, 1874-06-28

row you ever rai6a in this house. ,
"Don't care If do settle up 10 tnst way: sat[ u
the follow, grinning amiably, as he returned Il
the bar.
| TITLES.
A Dissertation on Their Abstzriitfe.
! "A Nation That Ezus Nome OF IAen'
t From u.r London Saturday Etr;er.
In the latter part of 3lr- Bryco's account OF
Iceland IN the Co,zhiN Magazine. he 5've5
curious picture OF the state OF socety ~ WHICH
men who are perfectly civilized in their thoughts
| and manners lire in physical eonlttlon not not
| much above that of sayages- and one feature
| OF very primitive life they sill Keep IN all 'ta
| fullneEs. They have hardly auy kuriiamcs, and
they have 10 titles man is simply s'surd II
| you wish to distinguish him frum sone other
| Sigurd, lo is simply SiSurd MagnussoD- II you
so to house, and wish to see. its mistress, you
ask Tor nobody but plain 1ngeblofg Or. II you
wish to be formal, you do not call her Lady or
Mrs. but only 1useblo1g 6isuilsdottlr- For IN
Iceland. us in old Rome, hurried woman ID
known by her fathers uame she cannot take
the surname OF her husband, because ho has no
surname for her to take. In I'LL this We are car
rled back to the days when the smallest man III
Athens or Rome could not perlc!es or Cesar
anything but Pericles or Cmsar.-nay more, when
he could not call Agarste or Julia anything but
Agariste or Julia At Rome, to be sure, there
were little delcaces about the use OF pr1e1iomen,
nomen, and cognomen while Por1cles could be
uUtutu- OAk III 1no uluuLA u a+4f ooAy Ac
whom the outer world called Cesar would be
known to an inner circle Of Caius. So III the
Universities man Is spoken to from tho first mo-
ment OF introduction by his coguomen, allowing
for few e1ceptional cases in which, owing to
some special charm either in the 1nan
himself or in his prnnomen, tho pre-
nomen is used instead. But Cheeks. Romans,
Icelanders, ond undergraduates all agree
in calling q man bv nothiug put one or other Of
his real names. Even IN Iceland there are re-
spectful ways OF marking official rank as, when
a MIN speaks to the Governor or Binhop but
there is nothing liEe o.: fashion OF putting
handle to the nano OF o'erybody. We use thus
Last phrase of set purpose people constantly
say that such u man has GOT title. that he has
got a handle to his name" when he is mado
anything which gives him right to DO called
Sir or Lord. Grave he1aldic authorities who
write peerages and books Of landed gentry, and
thes *-e not peers, they are still nobenen, draw
Il dlstinct,on Detween TITLED +" and untitled
nobility or geutry, or whatever word they choose
to e1p1oss that foreign thing winch the law OF
England has always 30 urkludiy refused to nc
knowledge. When people ray that the new
or q s' hsndle," they forget that lie has been
called By - title or ''Laudle' ~ ever since the
first time rhat his nurae spoke OF hun as s. Mas
ter Tommy" or Perhaps more famlliarly as
. Master Poppet." We are 30 much in the habit
Of giving everybody titles, just as We are 80
much in the habit OF talking in prose, that ne
have got to be unconscious Of the one process as
Of the other. We al 80 constantly in the habit
of giving everybody the titls Of Mr.. Ar1., Miss,
or master, that We regret that MI these are
titles. aud We fancy that no one bears title but
those who are called Lord, Lady, or Sir. In fact.
the smaller everyday titles are more strictly and
purely titles than the others, because they are
Nero titles, while the others are in most cases
titles and something more. Duke, Earl, Bishop,
are not merely titles they wear badges OF actual
rank they are originally aud still to some ex-
tent, descriptions OF office. But we Gull people
Dir. aud Mrs. not to express tank or Office, but
mi1larity Of calling them in Greek or Icelaud's /!
fashion, simply john and Mary. The custom
undoubtedly came in through the use of official
descriptions man WAS called John the Earl,
or Peter the Bishop or anything else, greater or
smaller, to mark linz OF from those Johns or
Peters who held some other office OF no Office at
all. The official description easily slides Iuto |
the title used not merely to describe Office, but
to express respect. But, as long as the descrlp-
ton marks out coy donnlte office, or even any
definite rank, it Ii not q moro u.le: it really |
serves to point ont what the man is, and not
merely to avoid tho necessity OF calling hlm By
his simple Christian or surname. If John
Churchill is Duke Of Marlborough, VIC call him |
ing him john Churchill, but to express the
e~s5 o"gh. 'o But Il II John o cnuschil is a nothng
but John Churchill, and We cali hlm Mr. john
we do so, NOT to express any fact at
all, but merely to avoid the seeming rudeness OF
calling hlm simply John Churchill. Thus tho
Icc1ander recognized the official rank Of the
Governor and the Bishop, only be differs from
us IN holding that plain Sigurd and 1ngebiorg
have no uecd to be called anything but Sisud
End 1ngebiorg.
In tins way it is plain that tho "untitled
classes" are really those who are most truly
titled, those to whom titlos are most habitualy
given simply as tiiles and for no other reason.
&1%n 1,o4,v, Ype1
forms to the fashion, aud there seems no great
likelihood that the rest OF Europe will go back to
the simpler practice Of one unsophisticated
Island. How deeply embedded the practice is in
I'll modern habits of thought is shown BY the
TACT that when the First Freuch Republicans
Determined to abolish titles al that they did was
% abolish the old titles, and to invent title
u their own. When q man was called Citizen
Roland, 1t WAS no less tite-1udeed, according
20 our showing it wns much more OF title
han if he had been called D.ke of Mont
4 man Was not to BIZ called 4n0nsieuT, |
,ut he was to be called Citoyen; but Citoye1l
expressed just as much as Uonsieur. tho feeling
which distinguishes all Of us from the Greek,
be Roman, and the Icelarder, the shrinking
rom calling 4 man by his name, and nothing
Else. 1t never came into the head OF All Athenian
II Roman to speak OF 3 man as Citizen
nerikles, Or Citizen C:c5ar, though there would
here nrnong the French Republicans, for
10 Athelian or Roman had declared that all
nen were equal. and the title Of citizen might
,ave expressed the very wide distinction between
he member Of the ruling commonwealth and
he member OF any OF the inferior classes from
he mere elave up to the Latin or
he PIataian. And oven il those cases
'here intimate friendship. or any other
round, causes men to speak of one another
imply by their names. it is only done privately
nd among equals. The man whom we speak to
y Smith becomes Mr. Smith in speech or IN
rticle aud in the like sort the undergraduate,
O whom Smith is Smith from the very begin
ling. speaks OF Mr.. Smith either to his tutor or
o his ecout. Thus, even when go fur:Lcst
q dropping titles, we do not dare to drop them |
together; we have not got back to the stage Of
alklng of Perihles end Slsurd ut all times and
0 all persons There il, indeed, ono exception,
hough not ia our own country. He who finds
imself reviewed in o German periodical enjoys
he privilege OF being praised or blamed by bis ,
implo surname and nothing else; aud it might ]
q vol to set up au interchange Of privilege in {
bis matter. II for no other cause, Jet for this,
bat. Oh the German aud the Engllshmau, if they
r. their hand at anv KIND of title arc sure to !