, 1879-11-06
Mr., Mrs. and Miss


would be difficult to fix upon time
when this deplorable change in pronun'
citation took place, and indeed, L am
very sure 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 it
came into o certain vogue. In fact,
mistress is not absolutely driven from
the field, for there are people both in
England and America who disclaim
missiz, and cling to the old, full-sound-
ing, dignifed mistress. But although
the question propounded to me cannot
be exactly answered, it gives US good
occasion to glance at the history of our
most commonly used titles of respect.
Mister is, like missiz, degraded form
Of better word, master, and master
itself is tho product of q gradual decay
Of the Latin magister, both words hay
ing the same meaning. Master how
ever, is not directly derived from magis-
ter. The Latin word, in the course of
those centuries which we call the Dark
Ages, dropped the G and became MASTER,
or maistre, in old French. In this form
it passed into Old English, in which it Is
found always, or almost always, written
either with al or av, and there is no
room for doubt that the pronunciation of
the word was the same both in England
ard in France.
Our wretched little Missiz has the
same noble descent as Mister. The fem
inine form Of master is maisteress, and
the latter word naturally soon followed
the former into use. At first it had
like application, and was given to women
who were really maistresses. But it lost
this elevation much sooner than its mas
culine counterpart did The desire to
please the vanity of women, sometimes
called chiyalric, sometimes gallant,
which has done much greater harm, did
some harm in leading quickly to 'tha ap-
plication Of this title to all ladics-that
is all gent.ewomen who had no other.
Sooner than master, too, it has lost q
both in its pronunciation and in spelling.
Mistress is much older English sound
than Mister.
Mistress was given as title Of honor
to young girls as well as to matrons early
in the sixteenth century, if not before
that time. OF its use in this manner
in the time Of Elizabeth, Shakspeare's
"Mistre5s" Anne Page, in the Windsor
comedy, is an example Anne Page was
a mere slip Of girl, but being the
daughter Of q gentleman, she was "Mis-
tressed." This use Of Mistress pre-
vailed until about the reign Of Queen
Anne. Until the end of the seven
toenth century unmarried ladies were
called Mistress--Mistr Mary, Mistress
Betty, and so forth. AS their mothers
were also called Mistress, the fashion
makes some confusion for the readers Of
old time literature, particularly in the
old English comedies In the dramatis
personG Of these there will be
half dozen ladies, all styled "Mrs," of
whom some will be married women, and
others young unmarried girls. 1t is not
always easy to discover the exact posi-
ton Of these ladies, even by their man.
ners, particularly when the Mrs is a
widow.
Miss, as a title of respect, is the most
modern Of the three common titles of
the day. Two hundred years ago it was
a title of positive disrespect, and was APP
piled only to unchaste women. 1t came
to be thus generally used in the time of
Charles III. In a well known passage
in Evelyn's Diary, of the date of 1912,
he records 'In this acted we faire and
famous comedian call'd Roxalana, from
ye part she performed and l think it
was the last, she being taken to be the
Earle Of Oxfords misse (as at this time
they began to call lewd women)." This
shows good reason why young unmarried
ladies Of character were not then Misses.
The practice in question did not, how
ever, prevail very long; it only lasted
through the Stuarts, 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 Vanburgh and William Con.
greve, have left unmistakable evidence
upon the subject, How and why was it
that Miss so suddenly and thoroughly
changed its grade and its significance,
nothing remains to show. We only
know that the change was made, and
the title, which was one of disrespect