Semi-weekly Bourbon news., 1883-12-07
7 y .'Laay.s 90 \:

Our oldsEnglish Hfsford, IS express
ing rank or relation rather han
strictly an, Office, has, Unlike t6e-~King
and the Earl, feminine. Without
raising any minute philological aues-.
ton, ,Hi@fdidge IS practically the fenIi-
inine of Hl4forth 8 lAnd itEabidfs sostiila
the softened form of lady is still, in
grammar ==1east # not IN usage, the
| EfeminiReof Lord and of Lord only. But
the practical use of the hAme has SBeeh.
very shifting, In early times the Lady
had rather a tendency to soar higher
than the Lord; in later times she has
rather had a'tendehcy TO- sink beneath
him. When queen-ship, so to speak,
was abolished among the West Saxons,
the Kings wife became the lady. The
title was therefore lower than that of
Queen, but ittwas so highsthat, with the
single exception of Ethelti@d= Lady of
the Merciaps. it was meyer given to any
but the. wives of Kings, The, wife of
the. reigning King is .''the Lady,. she
whom we should now call a Queen
Dowagyer was then Known by the home
lier style of ''the Old Lady" SO, as
has been already noticed, lady" was
down into the eighteenth century the
true English style for the youhget
daughters and the. nieces of king tIn
the peerage kord and Lady exactly an
swer to one a mother. If in one case
they do not seem toSdo SO, If the daugh-
ters of an Earl are called Lady while
their Younger brothers are not called
Lord, it is because. all daughters rank
with, their elder. brother and not. with
their Younger. Lady, like Lord. is used
vaguely for all ranks of the .peerage
under Duke, and in a special way for its
lower rank 1t is when we get below
the peerage that the laxer use of the
word begins. AS Dominus parted off
into English Lord and French Sir, so
DONNA parted off into English Lady
and French Dame. Lord and Lady, Sir
and Dame, should in strictness' go
| together And so in formal style
they do: the wife of Sir John is
properly Dame Mary. '" It is doubtless
! bya bit of mans homage to woman
| that she isin common speech raised to
the style of Lady; while her husband is
never raised to the style:Of Lord. And
those who report court ceremonies, who
! surely ought to, 'tknow their own fool-
/ ish business,r tumble together under
/ the common head of Ladies', the wives
I of Knights, the wives of Barons; and
/ the daughters of Dukes, .MarqueSses,
and Earls. Dame Mary has no place in
! such exalted company, and the other
two classes, of Ladies may teach US a
lesson in the difference between mere
/ precedence and substantial privilege.
u J. A ho 10 q
/ daughter, goes. before Lady b, the
/ Baron's wife. But let them be charged
/ with treason OF felony. and the Baron's s
/ wife can claim to be tried by the House
! of Lords, while the Earl's daughter
must be tried by a jury like any
Il other woman. Lady, then, even as q
Il title, has come down., in common use at
II least, a step lower than Lord.
/ And, when not used strictly as title, it
has sunk lower again. 1t has, perhaps,
not sunk quite so low as some words
Il which in strictness translate it, certainly
not so low as Italian donna, perhaps
| not. quite so low as French dame. Still,
to most minds Lady is the feminine, not
i of Lord, but of Gentleman. The gen
II tleman's S rightful companion, the gentle
II woman, seems to have vanished alto
gether. And some people seem, even
on very formal occasions, to forget that
the Lady is the rightful companion only
of the Lord. When men were debating
as to the proposal to confer the title OF
Empress on our present sovereign a
public meeting was held in a great
English city for the discussion OF
the question. Some proposed "Sover-
eign Lady of India as a more beconi-
ing title. To this one speaker objected.
He was a barrister by calling, and
in ecclesiastical matters a Jealous
churchman. He might therefore be 'ex-
pected to know both his law-books and
| his prayer-book. Yet he opposed the
| style of Sovereign Lady, on the ground
that, when there was a King he would
have to be called Sovereign Gentle
man. Hishearers, wiser than himself,
shouted Sovereign Lord" But the
man of law. remained, .unconvinced
Sovereign Gentleman was the one
masculine of Sovereign Lady" and
Sovereign Gentleman of India" was a
title that would never do .-E. Il. Free
man, an Lo7agpqn's Magazine. 80.