continued, however, in 1746; and from that time till 1768 there were but two Secretaries. In the latter year, however, on the resignation of one of the existing Secretaries, two were appointed in his place, of whom one was destined to take charge of our American possessions. But by statute 22 Geo. III. cap. 82, the office of Colonial Secretary was abolished, and there remained but two secretaries till 1794. From 1794, however, to the present day, there have never been less than three, viz. one for the Home Department, one for Foreign Affairs, and one for the Colonies.

Until about the year 1782 it was the practice to describe the two departments, one as "Northern,” and the other "Southern;" but about that period these terms were discontinued, and the duties divided into "Home," and "Foreign;" the former of these performed the duties of Colonial Secretary till a separate officer was permanently appointed in 1794. The Northern department used to include Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Russia, &c., while the Southern included France, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Turkey. The designations at present in use of Home and Foreign, require no explanation.

In 1794 the increase of business consequent upon the war, occasioned the appointment of the Right Hon. Henry Dundas, afterwards Viscount Melville, as Secretary of State for War; an office which must not be confounded with that of Secretary at War (vide SECRETARY AT WAR, in the article on the ARMY). In the year 1801 the business occasioned by the Colonies was transferred to the Secre

tary of State for the War Department, and the two offices have ever since remained consolidated, notwithstanding an attempt which was made in 1816 to have this third Secretaryship abolished. Mr. Tierney's motion, in the house of Commons, to this effect, was negatived on the ground, that although the war, for which the office was established had ceased, yet the Colonial branch of his business was sufficiently important and extensive to require the undivided attention of a distinct officer.

Each department includes an extensive establishment of under secretaries and clerks. The business of the Home Department is conducted in Whitehall, while the Colonial and Foreign offices are in Downing.

street.

There are altogether six Under Secretaries of State, two for each department. One of these two is generally a member of parliament, and is appointed or resigns with the political party of which he is a member. The other Secretary in each office is unaffected by ministerial changes, and in the absence of the principal Secretary he is the official representative, just as his political colleague is the parliamentary organ of the department to which he belongs.

LORD GREAT CHAMBERLAIN OF ENGLAND.

THE hereditary office of Lord Great Chamberlain of England is not to be confounded with that of the Lord Chamberlain of the Royal Household, of whom

a separate account will be found elsewhere. The family of De Vere, Earls of Oxford, enjoyed the office of Lord Great Chamberlain for nearly six cen. turies, it having been granted to them by Henry I.; but on the death of the eighteenth Earl of Oxford, (of this family,) without issue, in 1625, both the office and the earldom became the subject of litigation. They were claimed, together with other titles, by Robert Bertie, thirteenth Baron Willoughby d'Eresby, in right of his mother, who was sister and heir of Edward, seventeenth Earl of Oxford. The earldom, however, was awarded by the house of Lords to the heir male collateral, in whose son it became extinct, while the office of hereditary Great Chamberlain was esteemed to be descendible through heirs female, and consequently confirmed to Lord Willoughby d'Eresby, who took his seat in the house of Lords in that capacity, in the second year of Charles the First's reign. He was created Duke of Ancaster in 1715, and in his family the office descended uninterruptedly till the death of the fourth duke, in 1779, when the barony of Willoughby d'Eresby fell into abeyance, and then the hereditary chamberlainship was claimed by five distinct branches of this family. The house of Lords decided, however, that it became vested in the two sisters of the deceased fourth duke, jointly; and that they were competent to appoint a deputy, who should not be under the degree of a knight. In favour of the elder of these sisters the abeyance of the barony of Willoughby was terminated, and she became a baroness in her own right; while the younger sister married

the first Marquis Cholmondeley. The deputy appointed by these joint heirs was the husband of the elder, viz. Peter Burrell, Esq., (afterwards created Lord Gwydyr,) and in order to qualify him for the office he received the honour of knighthood. His son and successor, (who succeeded also, in 1828, as nineteenth Baron Willoughby d'Eresby,) now performs the duties of this office in right of his mother, having held it jointly with his aunt the Dowager Marchioness Cholmondeley, till her death, in 1838. The second Marquis Cholmondeley, and the nineteenth Lord Willoughby d'Eresby, are now the joint officers in right of their mothers respectively, and the duties are performed by the representatives of the two families, one in each alternate reign.

Many perquisites belong to this office, but they are usually compounded for at the performance of any of those ceremonies where they are claimed. The delivery of the sword of state to a distinguished member of the existing administration is left wholly to his choice and discretion; and to him is confided the fitting up of Westminster Hall for coronations, feasts, trials, &c., as well as the issue of tickets for the opening and prorogation of parliament. He is entitled to certain fees whenever a peer, an archbishop, or a bishop does homage to the monarch, and he likewise receives a fee on the creation of every peerage. At a coronation he is entitled to forty ells of crimson velvet for his own robes, and on the day of the ceremony it is his duty to carry the royal wearing apparel to the king; for this he is entitled to the bed, the furniture of the room, and the king's nightgown as a fee. Before, as well as after dinner,

he claims to serve the monarch with water, and to have the costly basins and towels as his reward. Upon all occasions of public ceremonies the keys of Westminster Hall, of the Court of Wards, and of the Court of Requests, are delivered to his custody; and at those periods the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod, the Yeoman Usher, and the door-keepers, are at his command.

LORD HIGH CONSTABLE.

"When I came hither I was Lord High Constable And Duke of Buckingham-now poor Edward Bohun.” King Henry VIII. act ii. sc. 1.

THIS, like many other great offices of the state which boast of ancient origin, was formerly of an hereditary character; and being annexed to the earldom of Hereford, constituted the tenure by which that dignity was successively enjoyed by the families of De Gloucester, Bohun, and Stafford. The office was originally granted, in the reign of King Stephen, to Milo de Gloucester, who was created in 1140 Earl of Hereford. His four successors in the earldom exercised the office of Lord High Constable, but the title became extinct on the death of the fifth earl. In 1199, however, Henry de Bohun was created Earl of Hereford, and became Lord High Constable, being grandson maternally of Milo the first earl. The office descended in regular succession till the year 1372, when the seventh earl of this new creation (who was also Earl of Northampton and of Essex)