"Liberty! Equality! Fraternity!"
After the name of "Wrightson" add "(Queen's);" and at the foot of the bill "Floreat Lyceum." I quote from a copy before me.
W. P. Storer.
Olney, Bucks.
"Imp" (Vol. viii., p. 623.).—Perhaps as amusing use of the word imp as can be found anywhere occurs in an old Bacon, in his "Pathway unto Prayer" (see Early Writings, Parker Society, p. 187.):
"Let us pray for the preservation of the King's most excellent Majesty, and for the prosperous success of his entirely beloved son Edward our Prince, that most angelic imp."
P. P.
False Spellings from Sound (Vol. vi., p. 29.).—The observations of Mr. Waylen deserve to be enlarged by numerous examples, and to be, to a certain extent, corrected. He has not brought clearly into view two distinct classes of "false spelling" under which the greater part of such mistakes may be arranged. One class arose solely from erroneous pronunciation; the second from intentional alteration. I will explain my meaning by two examples, both which are, I believe, in Mr. Waylen's list.
The French expression dent de lion stands for a certain plant, and some of the properties of that plant originated the name. When an Englishman calls the same plant Dandylion, the sound has not given birth "to a new idea" in his mind. Surely, he pronounces badly three French words of which he may know the meaning, or he may not. But when the same Englishman, or any other, orders sparrow-grass for dinner, these two words contain "a new idea," introduced purposely: either he, or some predecessor, reasoned thus—there is no meaning in asparagus; sparrow-grass must be the right word because it makes sense. The name of a well-known place in London illustrates both these changes: Convent Garden becomes Covent Garden by mispronunciation; it becomes Common Garden by intentional change.
Mistakes of the first class are not worth recording; those of the second fall under this general principle: words are purposely exchanged for others of a similar sound, because the latter are supposed to recover a lost meaning.