THE THREE ESTATES.
[To THE EDITOR OF TER " SPECTATOR:1 SIR,—Are we never to be rid of King, Lords, and Commons composing the "estates " of the realm ? There is Sir William Forwood in your issue of October 26th solemnly telling us that "by our time-worn and honoured Constitution His Majesty's Government consists of the three estates of the realm, "The King, the Lords, and the Commons." In Dr. Murray's "New English Dictionary" the case is put succinctly and, I suppose, accurately " The number of estates' in moat of the nations of Christendom has usually been three. . . . In England the 'estates,' as represented in Parliament, were originally (1) Clergy ; (2) Barons and Knights ; (3) Commons ; after various fluctuations the final arrangement was : (1) Lords Spiritual; (2) Lords Temporal ; (3) Commons." But never, I am sure, was the King one of his own " estates.' —I am, Sir, &c., W. R. T.
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