honour, your

   This form of address was used in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to any person of rank, but when Dr Johnson came to write his dictionary in the mid-eighteenth century he was of the opinion that such usage was a thing of the past. In polite society use of the expression may by then have died out, but it continued in rustic and dialect speech far longer. In George Eliot’s Scenes of Clerical Life it is used as ‘sir’ might be used in modern times, as a general term of respect. The expression mainly survives in modern times as a title associated with certain offices, such as that of county court judge. Examples abound in Brothers in Law, by Henry Cecil, which has many British court-room scenes. It is also used to the mayor of a town or city, though in Edwin Drood, by Charles Dickens, occurs: “‘Who’s His Honour?” demanded Durdles. “His Honour the Mayor.” “I never was brought afore him,” said Durdles, “and it’ll be time enough for me to Honour him when I am.”’ American usage is also confined to the holders of high office in formal situations such as a courtroom. In The Liberation of Lord Byron Jones, by Jesse Hill Ford, the city attorney opens formal proceedings by saying: ‘I believe we are ready, Mr Mayor, your Honour.’ There is a joking corruption of the term in An American Dream, by Norman Mailer, where a judge who is in a night-club says ‘It’s raining’. A girl replies: Yes, your Honory, but the sun is shining in court’