* * * * *
Minor Queries.
_B. L. M._--What is the meaning of the abbreviation B. L. M. in Italian
epistolary correspondence? I have reason to believe that it is used {586}
where some degree of acquaintance exists, but not in addressing an entire
stranger. In a correspondence now before me, one of the writers, an Italian
gentleman, uses it in the subscription to _every one_ of his letters,
_except the first_, thus:
"Ho l'honore d' essere col piu profondo rispetto B. L. M.
Il di Lei Umiliss. Dev. Servo."
"Frattanto la prego di volermi credere nella piu ampla estentione del
termine B. L. M.
Il di Lei Ubb^o. ed Obligato Servitore."
I need not add more examples. There is nothing in Graglia's _Collection of
Italian Letters_ that explains it.