JUSTICE TO JANE AUSTEN.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "Srsoraros."] SIR,—May I say a word about the interesting review headed " Mediaevalism " which appears in the Spectator of Sep- tember 5th P I know nothing of the Modernist controversy, so am in no position to comment on the article as a whole ; but I do know Jane Austen—nearly by heart—and I really cannot accept the mangled extract from " Pride and Preju- dice" offered by the reviewer. In the first place, neither Mary Bennet nor " her sister " (though she had four) took any part in the dialogue referred to. It was Caroline Bingley who, in her untiring efforts to be agreeable to Darcy, remarked that it would be much more rational if, at balls, conversation instead of dancing were the order of the day. And it was her brother, the giver of the proposed festivity, who made answer : "Much more rational, my dear Caroline, but not near so like a ball." (I write without referring to the book, but you will find that I am not far wrong,) Again, may I point out that on p. 335 your reviewer, after (quite justly) rebuking Mr. Molloy for an inaccuracy about Macaulay, himself describes the historian as uncle of Sir Charles Trevelyan P Lastly, I do not believe a word of Mr. D. C. Murray's Gladstone story, quoted on p. 332. Probably you do not either. To " assist " one to a potato is an odious vulgarism, pretentious and pseudo-refined ; to use " can " in the place of "may" is a common, but very incorrect, Englishism. Neither would be any temptation to Mr. Gladstone,—too good a Scot to indulge in " English as she is spoke " by the com- paratively ignorant native. Gladstone and Jane Austen are among my idols. Forgive me if, like one of her inimitable characters, I am "run away with by my feelings."—I am,
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