rather we should say, of having them 'found,' we cannot feel very proud
of the fashion. Without entering into a genealogical discussion, we have
plenty of evidence that the Normans held their lands and titles from a
very early date, and that after the Conquest their family arms were
spread over England; but not in any measure to the extent to which they
are used amongst us. In these days nearly every one has a 'crest' or a
'coat of arms.'[13] Do the officials of Heralds' College (we may ask in
parenthesis) believe in their craft? and does the tax collector ever
receive 13_s_. 4_d_. for imaginary honours? Such things did not, and
could not, exist in mediæval times, in the days when every one had his
place from the noble to the vassal, when every man's name was known and
his title to property, if he had any, clearly defined. A 'title' in
those days meant a title to land, and an acceptance of its
responsibilities. How many "titled" people in these days possess the
one, or accept the other?

It would seem reserved for the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to
create a state of society when the question 'Who is he?' has to be
perpetually asked and not always easily answered; in a word, to foster
and increase to its present almost overwhelming dimensions a great
middle-class of society without a name or a title, or even a home to
call its own.

It was assuredly a good time when men's lives and actions were handed
down, so to speak, from father to son, and the poor man had his '_locum
tenens_' as well as the rich; and how he loved his own dwelling, how he
decked it with ornament according to his taste or his means, how he
watched over it and preserved it from decay; how, in short, his pride
was in his own hearth and home--these old buildings tell us.