_Rex_.

But it is in the titles of the middle ages, and in the growth of our
modern ones out of them, that the process is most clearly seen. _Herr_,
_Don_, _Signior_, _Seigneur_, _Sennor_, were all originally names of
rulers--of feudal lords. By the complimentary use of these names to all
who could, on any pretence, be supposed to merit them, and by successive
degradations of them from each step in the descent to a still lower one,
they have come to be common forms of address. At first the phrase in
which a serf accosted his despotic chief, _mein herr_ is now familiarly
applied in Germany to ordinary people. The Spanish title _Don_, once
proper to noblemen and gentlemen only, is now accorded to all classes.
So, too, is it with _Signior_ in Italy. _Seigneur_ and _Monseigneur_, by
contraction in _Sieur_ and _Monsieur_, have produced the term of respect
claimed by every Frenchman. And whether _Sire_ be or be not a like
contraction of _Signior_, it is clear that, as it was borne by sundry of
the ancient feudal lords of France, who, as Selden says, "affected
rather to bee stiled by the name of _Sire_ than Baron, as _Le Sire de
Montmorencie_, _Le Sire de Beauieu_, 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 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 t