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 ceremoni