[TO TIM EDirott OF THE "S1'ECTATOR.1 SIR,—An incident which befell
me some few years ago in Stockholm bears BO aptly on your idea of English becoming the lingua franca of the future, as possibly to merit publication. Stepping on board one of the neat, little steam-launches that ply about the city, I was addressed in fluent English by the Swede in charge. "Wherever did you learn such excellent English?" said 1.—" I've forgotten the biggest part of it, Sir," said he, "but I served under the English flag for seventeen years."—" Did you ever meet an English sailor who conld speak Swedish P' I queried. The idea seemed to tickle him immensely, and he burst out laughing, adding, "I never met an English sailor who could speak another tongue than his own, but he's no need to, for the first language a native shopkeeper learns in any foreign port is English."—I am, Sir,
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