2 FEBRUARY 1940, Page 6

One of the many advantages we gain from the tightening

of our ties with France is closer acquaintance with nomen- clatures as satisfying as they are unfamiliar. I see, for example, that one of the members of a delegation from the French Ministry of Shipping is M. Hypolite Worms. How engaging ; and how Gallic. Could you imagine an English —or Scottish—male child being, with all due reflection and deliberation, christened Hippolytus—whether after the early Father or the son of Theseus? It may have happened ; most things have ; but you would always meet a Hippolytus with a startled look. Hypolite, on the other hand, you feel is unusual without being outré. It is authentically French, provincial rather than Parisian, I think, with a savour both of Daudet and of Anatole France.