ESQUIRE (Fr. escuier, a shield-bearer, from Lat. seutum, a shield). The E. in chivalry was the shield-bearer or armor-bearer to the knight, and hence was called armi ger in Latin. He was a candidate for the honor of knighthood, and thus stood to the knight in the relation of a novice or apprentice, pretty much as the page did to him. In this capacity he was spoken of as a bachelor, just as the knight-bachelor came latterly to be distinguished from hint who had already attained to the Iiigher honors of chivalry. When fully equipped, each knight was attended by two esquires. The E. was a gentleman, and had the right of bearing arms on his town shield or escutcheon, which is surmounted by a helmet placed sideways, with its visor closed, to distinguish him from a knight or nobleman. He had also the sword, the emblem of chivalry, though he was not girded with the knightly belt. His spurs were silver, to distinguish them from the golden spurs of the knight; and when the king created esquires of old, it was by putting silver spurs on their heels, and collars of SS round their necks. Those who received this honor directly from the sovereign were in general the esquires for the king's body, or those whose duty it was to attend him in his capacity of a knight; an office now nearly obsolete. Tenants of the crown who held
by knight's service were a class of feudal esquires generally supposed to correspond to the simple ?liters or knights of Germany, as opposed to the sitters who were geschlagen or dubbed, inasmuch as these English esquires were entitled to claim the rank of knight hood. Though the title of E. has now come to be given without discrimination to all persons above the rank of a tradesman or shopkeeper, the following seem to be those whose claim to it stands on the ground either of legal right or of long-established court esy: 1. All the untitled sons of noblemen; 2. The eldest sons of knights and baronets; 3.• The sons of the younger sons of dukes and marquises, and their eldest sons. All these are esquires by birth. Then there are esquires by profession, whose rank does not descend to their children; and esquires by office—e.g., justices of the peace—who enjoy the title only during their tenure of office. To the formes class belong officers in the army and navy, barristers, and doctors of law, and doctors of medicine, but not surgeons.