OKIGIN OF rilRASES OF IIONODK. 77 



God-king, is indicated by the fact that, like titles, they were 

 subsequently used in common to God and the king, lle- 

 ligious worship has ever largely consisted of professions of 

 obedience, of being God s servants, of belonging to him to 

 do what he will with. Like titles, therefore, these common 

 phrases of honour had a devotional origin. 



Perhaps, however, it is in the use of the word you as a 

 singular pronoun that the popularizing of what were once 

 supreme distinctions is most markedly illustrated. Thi? 

 speaking of a single individual in the plural, was origi 

 nally an honour given only to the highest was the recipro 

 cal of the imperial &quot; we &quot; assumed by such. Yet now, by 

 being applied to successively lower and lower classes, it 

 has become all but universal. Only by one sect of Chris 

 tians, and in a few secluded districts, is the primitive thou 

 still used. And the you, in becoming common to all ranks 

 has simultaneously lost every vestige of the honour once 

 attaching to it. 



But the genesis of Manners out of forma of allegianc&amp;lt; 

 and worship, is above all shown in men s modes of salutation. 

 Note first the significance of the word. Among the Romans, 

 the salutatio was a daily homage paid by clients and infe 

 riors to superiors. This was alike the case with civilians 

 and in the army. The very derivation of our word, there 

 fore, is suggestive of submission. Passing to particular 

 forms of obeisance (mark the word again), let us begin with 

 the Eastern one of baring the feet. This was, primarily, a 

 mark of reverence, alike to a god and a king. The act of 

 Moses before the burning bush, and the practice of Mahom 

 etans, who are sworn on the Koran with their shoes off, ex 

 emplify the one employment of it ; the custom of the Per 

 sians, who remove their shoes on entering the presence of 

 their monarch, exemplifies the other. As usual, however, 

 this homage, paid next to inferior rulers, lias descended 

 from grade to grade. In India, it is a common mark of 



