Note 27 — IRELAND.
Reading edition
The title, Esquire, according to a high authority, was anciently applied "to the younger sons of nobility and their heirs in the immediate line, to the eldest sons of knights and their heirs, to the esquire of the knights and others of that rank in his Majesty's service, and to such as had eminent employment in the Commonwealth, and were not knighted, such as judges, sheriffs, and justices of the peace during their offices, and some others. But now," says Sir Edward Walker, "in the days of Charles I., the addition is so increased, that he is a very poor and inconsiderable person who writes himself less."
Accordingly, most of the signatures for shares in the projected National Bank of Ireland, were dignified with the addition of Esquire, which, added to the obscurity of the subscribers, incurs the ridicule of our author in the following treatise. [S.]