Oct. 22. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



395 



It is very dangerous to dogmatise on the En- 

 glish language. We really have no authority to 

 which we can confidently appeal, except the usage 

 of good society: "Quera penes arbitriura est, et 

 jus et norma loquendi." Unfortunately, however, 

 every man is convinced, that in his own society 

 that usage is to be found; and your correspon- 

 dents, who have agreed in approving the Heapian 

 pronunciation, will probably, on that ground, still 

 retain the same opinion. 



The only words in the English language, in 

 which h is written, but not pronounced, are words 

 derived from Latin through the French ; but of 

 these, many in English retain the aspirate, though 

 in French nearly all lose it. The exceptions col- 

 lected by E. H. satisfactorily prove that we do not 

 follow the French rule implicitly. They indeed 

 carry the non-aspiration farther than to words of 

 Latin derivation. They omit the aspirate to nearly 

 all words derived from Greek. This we never do. 

 I think that E. H.'s rule, of always aspirating h 

 before u, is not entirely without exceptions. 

 Except in Ireland, I never heard humour or 

 humorous aspirated, though in humid and humect 

 the h is always sounded. If this be right, it de- 

 pends solely on the usage of good society, and not 

 on rules laid down by Walker or Lindley Murray, 

 whose authority we do not acknowledge as infal- 

 lible. I may here remark, that no arguments can 

 be drawn from our Liturgy or translation of the 

 Bible that would not prove too much. If, because 

 we find in our Liturgy " an humble, lowly, and 

 obedient heart," we are to read " an^umble" we must 

 also read " an 'undred, an 'ouse, an 'eap, an 'eart ;" 

 for an was prefixed in our Liturgy as well as in our 

 translated Bible to evert/ word beginning with h, 

 and not (as one of your correspondents supposes) 

 only to words beginning with silent h. Among 

 young clergymen there is a growing habit (de- 

 rived I suppose from Walker, or other such 

 sources) of indulging in the Heapian dialect. I 

 think Mr. Dickens will have done us more good 

 by his ridicule, than will ever be effected by 

 serious arguments ; and I feel as much obliged to 

 him as to E. H. To show how dangerous it is to 

 be bound by a mere grammarian authority, a 

 disciple of Vaugelas or Restaut (no insignificant 

 names in French philology) would be led to read 

 les her OS as if it were " les zeros." E. C. H. 



SCHOOL LIBKARIES. 



(Vol. viii., p. 220.) 



I can answer Mr. Weld Taylor for at least one 

 public school having no library, nor any books for 

 other purposes than tasks, /. e. Christ's Hospital, 

 London : whether any other metropolitan schools 

 are provided with books I do not know. When I 



was at the above school, at all events, we had no 

 books except for learning out of ; whether reform 

 has crept In since I was there, twenty-five years 

 ago, I cannot say. I speak of then, not now. 



I remember very well a dusty cupboard with 

 " Read, Mark, Learn," painted in ostentatious let- 

 ters on it. And these profound words were just 

 like a park gate with high iron railings, where you 

 may peep in and get no farther — no more could 

 we : for we never saw the inside of it, and nobody 

 could say where the key was; therefore what 

 flowery pleasaunce of knowledge it contained 

 nobody perhaps knows to this day. I also remem- 

 ber how greedily any entertaining book was bor- 

 rowed, begged, and circulated ; and thumbed and 

 dog's-eared to admiration. Rasselas and Gulli- 

 vers Travels, Robinson Crusoe, or Sandford and 

 Merton, poor things ! they became at last what 

 might be supposed a public arsenal of umbrellas 

 would at the last. 



When I reflect on that time, and the drearj 

 winter's evenings, trundled to bed almost by day- 

 light, my very heart sinks. What a luxury if 

 some Christian had been allowed to read aloud for 

 an hour, instead of lying awake studying the 

 ghastly lamp that swung from the ceiling in the 

 dormitory ; or if some one with a modicum of in- 

 formation had given half an hour's lecture on 

 some entertaining branch of science. Perhaps 

 these antique schools are reformed in some mea- 

 sure, or perhaps they are waiting till their betters 

 are. 



I observe, however, that certain parish work- 

 house schools have, within these few days, taken 

 the hint. Pei-haps our public schools, for some 

 are very wealthy, may be able to afford to follow 

 their example. E. H. 



Wimborne Minster, Dorset. 



Marlborough College possesses a library of about 

 four thousand volumes, entirely the munificent 

 contribution of Mr. M'Geachy, one of the council. 

 The boys of the fifth and sixth forms are allowed 

 access daily at certain fixed hours, the librarian 

 being present. In addition to this, libraries are 

 now being formed in each house, which are main- 

 tained by small half-yearly subscriptions, and 

 which will contain books of a more amusing cha- 

 racter, and better suited for the younger boys. 



B.J. 



PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE. 



Albumenized Paper. — If this subject be not 

 already exhausted, the following account of my 

 method of preparing the material in question, 

 which differs in some few important particulars 

 from any I have seen published, may be of in- 

 terest to some of my brother operators. 



