The Grand Dinner.
§ 9. At Dinner the Proxy sits with the Lieutenant or Commissioners, and takes Place where his Principal should sit if he were present; and this was so observed at the Installation of the Earl of Warwick, 5 Eliz.
The Stile of the Knight installed by Proxy, is proclaimed in French, or English, in the usual Form and Place, as 25 Hen. VIII. at the Installations of the Earls of Beaumont and Newblanke, by their Proxies; for they were Knight-Subjects, though not to the Sovereign, and therefore not improper to be made use of as an Instance. To conclude, the Proctor is to take care that the Atchievements and Plate of his Principal are set up in their proper Places, which appears not only from the ancient Letters of Procuration, but also by Commissions of Installation, which appoint that the Sovereign’s Deputy should receive from the Proctor his Principal’s Helm and Sword, (for there is no mention of the Banner till afterwards,) and place it over his Stall.
CAP. XIV.
The Signification of Election to Strangers.
Within what time, and in what manner, Certificate
is made of their Election.
§ 1.
In regard that Strangers elect, are for the most part Sovereign Princes, whole Affairs obliged them to abide in their own Dominions, and very rarely permitted them to receive Personal Installation, it was thought fit to allow them several Privileges, by the Founder of this most Noble Order, and principally, that of giving previous and timely Notice of their Elections, and convenient time of consideration for Acceptance; affording Investiture in their own Countries, and permitting their Installations to be performed at Windsor by their Proxies or Deputies.
It was therefore by the Statutes ordained: That when any such should be chosen into the Order, they should be certified of their Elections by the Sovereign; and besides, that, at his Charge, the Garter should be sent over to them, with the Mantle and Statutes of the Order, Sealed with the common Seal; so that they might have notice, at least within four Months from the time of Election, to the end they might advise and determine with themselves, from the Tenor of the Statutes, whether they would receive the Honour of this most Noble Order.
In Pursuance of these Directions, it became customary for the Sovereign, when he sent his Letters, to send also, and that by way of solemn Embassy, the Habit and Ensigns of the Order, with a Book of the Statutes; and in case the Election were accepted, Investiture might be received before the return of the Persons, by whom the Habit was sent. As upon the Elections of Edward, King of Portugal, at the Feast of St. George, 13 Hen. VI. the Duke of Urbin, 14 Edw. IV. and several others.
The right of bearing these Letters signifying Election, and returning the Strangers Answer, belongs to Garter, by the Constitutions of his Office. And though Certificate of Election was to be made within four Months from the time of Election, yet King Henry VIII. added this necessary Clause: That when the Sovereign had any great or high Impediment, he might defer certifying the Election till a more convenient Time. As may be seen in the case of Frederick III. Emperor of Germany, in the time of Henry VI. who having been elected 35 of that King, had not Letters sent him to signify it till the next Year. It likewise appears, that Letters to the same Effect were then likewise dispatched to the King of Arragon, the Duke of Brunswick, and King of Poland, who had been elected eight Years before.