documents and instruments wanted. The usual form of an order of this kind, is as follows: "Ordered by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament assembled, that the Reverend do attend on next, to be sworn, in order to give Evidence, and produce the original Registry-Books of Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials of Committee for Privileges, to whom the petition of on next, before the —, claiming the Barony of with his Majesty's Reference thereof to this House, and the Report of his Majesty's Attorney-general, thereunto annexed, stands referred. A. B. Cler. Parliamentor'.” When the counsel for the claimant has opened the case, the evidence on his behalf has been completed, and his counsel has summed up the same, the Attorney-general (who always opposes on the part of the crown), is heard in answer thereto, and when he has concluded his objections, the leading counsel for the claimant makes his general reply. Whereupon their lordships, having considered as well of what was offered by the petitioner's counsel, as by the counsel on his Majesty's behalf, and the several proofs adduced on the case, resolve that the petitioner has, or has not, proved his claim, and has, or has not, a right to the peerage in question. This report having been read, and agreed to by the house, it is then resolved and adjudged by the lords spiritual and temporal in parliament assembled, that the said A. B. hath a right, or not, to the said barony of C It is then ordered, that the lords with white staves attend his Majesty with the said resolution and judgment, who, having so done, afterwards report to the house his Majesty's approbation of their lordships' resolution and judgment. REFERENCE TO CASES AT COMMON LAW, &c. AS TO POINTS OF 1. Exemplifications of letters patent, 3 Woodd. 324, 3 & 4 Edw. VI. e. 4; 13 Eliz. c. 6. 2. Grant of land before inquisition void, 18 Hen. VI. c. 6. 3. Bankruptcy does not affect the estate, 21 Jac. I. c. 19.. s. 12. 4. A general history of a public matter. Woodd. 322; 1 Salk. 281; Skin. 15. 624; 12 Mod. 86; T. Jones, 164; Burn's Ind. 155. pl. 3; Bull. N. P. 248. 5. The rolls or ancient books of the Herald's office. 1 Salk. 281; T. Jones, 224; Cowp. 63; Str. 161; 3 Woodd. 321; Bull. N. P. 248. 6. The original will or ledger-book, proof of relationship. Raym. 744; Bull. N. P. 246. 8 Co. 88. b.; Bull. N. P. 116. 7. Proof of heirship to person last seised. 8. Comparison of hand-swriting and seals. Dec. 1746; Mod. 117; Lev. 25; Palm. 427; 252; 3 Woodd. 329. By inspectors of franks. 4 T. R. 497; 4 Esp. 117. 9. Affidavits of persons deceased, where extra-judicial and the party deceased. Str. 35; 3 Woodd. 311. Where Hearsay, and the party refused to be sworn. 2 Term Rep. 203-4. n. ; 3 Woodd. 311. n. 10. Declarations of uninterested persons who are dead. Burr.; Settl. Cases, 243. 701; 3 Term. Rep. 720, Ashurst, j.; 2 Bac. Abr. 663. 11. Declarations of members of a family, and others who are intimate. 3 Term Rep. 721, Kenyon, c. j. 12. Entries in bibles, and tradition. 1 Cowp. 591-10; East, 120, Le Blanc, j. 13. Hearsay and reputation. 3 Term Rep. 719, Buller, j. By a relation. Bull. N. P. 294; 3 Term Rep. 709, Grose, j. ; 14. Letters of a steward deceased, to explain a deed. 1 Barn. & Ald. 247. 15. Documentary, wills, declarations of relations. 18 Ves. 445, Eldon, C. 16. Secondary evidence. 13 Ves. 143, Erskine, C. 17. Presumptive in matters of antiquity. 12 Ves. 265-6, Erskine, C. Of enfranchisement against, and grant from the crown, 11 East, 280. 488; Cowp. 102, and 1 Fonbl. E. 329; Cowp. 217; Burr. 433. Of formal ceremonies; as Livery, &c. 2 Freem. 106, and 1 Vern. 32. 195; 2 Vern. 516; 3 Brown. 516; Cowp. 595; 2 Bac. Abr. 660. Of death without Bell's Earld. of Hunts, pp. 348-359. issue. 1 Black. Rep. 404; 2 Black. 1228; 1 Term Rep. 270; 4 Term Rep. 682; 11 Ves. 350. In the Huntingdon peerage claim before the Attorney-general, letters from a former earl to the then claimant's father, proved by comparison of hand-writing with the signature to the will of the same earl, were received in evidence. Also, the affidavits of a stranger, as to the reputation of the county in favour of the claimant's descent and family connexion, were received as evidence to confirm the pedigree, and the like affidavits to prove other facts.* It may not be irrelevant to observe, that the same rule, with regard to evidence, has not been followed by every Attorney-general; one sometimes requiring what his predecessor had rejected. WHOSE NAMES ARE MENTIONED IN DUGDALE'S PRINTED LIST OF SUMMONS TO PARLIAMENT; BUT WHOSE FAMILIES ARE NOT NOTICED IN THE BARONAGE, OR PEERAGE HISTORY, OF THAT CELEBRATED HERALD. Preliminary Observations. In presenting to the public the following account of some very eminent persons, of whom no mention has been hitherto made in any genealogical work, it is to be observed, that sir William Dugdale, in his Preface to his celebrated Baronage, has stated; viz. "But to point out who, they were that had their first rise by writ of summons until✶ the 22 Edw. I. and afterwards, passeth my skill, there Rot. Vasc. being no public record that doth make mention of them till then, excepting (dd) that of 49 Hen. III., which only taketh notice of those who were in the king's name summoned by the rebellious barons to that parliament which they held, whilst he was their prisoner. (dd) The writ of the 45 Hen. III., with the names of those who were then summoned to attend a parliament or great council, called by the king to meet at London, presents rather a disproval of this assertion with regard to the silence or deficiency of the public records. "Perhaps it may be doubted by some, whether every family, of whom I have discoursed in this first tome, were strictly barons by tenure or not, because nothing doth appear by inquisition, of some, that they held by barony, or by any other memorial of their reliefs; to satisfy, therefore, the curiosity of such, I say, that, having found, from the notes of some former judicious antiquaries, that they were so reputed, I deemed it a safer error to take notice of them in that qualification, than by their omission tacitly to conclude them otherwise." Now, by these precursory remarks, it is evident, that Dugdale was by no means ascertained as to the quality of the parties forming the subject of the early part of his history, and has therefore given place to some who probably had no right to such distinction; while he has omitted others who ought to have been noticed, and has done all this at the same time that he was giving reasons for making, as it were, a general comprehension of baronial families. On referring to divers persons mentioned by that famous herald, it certainly will be evident, that several of them had less reason for being treated of, than some of those who stand mentioned in the following pages, for being passed over in silence by him. Indeed, it is not a little singular, that sir William should have recited, in what is termed his Lists of Summons to Parliament, many writs, as the 24, 26, & 29 Edw. I., the 1 & 35 Edw. III. (which, in fact, are only writs of service), while he has left out innumerable others between the 6th of king John, and 22 Edw. I., which were equally as much entitled to have been set forth. If he meant to intimate that those persons who had summons, from 49 Hen. III. and 22 Edw. I. had their writs addressed to them in the character of barons, then ought they to have been noticed by him in such character: but, if the writs of summons were not addressed to them in the said degree, and were not summonses to parliament, but merely summons of service, then were they as irrelevant to recite, as those which for that cause previous to 49 Hen. III. he has suppressed. Thus, in his said lists, he has not given that writ of 45 Hen. III., by which the king summoned his faithful nobles to assemble at London, to consult with him upon the then perturbed state of the nation, and to do |