FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   >>  
ne _for_ Prince Albert," and in Emerson "Nature tells every secret once. Yes; but in man she tells it _all the time_." The latter phrase is one which Mr. Lang explicitly puts under his ban. He is an ingenious and admirable translator: I wish he would translate Emerson's sentence from American into English, without loss of brevity, directness, and simple Saxon strength. For my part, I can think of nothing better than "In man she is always telling it," which strikes me as a feeble makeshift. "All the time," I suggest, is precisely one of the phrases we should accept with gratitude--if, indeed, it be not already naturalised. Mr. Lang is peculiarly unfortunate in calling Oliver Wendell Holmes to witness against his particular and pet aversion "I belong here" or "That does not belong there." Writing of "needless Americanisms," he says, "The use of 'belong' as a new auxiliary verb [an odd classification, by the way] is an example of what we mean. Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes was a stern opponent of such neologisms." I turn to the Oxford Dictionary, and the one quotation I find under "belong" in this sense, is:--"'You belong with the last set, and got accidentally shuffled with the others.'--_O.W. Holmes, 'Elsie Venner_.'" But this, Mr. Lang may say, is in dialogue. Yes, but not in dia_lect_. I am very much mistaken if the locution does not occur elsewhere in Holmes. If Mr. Lang, in a leisure hour, were to undertake a search for it, he might incidentally find cause to modify his view as to the sternness of the Autocrat's anti-Americanism. Let me not be thought to underrate the services which, by sound precept and invaluable example, Mr. Lang has rendered to all of us who use the English tongue. Conservatism and liberalism are as inevitable, nay, indispensable, in the world of words as in the world of deeds; and I trust Mr. Lang will not set down my liberalism as anarchism. He and I, in this little discussion, are simply playing our allotted parts. I believe (and Mr. Lang would probably admit with a shrug) that the forces of the future are on my side. May I recall to him that charming anecdote of Thackeray and Viscount Monck, when they were rival candidates for the representation of Oxford in Parliament? They met in the street one day, and exchanged a few words. On parting, Thackeray shook hands with his opponent and said, "Good-bye; and may the best man win!" "I hope _not_," replied Viscount Monck, with a bow. A hundred years
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   >>  



Top keywords:
belong
 

Holmes

 

Emerson

 

opponent

 

Oxford

 
English
 
Viscount
 

Thackeray

 
liberalism
 

Oliver


Wendell

 

invaluable

 
tongue
 

indispensable

 
rendered
 

inevitable

 
Conservatism
 
modify
 

leisure

 

undertake


search

 

mistaken

 

locution

 

incidentally

 

thought

 

underrate

 

services

 

Americanism

 

sternness

 

Autocrat


precept

 
exchanged
 

parting

 

street

 

candidates

 
representation
 

Parliament

 
replied
 

hundred

 
playing

simply
 

allotted

 
discussion
 
anarchism
 

recall

 

charming

 
anecdote
 

forces

 
future
 

simple