be impossible to withhold, in these times of levity, just praise from a Work that so ably combines 'light reading' with 'serious thinking.'"

Gent. Mag. 1809.

———— ANECDOTES OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE,

chiefly regarding the Local Dialect of London and it's Environs; whence it will appear, that the Natives of the Metropolis, and its Vicinities, have not corrupted the Language of their Ancestors.

By SAMUEL PEGGE, Esq. F.S.A. Second Edition, enlarged and corrected. To which is added, A SUPPLEMENT to the PROVINCIAL GLOSSARY of FRANCIS GROSE, Esq. 8vo. Price 12s. boards. ⁂ The Provincial Glossary may be had separate, Price 3s. Printed at the VOTES Printing Office, King Street, Westminster, By Nichols, Son, and Bentley.

FOOTNOTES:

Transcriber's note:

Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as printed.

The illustrations have been moved so that they do not break up paragraphs.

Mismatched quotes are not fixed if it's not sufficiently clear where the missing quote should be placed.

The cover for the eBook version of this book was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.