TO THE QUEEN,

SOVEREIGN OF THE MOST NOBLE ORDER OF THE GARTER,

OF THE MOST ANCIENT AND MOST NOBLE ORDER OF THE THISTLE,OF THE MOST HONOURABLE MILITARY ORDER OF THE BATH,

OF THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS ORDER OF SAINT PATRICK,

AND OF THE MOST DISTINGUISHED ORDER OFSAINT MICHAEL AND SAINT GEORGE.

MADAM,

It is with the most profound respect that thisHistory of the Orders of Knighthood of the BritishEmpire is submitted to their Sovereign and Chief.

When founding these Knightly Fraternities, Your Majesty’sRoyal Predecessors were animated by a desire to reward im-portant services to the Crown; and the Annals of the BritishOrders abound in the most pleasing of all Historical incidents,—the loyalty and devotion of the Subject, honourably distin-guished by the gratitude of the Prince.

In Antiquity, Renown, and Splendour, in Fame derivedfrom the rank and merits of the persons on whom they havebeen conferred, the chief Orders of British Knighthoodyield to none. Sovereigns and Princes of every Nation, the