The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1879-11-17
FRENCH TITLES.
The True Titles Of the French N0bil-
= ity-BOgus Claims TO Mobility.
fIAudnu Life


A conversation supposed to take place
between newspaper reporter and an old
baron, French edition of Sir Bernard
Burke. The former, wishing to know the
reason of multiplicity of titles, of which
every Frenchmen appears to possess one,
calls upon this baron Of the old regime,
who lays down to him the law upon ti-
ties, a law which Frenchmen all trans
gress: 81 am not astonished at your sur
prise at the immense number of titles in
France, and I am delighted to give you
some particulars. To begin with you too
easily confound gentlemen (gentilhomne)
and noblemen. God makes the gentle
men, and the king makes the nobleman,
SO that nowadays the creation of noble
men is impossible. Every gentleman is
noble; but, on the other hand noble
man of recent date, without ancestors,
however high his title may be, is not a
gentleman, nor can he ever become one;
his grandson will be the first gentleman
of his line.
"The French titles of nobility are due,
marquis, conte, viscomte. baron, cheva-
ller, ecuyer and vidame. Since 1916
these last have fallen into disuse. Prince
is not french title; it is only the gene
ric name given to members of the royal
family and to such old sovereign fami-
lies as the Bouillons and Bohans. The
exceptional appellations of Prince de
Conde, Prince de Cont, Prince de Join
vile, and Prince de Lambelle, only
prove the rule. The titles of Prince de
Marcillac, Prince de Broglie, and Prince
de Sagan are foreign and are merely born
by courtesy, the only exception being
Prince de Sagan, whose.title was autho-
rized by Napoleon III.
'The head of family alone has a right
to title, whatever it may be. All the
other members of the family have no
right to it or any other, save by special
decree, as in the case of the Graymonts,
Talleyrands, the Bohans, or the La Roch-
efoucalts, as the marquesate does not de-
rive in any way from a dukedom; it is
contrary to all heraldic rule for the sons
of duke to take the title of marquis
during the fathers lifetime. This is,
however, constantly done, and as sons of
marquises, earls and viscounts take the
title Immediately below that borne by
their father; this accounts for the num-
berless titles one meets with in France.
But, repeat, no child has a right dur
ing his fathers lifetime to bear his title
or one inferior to it, even by adding his
Christian name. At the fathers death
the eldest son only inherit his title, his
younger brothers having no right to
title of any kind. If this rule was
strictly observed our aristocracy would
be select indeed.
''The Imperial noblesse has three titles
only-duc, comte, and baron; all the
others are merely borne by courtesy. In
all times absurd usurpations have taken
place; but at no time have abuses been
more fragrant than during the present re.
public. The Due de Broglie during his
tenure of office as garde sceaux tried tC
put some order in the matter, and issued
on the 22d of July, 1874, ministerial
circular, but from the first it remained 6
dead letter."
| In this causerie the writer only speak
of those who, belonging to good families
think they have right to the titles they
bear; but there is another numerous
class of persons who, taking the name Of
the town or village where they were
born, or, again, putting their Christian
name after their srname, gradually
usurp any title to which they aspire. ]
will take a fictitious example. A LIE.
febvre is christened, let us say, ST.
Hilaire, and he calls himself, first. LIE.
febvre st. Hilaire, then L. de st. Hilaire
until one day his visiting cards unblush
ingly give him forth to the world as Mar
quis or Comte de St. Hilaire. Probably
the old baron would have classed such 9
person outside the pale of honest men.