The inscription, rubbed and blotted by the rain and by the kindness of nature, was fortunately illegible, for it is possible that its philosophy concerning the inhalation of gold, at the same time both enigmatical and lucid, might not have been to the taste of the sheriffs, the provost-marshals, and other big-wigs of the law.  English legislation did not trifle in those days.  It did not take much to make a man a felon.  The magistrates were ferocious by tradition, and cruelty was a matter of routine.  The judges of assize increased and multiplied.  Jeffreys had become a breed.

III.

In the interior of the van there were two other inscriptions.  Above the box, on a whitewashed plank, a hand had written in ink as follows:—­

    “The only things necessary to know.

“The Baron, peer of England, wears a cap with six pearls.  The coronet begins with the rank of Viscount.  The Viscount wears a coronet of which the pearls are without number.  The Earl a coronet with the pearls upon points, mingled with strawberry leaves placed low between.  The Marquis, one with pearls and leaves on the same level.  The Duke, one with strawberry leaves alone—­no pearls.  The Royal Duke, a circlet of crosses and fleurs de lys.  The Prince of Wales, crown like that of the King, but unclosed.

“The Duke is a most high and most puissant prince, the Marquis and Earl most noble and puissant lord, the Viscount noble and puissant lord, the Baron a trusty lord.  The Duke is his Grace; the other Peers their Lordships. Most honourable is higher than right honourable.

“Lords who are peers are lords in their own right.  Lords who are not peers are lords by courtesy:—­there are no real lords, excepting such as are peers.

“The House of Lords is a chamber and a court, Concilium et Curia, legislature and court of justice.  The Commons, who are the people, when ordered to the bar of the Lords, humbly present themselves bareheaded before the peers, who remain covered.  The Commons send up their bills by forty members, who present the bill with three low bows.  The Lords send their bills to the Commons by a mere clerk.  In case of disagreement, the two Houses confer in the Painted Chamber, the Peers seated and covered, the Commons standing and bareheaded.

“Peers go to parliament in their coaches in file; the Commons do not.  Some peers go to Westminster in open four-wheeled chariots.  The use of these and of coaches emblazoned with coats of arms and coronets is allowed only to peers, and forms a portion of their dignity.

“Barons have the same rank as bishops.  To be a baron peer of England, it is necessary to be in possession of a tenure from the king per Baroniam integram, by full barony.  The full barony consists of thirteen knights’ fees and one third part, each knight’s fee being of the value of L20 sterling, which makes in all 400 marks.  The head of a barony (Caput baroniae) is a castle disposed by inheritance, as England herself, that is to say, descending to daughters if there be no sons, and in that case going to the eldest daughter, caeteris filiabus aliunde satisfactis.[1]