486 



The Review of Reviews. 



Xorember 1, 1906. 



The membership of the Simplified Spelling Board 

 has been strengthened by the adhesion and addition 

 of Professor Skeat, the eminent philologist ; Pro- 

 fessor Joseph \\ right, editor of the " English Dialect 

 Dictionary ' and Professor of Comparative Philology 

 at Oxford ; and Dr. Bradley, a colleague of Dr. 

 Murray, the co-editor of the '" New English Dic- 

 tionary." 



Professor Skeat has published, through Henry 

 Froude, of the O.xford Press, his address on the 

 •' Problem of Spelling Reform,' which he delivered 

 before the British Academy. Professor Skeat re- 

 •endorses the suggestions of Dr. Sweet, and subse- 

 quently recommended by the Philological Society 

 the twenty-four rules for the araendation of English 

 spelling. 



The best way of indicating what spelling re- 

 formers are aiming at will be to reprint some pas- 

 sages from an article which Mr. H. Drummond has 

 contributed to a New Jersey magazine, TIte Jurnal 

 ■ov Orthoepi and Orthograf. Mr. Drummond's ar- 

 ticle is entitled " The British Academy — Spelling 

 and the Press." He takes as his text Professor 

 Skeat's lecture on " The Problem of Spelling Re- 

 form," which he says " is a thoroly English de- 

 liverans; interesting, lerned, cleer and com- 

 hativ " : — 



Tl'.e members ov the Simplified Speling Bo.ird recomend a 

 senain coars, adopt the simpUlied formz in their publica/- 

 shoiiz, and enjoin upon editorz to permit the same modifi- 

 c sh )nz in the publioashon ov contribushonz from memberz 

 ov the Board. Professor Brander Matthews practises whot 

 he preeohes. and sucscedz in obtaining a platform, tor the 

 liropugashon ov biz pnnsipiz. Preeept iz good, practis iz 

 beter; but p-esept and practis ar more powerful in pulling 

 down the tals and putt.ing up the tru. 



We ■ hartily comend Professor Skeat's admirabl pamflet. 

 and trust it will be red and aplied by yung :;nd old thruout 

 tlie liiiglish-speeking race. 



.\fter citing sertain chanjez in pronunsiashon. Professor 

 Skeat turnz to the practical part ov the problem. He goez 

 back to the recomendashanz ov Dr. Sweet, in 1881. and 

 breelly recomendz the omishon ov sertain idle leterz. such 

 az tlie foloing: — 



1.— liv, hav, giv, abuv, cum; agreev, aproov, solv, Ireez; 

 aw, ax. . , . -^ , . 



2._assembl. litl, dubl, promis, activ ; dnvn, wntn ; tratn. 



3.— bredth, medow, hed, brekfast; hart; jepardy, lepard; 

 i:eple or peepl. 



4.— aoheev, beleev. feeld, eeege; siv; receev, deceev. 



5. — improov, iooz. moov. 



6.— cumfort. munk, mnney, ouver. , , , 



7.~curage. cuzin, flurish, jumey, ruf: Labor, honor, 

 harbor. 



3— c'ecalosr. demagog; but vague, etc. 



9.— ad, eg. bailit, ful„ stif; batl, ketl, writn, traveler; 

 arive, ajust. af«ir, comand. 



10.— det, detter; lam, lim, thum; plummer. 



11.— ake, anker, qui'e. 



12.— puld, lookt, slipt. , , ^ , 



Dr. Skeat faulz foul with the jurn.alists boo resolutely 

 determind to crush the recomendashionz ov Dr. Sweet, in 

 16S1, and duz not hesitate to charj them with ignorans and 

 declining to be taut by thoze capabl ov instructing them. 

 .\z it woz 25 yeerz ago, so it iz today, jumalistic ignorans 

 being az noizy and contemtuus az ever. 



THE TWO SOVEREIGNS AT FRIEDRICHSHOF. 



In the Empire Review Mr. Edward Dicey makes 

 the most of his opportunity for promoting Anglo- 

 German good-fellowship afforded him by the recent 

 meeting ot King Edward and the Kaiser. King 

 Edward's opinions, when expressed, are the opinions 



of the English, indeed of the Britons all over the 

 Empire. Mr. Dicey wishes that the Kaiser's 

 opinions were as much influenced by his private 

 sentiments as is generally believed in England. 

 The Kaiser is certainly apt to form decided opinions 

 rapidly, to express them forcibly, and sometimes to 

 modify them unexpectedly. That is to say, he is 

 ■' a German after the German heart." Germans, 

 the writer thinks, are nationally prone to come to 

 definite conclusions on insufficient grounds, but at 

 the same time they are nationally ready to listen 

 to objections and acknowledge the force of their 

 opponent's arguments. Notwithstanding official de- 

 nials, he thinks the recent meeting in Friedrichshof 

 may indirectly, if not directly, influence the course 

 of European politics, though he admits that he has 

 no grounds, other than those of observation and in- 

 formation in the press, open to everyone. 



AK INNOVATION IN THE CONSTITUTION. 



It was undeniably an innovation of the spirit, if 

 not the letter, of our Constitution that the prelimi- 

 naries, in a sense, of the Anglo-French Agreement 

 should have been conducted by the King in person, 

 not bv the British Ambassador in Paris, instructed 

 bv the Foreign Office. It will be a greater inno- 

 vation still if the preliminaries to an Anglo-German 

 .\greement should have just been concluded by 

 King Edward for England and the Kaiser- for Ger- 

 many, unaccompanied both of them by their Minis- 

 ters for Foreign Affairs: — 



Happily for ourselves the good sense of Englishmen is 

 ready to approve of any innovation which, in their judg- 

 ment, is useful and beneficial, even if it is not in accord- 

 ance with strict precedent or State etiquette. The innova- 

 tion, however, would not have been passed without grave 

 protests if the Throne of England had not been occupied 

 by a sovereign who has so thoroughly identified himself 

 with his people, and who commands their absolute confi- 

 dence in respect to his high ability, his genuine patriotism, 

 his loyalty to the Constitution, his deep s.vmpathy with our 

 British ideas, and his extreme regard for Uie interest of our 

 British Empire. 



The fact that the Kaiser personifies his people in 

 much the same way as King Edward personifies his, 

 will, Mr. Dicey thinks, do much to win the approval 

 of the German nation for anything endorsed by their 

 Sovereign, 



THE GEOWTH OP THE ONE MAN SYSTEM. 



'Anent this probably weightily important meeting 

 if Sovereigns, the writer notes the growth of the 

 One Man system of administration in both the New 

 and the Old World. In America, with neither an 

 unemployed nor a pauper class, he considers it most 

 remarkable, and part of a general tendency all over 

 the worid to increase the authority of personal 

 rulers, whether Presidents, Dictators, Kings, or Em- 

 perors (and, he might have added, Premiers), and 

 consequently to impair the authority of Constitu- 

 tional Parliaments. Of this tendency the recent 

 meeting at Friedrichshof is the strongest proof. 



