MR. HARDY'S VERNACULAR.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.'l
SIR,—Will you permit me to say a word in confirmation of Mr. Hardy's defence of himself, in your last week's issue, from the charge brought against him by your reviewer of the " Papers of the Manchester Literary Club " ? I know Mr. Hardy's novels intimately, and am quite at a loss to find the " linguistic puzzles " referred to. On the contrary, I have selected the conversations of his Dorsetshire peasants as admirable passages for " penny readings," and have read them, with the greatest success, to large audiences of uneducated townsfolk far away from Dorsetshire. They were invariably received with hearty appreciation, and raised peals of most genuine laughter. Now, " penny reading" audiences are ex- ceedingly impatient of anything they do not quite understand, and thorough comprehension of the humour of the passages that excite amusement is an absolutely essential condition of really genuine laughter.—I am, Sir, &c., 11.
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