Privy Council, and has the control of all officers and servants except those of the chamber, the chapel, and the stable. He has no formal grant of his office, but is appointed by the delivery of a white staff, which he always carries in the Sovereign's presence. Upon the demise of the Crown, he breaks his wand of office over the royal corpse, and thus dismisses himself and his subordinates from their situations. The Lord Steward of the Household was empowered by statute (33 Henry VIII. c. 12), to hold a court in which all persons shedding blood within the limits of the palace (viz. 200 feet from the gate), should be tried, and the proceedings were conducted by jury as at common law; the punishment for striking within the royal verge was the loss of the right hand. The Palace Court is a tribunal in which the Lord Steward, the Knight Marshal, and an officer called the Steward of the Court, sit as judges for the trial of all personal actions to any amount within twelve miles round Westminster; a writ of error will lie from this court to the Queen's Bench, and all important causes are thence removed immediately. The ancient Court of Marshalsea, which is sometimes confounded with the Palace Court, has the same judges and jurisdiction, though no business is now conducted in it. It was originally instituted to determine actions against the members of the royal household, and its jurisdiction extended twelve miles round the king's residence; this court being inconvenient from its ambulatory nature, was superseded by the Palace Court, the jurisdiction of which was fixed at twelve miles round the king's palace at

Westminster, a point which still answers as a centre, though the palace no longer exists.

THE TREASURer of the HOUSEHOLD is the officer next in rank to the Lord Steward, whose immediate substitute he is, during any absence of the higher functionary. He is competent to the trial of all offences committed within the verge, bears a white staff of office, and is always a member of the Privy Council. At the coronation it is his privilege to throw among the people the medals of gold and silver which are struck in commemoration of the event. This he does, during that portion of the coronation ceremony called 66 the homage." The salary of the Treasurer of the Household is £904 per annum.

THE COMPTROLler of the HouSEHOLD is a member of the Privy Council in right of his office; like the Steward and Treasurer whose subordinate he is, he bears a white staff; in the absence of the former he is associated with the Treasurer in the trial of offences committed within the verge. His duty is to check and examine all the expenses of the household.

THE MASTER OF THE HOUSEHOLD ranks next to the Comptroller, since the abolition of the office of Cofferer. His duties have an especial reference to the qualifications and conduct of the servants, and he examines some of the accounts. This is an office of more recent date than those of Treasurer or Comptroller.

LORD CHAMBERLAIN OF THE HOUSEHOLD.-This officer is entrusted with the superintendence and control over all the servants employed about the

royal chambers, over the wardrobe department, and over the state band; under his direction are the sergeants-at-arms, messengers, trumpeters, &c.; he has also the licensing of dramatic entertainments. The Royal Chaplains and other officers of the Chapel Royal, together with the Physicians and Surgeons, are portions of the Lord Chamberlain's department. The expenses of all furniture used in the houses of Parliament, or in apartments where the Sovereign. receives addresses, together with all the charges attendant upon coronations, and other ceremonials, fall under his revision. The Vice-Chamberlain, the Groom of the Stole, the Lords of the Bedchamber, the Mistress of the Robes, &c. are portions of his department. He is always a member of the Privy Council, and it is part of his duty to conduct the Queen to and from her carriage. This officer must be distinguished from the Lord Great Chamberlain, an important state functionary, of whom an account is given under another head, and who forms no portion of the royal household.

THE VICE-CHAMBERLAIN OF THE HOUSEHOLD is the deputy and assistant of the Lord Chamberlain. He is always a member of the Privy Council, and in the absence of the Lord Chamberlain exercises full authority over his department of the household, and conducts her Majesty to and from her carriage.

THE HEREDITARY GRAND ALMONER.-This office is annexed to the barony of Bedford, which was in the possession of the Beauchamp family previous to the reign of Richard II. At the coronation of James II. the Earl of Exeter claimed and performed the

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duties of the office, in right of his descent from the last Lord Latimer, upon whom the lands had devolved from the Beauchamp family. The duties of the office consist in distributing at the coronation certain money, which is collected in a silver dish. His fee for this service was formerly the silver dish and a tun of wine, with the napkin which covered the dish; but the first of these only is allowed to him.

LORD HIGH ALMONER.-This functionary has an office in Scotland-yard, where the royal bounty is distributed twice, annually, to a number of poor persons. To him is entrusted the distribution of the alms given on Maundy Thursday (the day preceding Good Friday). According to ancient usage, as many poor men and poor women, as the Sovereign's age amounts to in years, are on this day relieved by the Lord High Almoner. On the accession of Queen Victoria, the number of poor and aged persons was necessarily much reduced; but those who were on the Maundy lists of William IV. were classed as supernumeraries to fill vacancies as they annually occurred. After divine service at Whitehall chapel. the alms are distributed, and instead of provisions, which were formerly given in addition to money, a fixed sum in commutation is paid. Silver pennies, amounting in number to the years of the Queen's age, are also given to each Maundy man and

woman.

THE KNIGHT MARSHAL.-This officer is one of the Lord Steward's deputies, although he is supposed formerly to have been deputy to the Earl Marshal.

He is now principally employed in the Court of Marshalsea. He has eight marshal men under him, who arrest within the verge of the court when a warrant is backed by the Board of Green Cloth. They all have places, together with the Knight Marshal, in public processions and ceremonies.

Gentlemen of THE PRIVY CHAMBER.-These appointments, which are in the gift of the Lord Cham berlain, exempt the holders of them from serving the office of sheriff, or performing any other compulsory duties in the town or county where they reside; this privilege, however, only extends to them so long as other qualified persons exist in the town or county, and in the absence of these they are obliged to serve. It is wholly an honorary appointment, for no fees or perquisites are annexed to it.

Their

chief duties were to attend the king and queen at court, in their diversions, progresses, and on all emergent occasions;" but their services of late years have not been demanded, although their numbers are undiminished. They are entitled to bear the canopy over the royal corpse at the funerals of kings and queens, and these duties they performed at the funerals of George II. and of queen Charlotte, but at the interment of George III. and William IV. that post was conferred upon ten noblemen.

GENTLEMEN USHERS OF THE PRIVY CHAMBER are superior to the gentlemen of the privy chamber, but are more constantly in attendance, and more strictly officials of the palace. They have the honour