The Orders of Knighthood, British and Foreign, with a Brief Review of the Titles of Rank and Merit in Ancient Hindusthan, [in Three Parts.‪]‬

In writing this Introduction, and in compiling the work itself, the writer has had in view the object of placing before his English-speaking countrymen, and so far as his researches extend, familiarizing them with one of the most highly cherished objects attainable by men of all denominations, grades of political opinion and birth, from the ultra-conservative to the rabid red-republican; from the aristocrat through whose veins the blue blood has distilled during centuries, to the shoddy made tradesman of yesterday, who can perhaps scarcely trace a generation back—the desire of distinction and its recognition in some tangible shape—that of decorations.