thereto; and in order to substantiate this claim, he thus, in his defences to the action of reduction-improbation at the instance of the Officers of State, endeavours to make out his descent:

"The defender is the lineal descendant of Sir William Alexander of Menstrie, afterwards created Earl of Stirling, and is his nearest and lawful heir. The said first Earl of Stirling was great-great-great-grandfather of the defender. The defender connects himself with the said Earl of Stirling, through the Honourable John Alexander, sometime styled John Alexander of Gartmore, fourth son of the said Earl, as follows:-The said John Alexander of Gartmore had an only son, John, who married Mary Hamilton at Donaghadee, in Ireland, and died in 1712, leaving an only son, the Rev. John Alexander, and two daughters. The Rev. John Alexander married Hannah Higgs at Hartlebury, in Worcestershire, and died in 1743, leaving two sons, John and Benjamin, and two daughters, Mary and Hannah. Of these, John died in 1765. Benjamin, who was the last heir-male of the body

"And whereas the General Court of this province has granted twelve townships within the tract claimed as aforesaid, which grants now lie before his Majesty for his royal approbation, in consequence of which grants, a great number of families have actually settled in the said townships, in order to fulfill the conditions of the said grant, if the same should be approved.

"For the preserving the peace of the said country, and for preventing any intrusion upon the said country, until his Majesty shall be pleased to determine upon the same, and for providing against the tumults and affrays which will unavoidably happen, if any of the granters or lessees of the said Earl of Stirling should offer to enter upon and take possession of the lands as granted, and actually settled, as aforesaid;

"I have thought fit to issue, and do, by and with the advice and consent of his Majesty's council, issue this proclamation, hereby declaring the intention of the government to protect and defend the said lands, and the inhabitants thereof, against the said Earl of Stirling, and all persons claiming under him, until his Majesty's pleasure shall be known therein; and cautioning all his Majesty's subjects against purchasing, or taking leases, of any of the said lands under any person or persons claiming under the first Earl of Stirling, as aforesaid.

"Given at the Council-Chamber in Boston,

the 7th day of September, 1768.

"FRA. BERNARD.'"

of the said first Earl of Stirling, died in 1768, and Mary, the eldest daughter, died in 1794, all of them unmarried, and without issue. Hannah, the youngest daughter, was married to William Humphrys, Esq. at Birmingham, and of this marriage there was one son, the defender, and two daughters. There is no other nearer lawful heir descended of the first Earl of Stirling than the defender."

The real pedigree of Mr Humphrys may go back to a Rev. John Alexander, but farther is unknown, and it cannot be shewn to be in any way linked with the real Alexanders.

The procedure adopted by Mr Humphrys may now be briefly stated.

Having, in 1824, obtained the royal licence to assume the surname of Alexander,* he procured him

"GEORGE R.-George the Fourth, by the Grace of God, &c.-Whereas Alexander Humphrys of Netherton House, in the county of Worcester, gentleman, hath, by his petition, humbly represented unto us, That he is the only son and heir of William Humphrys of the Larches, in the county of Warwick, Esq. some time since deceased, by Hannah his wife, daughter of the late Reverend John Alexander, who died in the year 1743, and only surviving sister, and sole-heir of her two brothers, John Alexander, who died also unmarried in the year 1765, and Benjamin Alexander, who died also unmarried in the year

1768.

That he is anxious to perpetuate the family surname of his aforesaid maternal grandfather, John Alexander, as well as out of grateful respect to his memory, as out of consideration for the wishes oftentimes expressed by his deceased mother, that the said surname might be revived in the person of the petitioner.

The petitioner therefore most humbly prays our royal licence and authority, that he and his issue may assume aud take the surname of Alexander in addition to and after that of Humphrys. Know ye that we, of our princely grace and special form, have given and granted, and, by these presents, do give and grant, unto him, the said Alexander Humphrys, our royal licence and authority, that he and his issue may assume and take the surname of Alexander in addition to and after that of Humphrys, provided this our concession and declaration be recorded in our College of Arms, otherwise this our licence and permission to be void and of none effect.

Our will and pleasure therefore is, &c.

Given at our Court at Carlton House the 8th day of March, 1824, in the fifth year of our reign.

By his Majesty's Command,

ROBERT PEEL."

self to be served "lawful and nearest heir-male in general of the body of the said Hannah Alexander," before the Bailies of Canongate, 7th February, 1826. Immediately after this service was retoured, he assumed the title of Earl of Stirling and Dovan, designa. ted his mother "Countess," and conferred the usual styles of dignity upon his family and immediate

relatives.

Next, in order to connect himself with the landed properties, he found it necessary to be served nearest and lawful heir to the Earl of Stirling; and accordingly, with the assistance of one Mr Thomas Christopher Banks,* he was, on brieve from Chancery of 21st September, 1830, served “lawful and nearest heir in general to the said deceased William, the first Earl of Stirling, my great-great-great grandfather," 11th October, 1830.

He then took a brieve of 10th June, 1831, as heir above to the North American possessions. After this he managed a special service before the Sheriff of Edinburgh, wherein he produced the General Service, before the Magistrates of Canongate, as establishing his propinquity, and the Register of Great Seal, and Register of Sasines, in lieu of the principal charter and instrument of sasine. Both services were in absence. On being retoured, he obtained precept from Chancery, and by it, on 8th July, 1831, was infeft in the North American property at Edinburgh Castle. †

*This is one of those busy, meddling, troublesome, and officious individuals, professing themselves "Genealogists," who tend so much to perpetuate blunders and misrepresentations in matters of general and family history, if, indeed, they do not wittingly aid and abet in the fabrication of impostures like the present. To give Banks his due, however, he is the author of a very good work on the Extinct and Dormant Baronage of England.

"He hath much land, and fertile :-'Tis a chough; but, as I say, spacious in the possession of dirt." Hamlet, Act V. Sc. 2.

As the patent of 1633 is to heirs-male alone, Mr Humphrys * could not, on his own shewing, succeed; but he adopts a bold device, and pretends, that in 1639, Charles I. granted a charter of Novodamus to the Earl of Stirling by way of a deed of entail of the whole estates in Scotland and America, as well as the honours in the patent of 1633, not limited, as in that patent, to heirs-male, but as follows:

"DE NOVO DAMUS et CONCEDIMUS in perpetuum, antedicto perconfiso et predilecto nostro consanguineo et consiliario Willielmo Comite de Stirling, et heredibus masculis de corpore suo; quibus deficientibus heredibus femellis natu maximis sine divisione ultimi talium heredum masculorum, et heredibus masculis de corporibus dict. heredum femellarum respective procreandis, cognomen et arma de Alexander gerentibus; quibus omnibus deficientibus, propinquioribus legitimis heredibus quibuscunque dicti Willielmi Comitis de Stirling, cum precedentia a decimo quarto die mensis Junii anno Domini millesimo sexcentesimo trigesimo tertio, titulos, honores, et dignitates Comitis de Stirling, Vicecomitis de Stirling et de Canada, Domini Alexander de Tullibodie, cum omnibus et singulis privilegiis, pre-eminentiis, prerogativis, libertatibus et immunitatibus quibuscunque ad eosdem pertinen. et spectan."

This document has never been, and never can be, produced. It is a complete fabrication.

On 12th October 1829, Mr Humphrys, or Alexander,

Notwithstanding the royal licence to bear the surname and arms of Alexander, I persist, throughout this statement, to designate him by his own proper family-name of Humphrys,-1st, Because I conceive the aforesaid licence to have been obtained upon a specious pretence; and 2d, because I am averse to confound the name of an old and illustrious family with that of a gentleman who has been lucky enough to obtain the use of it.

brought an action in the Court of Session, for proving the tenor of this alleged Novodamus of 1639, to which the Officers of State were not called as parties, and which was dismissed hoc statu, 4th March, 1830. (Shaw's Reports, VIII. 634.)

On 4th September 1830, he instituted a new action. against the Officers of State and Mr Graham of Gartmore, which was likewise dismissed, 2d March, 1833.

On 14th July 1831, Mr Humphrys, on the narrative of his service, granted to Thomas Christopher Banks, * aforesaid, 16,000 acres of land in Canada, and created him a baronet, in terms of a clause in the charter of 1621 and 1625. Banks assumed the title, and applied to the Lords of the Treasury for confirmation of the grant, but, receiving no reply to his application, † he brought a Declarator before the Court of Session, to have the Resignation found valid, and calling upon the Crown to grant a charter under the Great Seal conform thereto. This was defended by the Officers of State, but action

It is truly amazing, after the "eternal friendship" sworn between these parties, after this donation of soil and presentment of orange ribbon,-to find the newly created Baronet of Nova Scotia, designated by his creator quoad honores, " a malevolent and mercenary agent," "a vindictive and treacherous being," and so forth. (Vide "Narrative of Oppressive Law Proceedings," &c. passim.)

Notwithstanding the non-confirmation by the Lords of the Treasury of this ridiculous grant, and, as it were, in defiance of their proper contempt for his impertinent application, Mr Banks prefixed to his "Analytical Statement of the Case of Alexander Earl of Stirling and Dovan," &c. London, 1832, 8vo. an “Advertisement," explanatory and defensive of his assumption of the title of " Baronet, N. S." on the title-page of the said "Statement." In this " Advertisement," he coolly remarks on the creation by Mr Humphrys," I consider the same to be perfectly as legal and as efficacious, as if it had been conferred upon me by the Crown itself."!!!!