NURSERY RHYMES AND THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sta,—The writer of this article says that " it was never fashionable to adopt the German pronunciation of our Hanoverian sovereigns." Now George I was entirely ignorant of English, and, as everyone knows, the principle of Ministerial responsibility resulted from his refusal to preside at Cabinet meetings. George II spoke English, as Scotsmen are fabled to joke, with " deeficulty," and always pronounced " w " 4 I'Allemand. But the close of his reign synchronized with a series of victories by land and sea which shed a flood of glory on the tangible personification of British greatness ; and the old king gained a degree of popularity which stood in marked contrast with popular feeling on the eve of Culloden.
His diction was probably imitated by the court circle ; it became fashionable and gradually spread to the lower classes. A song beginning, " Ven Villiam one eve met me down by the style, how sveet was the nightingale's lay ! " resounded to the accompaniment of countless harpsichords in the year 1759. Thus, I believe, originated the substitution of " v " for " w," which, when Dickens wrote, was universal in the eastern quarters of London, and lingered until the middle of last century : witness the popular ditty, " Villikins and his Dinah." A similar instance of perverted loyalty occurred in France. Soon after his accession to the throne, the boy-king Louis XIV called impatiently, " Qu'on apporte mon carrosse ! "—whereon a word in common use which was derived from the Latin " carrula " changed its gender.— I am, Sir, &c.,
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