Like some vast theatre with empty seats, Here follows a discourse on the origin of evil; returning to Light, we have: 'Then was Eternal Light before the world, And before darkness which involves the world, Dwelt not in what to all but One seemed dark. They dwelt within that light which was their joy With sacrifice of reverence and praise. This is the light which, by the ancient Fathers So in the darkness of the black abyss, Breathing down force and virtue on the waves ... Thus the first voice and first command made light; Upgathered the first day, but, with the fourth, Hid Horror her gaunt face; darkness dispersed, And radiantly his changeful tints disclosed; ... darkness profound Covered the abyss; but on the watery calm (Paradise Lost,' B. VII, i, 233-37.) The joy of Nature, of Earth, Sea, and Air, Of things that perish and of things eterne.' We have no space for further quotation from the first book; and those that follow seem generally only the rough draft of a poem-their composition a race with Death-yet seldom does the verse sink below the average of the Excursion' or the 'Task' (which in manner it occasionally resembles), and the reader never long forgets that Tasso holds the pen. Judged by its output, Tasso's mind, to the last, burned bright and clear, as may be gathered from his farewell to Mother Earth (Mondo Creato,' Fifth Day), a passage written when life was fast ebbing away, and with which these observations may appropriately conclude. 'Soon thinking to regain his own dear land, Where Fortune rarely smiles, and joys are few; Cons o'er the toils and dangers of past years, Shelter, and pleasant welcome through long years, Likewise some thanks we owe, tokens and gifts, Due to this earth, our old kind constant nurse, HENRY CLORISTON. Art. 3.-RECENT PEERAGE CASES. 1. Petitions, Cases, Minutes of Evidence and Proceedings on claims to Peerage Dignities, 1911-1914. 2. The Law Reports. Appeal Cases, 1915: Part I. London: Council of Law Reporting, 1915. THERE can be few fields of study more recondite or unfamiliar than that of peerage law. For, despite its intrinsic interest, there must always be but few to whom it can ever prove of any practical advantage. Claims to peerage dignities are by no means of frequent occurrence; and only those who are professionally engaged in the prosecution of such claims can find it to their interest to acquire a knowledge of what is in many ways a peculiar branch of the law. An obvious disadvantage of this state of things is that no one can be fairly expected to produce a text-book on the subject, when the limited demand for that work would involve him in certain loss. He would have, in the main, to be content with the thought of the service he was rendering to others. But he would also have the consolation of reflecting that, after his death, lawyers, who, unlike historians, have not yet grasped what an 'authority' means, would be allowed to cite him as 'a great authority on these points.' He might, of course, be wrong in his facts, but that is of small account to the lawyer, who believes that a thing is true because an 'authority' has said so. It is only the bistorian who troubles to go behind the book and to ask what actual 'authority' the writer had for his statement. Till recent years, indeed, the only text-book available was that of Cruise on 'The Origin and Nature of Dignities or Titles of Honour,' of which a revised edition appeared in 1823; and Cruise confessed that the work he had planned on a more ambitious scale would involve a loss 'greater than any private individual could be expected to incur.' The need for a more modern text-book was supplied, with much public spirit, by a well-known legal writer, Sir Francis Palmer, whose 'Peerage Law in England, a practical treatise for lawyers and laymen,' appeared in 1907. This is a most valuable and comprehensive manual, although one may venture, on certain points, to differ from its learned author. Since the appearance of Sir F. Palmer's work I have dealt with a number of cases, Vol. 224.-No. 444. E and the decisions of the House thereon, in 'Peerage and Pedigree' (1910); but the singular rush of claims in the last few years has not only revived interest in the subject, but led also to a series of decisions, or, more strictly, resolutions, of considerable interest and importance. But the pace, if one may be allowed the expression, seems too hot to last. The House has already disposed of claims to one earldom and ten baronies, and the claims to four other baronies are now before it ; but up to now the result has been the addition of no more than two baronies to the roll. So far, therefore, there is not much to encourage further claims, nor is the number of ancient dignities which still remain to be claimed so great as it formerly was. Although, for the benefit of the public at large, one hears much of the 'romance' associated with peerage claims, it would be more correct to say that the necessary proof of pedigree has at times the grim result of forcing a carefully guarded skeleton to emerge from the family cupboard. Questions of marriage or of parentage are usually the source of the trouble; and, accordingly, two contested marriages have recently come before the House. More singular was the fate of two unfortunate ladies, who were duly found by the Committee to be co-heirs to a barony, but who were afterwards discovered to be suffering from technical corruption of blood, due to the misdoing of an ancestor in the 17th century. The Resolution in their favour, which had been adopted by the House, had to be altered accordingly. But I am not here dealing with the 'romance' of the subject, nor am I primarily concerned with its historical interest. It is true that questions of political and of constitutional history have arisen and have been discussed at very great length in cases lately before the House; and Sir William Anson was to be seen, shortly before his death, listening with keen interest to the arguments which arose upon them. As the late Prof. Maitland observed in his lectures on our constitutional history: 'From time to time peerages are claimed by titles which rake up the whole mass of obscure constitutional antiquities; and a committee of privileges of the House of Lords is called on to import into very remote times some definite theory of the |