THE HUNS.
[To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR."]
Sin,—The recent statement of the Socialist Ledebour in open Reichstag that the term "Huns," as applied to Germans, was started by the Emperor William himself in connexion with tho China expedition (a fact most thinking people had previously been well aware of), has drawn attention to the extraordinary crop of derogatory nicknames the Germans have earned for them- selves since the beginning of the war. In Holland, a Dutch gentleman assures me, the name given to the Germans is "die Molten." This, apparently, has riled the Huns more than any other cognomen, for even legal proceedings are said to have been taken in that country to cause its suppression. My informant suggests that the English word " muff" may possibly own its derivation to the Dutch " Moffen." In every case, should the Huns, the Boches, the "Moffen," come out of the war as the " under-dogs," they may well claim to have been the greatest " muffs" known to history for having started it. Webster's Dictionail would seem to confirm the identity of the two words. For, according to that supreme authority, the word " muff " is of Low German—that is to say, of Dutch—origin, and' stands for "a mean, silly, or stupid fellow; a poor-spirited, a despicable
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