THE ART OF SPELLING.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 670, 22 November 1909, Page 8

THE ART OF SPELLING.

; a cheerful dirge. . ; . .' : ■,-..,,.v;,'t : -.(Bi:J.Q.3y' ■ ~'';,: •In all that has been written 'of "• Bpelliag "reform," I "do not ..know :ffiat my,'point pi view—that of the ..ultra-Conservative—has anywhere been expressed. -Not only am I. opposed to the vain imagination called, phonetic spelling and to -such Americanisms as "color'.' ■ and "program," but I am not nuito reconcOed to the great! amount of-reform that has been accomplished since tho invention of printing. ':■'■ We, who-must spell tho same .word'always in ,the! same way (if wo can), ; may well long for: the lost freedom' of; our-' ancestors, who spelt—even ,tho learned among them—pretty much as they, chose. They did not- write "separate" and "seperate"' on their blottingpaper to see which looked right. They did not consult each other ;on the, correct distribution of the "l's" in "parallelogram." The distinction between "their''.and "there" did not give them' a' moment's anxiety. These trials are part of : ■' "the nervous straia of modern life/ ;:: '■ ■■-, ■"•■■■ •' ■■","■.

■A'.Lost: Art.'■■•:'! '.-!-;■;;■, ; '*..'" ;; "" I have read that it wap formerly the practice of.some writers -,to> avoid repetition of/spellings just as we nowadays avoid repetition of- words or "phrases, "/It. ; is a chajming idea;'. It opens up a yista of a lost- art. ; ; Was there not at least a possibility of-taste-in spelling, sWe in the arrangoment-not -:0nly of words, but- also, of letters?.;. Spenser 6urely;gave'.play to his poeßo fancy in making his words, to the last detail, quaint,. graceful, or beautiful.'; Such stately lines as : ..,"';■■ '•.- '■■'~'■' ■.'.- ' ■":■■'•;"■: :;. -. "The laurell ineed of mightie conquerauTs" such breathing, haunting,-' ' tranquillising ■numbers as. '. : ■ ; :'■ '.• .': ■•'•;.' v. ''" "Sleqpe after tqyle, port after,stbrmie seas," speak, surely, ti) the. eye. as),wpll as to the ear. To. modernise the 'Taerie Queene" is blindness. Shakespeare is different. He. .wrote for the stage, and therefore 1 riot for the eye,.but the ear. To put the plays into present-day .spelling is .to'.do hini ab'wrong. Not does ; anyone wish 'that the Bible had retained the spelling 'of King" James's; day. ■ Its greater.,. uses ,do not allow us;.to make.it a 1 literary museum.: . ~'• ■The:, lost -aft r of! spelling is but a- minor glory of: our language .and,literature. 'It had: only, time ,to begin to' ho.. In' its- tender in-fancy,-.the life.-was crushed;out',of it "oh the hard bed of'a printing press. It was for this crime,. ; l permit myself;tp'fancy,' that; the justly Resentful .spirit of out languagefixed'upon the'juv.eitile attendant of that otherwise bene-ficent-apparatus "the!, name which clings to him. yet'...'■ I Pp"r,.- whb. first invented spelling^ books,..', y".-,--..■' '.;-!.'..'■ -. V- '::■',■ x'■ ■ :■■■■<■':■■ ■ '.'■:':''.'■':.

-,-...,-i. "And'bound the,free ;;.:■ ■'; ./ ;'; And holiday-rejoicing spirit down.. ''; .;;.. '~; ; To; the ever-haunting, importunity" ... 'of orthographical exactitude?.•';...: 'v. , '" '•■; ."-. ,-' .: but .the. Being unblest, alien from •good,: Sabbathless ,Satan!"., ! •'".''."■ :. ' Ancient Liberties; v ■ .. ■ '■.■•'/■■; ■ 'Some,reminders '.of the ancient liberties of Englishmen remain! among our.; words;; .but. they are a disappearing few.' .Thackeray spelt Colonel -'Newcoine's trousers with' a, "w," . and it made .them : look looser" land more Anglo-. Indian; .but 'we.'ean'.'hardly'.yetiture.that tom. nowadays.' iWe, can but envy'.'.Charles',Lamb when wo find him v writing:—"l always spell' plumb-pudding with a ■%' ■ p-1-u-m-b—l ,thini it reads fatter, and .mpfe suetty.",;• In. America, ■where they, move faster than we,-Horace - Greeley is said;to.have been the'.last ; man to write, waggon, with;two r "g's." He .said 'they built; them .heavier,,"when ,he..- was .a , ' boy.. "Connerian," with lan: ."x,".; was permitted .te.! our fathers, and if,, the Methodist 'New., Connexion: has been swallowed. up in the larger- body-of the.'follbwers.bf, Wesley, unity;'tos :not. been !gained without'a.littlo loss. English'.'was'a richer, language when a .writer had, choice of spelling's aa; well as.bf.words.'-* -' vv':-. 1 '- ~ ' Let us , be'thankful for the'small remainder's, of, the ;'ancient. liberty. We may- still'-write' "gray"! or , "grey." The "u" in "honour," "colour,"■ and other words ie optional; except, 'in America. We may enquire with an'"e"-oi an "i," and the "e"-, in; the middle-of "judgement^, is not compulsory. But one' would like to be'able,; sometimes, to, spell "desert"' with an "a." . ■': .:". . . , ■v> , In the names of places, and especially of the jremoter vlliages of England, there are nptablo 'remnants "of the 'ancient freedom; "Glocester" has indeed disappeared, and "Glqster" is now only a.contraction, but I have Tejbiced to walk out.of 'that ancient (would I might sometimes write is "antienf.O city,dimb the Cotswqld (or Cotteswold) Hillsi wander through Shepscoinbe, Sheepscombe, or Sheepscomb, and on to Miser-. den, Mißarden,,oT Miserdine, attaining, per-,, haps, .to Cirencester, Ciceter, or Cissiter,. and .returning, peradve'niure, through- Dunsborne Leer, Duntsbourn Eous, and Duntisbourne- Abbotts. The happy inhabitants' of Dunsbourne Bouse may spell the name of their villago differently, every day for a .fortnight.,', Thus, freedom: sits; as of :old, upon the heights—un--less by-this time she. hne , been ejected even from those ■ hills—homeliest aforetime -. to' her and:me—by the/hostile league of school, newspaper, post office,, electoral roll, printing press. , . ''■•.■■'!.: ■';''■'„ '■"■ 'V:-' ; --, '".• : -.•'•■•;•'■'';.'■•■. An"lrresistible'_. Tendency... ■ . i :';:.: ;■ But the tendency towards fixed : orthography is .irresistible' ;V r Even tnose . who use with a sense of: responsibility -. the' little freedom that remains are contributing to the establishment of: rules. ■ Says an, English journal, quoted, lately in The DoinmoN, , "If'a word has two epclUngß, .each spelling '■ comes in' the,, mind of one whb handles words reverently to have oisociations'pf its' , own.; 'Thus there are writers who are -vexed ,if where? they -'--wrote 'gray' the printer.-puts"'gtey.''-'!To "Pater 'quire'! meant. something:,which 'choir' did 'nqt." :r.\■■■•'■' -.-'.. , . ; .Another;instance is.the word "faerie,".which to,: the '.educated eye does! not .now" mean the same 'as "fairy." - Thus ''faerie! land" is,'- the .land •of rpmance, '-. the ..scene.'' of',' Spenser's. "Tfaerio QuJeene." . "Fairyland"."is .the, place, of Queen Mab. and the "little.people." If ICeats as he, is .printed, ; ',-.<•■.,■;: .-.-'•, ■!!

"Magio casements, opening on the foam '•'•■ ■Of'perilous; seas;-in fairy, lands forlorn,"'-, he'did not spell 60 well'as could be. wished.-. .But, while .the, fixation of spelling, ;has, in too many'instances impoverished the ianguagp, differentiations like those • Between "gray , ' and "greyi" "quiro"' and "choir," "fairy", .and "faerie," enrich it. They make.it more exact, and,! at the same time, moro espTOssivb. ■

The History of Words. ; , ; !.'.-■',';•_ ':■- The advocates of spelling "reform" say it will save trouble. 1 oppose .it, because. it would destroy .pleasure. . 1 realise (for I have read the,admirable last:.caapter of.Trench's "English Past; and Present"), ■ that phonetio spelling cannot be completely obtained, and that, any .substantial approach. towards it would grievously debase the language i by obliterating innumerable traces • of the history of words.: And"; we cannot, understand words, any more than nations or individuals, until ,we have learnt, something: , of their history. Literature .and letters are almost--the same word, and the man of; letters, or literary man, is he. who knows, how to spelL Conservatism in language must not be too insistent., Speech !is a living' , thing, but pedantry is deatS—tho letter-tb!at ldlleth. A little ignorance is sometimes • the only availing defence '--against, /the dangers of a 'little .knowledge. Iyrevorence "the tongue that-Shakespeare'spake," but I cannot die for it, and I- irill not fret about it. , I can only, smile when I read in Mr. Wrighfs' "Life'of Sir Eichard Burton":'"Ho would have defended the 'h'- in" *Meccah' with his sword, and the man whb spelt 'gypsy' with an 'i' would, have forever forfeited his respect." I am more sorry for Landor than for his failure when I find him writing to Mary Shelley:. - "Alas! so far from being ablp. to teach men how to \vrite, it will be twenty years before I teach them how to'spell. They will write 'simile,' 'foreign,'- 'therefore,' 'impel,' 'compel,' etc."' ' ■■'.-> Without any each zeal for literal -righteousness—sure. to be fruitless—we should spell as thoughtfully and pleasantly as we can. Suffi. cient for this, .as for many weightier matters, is the chUd's philosophy— "The world is so full of a. number of things, That I'm sure we should all be as happy as 'kings.'" V- : '•'■ '■ • '■:'. ; ■