The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-08-01
Epistolary Oourtesies.

fon it was who first said that the styl
is the man. He might have added ths
the style proclaimed the nation. Pei
haps of all the nations of Europe th
English are the stiffest and most fol
NAL in their correspondence, more es
pecially with those to whom they ar
personally unknown, and who are thei
interiors in rank or social position. ]
gentleman or lady, when absent fror
home, has occasion to write letter O
instructions to male or female servant
the style is studidlsly dry and laconi
as telegram anR contains no word o
compliment or courtesy. When Jone
writes to Brown, whom he has neve
seen, he addresses him as "Sir," anC
subscribes himself as, "Your obedien
humble servant -. though he is neithe
obedient nor humble, and would be of
Tended if you really considered him tC
be so. When Brown writes to Robin
son, with whom he is on more or les.
friendly terms, the word 'Sir F." is too
stiff for intimacy, and he addresses hin
as "Dear sir" or "My dear SIR" OF
"Dear Robinson - or "My dear Rob
inson ;" and subscribes himself fYourE
very truly" or "Yours very sincerely,
or ''Yours faithfully" or &c Yours very
faithfully" When love-letters are il
question the style warns, and the
"dears " and the "darlings," and the
devotedlies," and the affectionate.
lies," come in play. With these I shall
not presume to meddle. They are OF
the tender follies of the best period
of human life, and not to be turned
into ridicule either by the hard head er
the hard heart, unless in law court in
a case of breach of promise. 1t is with
the ordinary style of address only that
I presume to treat, than which nothing
more formal or unmeaning can we'll be
imagined. Take, for instance, the title
to esquire, which means shield-bearer.
There are no shields in our days except
in the theaters, consequently there are
no shield-bearers. The title, even when
it was reality, and signified true
thing, meant no more than a neophyte
IN the profession of arms, and servant
of superior, who was called a cheva-
ler, knight, a rider, or a horseman.
Everybody with a decent coat upon
his back among the Anglo-Saxon, or,
more properly, the Celto-Saxon races
in Great Britain and America considers
himself entitled to be called a shield
bearer, and should the highly respecta-
BILE John Brown (esquire) be addressed
as Mr.. John Brown, he comes to the
epistle that it was either dispatched
by somebody who meant to insult him,
or by a plaguey attorney dunning him
for debt.
In this respect the French are more
sensible. They have no esquires at all,
and monsieur is as high title as they
usually bestow. The eldest son of the
old kings of the Bourbon line was mon
sieur par excellence, the monsieur who
took precedence over all other messieurs
whatsoever. They have, however, a
far greater variety of epistolary phra-
seology than the English, and subscribe
their letters after fashion which to an
Enalishman seems remarkably rounda-
bout, cumbrous and effected. If they
begin with the "Dear SIR" they end
with the numbering phrase, &C Receive,
sir, the assurance of the high considera-
tion with which have the honor to be,
your very obedient, humble servant, "
The term of human life ought to ex-
tend to at least a hundred and fifty
years, if people who write many letters
are to append such perorations as this,
or others equally wire drawn, which
the French delight to employ. The
Germans are even more punctilious, and
it requires long study of their language
and long acquaintance with the people
to be able to decide whether a man is
simply to be called sir, or high-born sir,
or high and well-born sir, or nobly-born
sir, or high, we'll and nobly-born sir, or,
worst or best of all, most senene. And
as in English parlance the strictly gram
matical and poetical "thou, " the proper
pronoun to be employed when address
ing a single individual, has been super
seded by the plural "you, which means
several individuals, so in German the
" thou and the you" have both been
and single person is des-
ignated "they," as in the phrase, " We
beti71den sic sichs' I" How do they find
themselves ?" instead of How do you
90 ?" The courteous Italians designate
every equal and superior as "Your
grace, or "Your excellency, and speak
will visit you," is rendered 81 will visit
her" the feminine pronoun doing duty
for the feminine nouns, grace and excel
lency, which are always understood,
though not always expressed.
In business letters the Italians never
use the words caro- SSg7aore, or dear sir,
as the English do, but address their
correspondent as Most esteemed sir,
varying the style of address by such
epithets as Honorable" "Illustri-
ous," "Most GENTLE" "Most noble"
If you addressed your tailor or boot-ma-
ker by letter, neither would be sur
prised, or offended, or suspicious of a
joke, if you wrote on the envelope,
Most illustrious sir, and signed your
self, Your most devoted. These are
the usual forms employed by the bulk
of the people, by tradesmen, artisans,
clerks, millers, servants and others, and
a servant-girl would not think we'll of
any lover who did no taddress her as ''n-
lustrissima signora." The following
letter, translated verbatim, was ad-
dressed after a quarrel at a drinking
bout, by one angry disputant to another,
whom he challenged to duel:
Most esteemed sir Permit me to in
form you that you are pig. Yes, my
beloved one. 1t is my intention in a
short time to spoil your beauty either
Dy SWOTQ OF DlSGOl. 4u0 CuO1C0 Sudl1
be left to you, as both weapons are to
me quite Indifferent. Hoping soon to
have the pleasure of cherished answer,
[ declare myself to be honorable sir,
Yours most devotedly,
CARLEvERo.
The stately Spaniards, in addressing
a letter of business to a commercial
firm, instead of the "Sir " or ''Gentle-
men" of the English, or the "Mon-
sieur or "Messieurs " of the French,
write, My very sir, or Our very sirs, and
subscribe themselves Your very atten-
tive, or Your very obedient servants.
It seems to me that in this busy age
the letter writer's of the world would do
we'll to amend their style of address,
and revert to the simple phraseology
by the ancient Romans. How
truly courteous was the Roman method.
If Lucius Verus wished to write to Sci
pio Africanus, he did not begin Ny
dear Scipio, and end with Yours very
truly, but went straight to the point,
and said, Lucius Verius to Scipio Afri-
eanus, greeting; after which, without
further palaver, he would proceed to
business. Would it not be a saving of
time if we were to initiate this excel
lent old fashion? And why should not
Smith minimize trouble by addressing
Brown after the classical method