It was but just, therefore, that it also
should bring its huge quota to the elevation of the man whom a colonial
revolt had made an earl. Amid the panic of Jacobinism, the declamations
of the friends of the people, the sovereign having no longer Hanover for
a refuge, and the prime minister examined as a witness in favour of the
very persons whom he was trying for high treason, the Earl of Bellamont
made a calm visit to Downing Street, and requested the revival of all
the honours of the ancient Earls and Dukes of Bellamont in his own
person. Mr. Pitt, who was far from favourable to the exclusive character
which distinguished the English peerage in the last century, was
himself not disinclined to accede to the gentle request of his powerful
supporter; but the king was less flexible. His Majesty, indeed, was on
principle not opposed to the revival of titles in families to whom the
domains without the honours of the old nobility had descended; and he
recognised the claim of the present Earls of Bellamont eventually to
regain the strawberry leaf which had adorned the coronet of the father
of the present countess. But the king was of opinion that this supreme
distinction ought only to be conferred on the blood of the old house,
and that a generation, therefore, must necessarily elapse before a
Duke of Bellamont could again figure in the golden book of the English
aristocracy.
Pages:
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26