, "That the said James Percy shall be brought before the four
Courts in Westminster Hall, wearing a paper upon his breast on which
these words shall be written: 'THE FALSE AND IMPUDENT PRETENDER TO THE
EARLDOM OF NORTHUMBERLAND.'" The judgment was at once carried into
execution, and from that time forward the unfortunate trunkmaker
disappears from the public view. He does not seem to have reverted to
his old trade; or, at least, if he did so, he made it profitable, for
we find his son, Sir Anthony Percy, figuring as Lord Mayor of Dublin
in 1699. There can be no doubt that, although he was treated with
undue harshness, his claims had no real foundation. At first he
alleged that his grandfather, Henry Percy, was a son of Sir Richard
Percy, a younger brother of Henry, ninth Earl of Northumberland--an
allegation which would have made Sir Richard a grandfather at thirteen
years of age. It was further proved that Sir Richard, so far from
having any claim to such unusual honours, died without issue. In his
second story he traced his descent to Sir Ingelram Percy, stating that
his grandfather Henry was the eldest of the four children of Sir
Ingelram, and that these children were sent from the north in hampers
to Dame Vaux of Harrowden, in Northamptonshire. He advanced no proof,
however, of the correctness of this story, while the other side showed
conclusively that Sir Ingelram had never been married, and at his
death had only left an illegitimate daughter. At any rate, whether
James Percy was honest or dishonest, "the game was worth the
candle"--the Percy honours and estates were worth trying for.

THE DOUGLAS PEERAGE CASE.

Rather more than a hundred years ago the whole kingdom was disturbed
by the judicial proceedings which were taken with reference to the
succession to the ancient honours of the great Scotch house of
Douglas. Boswell, who was but little indisposed to exaggeration, and
who is reported by Sir Walter Scott to have been such an ardent
partizan that he headed a mob which smashed the windows of the judges
of the Court of Session, says that "the Douglas cause shook the
security of birthright in Scotland to its foundation, and was a cause
which, had it happened before the Union, when there was no appeal to a
British House of Lords, would have left the fortress of honours and of
property in ruins." His zeal even led him to oppose his idol Dr.
Johnson, who took the opposite side, and to tell him that he knew