THE SINAI • CODEX
[To- the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]
_
SIR,—One of yOur correspondents say's he is puzzled by my use of the term" intellectual snobbery " to describe the frame of mind in which the Government decided to purchase _this Codex, of which already existed 'copies quite sufficient, so scholars tell me, for purposes of _scholarship.
It cannot surely be necessary tn explain that term to many of your readers, but, in courtesy to Mr. James; I will _do So in a few words, if you think it worth while. Social snobbery is, as the dictionary quoted by Mr. James defines it, "behaving with servility_ to social Superiors.'" Intellectual snobbery is to accept dictation frOni those who claim intellectual superiority ; to pretend that you agree with their statements in matters you know nothing alinnt'; to behave with servility towards them_beeause you are afraid they may despise you. . . . .
That is exactly the attitude of a large number .01 people who applaud the purchase, and I attribute it to the member or members of the Government who sanctioned the trans.- action. The British Museum authorities are perfectly right to covet the thing. They are intellectual (I suppose), and they want to have a good shop-window display. But they should have been told politely that the money could be better spent.
And now it is said the Museum is a receiver of , stolen • property. If the Tsar really stole the Codex from the monks, and the U.S.S.R. has pocketed 000,000 for it, what a joke .!-
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