Jltstorp of t |)t Hopal Bfbtx oftlje #ueljpbs of JNnofcer.

OME explanation may be necessary of the reasonsfor inserting the History of an Order, whichdoes not, and never did belong to the Knight-hood of the British Empire, in a work intendedto be confined to those Institutions. But at thetime when The Order of the Guelphs wasfounded, and for nearly a quarter of a centuryafterwards, the circumstances attending- it weresuch as to deprive it, in a great measure, of thecharacter of a Foreign Order.

The Sovereign was King of Great Britain and Ireland. It bears the nameof his Royal Race ; and it has been conferred (more largely even than uponthose for whom it was originally and especially destined,) upon British Subjects,who have accepted and worn its Ensigns, without the obligation of obtainingthat express authority which is necessary, in the case of such Distinctions whenconferred by Foreign Princes. An account of the Order of the Guelphs,therefore, could scarcely be omitted in a record of the Honorary Decorationsbestowed by British Monarchs; and it may be gratifying to the numerouspersons who have received it, and to their families, that these marks of theirSovereign’s favour should be thus perpetuated.