concerning titles and forms of address, none but a Master of Ceremonies
can hope to be thoroughly familiar with them, or to be able
to address the distinguished people without withholding from them
their due share of high-sounding titles and epithets;
and, be it whispered, these same distinguished people,
however broad-minded and magnanimous they may be in other respects,
are sometimes extremely sensitive in this respect.
And even after one has mastered all the rules and forms,
and can appreciate and distinguish the various nice shades which exist
between "His Serene Highness", "His Highness", "His Royal Highness",
and "His Imperial Highness", or between "Rt. Rev." and "Most Rev.",
one has yet to learn what titles a particular person has,
and with what particular form of address he should be approached,
an impossible task even for a Master of Ceremonies,
unless he always has in his pocket a Burke's Peerage to tell him who's who.
What a waste of time, what an inconvenience, and what an unnecessary amount
of irritation and annoyance all this causes. How much better
to be able to address any person you meet simply as Mr. So-and-So,
without unwittingly treading on somebody's sensitive corns!
Americans have shown their common sense in doing away with titles altogether,
an example which the sister Republic of China is following.
An illustrious name loses nothing for having to stand by itself
without prefixes and suffixes, handles and tails. Mr. Gladstone
was no less himself for not prefixing his name with Earl,
and the other titles to which it would have entitled him,
as he could have done had he not declined the so-called honor.
Indeed, like the "Great Commoner", he, if that were possible,
endeared himself the more to his countrymen because of his refusal. A name,
which is great without resorting to the borrowed light of titles and honors,
is greater than any possible suffix or affix which could be appended to it.