24 OCTOBER 1896, Page 17

"BIKE" OR " WHEEL "

[To Till EDITOR OF TEl`SPECTATOR."] SIR,—The late William Barnes, the Dorset poet, who was a careful philologist, objected strongly to the needless use of words derived from foreign or classical sources when a good English equivalent was forthcoming. When his grandson showed him a "velocipede," the word "bicycle" being then unknown, Mr. Barnes asked, " Why can't you call it ' wheel- saddle' ? " Is not " wheel-saddle" a more telling and there- fore a better word than " machine" or " bicycle," or than "bike" or " wheel " ?—I am, Sir, &c.,