The sun. (Wilmington, Del.) 1897-19??, 1901-07-02
CURIoSITIES OF TITLES.
with More Than They Can Res
member--Origin of Some.

Eldest sons OF peers have no real
right to the titles they are known by.
These are theirs purely by courtesy.
The son of a peer shares none of the
privileges conferred by law on peers
of the realm. He is on exactly the |
same footing as any other commoner.
There is, however, one remarkable eX-
ception to this. The eldest son of |
the duke of Northumberland is Earl
Percy, a peer in his own right, and en-
titled to a seat in the house of lords, |
says London Tit-Bits.
Eldest sons of marquises have, as !
rule, the empty honor of an earldom
to fall back on. Three, however, the
heirs to Weymouth, Salisbury and
Townshend, are yiscounts only. Most
of our 1873 earls have also a secondary
title, viscounty or barony, for their
heirs. 1t is not till we come to our
80 viscounts that we find their eldest
sons addressed simply as 'honor-
able"
To rise step to royalties, the IL
ties given to eldest sons of sovereigns
are curiously varied. Two, the heirs
W lIt austrian anu
are known as ''princes imperial" Prince
royal is used in Bavaria, Greece, Den
mark, SaXony, Wurtemburg and
Sweden. Russia stands by herself in
calling her he'll" czarewitch," and Spain,
too, has a unique title in infant" or
'.infata," which have been used for
the past nine centuries. In other
ntria Ia all &c rriupa nj
some territory which he rarely sees,
over which he has no jurisdiction and
from which he draws no revenue. Sim.
liar titles to prince of Wales are borne
by the Flemish duke of Brabant and
the Portuguese don of Alcantara.
One of the most peculiar titles ever
conferred on royal children was that
formerly bestowed on the heirs of the
German emperors, ''most noble purple
born"
The tiles of many monarchs have as
small foundation as those of their
children. The king of Sardinia in very
recent times used to waste two sheets
of paper in all official letters in de-
scribing himself as king of Cyprus,
Sicily and Jerusalem, as well as duke
prince, count and marquis of over Al
other districts in most of which the
people had probably never even heard
of him. AT the very same time the king
| of Naples also professed to be king of
| Jerusalem, just as our own monarchs
| kept the title king of France for two
| full centuries after losing their last
acre of French SOIL One of the most
| amusing examples ever known of this
claiming of titles was seen in British
| treaty made with the last mogul EN-
| peror of Delhi. He began by calling
himself "king of the world,' yet the
treaty is full of humble concessions to
the people who had so lately defeated
| him.
| Most of the royal titles used to-day
are OF comparatively modern origin;
liking" is probably the most ancient.
The title liking of kings" appearing in
almost every line, were the words
which gave the key to the cuneiform
inscription on the old Assyrian tombs
Emperor" which means simply "com-
mander in chief" was the next in or
der of time. Curiously enough, it en-
tirely disappeared in Europe for -four
centuries, and was revived by the great
French monarch Charlemagne on
Christmas day, A. ID. s00
"Duke" was a sovereign title for Q
long time, and there are still five reign
ing German dukes whose titles are NJ
mere empty ones. "Elector" was {
very great title, indeed, at one time;
but that, too, has fallen. The last te
go was the dictatorship of Hesse-Casse
in 1866. The latter more frequently
was called "landgrave," title his an
cestors chose to distinguish them
selves from the swarm of count:
around them.
Gear" now so famous, was at on
time quite secondary title of Rus
, sia's rulers. "Great lord, grand duke
, autocrat and czar" were the orgina
: titles of Russia's sovereigns. In 154
Ivan Nv. was crowned car of Moscow
: and later on his descendants became
.. by conquest, czars of all the Russias-
|. great, little, new, black, red white an
: southern Russia. Then Peter tn
Great thought he would like the It'll
of emperor, and took it. This cause
Y desperate quarrel with the empero
: of Germany, who, as the inheritor o
e the title of the old Roman emperors
q thought no one else had any right t
: use it.
"Sultan" is not specially ancien
: title. Turks think much more of tn
9 word "caliph," which means "subst
n tute"-that is, substitute here on cart
It for the prophet Mahomet, still consit
cred their actual head. The sultan c
y Turkey is caliph of Damascus. Con
It dova, Bagdad, Fez, Grenada, Egyp
e Morocco and Tunis. A rather remark
y able thing about the present sultan
y that he is not of the family of tn
= prophet at all. Therefore all the emir
: which is the name given to Mahomet
= descendants, and of whom there al
n. many thousands, forego whilst in h
II presence their special privilege c
IL wearing the green turban.
I'd Majesty" is quite modern title.