"At present, _similarity of name_ is quite enough to lead any man to conclude himself to be a branch of some very ancient or noble stock, and, if occasion arise, to assume the arms appropriate to such families, without any appeal to the Heralds' office; nor would any _Alderman Gathergrease_, living in affluence, be without such marks and symbols on his plate, seals, carriages, &c., with no higher authority, perhaps, than his own fancy and conceit." It must be confessed that the middle of the nineteenth century offers the most ample facilities for the would-be aristocrats of the age, and _that_ without troubling Sir Charles Young or the College of Arms; witness the following advertisement cut from a newspaper of the day:-- "THE FAMILY LIVERY.--Arms and Crests correctly ascertained, and in any case a steel die expressly cut for the buttons, free of cost," &c. There can, indeed, be no doubt that this foolish practice of assuming arms without right has of late years grown to an absurd height; and I fear the assumption is by no means confined to persons who have risen by trade, or by some lucky speculation in railways &c.; even those who have been "_advanced into an office or dignity of publique administration_" have but seldom made their "_instant request_" to the heralds "_to devise a coate of armes to be borne by them without reproch_." The episcopal bench, in particular, are very generally faulty in this respect, and, for the greater part, content themselves (if not by birth entitled to bear arms) by assuming the coat of some old-established family of the same, or _nearly the same_, name. In the case of temporal peerages, which are not seldom, thanks to the ancient constitution of England, renovated from the middle and lower classes, the practice is more in accordance with the precepts of _The Blazon of Gentrie_; but I believe there is at least _one instance_, that of a lawyer of the greatest eminence, who was last year advanced to a peerage, and to the highest rank in his profession, who has assumed both arms and supporters without the fiat of the College of Arms. The "novi homines" of a former age set a better example to those of the present day, and were not ashamed to go honestly to the proper office and take out their patent of arms, thus "founding a family" who have a _right_ to the ensigns of honour which they assume. SPES. * * * * * MORLEE AND LOVEL. The following document, in connexion with the trial between Morlee and Lovell, in the Court of Chivalry, will probably interest your heraldic readers. L. B. LARKING.