TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume L, Issue 8477, 8 May 1893, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Garrick, in speaking o! Changes in " aches and pains," used Pronunciation, to pronounce the first

word in two syllables— " aitches " —as if, in short, he were referring to the alphabetical stumbling block so fatal to Cockneys; and everybody knows that our great great grandmothers used to talk of drinking "tay," like an Irish washerwoman of the present day. There are many other curious changes in pronunciation which have taken place, some of which are nob so well known. The Spectator has recently been publishing an interesting batch of letters on this subject. It is stated by several correspondents that at one time it was the genteel thing to say " Lunnon," and our present pronunciation would have been considered, if not precisely vulgar at best only the affectation of a boardingschool miss. Canon Venables etates that his father, who was an Alderman of the City of London, frequently heard " the first gentleman iv Europe " pronounce the word, and he alwaj's referred to " my loyal city of Lunnon." After this it is a matter of astonishment that anyone has ever been found sufficiently daring, not to say disloyal, to pronounce it in any other way. In the Georgian era ib was also the fashion in polite circles to speak of "St. Jeauies," and " goold," while the City of the Seven Bills was invariably styled "Room." With the earns classes a " chariot" was a *• charreb," the trisyllable being considered vnlgar, if not positively indecent. Bub we need not go back so far as the Georges even. Canon Venables tells us that forty years ago "obleege" was very common. Hi 3 old Rector, Julius Charles Hare, would say, "Obleege mc by passing the cowcumber," while his friend, Walter Savage Landor, always called lilacs "laylocke," and "violets" " vilets." Fifty years ago educated people used to talk of " picters," and the old pronunciation " shore " for sewer was quite common. We are afraid, however, that the aristocratic classes are not always to be relied upon for purity of pronunciation, any more than they are.for parity of morals. A short time ago a hideous fashion sprang up in London of dropping the final " g " in such words as • • begging," which was pronounced beggin , ." Mr Punch did his best to laugh thi3 atupid piece of lingual laziness out of existence, and we hope he has succeeded.

New Zealanders are usually Colonial credited with a better style Solecisms, of pronunciation on the part)

of its inhabitants than any other member of the Australian group, but even we are by no means free from flaws. " Bohemian " has hit off one horrible blemish when he castigates our fondness for " sowcials." There is a general tendency to drag out the vowels, which is particularly noticeable among children educated in the public schools. They pronounce go like "gow,"how like "haow" (in, the Yankee fashion), and Kate like "Kite," after the manner of the East End coster. These are little matters to which teachers should give attention, or it may end in a, general vulgarisation of our speech and language.

Wk have before referred in The End this column to the prophet of Baxter, who, having reThe World, ceived private and authentic

intimation of the date of the millennium, has been dinning it intoth*

ears of a thankless and unbelieving generation. The reverend gentleman held yet another meeting at the Memorial Hall, Farringdon street, London, the other day, where, supported on the platform by Bishop Richardson, of the American Reformed Church, and eight other clergymen, and surrouudod by huge cartoons of the Dream of Nebuchadnezzar, the Dream of Daaiel, and the Pale Horse of Pestilence hung on the walls of the building, he solemnly announced that the sth of March, 1835, would see the end of the present dispensation. We have only three more years to wait, and then the end of the world, the resurrection of the saints, and the ascension of 144*000 living Christians, including of course the Rev. Mr Baxter and his friends, will take place ! Tho Spectator tries to put itself in the position of a believer in these things, and to imagine what one would do did one possess the firm conviction that there were only three more years to pass upon the terrestrial globe :—

*' With whan a happy senao of detachment (it says) one might contemplate all the struggles, the fretful anxiety, and the laborious forethought that humanity is compelled to undergo with a view to its continuance in life; how gladly one would leave the morrow to care for itself, and cease from the incessant toil by which is hoarded the provision of years to come ! For three years one could comfortably live upon the fruits of past labour, and even have a fair superfluity to divide with lesa fortunate neighbours, while one cultivated a blameless leisure in the present, and looked forward to the happiest and most dignified ease in the future."

This is an interesting subject of speculation, but we doubt whether any, even among tho faithful few in Farringdon Hall, really live up to their belief. They are believers in the theory in the abstract, but we doubt if they are prepared to apply it i Q the concrete. If we are not mistaken there was a law case not long ago which showed that even the prophet himself was financing a relative's wine business in a way that he would hardly have carried out if he really believed the whole concern was worth only three years' purchase. some of our How tht readers may feel a little Date is curious to know how the Calculated. Rev. Mr Baxter arrives at the date which he fixes so positively as that of the Last Day. The method ia extremely simple. In the vision recorded in the Apocalypse are tho words "I am Alpha and Omega." Now, in Greek Alpha equals 1 and Omega 800. Place 1 before 800 and there is the year 1800. The year of the vision was 95 ; add this and you have 1896. t The Spectator, however, points out that a slightly different result may be arrived at by the same method of reasoning. Alpha means numerically either one or a thousand, according to its accent; and Omega by the same rule's means either 800 or 800,000. If Mr Baxter is going to make Alpha into 1000, he might also says the Spectator, make Omega 800,000, in which case the Second Advent will take place in 801,096, A.D. This gives us a little more breathing time.