THE ANCESTOR 281 the Earl of Shrewsbury, mainly on the ground that the lands in right of which the service is performed had been parted with in morsels. Mr. Lindsay, K.C, who appeared for the duke, was able to show that the duke was in possession of the lands named in the charter of Henry VIII., and his Grace's claim was successful. The interesting point about it is that the service is now ascertained to be appurtenant to Worksop Priory lands, and not, as had always been supposed, to the lordship of the manor of Worksop. More complicated were the claims to carry the great gilt spurs at the crowning. ' The battle of the spurs ' is an old dispute, and led to a keen contest before the Court at the coronation of James II. (1685). On the present occasion the claims were those of the Earl of Loudoun and Lord Grey de Ruthyn as respectively the eldest and a younger co-heir of the Lords Grey de Ruthyn, in whose favour the Court had decided in 1685, and whose ancestor. Lord Grey de Ruthyn, had carried the spurs at the coronation of Henry IV., so far back as 1399. A third claimant was Lord Hastings, in favour of whose family the barony had been called out of abeyance in 1 841, although none of their ancestors had borne the title for some 450 years ! It was boldly argued for Lord Hastings by Mr. Lindsay that the carrying of the spurs was ' a privilege attending on a dignity,' the dignity being that of Lord Hastings, which had been wrongfully assumed by the Lords Grey de Ruthyn, and in virtue of which they had carried the spurs. The court was so far influenced by this argument that, in spite of the long discharge of the service by the Lords Grey de Ruthyn, they refused to decide in favour of any of the claimants, and referred the matter to the king's pleasure. All the claimants traced their right to John Hastings Earl of Pembroke, whose right to carry the spurs was recognized in 1377 ; but it can hardly be doubted that he really derived it, not from his paternal ancestors, but through the family of Valence, from the Marshals Earls of Pembroke, John (the) Marshal having carried the spurs as far back as 11 89, doubtless as Master Mardchal and therefore Master of the Horse.
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In the next issue of T^he Ancestor certain swords from the celebrated collection of Mr. Morgan Williams will be pictured
