The distinctions of birth and title, being more empty and imaginary, soon vanish upon familiar access and acquaintance.
The expenses of the great consisted in pomp, and show, and a numerous retinue, rather than in convenience and true pleasure.

The earl of Nottingham, in his embassy to Spain, was attended by five hundred persons: the earl of Hertford, in that to Brussels, carried three hundred gentlemen along with him.

Lord Bacon has remarked, that the English nobility, in his time, maintained a larger retinue of servants than the nobility of any other nation, except, perhaps, the Polanders.[*] Civil honors, which now hold the first place, were at that time subordinate to the military.

The young gentry and nobility were fond of distinguishing themselves by arms.

The fury of duels, too, prevailed more than at anytime before or since.[**] This was the turn that the romantic chivalry, for which the nation was formerly so renowned, had lately taken.
* Essays De profer, fin.