LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
LORD NELSON'S ENGLISH.
[To THR EDITOR or THE “Srsoraror:1 SIR,—In speaking of the first proposed wording of the famous Trafalgar signal, in the Spectator of November 14th, your reviewer comments on the correction of Nelson's "doubtful English, at the instance of his Flag-Lieutenant, Pasco." In Clark Russell's Life of Nelson the alteration suggested by Pasco is represented as due, not to any objection to the Admiral's English, but to the fact that " expects " was in the flag-code, while "confides " would have to be spelt oat, as was the word "duty." The use of the word "confides," with a direct objective clause in the sense of "trusts," was not yet obsolete in Nelson's time. Examples are given in Dr. Murray's large dictionary, one being from "Old Mortality" (1816),— " confiding that it would have the support of Langdale."- Every reader who can look back even twenty. or thirty years can recall words which, during that time, have come into• being, or have acquired a meaning formerly not recognised. We are apt to overlook the converse process, by which words. are becoming obsolete, or obsolete in particular usages, so, that the good English of ninety years ago may be no longer good English to-day.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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