Rensselaer Republican, Volume 13, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 June 1881 — Stories of Precedence [ARTICLE]

Stories of Precedence

From Ibe Uodon Globe, Au amusing French mediaeval poem gives a graplHc sketch of a party of ladies/at the church door, deciding who is t<K,pass out first. Eau-h hesitates, and there isn long “after you” <liscussion, until it is discovered that the riglit of prei edein e n-sts with a certain ohi Kybille,” wim is still at her prayers. Khr is- at i.iaoe disturbed at her devotions: .. - z Get up, lumlj Mybille. lb I db<4 wait; Befortytxi n<X one Will paes Ibe sale, 1 L>ady Sybille, a iao, |x*rhaps, had lived long enough to weary of these tedious etiquettes, complies grunalilingly— « . i Oh de*r. d»*r. d**r,*oti. Hl Marl* 1 To wail lor* poor old thine llko me. Two ladies, some.time later, had so bitter a qtiatrel on the question of precedence in entering a church that the Emperor Charles V. was applied to as arbiter on the subject. He decided that the younger should yield to the elder, and I henceforth the struggle which should walk fast! r t'ourt life in all countries contains strange tales of struggles for precedence. Sj»aiiisb etiquette was .proverbial for its alisurdities; hut some equally amusing anecdotes are related of other royal circles. Ixiuis XIV. was a master in the science of etiquette; but court of our exiled James at St. Germains was so rife with minute punctilios as to perplex even the Grand Mdnarqtie hhnselt, who remained standing during his brief visits to his guests; thus avoiding the questions as to thg Keating of himself and his suite. Mme. de Campaii relates how Marie Antoinette chafed against’ the ahsurb regulations of Court etiquette, and describes howonce, at the Queen's levee, she was kept shivering for her garments, which were being passed from one lady to the other, until they reached the hands of highest in rank, who alone had the right of presenting them to the Queen. “Tne Queen meantime eroeseii her hands on her bosom, and appeared extremely bold,” adds Mme Campan. Two centuries earlier, Elizabeth de Valois, second wife of Philip 11. of Spain, had been yet more victimised by the rights of t>r*cedeuce among her attendants, beng obliged to wait for such simple Iqxuries as a bath until her ladies had sutlled who was to have the lionor <r>f preparing it. Even the French J devolution did not extinguish this struggle for pre-K-cdence. Na]>oleon found it onfroThis hardest tasks to settle the disputes of his sisters in this matter, and would tauntingly* ask them why they were so punctilious regarding “the rank they iiail inherited from their father, the late King.” According to his latest biographer, Niqwdeon hiniself bad little right to ridicule the wvakueas of his sisters ami . marshals in this re.s|>e<-t. On oneocoasiori, having to sign a treaty with the ambassadors •>f a foreign power, and finding that *an empty Hialrof stirte was placed at the council, board to represent their altsejit sovereign, he niiueste<t that it might be removed, on the ground that “I cannot see one seat higher than anther without wishing io climb into it.” Writing Ills impressions of the 1780-’93, he candidly states, *‘i did not understand the Revolution; hnt an equality that was to elevate myself attracted me.” Is not this tlie true .interpretation of the cry for