- skip - Brewer’s

Peers of the Realm

.

The five orders of duke, marquis, earl, viscount, and baron. The word peer is the Latin parēs (equals), and in feudal times all great vassals were held equal in rank. The following is well fitted to a dictionary of Phrase and Fable:—

1


“It is well known that, although the English aristocracy recruits itself from the sons of barbers, as Lord Tenterden; merchant tailors, as Count Craven; mercers, as the Counts of Coventry, etc., it will never tolerate poverty within its ranks. The male representative of Simon de Montfort is now a saddler in Tooley Street; the great-grandson of Oliver Cromwell, a porter in Cork market; and Stephen James Penny, Verger of St. George’s, Hanover Square, is a direct descendant of the fifth son of Edward III.”—The Gaulois.

 

previous entry · index · next entry

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

previous entry · index · next entry

Pedlar
Pedlar’s Acre (Lambeth)
Pedlars French
Peebles
Peel
Peeler (A)
Peep
Peep-o-Day Boys
Peeping Tom of Coventry
Peerage of the Apostles
Peers of the Realm
Peg or Peggy
Peg too Low (A)
Pegasos (Greek; Pegasus, Latin)
Pegg (Katharine)
Pegging Away (Keep)
Peine Forte et Dure
Pelagianism
Pelagius
Pelf
Pelias