BETTERMENT.
Pro THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR:1 SIB.,--A short time ago, your own readers, as well as the readers of newspapers in general, probably noticed the use by a speaker in the London County Council, whose name I forget, of a word not common now in England, but in frequent use, he said, in America,—viz., "betterment" I thought when I read the passage, and still think, that there is no difference in meaning between " betterment " and " improvement," and that the latter is the better word of the two. " Betterment " is not mentioned by Richardson or by Skeat, but it occurs in a well- known English book, Bunyan's " Pilgrim's Progress," whose date probably accounts for the transfer of the word to America. Any one who cares to verify my quotation will find the word in an edition of the " Progress " published by the Religious Tract Society, 1837, p. 32.—I am, Sir, &c., St. John Street, Hereford, January 4th. H. W. PHILLOTT.
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