The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-10-15
ESQUIRE.
Who Should Be Addressed as EsQuires9
We Are Really Misters.
From the London Telegraph.

From the London Telegraph.
What is an esquire nowadays! We all
know the derivation of the word and the
significance attached to it in the old chival-
rtc times, when the ''ecuyer." youth OF
gentle birth and a candidate for the spurs
and chain of knighthood. was attached to
the personal service of a dubbed knight.
whose colors he wore, whose shield he bore,
whose charger, arms and accoutrements
were his peculiar care. To attain
knightly rank it was not only necessary
TO be born" in the German sense, bu to
have been carefully trained in ali warlike
and social exercises, and to have passed
through two preparatory stages of chivalrlc
instruction-that is to say, paZehood and
squirehood. By the time his term of novi-
tate had been completed he was qualified.
at the age Of 10 or 20. to fill up any vacancy
| that death or promotion TO knighthood
might create among his masters esquires,
in which capacity it was customary that be
should serve for several years-indeed Until
some conspicuous feat Of valor of his own
or special recommendation on the part of
| his chief brought him Immediately under
the notice Of a royal prince.
| The advancement of young gentlema n
to the rank of esquire in the household of
a great nobleman or wealthy territorial
magnate was not infrequeutly accompanied
| by grant of land, whence probably, in
later times, the squirearchy came to be
identified in common parlance and in the
popular mind with the landowning interest
of this country. Still later, when still ex-
| listing tables of precedence were first formu-
lated, the title of esquire vas recognized as
| the birthright of men born in certain sta
| tons of life, and as a dignity appertaining
~ 1orU 1f Ns.fa nd
| professional positions-consequentl &C
durable by persons Of plebeian origin,
whose talents and industry had enabled
| them to surmount the social barriers sepa-
rating them from gentle folk by birth. The
| term gentleman by act Of parliament"
| came into usage; and the rank implied by
| that term carried with the courtesy title
OF Esquire" as for instance, in the case of
members of the House of Commons, barris-
ters, attorneys at law. civil servants of a
certain standing, holders of university
degrees, physicians, and others too numer-
Gus to particularize in this place.
Little more than half a century ago the
title of esquire still had a distinct meaning
| and Importance of its own, which were
clearly understood by the majority of En-
| glishmen, simple as well as gentle. Its con-
ventional, as well as its true significance, has
all but fallen into oblivion during the pres
| emit reign, which has witnessed greater
development and wider generalization of
democratic sentiment than any other his
| torical period of like duration chroniced in
| the annals of this country. Nowadays the
| annex of ESQUIRE" appended to a mans
name on tue back of letter or in a
| coded to ''nobodies," and is, there
fore, no longer distinctive of "some-
bodies" 1t is the custom In writing to a
wealthy tradesman, whether he have retired
from business or not, to an actor or public
| singer, play wright or novelist, shipbroker
| or vestryman, to address him as esquire.
The title is applied without the least dis
elimination to all sorts and conditions of
men, so long as they are tolerably we'll off
| AS far as its application is concerned at the
present day in ninety cases out Of a
hundred it is an anachronism, or. more
properly speaking, an anomaly. 1t may be
described as relic Of the age of chivalry,
grotesquely out OF keeping with modern
| institutions and tendencies, and preserved
| no one exactly can tell why.
Oddly enough there is no equivalent for
| it among the titular distinctions that OBJ
tain currency in any and every other
| European country. Esquire" is purely
English absurdity, neither psrpetuated nor
comprehended by any continental
| people. In Frence every person of the
male sex, from president to peasant from
| duke to dustman, is monsieur" the French
| synonym of our British Mr.. In the way of
| titles OF genhlitY our vivaclous neighOors
| do not 60 below "Chevalier"-kn ght, as
we should call it, for lack of word ex-
pressing the titular dignity conferred with
| a foreign decoration-aud even that predi-
cate must be preceded by the inevitable
| monsieur" Thus, literally translated into
our vernacular, the proper way TO address
a member of the Legion of Honor
is ''Mr. the Knight whereas letter di-
rected, let us say, to Jacques Bonhomme.
addressee, however correctly the name of
the street and number of the houss in
which he resided might be giveI. Mr.
the Marquis" and "Mr. the Police Agent, "
and the formula equally correct in their
application to the persons thus respective Y
described. As matter of fact the predi-
cate Monsieur" is essentially democratic
in its nature. having nothing about it of
| the feudal havor that turks in the word
Esquire" Indeed as it is used and I'M
derstood in Francs at the present day, it
may be regarded as levetling legacy of
| the great revolution, previous to which it
was only applied to "persons of condition"
aud even figured as the distinctive title of
the next brother to tue king.
| Similarly, in Germany, Austria, Italy and
Spain, the prefixes Herr, y ''Signor' and
|
term Esquire" without in any way CORE
spending 10 its special significance, which,
as we have pointed out, is vague rather
than precise. In those countries there are
two sorts of title, besides those Indicative of
military, navai, ecclesiastical and academi-
cal rank; that is to say, titles of nobility,
which include the particle won, ""Di," or
"De," as the case may be. and official titles,
such as "Mr. Privy-U pper- Consistorial-
Councillor" "Mr. Castle Captain-and-
Chamber Gentleman" or "Mr. Preaching
Office Candidate and-Co Rector" In
Prussia, more particularly, titles of
this latter category are cumulative;
for example: "Mr. Pensior@ Government
Chancery Clerk Lieutenant of the Re-
serve, and ''Mr. Country District Tribunal
Councillor Captain-on Reti ed List
and are assumed by the wives and reflects of
their proud possessors. as in the case of
"Mrs. Railway -Station-Inspec, or" and
"Mrs. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is de
riguedr in addressing any of the dignitaries
| by letter or word of mouth to give him the
| full benefit of his many ointed predicates,
which are every one of them genuine
articles Of their kind, by no means fantas-
tically compounded, but culled from au-
thentic announcements published in the
| columns of Berlin newspapers.
L A1v. l.-s