10 



rise of a curious phrase. When a man retires from the army, he 

 is said to be "mustered out of the service." This had its origin 

 at the time of the close of the war, when a regiment was mustered 

 in order that the men might be paid off before returning to civil 

 life. Thus the phrase became synonymous with leaving the army, 

 so that I now read how General So-and-So was " mustered out of 

 the service." However, the critic on the other side would, I 

 doubt not, be able to bring forward a list of offending expressions 

 in this country which do not strike us, because we are so familiar 

 with them. 



There is certainly one thing from which the Americans can 

 claim an exemption, and that is the abuse of the letter H. Now, 

 this abuse the Americans, not recognising that it is the special 

 attribute of the 'Arry of Punch, generally adduce as the shibboleth 

 of Englishmen in general, and that without the slightest attempt at 

 discrimination. Thus an American comic paper makes Lord 

 Dundreary (of all persons in the world) talk about "Hold 

 Hengland." And happening to be in the States at the time of the 

 visit of the Prince of Wales to India, I noticed in the Neiv York 

 World a skit, not at all an ill-natured one, upon his proceedings in 

 that country. But in this article the suite of the Prince, repre- 

 sented as composed of dukes, archbishops, &c., were invariably 

 made to address him as, "Your Tghness." Dr. Russell, the 

 literary associate of the expedition, was made to vaunt himself as 

 having "the heye of an aak;" and even the Prince himself, apropos 

 of shooting a tiger, was made to give utterance to the magnanimous 

 observation, " Hengland hexpects hevery man to do 'is duty." 

 Now the World is one of the four principal journals of New York, 

 and we can hardly suppose it possible that any of its contributors 

 really believe that the language of the British court is such as 

 above quoted ; this is rather an example of what is too common 

 in America — writing down to the prejudices of the people. 



Now, in conclusion, to summarise the ideas which I have 

 ventured to put upon paper. I cannot conceive, in the first place, 

 that the literary language of the English-speaking race will ever be 

 otherwise than one and the same. How grand will be the position, 



