iption
of Virginia Water, in the Third Series of the London
Magazine, and, for the most part quoted in vol. xii. of _The
Mirror_. The reader should turn to these pages.

Many persons may be disposed to question the taste of the Boat-house
in the Engraving. Its style is toy-like, and too artificial to suit
our idea of picturesque propriety. It was built by direction of the
late King, and its design or approval was probably one of his labours
of leisure. It is less decorated and fantastical than other buildings
in its vicinity, and perhaps deserves the faint praise of prettiness.
Grave persons dislike the little bells attached to the lantern-like
part of the roof, and consider them too closely allied to the cap of
folly. Perhaps this objection to the building itself will only make
the contiguous scenery more delightful. Of its varied character, the
Engraving furnishes an accurate idea, since the original sketch was
made in the course of last year. We could linger amidst these sylvan
glories all the live long day, with a canopy of foliage just to
shelter us from the heat of the meridian sun.

* * * * *

PEERAGE OF THE UNITED KINGDOM.

(_For the Mirror_.)

To the Barons of England, of a truth, it may be said, man is indebted
for constitutional liberty; for if we look but to Greece and Rome,
those boasted lands of freedom, where, as the arts and sciences
increased, liberty decayed, we shall perceive myriads of slaves,
governed, as in savage nations, by a few political chiefs, whom brute
force and superior address had raised above their fellow-citizens.

It was in modern times, through the instrumentality of the steel-clad
nobles of Britain, that liberty was to dawn on the human race: and of
these, Henry VII. could only summon 28 to his first parliament; and
only 36 were summoned to the first parliament of Henry VIII. In 1830,
the House of Peers consisted of 380 persons.

It is a fact but little regarded, that the first noble family in
England was that of Lord Courtenay, who descended from the Earls of
Devonshire, who often intermarried with the blood-royal of France and
Britain, as may be found at the commencement of Sully's Memoirs. The
Duke of Beaufort is descended from Geoffrey Plantagenet, Earl of
Anjou, son of Foulk, King of Jerusalem, and grandson to the Empress
Maud, daughter of Henry I. Consequently, this family has flourished,
as dukes, marquesses, and earls, w