Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1879-09-27
"lIR.." "1IRs.." AKD .sMYss.n

OF WOMEN AND MEN-ooRsuPrIoNs OF aMas-
TER" AND MISTRESS"
(Richard Grant White in Ne y York Timeal
Il am asked when 1t became the custom to call
married women "Missiz, /" instead OF "Mistressn
believe that it would be dinicult to fix upon
time when this deplorable change In pronun-
that the clipped and degraded form OF mistress
made its way slowly among the folk who were
born to speak English, and did not prevail until
some generations had passed away after 1t came
into vogue. In fact, mistress Is not yet abso-
lutely driven from the field for there are people
both In England and America who disclalm
tress But although the question propounded
to me cannot be exactly answered, |. gives US a
good occasion to glance at the his DRY Of our
most c0mmonly-uSed titles Of respect.
Mister is, like nissiz, a degraded form of a
better word, master, and master itself Is the pro-
duct OF gradual decay Of the Latin nsagister,
however, is not directly derived from ,nagister,
The Latin word, In the course OF those centu.
r1es which we call the dark ages, dropped the 9
In this form 1t passed into Old English, in which
it is found always, or most always, written
either with al or ay, and there Is no room for
the same both In England and in France, and
that the first syllable had the sound Of the first
syllable of maitre, the modern French form Of
Inc Wora: In the "promptorium Parvulorum,"
II is spelled ndystyr and defined smdgister, did
nscotus, petdgogus." The rustic pronunciation
SJlli uediQ III some OF GHe Tural parJS EQglanQ
is plainly a remnant of this ancient French
sound Of the word. How It was that the sound
naatster passed into rlahster, it would be difficult
TO say. The change is directly against tue cur
rent of fas hfon Ia our speech, which tends to
cup and narrow the vowel sounds, rather than
is ole OF n few happy exceptions.
1t was I'm the early part Of the Thirteenth
century. about A. d. 1230-4O, that master, or
n,aister came to be used as a title of respect,
pIefxed to the name OF man. In the old poem,
hn GrrI oyd no ffrnf trara ln .
manuscript OF which Is about A. D. 1910 a
Maistre Nichole appears, the first man so deco
rated who Is known to English literature. The
title soon passed into general use as applicable
to the head Of household, or to man OF posi-
ton and consideration, who had not title OF
nobility, or Of knighthood, or Of office. Simple
were called, had not the honor Of this title.
They were merely Johns and Thomases For
some centuries the title he'd its own both as to
meaning and In sound. 1t did not change In
either. Master Ford, in the ..Merry wives of
Windsor" is good example in point. He was
one OF the minor gentry about Windsor, and the
head of hcusehold-had "linen and buck
baskets" For about a century later than the
date Of the Windsor comedy Master was thus
USED. DO not wish to express decided opin-
ion ion without ,' an examination, for which have
not time at present, but l think that 1t was
about the reign Of Queen Anne that Master was
squeezed into Mister. About that time, too,
began; II remember Alright, the degradation OF
the title by its application to any man and
every man, Irrespective of position. re-pect
for the title as distinction still fingers am Sng
seamen: remember once writing Lne name Of
an"abe seaman, " for whom had much respect,
in his presence as "Mr. -" "Beg pard N,
SIR, he said, 81 wouldn't do that "Why nosea
asked; I'D rather do It," "Well, sir" he an
swered, ut isn't ushall; and, If you please, my
names John -. Please write it so.'' "Mr.,"
on board ships of war ard other national YES
sells, Is the title rgidly given to the officers be-
low the rank of Captain, and by those offic ,rs
to the petty officers"
Cur wretched little Missiz has the same noble
descent as Mister. The feminine form Of 1nais.
ter Is 1nGtstercss, and the latter word naturally
soon followed the former into use. At first it
had like application and was given to women
VINO were really masteresses. But 1t lost
this elevation much sooner than It's masculine
counterpart did. The desire to please the vanity
times gallant, which has done much greater
harm. die some harm In leading quickly to tae
appllcaton OF this title OF all ladies' that Is all
gentlewomen, who had no other Sooner than
m,aister, too, 1t lost Its both 10 pronunciation
and spelling: Mistress is much older English
sound than Mister. No one who has ever heard
II L, In use among the few with whom it fingers,
mourn It's degradation, through slovenly nam
Dy-pamby habits of speech Into Mtssiz This
began, suspect, not before the last quarter of
the last century. 1t obtained in England before
II did In this country, and in New England be-
fore it did at the South, where the full toned
Mistress may still be heard, as 1t may In some
Out-oI-tne-Way places In the north of England
and among the LowlaDd Scots, who, by the way,
are Of as pure English blood as any Kentis6.,
man or cockDey.
Mistress was given as title Of honor to young
girls as well as to matrons early In the Six
tenth century, il not before that time OF its
use In this manner in the time Of Elizabeth
Shakespeare's Mistress" Anne Page, in the
was mere slip Of girl but being the daughter
OF gentleman, she was "Mistressed." This
use OF Mist, ess prevailed until about the reign
teeDth century unmarried ladies were called
Mfstress-Mistress Mary, Mistress Betty and
SO forth. AS their mothers were also called
the modern reader Of old-time literature, par
ticularly in the old English comedies In the
q drndtts p.rson9 OF these there will be half
d',Zen ladies, all styled "Mrs.," Of whom some
will be married women, and others young, un-
married girls, it is not always easy to discover
the exact position OF these ladies, even by their
widow.
Miss, as title of respect, is the most modern
OF the three common titles of our day Two
hundred years ago it was title of positive dis
men. It came to be thus generally used In the
time OF Charles II. In well known passage in
"Evelyn,s Diary" Of the date Of 1912, he re-
dian call'd Roxalana, from We part she per-
formed; and think it was the last she being
taken to be the Earle Of Oxfords MISE las at
This shows good reason why young unmarried
ladies of character were not then misses"
Inc practice In question did not, however, pre-.
vail very long; it only lasted through the Stu
arts, and went out OF England with them We
are able to trace the history of this word BY
the help of the comedies of the time. Those ex-
emplary gentlemen, william Wycherley, Sir
John Vanbrugh, and William COngreye, have
left unmtstakable evidence upon the subject
How and why it was that Miss so suddenly and
so thoroughly changed its grade and its signih-
canoe, nothing remains to show. We only
know that the change was made and that the
title which was one Of dtsrespect under Charles
II. and James H., became one OF respect under
William and Mary and Anne.
Wycherly was born about 1910, and wrote be-
tween 1867 and 1878. In his list OF dranatis per-
sona he always applies Mattress Unfortunately
to wives, widows and matdens. In the body Of
his earlier plays, also, believe, the same use
of the word prevails; but in "The Gentleman
Dancing Master" Hippolita's maid calls her
"M1ss, 'dear Miss, y ''sweet Miss" and Hippo
lita Is the heroine, the daughter and heirefs of
James Formal, wealthy merchant in the Span
ish trade. Vanburgh succeeded Wycherley.
He was born In 1866, and wrote his first play In
1897. In the drGmatts personR of this play
"The Relapse" we f1nd "Miss Hoydon a great
fortune, daughter to Sir Tunbelly" Again, In
"a Journey to London we have Mss Betty
BEG daughter to Sir Francis Hsadpiecs
and In 1.-THE Provoked Husband" Miss Jenny
WrongheGd. 1t will thus be seen that the sup
position, hitherto generally entertained, that
Miss Prue In Congreve's Glove for Love" is the
first Miss recognized In English dramatic liter