24 NOVEMBER 1894, Page 15

THE ESTATES OF THE RE ATM [To THZ EDITOR OF

THE "SPECTATOR:] SIE,—The old doctrine must, of course, give way to the new. But when Mrs. Green speaks (as quoted by you in the .Spectator of November 17th) of "a free Commonwealth, with the three estates of King, Lords, and Commons," one would like to know whether this really is the new doctrine. My impression—derived, I think, from Blackstone—is that the three estates of this realm are the Nobility, the Clergy, and the Commons. The King is distinct, being, as it were, the embodiment or "persona" of the whole. Therefore, after Disestablishment, there would be but two estates of this realm 1—I am, Sir, &c., Bromley, Kent, November 19th. J. J. SCARGILL.