master cook is ready to take away his spurs and have them for his fee, saying, 'I am come from the king, being his master cook, to take the spurs from you, and to show you that, if you do anything against the order of chivalry (which God forbid !), J will cut away the spurs from your heels.' Then they went to dinner."

The Order of the Bath is believed to have been conferred both in England and Normandy in the reign of William the Conqueror, and an account is preserved of the admission of knights to the Order at the coronation of Henry V. Charles II. created sixty-eight Knights of the Bath at the time of his coronation.

From that time, however, the Order was obsolete, till George I. restored it, the Sovereign being Grand Master, and the number of knights-companions thirty-six. The chapel of Henry VII. in Westminster Abbey was assigned for the ceremonies of installation, and the banners of the knights are suspended over their respective stalls in the same manner and with the same solemnity as is done at St. George's Chapel, Windsor, for the Knights of the Garter.

The badge of the Order is a rose issuing from the dexter side, and a thistle from the sinister side of a sceptre, between three imperial crowns. The motto

is, Tria juncta in uno.

II. The ORDER of the GARTER.

The most commonly received account of the origin of this Order ascribes it to Edward III. of England and France, who handed the Countess of Salisbury the garter she had lost during a ball, with the words, Honi soit qui mal y pense.

But great controversy has arisen on the subject; many dispute the circumstances and give other particulars, and no certainty can now be arrived at as to the exact date and reason of the foundation of the Order.

The Order was placed under the protection of Almighty God, the Blessed Virgin, St. George, and St. Edward the Confessor.

Selden says that "it exceeds in majesty, honour, and fame all Chivalrous Orders in the world."

Ashmole finds on the register eight Emperors of Germany, three Kings of Spain, five Kings of France, two Kings of Scotland, five Kings of Denmark, five Kings of Portugal, two Kings of Sweden, one King of Poland, one King of Aragon, and two Kings of Naples.

The members of the Order are the Sovereign and twenty-five companions, called Knights of the Garter. There is a Prelate of the Order, who is the Bishop of Winchester, who is sworn "to be present at all Chapters, to report all things truly, without favour or fear, to keep secret all counsels of the Order," etc. The Chancellor is the Bishop of Oxford, and keeps the seal.

The Registrar is the Dean of Windsor. The chapel of Windsor Castle is hung with the banners of the knights, and is the scene of the solemn functions of the Order.

III. The ORDER of the THISTLE,

The adoption of the Cross of St. Andrew by Scotland is said to have originated in the appearance of such a cross in the sky before a battle in 819.

There are also several legends to account for the adoption of the thistle and the motto, Nemo me impune lacessit; "No one provokes me with impunity."

An Order of knighthood with these badges existed from early times in Scotland, and after many fluctuations, was reconstituted by letters patent by Queen Anne in 1703, and has ever since continued.

IV. The ORDER of ST. PATRICK.

This Order was instituted by King George III. of England, in 1783, to do honour to men of distinction and merit in Ireland.

APPENDIX.

ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD: LEGENDARY, HONORARY, AND MODERN.

Betwixt the monstrous horns of elk and deer,
His own forefathers' arms and armour hung.
And 'this,' he said, 'was Hugh's at Agincourt;
And that was old Sir Ralph's at Ascalon :
A good knight he! we keep a chronicle
With all about him '—which he brought, and I
Dived in a hoard of tales that dealt with knights
Half-legend, half-historic, counts and kings
Who laid about them at their wills and died;
And mixt with these, a lady, one that armed
Her own fair head, and sallying thro' the gate,
Had beat her foes with slaughter from the walls."

TENNYSON.