I read a Query not long ago as to the time when the title "Very Reverend" was first given to Deans. I would also offer a Query, When did the Judges lose the title of "Reverend" and "Very Reverend," and obtain that of "Honorable?" In the second volume of _The Year Books_ the approbation of the twelve judges to the publication of the reports is headed, "By the approbation of the _Reverend Judges_;" and the following is copied from the title-page: "_Le Premier Part de les Reports del Cases en Ley, que furent argués en le Temps de le très Haut et Puissant Prince, Roy Edward le Tierce. Ore nouvelment Imprimés, Corrigés et Amendés, avec les Notations and References de l' très Reverend et trés Sage Juges de cest Royaulme, Brook et Fitzherbert. Printed, 1679._"
In the title-page of the sixth volume we find "_Avec les Notations de le très Reverend Juges, Brook et Fitzherbert_."
Was this title, "Reverend," derived from the address given to judges when ecclesiastics filled judicial offices, or is it simply a title of respect applied to all persons to whom, on account of their position in society, respectful address is due; of which we have an example in Othello's address to the Venetian senators:
"Most potent, grave, and reverend seniors."
When did the address, "The Honorable," now given to the judges, come into use?
How comes it that in Court the Puisne Judges are addressed by the title of "Lord," whereas the Master of the Rolls, who ranks before them, receives the title of "Your Honor?"
The use of the title "Honorable" to the House of Commons, and to members within its walls, is familiar to us all.
The worthiness and antiquity of the title is proved by its being given to one of the Persons of the Eternal Trinity in the Te Deum.
93. _Frederick Egmont; Peter (Egmont?)._--They appear as booksellers merely and only, so far as I can make out, because the _promptorius puerorum_, or _medulla grammaticæ_, printed by Pynson, in 1499, is said, in the colophon, to be at their expense. Neither Ames nor Dibdin gives any further evidence. The following is therefore worth a Note. It is from the _ad lectorem_ (or rather, the _adolescentibus studiosis_) of the _Multorum Vocabulorum equivocorum interpretatio Magistri Johannes de garlandia_: Paris, 1502, 4to.