The Mantle is of Irish tabbinet of a very beautiful shade of light blue, and is lined with white silk. On the right shoulder is a blue hood of the same material lined also with white silk. On the left side is embroidered the Star of the Order. The Collar is of gold composed of roses and harps alternately, and at the bottom is a harp surmounted by an Imperial Crown. The Badge is of gold of an oval form, in the centre of which is a trefoil with three crowns, standing on the cross of St. Patrick and surrounded with a wreath of shamrock. Round the wreath is the motto of the Order.
The Star consists of the Cross of St. Patrick gules, on a field argent, surmounted by a trefoil vert, charged with three Imperial Crowns with a circle of azure containing the motto, “Quis separabit?” and the date “MDCCLXXXIII” in letters of gold. The whole is encircled by four greater and four lesser rays of silver. This Star also can at the expense of the Knight or his friends be fashioned in diamonds. The Riband is light blue and is worn across the breast from left to right, the Badge being worn at the tie over the left thigh.
The Order of Merit has a somewhat curious origin. There were, and are, certain Englishmen of the very highest eminence who are averse to being other than plain “Mr.” to the end of their days. Peerages, baronetcies, and knighthoods have no attraction for them. Such men were Mr. Joseph Chamberlain and Mr. Gladstone, and such to-day is Mr. Arthur Balfour. The feeling is a noble one and quite in accordance with the best traditions of the English character. King Edward VII, in the hope of finding an acceptable road, therefore instituted the Order of Merit, which carries no title with it and no precedence. To make the Order exceedingly select and highly prized the number of members may not exceed twenty-four, and it is open only to those who have performed exceptional meritorious services in the navy, army, art, literature, and science. The King may also bestow the honour as extra members on foreigners of distinction.
The Badge of the Order consists of a Cross of red and blue enamel of eight points, with the addition of cross swords in the case of a naval or military officer. On it is a laurel wreath upon a centre of blue enamel, and the motto of the Order “For Merit,” in letters of gold. On the reverse, within laurel leaves on blue enamel, is the cipher of King Edward in gold. Above is the Imperial Crown enamelled in proper colours. The riband of the Order is parti-coloured, garter blue and crimson.
One of the latest recipients of the Order is Mr. Lloyd George, and other distinguished members are Field-Marshal Viscount French, Viscount Morley, Sir William Crookes, Thomas Hardy, Sir Archibald Geikie, Mr. Arthur Balfour, and Field-Marshal Earl Haig.
The Order confers no precedence, but the initials O.M. are authorised to be placed after the G.C.B. and before all other initials. What happens when the wife of an O.M. meets at a dinner party the wife of a G.C.S.I. opens up a vista of precedental problems which the Lord Chamberlain’s office could alone solve.
Next to the Garter the Order of the Bath is the most ancient and most honourable. Indeed, the Bath is entitled “The Most Honourable Order,” and though it has precedence below the Garter, Thistle, and St. Patrick, it is in some respects superior to these, for it can only be earned in reward for services rendered. It is also older than any other Order in the world except the Garter, being some fifty years older than the Order of the Golden Fleece. It was said by a foreigner, that any English title or decoration could be bought except the Order of the Bath. That is a somewhat sweeping assertion, though we ourselves allow that one of the blots on English public life is that peerages, baronetcies, and knighthoods can be, and are, bought from the political party in power. Happily it is still, as from the beginning, impossible to buy the Order of the Bath. Probably this fact, as well as its ancient and knightly origin, gives the Order its high standing, and we may venture to hope that it will never be otherwise.
It is not perhaps generally known that the Order of the Bath literally came from the common or domestic hip-bath. Long before this Order was instituted it was customary for warriors, who led in those times very strenuous days and nights, fighting, eating and drinking, and making love, to take a warm bath the night before they were knighted. This ablution had partly a temporal and partly a spiritual significance. It was not, however, till 1399 that Henry IV determined to make a permanent institution of an Order for Knights of the Sword, and named it the Order of the Bath.
Space does not allow of giving the full ritual, which may be read elsewhere,[[22]] but the actual taking of a warm bath was one of the leading features. This bath was taken in the large hall adjoining St. John’s Chapel in the White Tower, Tower of London. Whilst the Knight was in his bath the King came in accompanied by prelates and noblemen, and dipping his finger in the water made a cross on the Knight’s back.
A curious complication arose in this connection when a Queen, in the person of Mary I, came to the throne, for naturally she could not go about making crosses on the backs of naked young Knights. But both in Queen Mary’s reign and in that of Queen Elizabeth the difficulty was tided over by delegating a nobleman of high rank to act for the Queen.