THE GRAND MASTER.]

ORDER OF SAINT PATRICK.

77

Robes which We Ourselves should wear, and which are to be of the samematerials and fashion as those of Our Knights, save only those alterationswhich befit Our dignity; and he shall wear Our Collar on all solemn Feasts ashereinafter described, and at all other times he shall wear pendant at his neck,from a sky-blue Ribband, the Badge of Our said Order, surmounted by a Harpcrowned with an Imperial Crown .” 7 Accordingly, as soon as the usual oathshave been administered to a new Lord Lieutenant in the Privy Council, theLords Justices deliver to him the Sword of State, and then “ Invest himwith the Collar of the Most Illustrious Order of Saint Patrick, as GrandMaster thereof, and His Excellency thereupon takes his Seat, covered, atthe Council Board as Lord Lieutenant General and General Governor ofIreland.” 8

Whenever the Lord Lieutenancy is vacant, the unity of the Office ofGrand Master ceases, and all the Lords Justices become jointly Grand Mastersof the Order, but no one of them is entitled to wear the Badge or Collar;and originally the Lord Lieutenant himself could only wear the Robes, Collar,and the Badge surmounted by a Crown from his neck; but neither the Ribbandnor Badge of a Knight Companion. Not being one of the Knights Com-panions, and being Grand Master only while he continued Lord Lieutenantof Ireland, he very properly ceased to wear any part of the Insignia whenhis Commission terminated. King William the Fourth, however, authorizedall the Noblemen who had been Grand Masters to wear, what had hithertobeen exclusively the Badge of that Office, for the remainder of their lives;and thus the distinguishing mark of the highest Office and Dignity of theOrder is now borne by many persons who do not actually either hold theOffice or possess the Dignity.

But the inconsistency, great as it is, has not been permitted to stop there.By a recent Statute the verbal grant of His late Majesty to the former GrandMasters has been regularly authorized, together with the right to wear the Star.A Star is the Ensign of an Order, and cannot, without manifest incongruity, beborne by any other person than a Knight of the Fraternity. But under theexisting regulations, the Star of the Order of Saint Patrick, which a Knight-

7 Vide p. 16, antea.

8 The Form of the “ Ceremonial at the Reception and Swearing in of the Lord Lieutenant ofIreland” will be found in the Appendix.