PREFACE IT is hoped that a second edition of The Complete Peerage may find favour for the following reasons: — The period which has elapsed since the original work was published has been marked by the appearance of a multitude of volumes in which public Records, private Letters, Memoirs etc, have been printed, providing a great fund of material for rendering these pages more complete and for increasing their precision and interest. The present Editor has spared no pains to utilise to the utmost these sources of information, on which he has been engaged for more than fifteen years. It would be tedious to set out all the authorities that have been gone through, but as an illustration it may be mentioned that the Close Rolls, Patent Rolls, and Papal Letters, so far as they have been printed, all the publica- tions of the Historical Manuscripts Commission, and the obituaries of the Gentleman's Magazine have been systematically searched for matter bearing on the Peerage ; every number, also, of the London Gazette, since its first issue in 1 665 has been examined by the Rev. A. B. Beaven, and his notes of the official dates of public appoint- ments, as gazetted, have been utilised throughout. It will be found, accordingly, that a large addition has been made not only to the facts and dates, but also to those thumb-nail sketches of character, and particulars of life and manners, which enlivened the work in its earlier form and contributed so much to its popu- larity. In the House of Lords also, since the first edition appeared, some important cases have been decided, and the results of these will be incorporated, together with comments on their features and their bearing on peerage law. Lastly, the changes in the peerage itself, since the first volume of the original edition was published — more than 20 years ago — have already made a new
