It seems that the last School Board of London asked
the various provincial Boards to join them in requesting the Govern- ment to appoint a Royal Commission for the purpose-of reform- ing and simplifying the present methods of English spelling,— an original and marvellous proposal, on which we have commented sufficiently elsewhere. But the apology for that proposal put forth by -the Rev. J. P. Goodman, "President of the East Mid- 1and. Schoolmasters' and Schoolmistresses' Association," reduces to so very small' a matter the "reform and simplification •" demanded, that the only wonder left is why they asked for so inappropriate a remedy. The grievance, it seems, is this—that there are near 3,000 words in the English language which differ- -cut authorities spell differently, like ' honor' and 'honour,' 'waggon ' and ' wagon," pedlar' and pedler ;" and while some of her Majesty's Inspectors count it a mistake to spell these words in one of the two ways, others count it a mistake to spell them in the other way. Well, the remedy for that is not a Royal Commission, but an article in the Times criticising the pedantry of such dogmatic Inspectors, and a Minute by the Vice-President of the Council against subordinates who count it a mistake to follow a respectable precedent. As for the real choice between the right and wrong spelling in doubtful cases, that is a question to which there is not always) an answer, a question partly of usage, partly for philologists, and not to be settled in a hurry by Royal Commissioners, or any-one else. There is no 'heroic remedy' pos- sible for the difference of taste which induces one person to double the p in worshipping and another to leave the letter single. As Dr.-Johnson said about -the equally important question of the piney of wearing nightcaps,—" I do not know, Sir, perhaps no span shall ever- know,"—whether it is better to double the p in worshipping or not.
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