But a very short time had elapsed, at the date of this story, since the
titles of Lord and Lady had been restricted to members of the Royal
Family alone, when used with the Christian name only. A great deal of
this feeling was still left; and it will be commonly found (I do not say
universally) that when persons of the sixteenth century used the
definite article instead of the possessive pronoun, before a title and a
Christian name, they meant to indicate that they regarded him of whom
they spoke as a royal person. Let me instance Lord Guilford Dudley.
Those who called him "_the_ Lord Guilford" were partisans of Lady Jane
Grey: those from whose lips he was "my Lord Guilford _Dudley_" were
against her. This is perhaps still more remarkable in the case of
Arthur Lord Lisle, whom many persons looked upon as the legitimate son
of Edward the Fourth. As a Viscount, his daughters of course had no
claim to the title of Lady; those who gave it regarded him as a Prince.
Oddly enough, his friends generally give the higher title, his servants
the lower. From his agent Husee it is always _Mrs_ Frances, never Lady;
but from Sir Francis Lovell her sister is the "Lady Elyzabeth
Plantagenet."