26 OCTOBER 1918, Page 16

(To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR.") SIR,—Sir Walter Scott

treated with marked indifference dis- tinctions between singular and plural pronouns when one of his characters addressed another whether in prose or verse. Examples could be multiplied, but the following may suffice. In Ivanhoe the Templar says to Rebecca : "Mine thou must be !—it must be with thine own consent.and on thine own terms. . . . Hear me ere you answer, and judge ere you refuse." In " The Lady of the Lake " the disguised King thus warns Ellen :-

" To me no gratitude you owe.

Not mine, alas! the boon to give, And bid thy noble father live."