ithout descending to a lower degree,
for full 700 years. The Duke of Montague traces his descent, by the
female line, from Charlemagne. The Earl of Shrewsbury's family is
derived from the famous Talbot, the terror of France: hence they have
been peers for 500 years.

In 1827, the number of the Irish nobility was 212--viz. 1 duke, 14
marquesses, 76 earls, 48 viscounts, 70 barons, and 4 peeresses. There
were 135 married, 27 widowers, and 45 bachelors. Of the 162 married
and widowers, 38 were without children, and the remaining 134 had
living 278 sons and 256 daughters. Four Irish peers were Knights of
the Garter, 10 of the Bath, and 18 of St. Patrick. Among these 212
Irish nobility, 66 were also British peers. The ancestors of the Irish
peers became ennobled as follows:--5 as princes of the blood-royal, 8
as courtiers, 8 as younger branches of nobility, 11 as statesmen, 7
for naval service, 23 for military service, 6 for diplomatic service,
11 for legal service, 11 by marriage, and 121 by influence of wealth.

The descent of 13 peers can be traced to the 11th century, that of 10
to the 12th, 12 to the 13th, 13 to the 14th, 10 to the 15th, 37 to the
16th, 31 to the 17th, and 2 to the 18th; and 37 whose genealogies
cannot be traced with accuracy. The ancestors of 48 Irish peers were
foreigners. The number of Catholic peers are, 8 for Ireland--viz. 2
earls, 4 viscounts, and 2 barons; in Scotland, only 2 earls; and in
England 8--viz. 1 duke, 1 earl, and 6 barons.

W.G.C.

* * * * *

LADY OF WALSINGHAM.

(_For the Mirror_.)

"What led (says Britton) to the great celebrity which the town of Old
Walsingham, Norfolk, obtained for centuries, was the widow lady of
Ricoldie Faverches founding, about the year 1061, a small chapel, in
honour of the Virgin Mary, similar to the Sancta Casa at Nazareth.

"Sir Geoffrey de Favenches, or Faverches, her son, confirmed the
endowments, made an additional foundation of a priory for Augustine
canons, and erected a conventual church. The numerous gifts and grants
to this famous religious house form one of those extensive and dull
mazes of ecclesiastical record, through which the historic topographer
is constrained to wade. At the Dissolution, the annual revenues of the
monastery were valued, according to Speed, at 446_l._ 14_s._ 4_d_.
That its wealth should have been immensely great is not surprising,
when the fame of the image of the _Lady of Walsingh