Mr. Matthew Arnold seems to have shown his usual lucid
sense in the remarks on spelling reform which he has em- bodied in his annual report as Inspector of Schools, lie admits the irregularities of our language, but says that 4' the English nation will not be induced," in the hope of making spelling easier, "to take to writing 'Leed us not intu temtashun.' " "What changes are made," he adds, 4 will not be made in the hope of making spelling easier to children, but because certain things in our present spelling are irrational." Especially he observes on the arbitrary generalisa- tions of our printers. Because "collection" and "affection" (which are nouns made from the participles collectus and affect us) are spelt with a t, the printers insist on spelling " connexion " and " reflexion " (which are nouns derived from the participles eon- ,nezus and refiexets) in the same way, and therefore print them " connection " and "reflection." He was disposed to approve of appointing a Royal Commission to review our spelling, to point nut anomalies in it, and to suggest amendments, but with no more ambitious purpose. We suspect such a Commission might make spelling at once more rational and, to children who do not know etymology, more difficult, instead of less so. Mr. Arnold him- self, at least, suggests only new distinctions, where distinctions had been lost, instead of new uniformities,—which is certainly not at all what the School Boards are crying out for. Might it not be best, on the whole, perhaps, "to leave it alone?"
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