West Newton.
_A Baron's Hearse_ (Vol. v., p. 128.).--The editorial reply in this page
has referred to the Note on Funerals which I prefixed to _Machyn's
Diary_; and from that book may certainly be gathered the best possible
notion of the style and character of the hearse, and other paraphernalia
attendant upon funerals in England during the sixteenth century. But in
a book which I edited for another Society, namely, _The Unton
Inventories_, 1841, will be found the authority for Lloyd's statement
relative to the funeral of Sir Henry Unton: it is the certificate in the
College of Arms, which states that he was buried at Faringdon "with a
baron's hearse, and in the degree of a baron, because he died ambassador
leidger for France." A Lord Mayor of London, dying in office, was in
like manner interred with the observances due to a baron. It appears
from Sir Henry Unton's papers that he was usually addressed as "My Lord"
whilst in France as ambassador. May I inquire whether that practice is
still kept up towards ambassadors who are not peers? or, if not, when
did it cease?