daughter of Sir Joshua Meredyth, Bart. Lady Burke's brother, many of our readers will remember, was formerly member for the Co. Meath. Sir Bernard was educated at Dr. Armstrong's academy at Chelsea, and afterwards at Caen College, Normandy, where he carried off first honours in Greek composition, Latin poetry, and mathematics, and, in general, gave earnest of that cultivation and ability which signalize all his writings and official acts.

He was called to the English bar in 1839, and soon acquired a good practice in peerage and genealogical cases. He continued to hold briefs for some time after his appointment to Ulster King of Arms and Knight Attendant on the Order of St. Patrick, which was in 1853. In the year following he received the honour of knighthood, and in 1855 succeeded the Earl of Stanhope as Keeper of the State Papers of Ireland. In 1862 the University of Dublin conferred on him causa honoris the degree of Doctor of Laws, while in 1868 he was raised to the dignity of a Companion of the Bath.

As Sir Bernard Burke came first prominently before the public in Ireland, in consequence of the duties arising out of the office of Ulster King-at-Arms, we may state that this office takes cognizance of and regulates all points connected with the genealogies, the court, the ceremonials, and the peerage of Ireland. Here has been for centuries the chief repository for the preservation of evidence on questions of family descent affecting property. Ulster King of Arms is, therefore, a very ancient appendage to the Irish executive. In the earliest Plantagenet era, the chief of the heraldic officers in this country bore the designation of Ireland King of Arms. On the accession of Henry VIII., or at least during the reign of Edward VI., we find the office called Ulster King of Arms. Some improperly associate this expression with the Northern Province, and so localize the office; the truth being that the term is derived from the earldom of Ulster, then vested in the Crown, and inherited from the great sept of the De Burghs. From this great and powerful family Sir Bernard himself is descended, so that we have the curious coincidence that the arms of the office are nearly identical with those of its present respected occupant.

In December, 1853, Sir Bernard Burke was, in succession to the late Sir William Betham, appointed, by patent under the Great Seal, Ulster King of Arms, and, at the same time, Principal Herald of all Ireland and Knight Attendant on the Order of St. Patrick, together with the responsible position of Keeper of the Records in Dublin Castle. We believe that in no part of his official life has he displayed his characteristic qualities of mind and his aptitude for system than in his care and management of the State Papers. When he entered upon his duties at the Castle he found the genealogy and heraldry of Ireland in quite a

neglected state, and the Records literally in utter confusion. No one could follow up with even tolerable certainty a genealogical or heraldic inquiry. If a document were asked for, its existence could only be determined after a tedious search, which often might end fruitlessly, and scarcely ever with an entirely satisfactory result. The truth is, that it would be impossible for any one, who had not actually inspected the receptacles for these documents, to realize the condition in which the great historical papers of Ireland in the Record Tower, Dublin Castle, were at the period we are speaking of.

Sir Bernard at once saw the work before him, and entered upon it with earnestness, and to some purpose, indeed, though it took ten years' incessant toil thoroughly to examine, cleanse, and restore to a proper classification the precious contents of this State repository. During this process each document was carefully examined, and, after being dusted, was tied up in its own particular bundle, indexed, and placed in a niche on the shelf appropriated to it. The fruit of such promptitude and method is now apparent, as the records in Birmingham Tower are accessible at a moment's notice, and the eager inquiries, whether of literary men, legal practitioners, or antiquarians, can be replied to almost at once. This confers an enormous benefit on the public, if we remember that the archives thus rescued from a sort of chaos contain parliamentary documents and ancient rolls of superlative interest, including, among others, the State Papers of Ireland and the Privy Council Books.

The effect of this revolution vibrated beyond the confines of Birmingham Tower; and led to very salutary changes. With a view to ulterior legislation, Sir Bernard was commissioned by the Government to proceed to Paris, in order to render himself conversant with the record system of France. On his return in September, 1866, he addressed a most circumstantial report to Lord Naas, afterwards Earl Mayo, in which he explains the organization, as well as concentration, of the French records as finally achieved under Napoleon III. Sir Bernard's report is admirable, as not only are the details grouped with perspicuity, but, as Lord Brougham said of Chief Justice Bushe's forensic addresses, all the facts of the case are given in the smallest compass imaginable. It led the Government to effect much needed reforms. The then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Lord Wodehouse, selected one of the most practical and intelligent public men of Ireland in the present century-General Sir Thomas Larcom-who bent the energies of a keen mind into the fulfilment of the instructions he received, and left the question in such an advanced and favourable position as subsequently enabled Lord Mayo to carry through Parliament the Record Act of 1866, which has been most diligently and successfully carried out by Dr. Samuel Ferguson, Q.C., who was appointed Deputy Keeper of the Records under the Master of the Rolls.

In other departments of his work Sir Bernard had acted with the same ability and energy. In the discharge of the duties of Knight Attendant on the Order of St. Patrick he has done much to revive the pristine splendours of the Investiture. This illustrious Order originated at a memorable period in Irish history-the famous Dungannon Declaration in 1782. On the 5th of February, 1783, a Royal Warrant was issued commanding Letters Patent to pass under the Great Seal establishing the Order, which was intended as an act of conciliation and goodwill towards the more powerful of the Irish peers, and also with a view of promoting our native manufactures. The routine of an Installation, as fixed from the first, included a procession from the Castle to St. Patrick's Cathedral, an Investiture within the sacred edifice, and a grand banquet given by the Lord Lieutenant in the evening. Direction was also issued that the dresses, &c., should all be of Irish manufacture. As with genealogy, heraldry, and the public records, the Installations of the Knights of St. Patrick had been permitted to become very much shorn of their proper dignity; and it is one of Sir Bernard Burke's services that he has been instrumental in causing a revival of that lustre of the ceremony of Investiture which evidently was contemplated when the Order was founded. A notable example may be found in the installation of the Prince of Wales, in St. Patrick's Cathedral, April 18th, 1868, which was regarded with unprecedented interest. Previous Investitures-even that at which George IV. presided-fell short of the grandeur of this superb pageant. One circumstance alone imparted unusual attraction to the scene, namely, that the grand old Cathedral had been just rescued from impending ruin by the late Sir Benjamin Guinness. The magnificent aspect of this stately pile blended harmoniously with the glitter and varied colours which brightly flashed from the richly apparelled crowd that sat, tier above tier, within the hallowed precincts of this beautiful shrine. Peers, peeresses, bishops, baronets, judges, municipal bodies, military, naval, and civic officers, together with a large assemblage of the fair sex, decked in tints of every hue, occupied their several positions, so that everywhere the eye rested on splendour. Subsequently another Investiture, on the nomination of Lords Powerscourt and Southwell by Her Majesty as Knights, which the Prince and his brother witnessed as Members of the Chapter and Senior Knights present. The ceremony was not carried out in St. Patrick's Cathedral, owing to the Irish Church Act, and the consequent necessity of obliterating the ecclesiastical character of the Order itself.

But while vigilant in the immediate sphere of his duties in and about Dublin Castle, Sir Bernard Burke has made the influence of his office felt beyond the confines of Ireland, in an instance arising out of a struggle connected with Corporate precedence. This arose out of the presentation of addresses of congratulation at Windsor Castle, on the

occasion of the marriage of the Prince of Wales in 1863, the rivals being Dublin and Edinburgh. The conflict raged with alternations of victory until the Lord Lieutenant, the late Earl of Carlisle, placed the matter in Sir Bernard Burke's hands, and directed him to prepare a report on the subject. On the 14th of May, 1863, the report was laid before the Irish Government, and contained researches sufficient to show that Dublin was entitled to precedence-at all events, could not be ranked second to Edinburgh. As, however, Garter King of Arms was equally positive the other way, the matter was brought before the Lords of the Council at Whitehall. The judges being men whose "thoughts were turned on peace," gave it as their decision that Dublin and Edinburgh were equal. Were it not for Sir Bernard Burke's knowledge of anterior precedents, and his systematic statement of these as laid before the Council, it is almost certain that Dublin, always spoken of as the "second city" in the empire, would have been assigned a place lower than the Scotch metropolis. The subject is treated at large in the two Parliamentary Reports on the entire question, which were printed in the summer of 1863 by order of the House of Commons.

Not only in the discharge of his official duties has Sir Bernard acquired distinction, but by a prolific and graphic pen has established solid claims as a literary man. The list of his works, remembering their nature, and the size, intricacy, and almost endless ramifications of some of them, present an example of rare industry, system, mental energy, and capacity.

"The Peerage and Baronetage of Great Britain "-undoubtedly Sir Bernard's opus magnum—is a work which must bring its author fame, if even he had never written anything else. After leaving his college at Caen, and while therefore young, this fine work was begun in London under the auspices of Sir Bernard's father-a gentleman of taste and erudition in such matters-and of the well-known publisher, the late Henry Colburn. Even at so early an age, the subject of our memoir had become, through unremitting study, familiar with history, heraldry, and genealogy, and he therefore felt himself irresistibly drawn towards the work undertaken by his father, and both then and ever since became the life and spirit of the book itself-a remark equally applicable to "The History of the Landed Gentry." "The Peerage, &c." was not Sir Bernard's father's only book, as he published, with other works, two most interesting volumes on the celebrated female beauties of the English aristocracy, with a likeness of each. Upon his demise, the leading heraldic and genealogical works which he had commenced were handed over to the safe keeping of Sir Bernard, who has let none of their usefulness evaporate.

It is very evident that a work of the same circumstantial character as that of Sir Bernard's "Peerage and Baronetage," may be regarded as a sort of vade mecum to one who treads the maze of British civilization and