created by the king's letters patent, or other inveſtiture; and their eldeſt ſons. 4. Eſquires by virtue of their offices; as juſtices of the peace, and others who bear any office of truſt under the crown. To theſe may be added the eſquires of knights of the bath, each of whom conſtitutes three at his inſtallation: and all foreign, nay, Iriſh peers; for not only theſe, but the eldeſt ſons of peers of Great Britain, though frequently titular lords, are only eſquires in the law, and muſt ſo be named in all legal proceedings[1]. As for gentlemen, ſays ſir Thomas Smith[2], they be made good cheap in this kingdom: for whoſoever ſtudieth the laws of the realm, who ſtudieth in the univerſities, who profeſſeth liberal ſciences, and (to be ſhort) who can live idly, and without manual labour, and will bear the port, charge, and countenance of a gentleman, he ſhall be called maſter, and ſhall be taken for a gentleman. A yeoman is he that hath free land of forty ſhillings by the year; who is thereby qualified to ſerve on juries, vote for knights of the ſhire, and do any other act, where the law requires one that is probus et legalis homo[3].
The reſt of the commonalty are tradeſmen, artificers, and labourers; who (as well as all others) muſt in purſuance of the ſtatute 1 Hen. V. c. 5. be ſtiled by the name and addition of their eſtate, degree, or myſtery, in all actions and other legal proceedings.
