I TABLE TALK. ERRORS OF WRITTEN LANGUAGE. READ with much interest the "Notes on Popular English," by the late Isaac Todhunter, which appeared in a recent number of one of our popular magazines. In these some customary errors in written English are ably derided. Against the misuse of the word "limited" in such a phrase as "Although the space given to us was limited"; against the readiness with which the term "invaluable" is applied to articles of small and easily appreciable worth, and against such obvious absurdities as occurred in a recent speech of a cabinet minister, who spoke of an individual remaining "too long under the influence of the views which he imbibed from the Board," Todhunter eloquently protests. We are, however, it seems to me, under the influence of habits of rapid composition, degrading our language “all down the line." Far more important than any error advanced in the essay is the habit of men to qualify or hyperbolise a superlative. When we say a thing is complete or supreme or exact, all is said; a man who says "more complete " is obviously ignorant what complete means. He intends to say "more nearly complete." If a vessel is full we cannot fill it fuller. These mistakes are made by writers otherwise capable. Quite recently, the author of an important history protested against my objection to his saying "from whence." Whence means from which or from where, and the mention of the from does away with the need of the word. A man might just as well say to thither as from whence. I make no pretence to exceptional accuracy, though I claim to take great pains to avoid errors of the existence of which I am aware. I should greatly like, however, to furnish, from the writings of men of eminence and from the highest journalism, instances of errors of daily occurrence, and to write a short treatise on the abuses of language, for which in his own works a young writer should keep a careful look-out. In an addendum to Todhunter's article the following supremely comic mixture of confused metaphors is quoted from a newspaper: "A new feature in the social arrangements of the Central Radical Club took place the other evening." "Talented," which Coleridge denounced, "as though there were a verb to talent," "lengthened" for long, and "more than halved," are among the words or forms against which Mr. Todhunter protests. IT DEGRADATION OF THE LANGUAGE. T is curious, if not specially edifying, to watch the gradual process of degradation of language to which I have referred. Dabblers in philology are well aware how words like villain, for instance, which originally signified a farm-servant, a serf; knave, primarily a boy, servant; rascal, which expresses plebs; varlet, a younker, and so forth, came to be used as terms of reproach. Nice observation is, however, necessary to see the process while it is current. Our squeamishness with regard to expressions void of the slightest offence is a signal cause of corruption. One word, the simple signification of which is bath, has obtained a reputation altogether unsavoury, and I have, in like fashion, lately seen the word lavatory applied to localities in which not the slightest provision is made for ablution. The most curious instance of misuse I have recently seen was, however, in a London daily newspaper, in which, à propos of Christmas weather, a correspondent dating from a country town said, "Frost and snow have been experienced in neighbouring parishes, but here the weather is seasonable." There is "much virtue in a " but as well as an if. It proves in this case that in the opinion of our writer seasonable has lost its true meaning, and has become a useless synonym for mild. Such instances of ignorance are common enough. That last quoted illustrates, however, the manner in which deterioration of language is wrought. A HISTORY OF TAXATION. O far from belonging wholly to political economy, the question of taxation is, both socially and morally, of wide-spread interest. I know no subject that will better repay inquiry than the consideration of the kind and amount of taxation that a people will bear without mutiny. I do not speak of mere grumbling which any form of taxation is likely to promote, but of absolute upheaval. Almost all great rebellions have been brought about by resistance to taxes. Against the unjust and excessive imposts of the Romans, Boadicea fulminated when she led her forces to battle with Suetonius. In the eleventh century Worcester was spoiled at royal command on account Cadegeld For centuries later Wat ngs mustre vis beheaded by order of ATAV SLONI Hd to the slaughter of the fourth Wastreze Nize years subse tion, marched under suren More than case, in presence of da Kerr and Soft & Henry VIIL gave up the sul sexi toel with benevolences. thresstinte tomation led to the great De Camovedite was founded, and to the MCC ama the pan ↑ has played in English Que mats are a kindred experience, the The facere a France, and the outbreak of the But pressre tution. In the revolt of the Nehrubs the meson of the "tenth penny" roused to Mat & Son De Fer at berghers who had remained commaere I SEE JUS TUSSEcres, and the sack of citiesBONUS 2 Be on the very presence of Alva, however, •NDA # vis inunded the brewers refused to brew, the NCS 22 242 ve systes we up' and diy life came to a stand, 1 ད ང ་མས་ཀྱངབཀྱི No such cutbreaks as taxation has brought about save, indeed, been produced from any other cause. when Mr. Dowel has just published1 Sen she sink ng proof bow, molerant of over-taxation Englishmen have ordinarie steve themselves. In philosophic grasp and in de book is £ike excellent SYLVANUS URBAN, *Longmans & Ca THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. IN APRIL 1885. THE UNFORESEEN. BY ALICE O'HANLON. CHAPTER XIV. TWO BRIDES-ELECT. Na pleasant morning-room, square in shape, rather low in the ceiling, and comfortably but not luxuriously furnished, two young ladies sat sewing, with a little work-table between them. Forming part of a moderately-sized detached house, not very recent as to its date of erection, this room looked out at the back upon an eminently English kind of garden. The centre of the garden was occupied by a small lawn, garnished at its corners and edges by trim parterres, brilliant at present with the gorgeous colouring of summer bedding-out plants. On one side of the lawn, gravel walks wound in and out of a diminutive shrubbery of laurels and rhododendrons; on the other, appeared a row of greenhouses and cucumber-frames. A holly-hedge, at the farther end of the lawn, separated a portion of the ground devoted to vegetable horticulture, and the whole was enclosed within high brick walls with fruit-trees nailed against them. A very prosaic garden it was, all neatness and order, with nothing unrestrained or sylvan about it, and not even a redeeming glimpse beyond at the low dappled hills which stretched at no great distance in an irregular semicircle, shutting in the nearer view of a sweet pastoral landscape. Nevertheless, on this warm July morning, with a deep azure sky, flecked by soft cirrous clouds to canopy it, the garden looked very peaceful and inviting. From the morning-room where Edith and Rose Ashmead sat at their needle-work, two other ladies might have been seen pacing slowly backwards and forwards, with parasols over their heads, amidst the tall laurel and rhododendron-bushes. One of the windows of the room-it boasted two, coming down to the ground and opening laterally, so as to be used as doors-stood a little apart, and every now and then a gentle westerly breeze stirred the pages of a newspaper which lay on a hassock close by it. "Oh! dear, how I should like to go for a walk!" sighed one of the young ladies, dropping her work on her lap. "I do hate sewing. But I suppose I must keep at it, or my things will never be ready." "They never would have been ready, certainly, unless Olivia had devoted herself to you as she has done—and poor mamma, too, as much as she was able. Really, Rose, you are, without exception, the laziest girl I ever met with!" Rose laughed. "Pray, don't excite yourself, my dear. I admit the soft impeachment. But there is one comfort. I shall not need to do my own sewing after I am married. I can put it out!" Every woman ought to do her own sewing," asserted the other dogmatically. "Her under-garments, at least, she should make." "Do you think so? Well, if you like, you shall make mine, as well as your own, and so, with sisterly generosity, save my character. And, in the meantime, you might help me a little now, Edith. Do, there's a darling. All your own paraphernalia is ready, you know-though your wedding won't be for three months-and mine is to be in three weeks! Come, that antimacassar, I'm sure, is not of any consequence." "And you "I consider it of consequence," returned her sister. must remember, Rose, that if my things are ready, I owe the fact to my own energy. I have not gone about bothering all my friends and acquaintances for assistance, in order that I might indulge my own love of ease. But, all the same, I will help you this morning, if there is anything particular you wish me to do." "Thanks! You are a seraph. should be coming to see you this girl, opening her work-basket. round these cambric squares. handkerchiefs." You deserve that your Robert evening!" exclaimed the younger "Look, I want this lace putting There will be just enough for six "My dear Rose! Surely you don't mean to use that expensive lace for pocket-handkerchief borders?" "But I do, though. Why not?" "Because it is a piece of absurd extravagance. Because such things as lace handkerchiefs are most unsuitable, believe me, for a clergyman's wife." "But I don't believe you, you demure little cat!" laughed her sister, in a cheery, ringing fashion. "Do you suppose I am going to |