Essays On Education And Kindred Subjects (Fiscle Part- 11) by Herbert Spencer (best mobile ebook reader TXT) 📖

To Persons Of    Respectability.

 

 

 

If From Names Of    Honour We Turn To Phrases Of    Honour, We Find Similar

Facts. The   Oriental Styles Of    Address, Applied To Ordinary People--"I Am

Your Slave," "All I Have Is Yours," "I Am Your Sacrifice"--Attribute To

The Individual Spoken To The   Same Greatness That _Monsieur_ And _My

Lord_ Do: They Ascribe To Him The   Character Of    An All-Powerful Ruler, So

Immeasurably Superior To The   Speaker As To Be His Owner. So, Likewise,

With The   Polish Expressions Of    Respect--"I Throw Myself Under Your

Feet," "I Kiss Your Feet." In Our Now Meaningless Subscription To A

Formal Letter--"Your Most Obedient Servant,"--The Same Thing Is Visible.

Nay, Even In The   Familiar Signature "Yours Faithfully," The   "Yours," If

Interpreted As Originally Meant, Is The   Expression Of    A Slave To His

Master.

 

 

 

All These Dead Forms Were Once Living Embodiments Of    Fact--Were

Primarily The   Genuine Indications Of    That Submission To Authority Which

They Verbally Assert; Were Afterwards Naturally Used By The   Weak And

Cowardly To Propitiate Those Above Them; Gradually Grew To Be Considered

The Due Of    Such; And, By A Continually Wider Misuse, Have Lost Their

Meanings, As _Sir_ And _Master_ Have Done. That, Like Titles, They Were

In The   Beginning Used Only To The   God-King, Is Indicated By The   Fact

That, Like Titles, They Were Subsequently Used In Common To God And The

King. Religious 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   Popularising Of    What Were Once Supreme Distinctions Is

Most Markedly Illustrated. This Speaking Of    A Single Individual In The

Plural Was Originally An Honour Given Only To The   Highest--Was The

Reciprocal 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    Christians, 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    Forms Of    Allegiance 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 Inferiors To Superiors. This Was Alike The

Case With Civilians And In The   Army. The   Very Derivation Of    Our Word,

Therefore, 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    Mahometans, Who Are Sworn On The   Koran With Their Shoes Off,

Exemplify The   One Employment Of    It; The   Custom Of    The   Persians, Who

Remove Their Shoes On Entering The   Presence Of    Their Monarch,

Exemplifies The   Other. As Usual, However, This Homage, Paid Next To

Inferior Rulers, Has Descended From Grade To Grade. In India, It Is A

Common Mark Of    Respect; A Polite Man In Turkey Always Leaves His Shoes

At The   Door, While The   Lower Orders Of    Turks Never Enter The   Presence Of

Their Superiors But In Their Stockings; And In Japan, This Baring Of    The

Feet Is An Ordinary Salutation Of    Man To Man.

 

 

 

Take Another Case. Selden, Describing The   Ceremonies Of    The   Romans,

Says:--"For Whereas It Was Usual Either To Kiss The   Images Of    Their

Gods, Or Adoring Them, To Stand Somewhat Off Before Them, Solemnly

Moving The   Right Hand To The   Lips, And Then, Casting It As If They Had

Cast Kisses, To Turne The   Body On The   Same Hand (Which Was The   Right

Forme Of    Adoration), It Grew Also By Custom, First That The   Emperors,

Being Next To Deities, And By Some Accounted As Deities, Had The   Like

Done To Them In Acknowledgment Of    Their Greatness." If, Now, We Call To

Mind The   Awkward Salute Of    A Village School-Boy, Made By Putting His

Open Hand Up To His Face And Describing A Semicircle With His Forearm;

And If We Remember That The   Salute Thus Used As A Form Of    Reverence In

Country Districts, Is Most Likely A Remnant Of    The   Feudal Times; We

Shall See Reason For Thinking That Our Common Wave Of    The   Hand To A

Friend Across The   Street, Represents What Was Primarily A Devotional

Part 2 Chapter 2 (On Manners And Fashion) Pg 86

Act.

 

 

 

Similarly Have Originated All Forms Of    Respect Depending Upon

Inclinations Of    The   Body. Entire Prostration Is The   Aboriginal Sign Of

Submission. The   Passage Of    Scripture, "Thou Hast Put All Under His

Feet," And That Other One, So Suggestive In Its Anthropomorphism, "The

Lord Said Unto My Lord, Sit Thou At My Right Hand, Until I Make Thine

Enemies Thy Footstool," Imply, What The   Assyrian Sculptures Fully Bear

Out, That It Was The   Practice Of    The   Ancient God-Kings Of    The   East To

Trample Upon The   Conquered. And When We Bear In Mind That There Are

Existing Savages Who Signify Submission By Placing The   Neck Under The

Foot Of    The   Person Submitted To, It Becomes Obvious That All

Prostration, Especially When Accompanied By Kissing The   Foot, Expressed

A Willingness To Be Trodden Upon--Was An Attempt To Mitigate Wrath By

Saying, In Signs, "Tread On Me If You Will." Remembering, Further, That

Kissing The   Foot, As Of    The   Pope And Of    A Saint's Statue, Still

Continues In Europe To Be A Mark Of    Extreme Reverence; That Prostration

To Feudal Lords Was Once General; And That Its Disappearance Must Have

Taken Place, Not Abruptly, But By Gradual Modification Into Something

Else; We Have Ground For Deriving From These Deepest Of    Humiliations All

Inclinations Of    Respect; Especially As The   Transition Is Traceable. The

Reverence Of    A Russian Serf, Who Bends His Head To The   Ground, And The

Salaam Of    The   Hindoo, Are Abridged Prostrations; A Bow Is A Short

Salaam; A Nod Is A Short Bow.

 

 

 

Should Any Hesitate To Admit This Conclusion, Then Perhaps, On Being

Reminded That The   Lowest Of    These Obeisances Are Common Where The

Submission Is Most Abject; That Among Ourselves The   Profundity Of    The

Bow Marks The   Amount Of    Respect; And Lastly, That The   Bow Is Even Now

Used Devotionally In Our Churches--By Catholics To Their Altars, And By

Protestants At The   Name Of    Christ--They Will See Sufficient Evidence For

Thinking That This Salutation Also Was Originally Worship.

 

 

 

The Same May Be Said, Too, Of    The   Curtsy, Or Courtesy, As It Is

Otherwise Written. Its Derivation From _Courtoisie_, Courteousness, That

Is, Behaviour Like That At Court, At Once Shows That It Was Primarily

The Reverence Paid To A Monarch. And If We Call To Mind That Falling

Upon The   Knees, Or Upon One Knee, Has Been A Common Obeisance Of

Subjects To Rulers; That In Ancient Manuscripts And Tapestries, Servants

Are Depicted As Assuming This Attitude While Offering The   Dishes To

Their Masters At Table; And That This Same Attitude Is Assumed Towards

Our Own Queen At Every Presentation; We May Infer, What The   Character Of

The Curtsy Itself Suggests, That It Is An Abridged Act Of    Kneeling. As

The Word Has Been Contracted From _Courtoisie_ Into Curtsy, So The

Motion Has Been Contracted From A Placing Of    The   Knee On The   Floor, To A

Lowering Of    The   Knee Towards The   Floor. Moreover, When We Compare The

Curtsy Of    A Lady With The   Awkward One A Peasant Girl Makes, Which, If

Continued, Would Bring Her Down On Both Knees, We May See In This Last A

Remnant Of    That Greater Reverence Required Of    Serfs. And When, From

Considering That Simple Kneeling Of    The   West, Still Represented By The

Curtsy, We Pass Eastward, And Note The   Attitude Of    The   Mahometan

Worshipper, Who Not Only Kneels But Bows His Head To The   Ground, We May

Infer That The   Curtsy Also Is An Evanescent Form Of    The   Aboriginal

Prostration.

 

 

 

In Further Evidence Of    This It May Be Remarked, That There Has But

Recently Disappeared From The   Salutations Of    Men, An Action Having The

Same Proximate Derivation With The   Curtsy. That Backward Sweep Of    The

Foot With Which The   Conventional Stage-Sailor Accompanies His Bow--A

Movement Which Prevailed Generally In Past Generations, When "A Bow And

A Scrape" Went Together, And Which, Within The   Memory Of    Living Persons,

Was Made By Boys To Their Schoolmaster With The   Effect Of    Wearing A Hole

In The   Floor--Is Pretty Clearly A Preliminary To Going On One Knee. A

Motion So Ungainly Could Never Have Been Intentionally Introduced; Even

If The   Artificial Introduction Of    Obeisances Were Possible. Hence We

Must Regard It As The   Remnant Of    Something Antecedent: And That This

Something Antecedent Was Humiliating May Be Inferred From The   Phrase,

"Scraping An Acquaintance;" Which, Being Used To Denote The   Gaining Of

Favour By Obsequiousness, Implies That The   Scrape Was Considered A Mark

Of Servility--That Is, Of    _Serf_-Ility.

 

 

 

Consider, Again, The   Uncovering Of    The   Head. Almost Everywhere This Has

Been A Sign Of    Reverence, Alike In Temples And Before Potentates; And It

Yet Preserves Among Us Some Of    Its Original Meaning. Whether It Rains,

Hails, Or Shines, You Must Keep Your Head Bare While Speaking To The

Monarch; And On No Plea May You Remain Covered In A Place Of    Worship. As

Usual, However, This Ceremony, At First A Submission To Gods And Kings,

Has Become In Process Of    Time A Common Civility. Once An Acknowledgment

Of Another's Unlimited Supremacy, The   Removal Of    The   Hat Is Now A Salute

Accorded To Very Ordinary Persons, And That Uncovering, Originally

Reserved For Entrance Into "The House Of    God," Good Manners Now

Dictates On Entrance Into The   House Of    A Common Labourer.

 

 

 

Standing, Too, As A Mark Of    Respect, Has Undergone Like Extensions In

Its Application. Shown, By The   Practice In Our Churches, To Be

Intermediate Between The   Humiliation Signified By Kneeling And The

Self-Respect Which Sitting Implies, And Used At Courts As A Form Of

Homage When More Active Demonstrations Of    It Have Been Made, This

Posture Is Now Employed In Daily Life To Show Consideration; As Seen

Alike In The   Attitude Of    A Servant Before A Master, And In That Rising

Which Politeness Prescribes On The   Entrance Of    A Visitor.

 

 

 

Many Other Threads Of    Evidence Might Have Been Woven Into Our Argument.

As, For Example, The   Significant Fact, That If We Trace Back Our Still

Existing Law Of    Primogeniture--If We Consider It As Displayed By

Scottish Clans, In Which Not Only Ownership But Government Devolved From

The Beginning On The   Eldest Son Of    The   Eldest--If We Look Further Back,

And Observe That The   Old Titles Of    Lordship, _Signor_, _Seigneur_,

_Sennor_, _Sire_, _Sieur_, All Originally Mean, Senior, Or Elder--If We

Go Eastward, And Find That _Sheick_ Has A Like Derivation, And That The

Oriental Names For Priests, As _Pir_, For Instance, Are Literally

Interpreted _Old Man_--If We Note In Hebrew Records How Primeval Is The

Ascribed Superiority Of    The   First-Born, How Great The   Authority Of

Elders, And How Sacred The   Memory Of    Patriarchs--And If, Then, We

Remember That Among Divine Titles Are "Ancient Of    Days," And "Father Of

Gods And Men;"--We See How Completely These Facts Harmonise With The

Hypothesis, That The   Aboriginal God Is The   First Man Sufficiently Great

To Become A Tradition, The   Earliest Whose Power And Deeds Made Him

Remembered; That Hence Antiquity Unavoidably Became Associated With

Part 2 Chapter 2 (On Manners And Fashion) Pg 87