THOMAS KAYXESFOKD LOlNSUrKY. 839 



ulous. He expanded them into three small volumes which appeared 

 between 1904 and 1909. In the matters of pronunciation and usage, 

 he stood firm on the ground that the true (juestion concerning any 

 language still unmumniied is not what ought to l)e the case hut what 

 has been the case and what is. In the matter of spelling, his extensive 

 reading, his knowledge of language and his impatience of pedantic 

 pretence combined to transform his common-sense into that semblance 

 of folly which, throughout the whole range of human activities nowa- 

 days, claims authority under the magic name of reform. So far as 

 English spelling goes, most will agree that there has never been any 

 long settled practice, and the practice imposed by nineteenth century 

 proof readers is little better than nonsense. ^Yherefore, you may feel 

 for once, here is a region where common-sense and general principles 

 may unite. Perhaps so. What the reformers forget is the essential 

 amenity of acknowledged manners — the civilizing effect of not doing 

 a thing for the simple reason that it is not done. Good men have been 

 known to raise a casuistical cjuestion as to whether your word of 

 honour can fairly be held binding when honor is spelt without the v. 

 The spelling-books of the nineteenth century are often condemned as 

 training only that unimportant phase of the mind, the memory. 

 So they do, if you are thinking only of the reasoning powers in con- 

 trast. There is another aspect of the whole question, though. To 

 master the luxuriant unreason of modern English spelling, any child 

 must develop to considerable degree the power of accurate observa- 

 tion. More than a few old-fashioned teachers are apt to believe; 

 unreasoningly if not unreasonably, that the training thus gi\'en chil- 

 dren has had a value beyond reason. 



Not to dispute, now and then, would be not to admit the mood which 

 Lounsbury excited and lo^'ed to excite. Throughout his books you 

 may often find yourself reluctant to agree; and the very sturdiness 

 of his Aoluble assertions may arouse a temper of denial. As he loved 

 sport, he loved contest, for its own invigorating sake; but he was a 

 true sportsman, he played fair. His writings, as we have said, do not 

 express anything like the fulness of his contagious humanity, yet, as 

 one thinks of them altogether, one cannot avoid the glad knowledge 

 that, like his human self, these writings are strong, honest, manly, 

 simple and masterly in their union of erudition with common-sense. 



IV 



One dare hardly hope, no doubt, that his books will long survi\e, 

 except as old mile-stones in the interminable journey of scholarship. 



