THE OLD LANCASHIRE WORD " GRADELY." (To THE EDITOR OF
THE " SPECTATOR.") Stn,—At the close of your interesting review of Tract No. .7 of the Society for Pure English you note thirst the Society appells for a discussion of the question of the re-adoption of words from the dialect. May I point to one such word which seems to are to have a good claim to adoptions? It is the good old Lancashire word " gradely," which is now comparatively seldom heard, although it has no equivalent in every-day English, and puts a great deal into a small compass. "Ile's a gradely mon" might be rendered "He is a man who taken all in all possesses the essential qualities, moral and physical. which go to make a man, not necessarily a perfect man, but ono whose good qualities far outweigh any minor faults he may possess." " There isn't a gradely piece among 'em." This means there isn't a piece which, taking all the circumstance.' into consideration, is what it ought to be to pass muster. I am thinking of " piece " in the connexion in which I have heard the phrase used, a piece of cloth at a bleach works, but it might equally well be a piece of music at a concert or piece of cake on a dish. "It's a gradely day," a day, con- sidering tho time of year, to make one feel well satisfied. Instances might be multiplied, but the few I have given will indicate the way in which the word may be used to imply muca which cannot be packed into any other single word.—I am,
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