ORIGIN OF PHRASES OF nONOUR. 77 



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

 subsequently used in common to God and the king. Ke- 

 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 % 

 singular pronoun that the popularizing of what were once 

 supreme distinctions is most markedly illustrated. Thi? 

 speaking of a single individual in the j^l^^i'^l, was origi 

 nally an honour given only to the highest — w^as the recipro- 

 cal of the imperial " we " 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 yoii^ in becoming common to all ranks 

 has simultaneously lost every vestige of the honour once 

 attachino; to it. 



But the genesis of Manners out of forms of allegianc( 

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

 ^ote 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, j^aid TiCxt to inferior rulers, has descended 

 fi-om grade to grade. In India, it is a common mark of 



