BORN PRINCESSES.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."]
Sin,—May I venture to contribute to the controversy on this sub- ject an anecdote which I have frequently heard narrated in the neighbourhood of Strabane, on the borders of the counties of Donegal and Tyrone.
Barnscourt, the splendid Irish seat of the Marquis of Abercorn, is in the vicinity of that pleasant and thriving town. In " the good old times, when George the Third was King," a Marchioness of Abercorn, after the birth of a little earl, attended at the church of Strabane to go through the service (to use the words of the Prayer Book) " commonly called the Marching of Women." In the versicles of that service the framers of the Liturgy have inserted the following :—
" 0 Lord, save this woman, thy servant,
Who putteth her trust in Thee."
On the occasion of this churcbing the good old rector, himself a Hamilton, supposed it would be a great impropriety to call a marchioness, and above all a Marchioness of Abercorn, a "woman." With a delicate flattery he altered the phrase, and said,— "0 Lord, save this lady, Thy servant."
The clerk, not to be outdone in politeness, roared out the response— "Who putteth her ladyship's trust in Thee."
Could any authority be found for a similar accommodation of the Baptismal Service to the case of "her Royal Highness the Princess," instead of using the homely word " infant "? The Irish are proverbially a quick-witted people, and the Rector of Strabane and his clerk would have had no difficulty in making it.
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