says, “affected rather to bee stiled by the name of _Sire_ than Baron, as _Le Sire de Montmorencie_, _Le Sire de Beaujeu_, and the like,” and as it has been commonly used to monarchs, our word _Sir_, which is derived from it, originally meant lord or king. Thus, too, is it with feminine titles. _Lady_, which, according to Horne Tooke, means _exalted_, and was at first given only to the few, is now given to all women of education. _Dame_, once an honourable name to which, in old books, we find the epithets of “high-born” and “stately” affixed, has now, by repeated widenings of its application, become relatively a term of contempt. And if we trace the compound of this, _ma Dame_, through its contractions—_Madam_, _ma’am_, _mam_, _mum_, we find that the “Yes’m” of Sally to her mistress is originally equivalent to “Yes, my exalted,” or “Yes, your highness.” Throughout, therefore, the genesis of words of honour has been the same. Just as with the Jews and with the Romans, has it been with the modern Europeans. Tracing these everyday names to their primitive significations of _lord_ and _king_, and {15} remembering that in aboriginal societies these were applied only to the gods and their descendants, we arrive at the conclusion that our familiar _Sir_ and _Monsieur_ are, in their primary and expanded meanings, terms of adoration. Further to illustrate this gradual depreciation of titles, and to confirm the inference drawn, it may be well to notice in passing, that the oldest of them have, as might be expected, been depreciated to the greatest extent. Thus, _Master_—a word proved by its derivation, and by the similarity of the connate words in other languages (Fr., _maître_ for _maistre_; Dutch, _meester_; Dan., _mester_; Ger., _meister_) to have been one of the earliest in use for expressing lordship—has now become applicable to children only, and, under the modification of “Mister,” to persons next above the labourer. Again, knighthood, the oldest kind of dignity, is also the lowest; and Knight Bachelor, which is the lowest order of knighthood, is more ancient than any other of the orders. Similarly, too, with the peerage: Baron is alike the earliest and least elevated of its divisions. This continual degradation of all names of honour has, from time to time, made it requisite to introduce new ones having the distinguishing effects which the originals had lost by generality of use; just as our habit of misapplying superlatives has, by gradually destroying their force, entailed the need for fresh ones. And if, within the last thousand years, this process has worked results thus marked, we may readily conceive how, during previous thousands, the titles of gods and demi-gods came to be used to all persons exercising power; as they have since come to be used to persons of respectability.