25 JANUARY 1908, Page 32

DISRAELI'S BORROWINGS.

rTo THE EDITOR OE THE "SPECTATOR,"]

Sin,—Disraeli says in " Coningsby " that the use of italics the last resource of the Forcible Feebles,—which expression, by the way, he "borrowed" from Shakespeare. He was himself so accomplished a coiner of phrases that he had no need to apply to any other mint. May I suggest that be con- sidered the omission of inverted commas as a compliment (of the sardonic sort) to the literary range of his readers ?—