She has always consulted Human Nature, and ever join'd gay
Shew and Pomp, as I have hinted before, to Superstition; well knowing,
that, as to keep Man under and in Subjection, you must work upon his
Fear, so, to make him act with Alacrity, and obey with Pleasure, where
Lucre is out of Question, you must flatter his Pride. It is from this
Policy of hers, that all Names of Dignity and Distinction among
Christians, as Earl, Baron, Duke, Marquis, &c. had originally their
Rise as Hereditary Titles. To the same have been owing all the various
Ceremonies of Institutions and Instalments; and Coronations, as well
as Inthronizations. Of the Orders of Knighthood, and the vast
Multiplicity of them, I have spoke already.
Hor. You give more to the Church of _Rome_ than her Due: Most Countries
in _Christendom_ have Orders of Knighthood peculiar to themselves, and
of which it is evident, that they were instituted by their own
Sovereigns.
Cleo. But look into the Ceremonial of those Institutions, and the
great Share the Clergy has in most of them, and you'll easily see,
what Stock they sprung from. And tho' the Sovereign, in every Country,
is deem'd to be the Fountain of Honour, yet the Sovereigns themselves
had their Titles, as well as Coats of arms, from the Popes; nor had
they ever any Ensign of Honour, Power or Authority, which they could
depend upon, unless it had first been granted, or confirm'd and
ratify'd, by the See of _Rome_.
Hor. I take the _Insignia_, which the Proconsuls and Proprietors had in
the different Provinces of the _Roman_ Empire, and which _Pancirolus_ has
wrote of so amply, to have been much after the Nature of Coats of
Arms.
Pages:
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89