On this page

• Departments (1)
  • 
• Text (7)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    ^nrtfnli0.

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    ^Nrtfnli0.

    ^ nrtfnli 0 .

    Untitled Article

    " TALENTED" AGAIN ! If you tread on a man ' s corns , how he cries out Not unnaturally ; though to the man of untrodden corns smiling opposite , the incident only forms an agreeable variety of omnibus travelling . By the onslaught upon " talented " I have made many wince and more chuckle . Smith thinks me an " intolerable pedant , " and tells me so ; Brown is " delighted " to see me " slashing " at the vulgarism ! Smith I quietly crush by a quotation from Sophocles : — " T . € vq yap fA . eyoc . \ y <; y Xcocrcrvji ; KO ( A . itov <; virspexfiocipei . '

    ( If I am a pedant , why should I not fling Greek at him and overwhelm him ? I feel convinced he can ' translate it , and I won ' t help him . *) You would be quite amused with the " sensation" caused among our readers by this " talented " controversy . The Big-endians and the Littleendians rush into the field , " their souls in arms and eager for the frayj " some of them forgetting , in their haste , to comply with the fastidious exigencies of syntax and orthography—c'est si peu de chose ! To print these letters is out of the question : if for no better reason than their number , I should be forced to decline that . But there are two among them of so superior an order that I feel our readers would be glad to see them , and they happen to take opposite sides : —

    " London , September 15 , 1851 . " I was very glad to see Mr . Kelly ' s clever and amusing letter ; for I could not by nny means agree with our brilliant friend Vivian in his estimation of tho word talented , nor in his view of tho English language generally . It seems to me the very spirit of that language that one word ia to play many partB ; that in particular , verb , noun , and adjective are to bo identical ; although pedantry and timidity have prevented the proper development of such tendency . Thus , to love , a constant love , a lovo poem ; to paper a room , paper for a room , a paper-war ; to water a lily , water for a lily , a water-lily , &c .

    " This rule I should like to Hee universal , and much extraneous aid to words removed thereby . Why should we not Hay to bright a plate , instead of to brighten ; a js / w / J-druught , instead of a aleepingdraught ; an induce , instead of an inducement T A ' favourite aversion' Vivian is , probably , the ' vulgnriHm' an invite , for an invitation , hnd yet an invite ttccniM to n > e in the spirit of Kngliah , and an invitation cumlirmia and foreign . " Why may we not Bay rose-otto , instead of otto of

    roses ; moon rainbow , instead of lunar rainbow ; gas matter , instead of gaseous matter ; a troop inspect , instead of an inspection of troops ? " By such a plan , words already formed would not so much be destroyed ag used less often . We should say thiit we ha ? l eeen a moon-rainbow , and that the rainbow which we saw was lunar ; that gas-matter was formed , and that the matter which was formed was gaseous . " The instincts of the vulgar in grammar appear to me to be generally the truth . One of the most common mistakes amongst * uneducated ' people is , the use of who for whom—they do not in fact

    recognize the existence of the word whom ; and is not its existence quite against the almost invariable rule of the language which makes accusative the same as nominative ? The countryman ' s I like he , and he likes I , ' ought to be as correct as the townsman s ' You do as is done to you . ' " The lady in the Pickwick Papers who speaks of another lady « which keeps a mangle , ' is only too correct to be right . She understands that , in English , gender is not discriminated by auxiliary words ; she feels therefore that the use of who for persons and which for things is unenglish—and knowing that one of them , only , should exist , she chooses which .

    ** Is not the frequent error of adjective for adverb significant too ? 'He runs slow' is more simple than * he runs slowly , ' and quite as clear . Why should not the very same word be used to qualify noun and verb : why any distinction between adjective and adverb ? Are not the expressions a slowmoving body , a high-mettled racer , fill high ! to go fast , &c . &c , correct—and , if so , why ? " According to my rule , I should say a goodintention man , and that the man was good-intentioned ; a many-head monster , the monster being many-headed , &c " The use of compound words in English , imitated from the German , is extending , and will extend . How much better ice-cold is than as cold as ice !

    " New words are often formed half in jest , and then seriously adopted as expressive and . convenient . Vivian says , if ' talented , ' why not « geniused ' or ideaed' ? I will remind him that the word ' ideaed' is already duly formed , and that we owe it to no less an authority than Doctor Johnson . In Boswell ' s Life Johnson speaks of ' wretched , unideaed girls . ' * ?* Since pedants and dandies went out of fashion , the upper classes have taken as many words from the lower classes as the lower classes have taken from the upper , and speakers have originated as many new words as writers . The Americans are giving valuable aid to the construction of the English language ; which is a fact not accomplished , but accomplishing . " W . "

    W . has opinions on Language so extremely removed from mine , that I cannot venture to open a discussion here with him , not seeing the limits it would require ; the desire he expresses for a liberal infusion of compound words , more Germanico , is the only point on which we are agreed . Against all the rest I enter a simple protest , and pass on to the second letter : — " Manchester . " Will you allow a very humble philologist , who warmly sympathises in your dislike of the epithet 1 talented , ' to give a suggestion towards explaining our common antipathy ? It must be allowed , I think ,

    after reading Mr . Kelly ' s letter , that the objection on the score of unanalogous formation is untenable ; in fact , many of the parallel instances which lie so humorously enumerates occurred to me on reading the original article in 1 user ; and on the other hand , the word has apparently been long enough in tho language to enable it to plead on its behalf that custom upon which the arbitrium , et jus , et norma loquendi , are said to depend . Still I hate the word ; perhaps for the same no-reason that Martial hated Sabidius , but not the less fervently on that account . An attempt to analyse my dislike has , however , led me to suspect that the cause of offence resides more in the original substantive than its derivative ; and I am only puzzled by observing that ho excellent a judge as yourself seems to have no natural shrinking

    from the word * talent . I refer my distaste ior that unpleasant duosyllable partly to its vagueness and inappositeneHH , but principally to its Scriptural origin . The hitter objection seems , to my mind , particularly well founded ; not , of course , that it implies a corresponding antipathy to tho Scriptures , but because , we know that the most odious people in tho world pride themselves upon drawing n « much of their daily language us possible from this source . In fact , there is at least an strong an objection to many words and figures of speech introduced to tho language under this disadvantage , as there is to the runt of the lawyer or the critic ; and I have no doubt that you , and every other honest man of sound taste , instinctively avoid them a dozen times a day .

    I do . not share H . M . A ' s . antipathy to the word " talent "; it has a full weighty sound with it agreeable to my ear , and a meaning as precise as most metaphorical words . It may be that herein lies my objection to " talented "—viz ., that the beauty of the word talent is destroyed . " A man of talent flatters the ear , a " talented man " with its tripping flippancy offends the ear ; and hence , perhaps , the direct phrase of which " talented man" is the metaphorical , viz ., " a moneyed man "—seems to me perfectly admissible ; the more so because it has the further merit of greater distinctness in marking the idea— " a moneyed man " being somewhat different from " a rich man . " Let me , for the sake of its illustrations , recur to W . ' s position respecting the desirableness of the literati borrowing from the vulgar—a Democracy in the Republic of Letters which would need a very refined Congress , or it would end in obliterating the delicacies , the beauties , and the precision of language—that is to say , in ruining language as an instrument of thought . If language were only needed as the telegraph of our ordinary desires , no doubt the vulgar instinct would suffice ; but for Literature , Philosophy , for the higher needs of intellectual life , the careless , haphazard , irregular dashes at expression which the vulgar use , would never suffice . I am often interested in tracing the perversions of words , caused by the aforesaid tendency to dash at an expression . Somebody having heard that an offence was aggravated by the abuse which accompanied it , called the next offender " aggravating person "—the resemblance of " aggravated " to " aggrieved" no doubt facilitating the transmutation . The perversions of pronunciation are still more amusing , in all cases the process being one of abbreviation . How soon Omnibus became 'Bus in our hurried mouths . Half our words are usually clipped or blurred , after a little circulation among the busy crowd ; and Alfieri has an amusing sonnet descriptive of Italian , French , and English in their pronunciation of the word Captain . The Italian , he says , has la cosa e il nome grande— II . Cai » itano ! The Frenchman ( whom he elsewhere describes as screwing up his mouth to speak as if eternally blowing his soup maigre ) narrows and degrades it to— JLe Capitaine ! But the hurried Englishman reduces it to its briefest possible form—¦ Ki » n ! The force of abbreviation can no farther go ! I am wrong . It has gone farther . The word Madame has shrivelled into a thickened half of the letter M in the mouths of servants who say " Yes ' in , " lor " yes m ' am , " which is an abbreviation of " yes Madam . " But . I am wandering from " talented " ; the discussion has lasted long enough , and unless some very novel or conclusive suggestion be offered on the subject , the dispute must cIoko here . It in a question of Taste ; if you mala ; Language a question of convenience—if <; areluHK » enH and ignoranco may coin at will—then , of course , wo must . submit to hear of "talented pictures , " of " talented novels , " and of " talented discoveries until intoxicated by HucccsM , our noble Language wallows in mud of Huch depth that from it wo may expect to hear our most illustrious contributor spoken of as a talented individual ! Vivian .

    the old school , tripping . In common , however , with all who have had the rare advantage of being Mr . Newman ' s pupils" I can scarcely think it possible for him to have written a barbarism through carelessness , and have been troubling myself to ascertain whether this use of the word mutual ( where no idea of exchange is conveyed ) may be defensible upon any grounds that have not hitherto occurred to me . I have not succeeded , and should be glad to know whether it is worth while pursuing the search , any further . Yours obediently , H . M . A . "

    " " While touching on the purity of English , which you are laudably desirous to maintain , allow me to say that I was thrown out of my reckoning by seeing in the first line of a letter from Mr . Francis W . Newman , published in your last number , the words " a mutual friend . " This expression is so often condemned now-a-days , that it -would be pedantic to point Out wherein its inaccuracy is supposed to consist , in fact it is just the point on which small critics in grammarye' are delighted to catch country gentlemen , and members of

    Untitled Article

    THE SOCIALISTS' APOLOGY . Our name should be a name Hope to utter ; A watchword for the chosen of the land ; A bloodless nation-flag , beneath whose nutter The earnest soldiers of the world should stand : But gentle eyes look doubtingly upon us ; Warmest of hearts are cord if we be nigh ; Softest of voices breathe no whisper of us , Or link it with the sweet condemning sigh . It may be that they read our purpose wrongly , And ere they learn to know them , learn to fear The unresting hands , which silently , but strongly , Carve the broad pathway of the coming year . If 't is a dream to Beek , in bonds unbreaking , To link the many-peopled homes of earth—One God , one Law , one Love , one Worship taking , — Then , statesman , curl the lip in cynic mirth ! If 't is a crime to ask for youth ' s deep yearning , Access unpurchased to the great old books , Where the soul ' s thirst is slaked with draughts of learning , — . . . Then , noble , we have earn'd those angry looks ! If it be mad to beg for starving Beauty Some other home than the rude glaring streets ; Some other love than feign'd love ' s fearful duty ; Some other bread than that the harlot eats : : Look sadly on us , lady ! They will borrow Deeds of wild wickedness to lie to thee ; Will stain our fame with many a tale of horror , And treason done to woman ' s majesty . But oh ! believe them not . The deed that frightens One blush into thy cheek—the words that shame One tear into the eye which Pity "brightens—Is not of us—wears not our holy name . E . Arnold .

    Untitled Article

    We should do our utmost to encourage the Beautifu for the Useful encourages itaelf . — Gobthb .

    Untitled Article

    Ssw . 20 , 1851 . ] g »

    Untitled Article

    * Hrown , who is milder ( und on my Bido ) , denervoH to have attention paid to his blushing avowal that ho has " forgottun hin cImbbioh , " bo 1 will murmur in his ear that it raeaiiH : — «« Jove eapeoially oan ' t abide the bragging of big-toncrued oovea . "

    Untitled Article

    * Only in jest ; he never uued the word in writing . — VlVlAH . K

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 20, 1851, page 901, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1901/page/17/