MR. PATTISON AND HIS LITERARY DOCTRINE.
[TO THE EDITOR OF TEE " SPECTATOR,"]
Sip,—May I be allowed to point out the singular and amusing discrepancy between the doctrine preached by the Rector of Lincoln in his delightful paper in this month's Fortnightly, and his own practice, as exemplified in the same article ? The Rector's paper is throughout an attack on modern litera- ture, and an exhortation to the study of the older Classics. He speaks very bitterly of the modern style, which must conform to the " dialect and grammar of to-day," and is scornfully indignant 'with the " young man " of the Daily Telegraph, who does not appreciate a " racy and idiomatic style, fed by the habitual reading of the older English literature." Yet the very paper in which these words appear is selected, most justly, by your reviewer, as affording an admirable illustration of the modern improvement in style. Racy and idiomatic it undoubtedly is, so idiomatic, indeed, as to admit such words as "cram," "bore," " sap," " whittle," and "cheek," the use of which can hardly be said to proceed from a regular diet of the older English literature.
Mr. Pattison is in fact entirely in accord with the " young man " of the Daily Telegraph, and while posing as the Apostle of the Older English Classics, he himself uses slang and (apparently)
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