Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-05-24

Formula, In which all who are of a GER.
tam opinion are bid to express the same
IN the usual manner whereupon I'm o.
Wlat the reporter loves to call a forest
OF nands." More inspiring is the method
sometimes adopted of inviting those who
assent to say AVE. This is house of
common fashion, though compalatiyely
rev propositions sufficiently stir the house
TO the roar of agreement h. goes ur
from an excited public meeting. The
curious thing about AYE is that no one
KNOWS whence the word came. DR.. Muir
ray says that as an affirmative ~exclama-
ton 1T appeared suddenly about 1876. and
was exceedingly common about 1900, but
its origin is unknown. Of course, it is
easy to guess, and the plausible sugges-
ton has been made that it is the same
as the adverb 'ay," which means ever
always. But, curiously enough, at first it
was always written phonctically, Ia
spelllnG never found with the meaning Of
-ay, ever; SO the problem remains open.
Drayton, in his string of sonnets called
Idea Q594) writes: Nothing but No
and l, and and No. The word, where
ever 1t may have come from, was early
adopted by the house of m An
drew Marvel, in one of his letters refer
ring TO parliamentary proceedings in 1869,
writes: THE ayes proved 1873 and the
noes 129," and it was in use long before
that date.
The house of lords fashion Of express
ing assent and the reverse-"Content"
and Not Content"-is equally old, but
grown quainter in style. 1t is, of course,
founded on the older elliptical use of
content as an exclamation of agree
ment which is now obsolete in ordinary
speech. In the first part of Henry vi"
the king calls p the contentious serv-
ing-men-some with their heads already
DrOkpO-tO p1Ca frOy, 1;Ct,,rh;,, +1o
peace and join in friendship as their
superlors had done. Content exclaims
one, I'll to the surgeons" The earliest
alluslon to the house of lords practice
which has been found is dated 1921. in an
account printed by the Camden Society
OF the Peers debates: .SucH " St * as
are OF OPINION that the 2large shall be
sent to the lord chancellor, say-Content.
Such as Wyll ave his lordship come
neither to heare the charge. saye-Not
Content Another variation, the
"placet' and it's reverse of ecclesiastical
councils and of university governing
bodies, is, of course, simply the Latin
equivalent, 1T pleases," of Content"
Perh2ps the most singular of English
forms OF expressing agreement or appro-
patlon-long since obsolcte-was the prac-
tice once in vogue even among church
congregations of making a humming
noise when anything was said which the
audience particularly liked or agreed
with heartily. In a contemporary ac-
count of the trial Of the regicides in 1860
it is often stated that "the people
humid evidently in approval of what
was being said. Once, later. when Bishop
Burnet preached before the house of
part of his congregation. we
are told, "hummed," SO loudly and so
long that he sat down to enjoy it, and
rubbed his face with his handkerchief.
preacher of that era, however,
DR.. Sprat. bishop Of Rochester, when a
hum arose from the congregation,
out his hand and cried: peace,
peace, l. pray you yeace." Macaulay tells
us that when William III, five days after
his proclamation, went down to the house
of lords, and from his seat on the throne
addressed the assembled at the
bar, the speech was received by the
OF members of the lower house
with the deep hum by which our ances-
tors We're wont to indicate approbation."
1t was about this time, according to the
writer, that another curious mode
expressing assent or agreement began
be commonly used-that is, the inter-
jected Hear! heart" which in the house
of commons of the present day mean, ac-
cording to the information, agreement or
admiration or Indignation, but
in ordinary use elsewhere is generally re-
to an indication of agreement.
Macaulay says that the phrase Hear
was first used to Hence irregular
noises and recall attention to the speak
er. but gradually became what Hear,
hear" is now. The form Hear him."
lasted for a very long time. A ~poetical
art of Politicks" of 1871 gives the sem
sible advice:
If, when you speak, you'd hear a Needle
fall,
And make the frequent hear-hims rend
the wall,
In matter suited to your Taste engage.
Remembering still your Quality and Age.
The German Pastor Moritz, who wrote
account of his 'Travels Through Sew
eral Parts of England" in 1882, describing |
the house of of that day, says
friends and admirers of a speaker
made their appreciation known by call
ing out Hear him!'-which is often re-
peated by the whole house at once. This
calling out is always. regarded as a great
encouragement, and l have often OBJ
served that II who began with some
d~iffidence, and eve somewhat i%nauspic-
iously, has in the end ben so animated
he has spoken with a torrent of elo-
Another foreign visitor, M. Grosley, who
a sitting of the house in 1865,
represents the members as crying: out in
va! Ya!" which appears to be a
phonetic rendering of Hear! Heart" but
the latter form does not appear to have
superseded Hear him." until some time
early in the present century. Dickens,
by the way, represents Colonel Groper,
at the reception of the Hon Elijah Pro-
in Martin Chuzzlewit," as saying, |
Good, very good; Hear him! Hear Him."
this appears to be a slip, for the ex-
preston is said to be unknown in Amer
lea. The current usage at English public
meetings is, of course, adopted from the |
house of commons practice. We have by |
means exhausted the Vocabulary of
the language of assent. The cross on the |
ballot p and the ball (of the right |