Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1856-06-05
For the Yorkville Enquirer.
THE "uARYp QUESTION.

n 2 .'s tx
Aessrs. Editors:-Inasmuch as do not expect
to have time to hunt up authorities on the orthog
rapby of the plural of MARYsI i shall proceed to.
say what remains to be said on my part, st Snce.
1. As touching Robert Philip: Did you ever I
read any Of his lucubraHonsf Surely, you gam :
not cite him as profound in any except q sort Of
"tea-table piety."
2. AS touching the use Of Aanes: This form
will do for the plural Of any Of the Mary family
Besides, my poem was o ..'Dream Of Adres,n not
of Marys only (as you will hayei III hnt Of Maries
Mariannes, Marias, Marions &C.; not only Aa,y
Washington, but Marie Antoinette, Maria There
sa, Marianne of Spain sc. - ~ ~
g. AS to the antiquity of the form Nanefor
the singular: Although am ready to admit that
the use of Mary obtains very early in onr class-
les, still Marie is more common. Apropos Of this
did you ever think of the interjections, OMAR,
ry" and "Marry.guep !" Hudi6ras) as iniica-
ting somethingD But you want instances Of Aa-.
rie "outside Of the old English Bible:n lespoie.
"By seinte Marie, sayd this taverne" &c.
- -. ChdSer, 182. .;a
"Herkneth tome both cid and zing
For Maries love that swete thing.
King of Tars, Percy Reliques, 1876. 3
''Witness those rings and roundelayes n
OF theirs which yet RENAME, 50 ss =. : -
Were footed in Queen Names days" &C.
FAIRIES FareweN, Percys Reliques, 248.
'sMnies lays."-(see Ellis Specimens Of early
English mctrical romances, p. 45. You need not
plead the Armorican origin Of these lays for the
ancestors of this people were English colonists or
refugees. 80 5S
"That it mote y.christened be q. s.
For Aariss love, thy mother free z
Lay L1rane, Ib: .64f.
'As him was taught to kneele adown and say (
Are. Marie as he goth by the way. -;
Caaueu, 1866.
'.Their songs we're Are- -Mdries'' Sc. 3
Percys Reliques, 24e.
In later day we read s, - So :
she told of popes and saints, and eyermore
He slowed m Aue.Nary after and before. y &,
Fairy Queen, I25.
4th. As to my plural: I find in Meister KARL
song which runs thus, (page So. 80
"Last night the Queene had four Ac1es -
Tonight she'll have but three &c.
a ~
In sn ancient novel, often quoted by our old
dramatists, entitled "a Merge Jest Of 8 man that
was called Howleglas, &c., We read. And this
SEEING Howleglass toke to him III. Of the sim
plest persons that were in the towne, that played
the H. Aaris" \ \ Zone OF the simple
persons that played one of the three Aa1esp &C.
In addition to these ard the authorities cited in
my note to the t.Erdminer,"' as favoring The use
of 'Maries,", Iieber, Patrick and Lowth, and
Longfellow,) have seen song in the Musical
Supplement to one of the leading papers in Lon
don, which adopts my style of the plural (thisi is
in the possession OF our N utual friend, "A b.
Also Rees' Encyclopedia spells the plural Aaries
Taking all things together, think, with due
Difference, the case is pretty clearly in my favor.
Finally, as to the RoB matter:I plead that
this is not fair illustration, on account Of its
ambiguity. Mary never does mean anything but
woman: Wolf may be ma, ora beast Might
not Mary be the name as well Of your canary
bird !-EDs. Besides, il q man takes no offence
at being called at Wolf, why should a family
grumble at being called Wolpss-when each mem
Der is confessedly-a WoBa s.tytls3:.z
Yours very truly, II. II C.