Correspondence.

Colonist, Volume II, Issue 192, 23 August 1859, Page 2

Correspondence.

To the Editor of the Colonist. Sir, —Can you inform me why the " leaders " of your contemporary (and sometimes your own) abound with such phrases as "imbroglio" "resume" "douceur? "couteur de rose" "sol, disant," and fifty others which I could mention ?.. Now, Sir, I have always understood that the English language is a very expressive one,—one which abounds with words, and forcible ones too —for., conveying any idea, whether ■ sublime or ridiculous. If this is the case, the only object these writers can have in view in " splitting the ears of the groundlings " with unnecessary quotations (which I will venture to say not three men in every one hundred in this benighted province j can anglicise) must be, to display their very profound erudition—a laudiible ambition no dpubf * But, Siiy I think many of the writers guilty of j this ridiculous habit, must be in a simil; r position to the poet Gray, who had "forgotten all.his Latin, but bought "what he wanted irbm some Catholic priest fora small bank token;." or must have'picked it out from the list at the end of "Maunders Treasury," or some other equally valuable book. Why, Sir, such a pitch has this absurdity-; this mania, 'run, that everybody, .from your great literary Anthropophagus, down to the puniest whipster who may be able to string together three words of his mother tongue, is guilty of it. 1 wish they would remember that we have not all sw.il lowed Latia-Lexicons or French grammars. For my own'part, when'l meet with one of these tvish to be thought learned quotations, I am compelled to refer to a lady of my acquaintance, whbismoreeruditeihan myself, and which "is sometimes rather inconvenient; for instantce, I once met with the word " enceiente ; " made the necessary enquiry, and a pretty scrape I got into for my pains-. But, seriously, Sir, if these gentlemen innst^ let the world finow their deep and profound learning, would it not be .better to let them have a little sheet to themselves, which they might fill with what they please, and which those who could, would read,"and those who could not, would . But really, Sir, I,must bring tho matter to a close, lest I trespass upon your patience too much. I am, &c, &c... A. B- C, [Our alphabetical correspondent has brought back to us the terrors of our youth, we can just remember a time when those ayful letters ABC brought with them a sensation: of fear, and we must now in our more mature age confess to a certain amount of dread from any correspondent who. considers himself entitled to sign himself ;by those awful letters. We are accused by ABC of having made too free a use ofhis followers, and the arrangement of the alphabet byvus seems to be, according to the three first letters of it, incomprehensible by 07 per cent, of our readers, this is, a heavy charge. -We are fully aware that we are only bracketed with another -offender, but this, casual notice' of ourselvos can not blind us to the real charge. Had another writer been the real offender it would not hare been: to us that this admonition would have

been.sent, pad our conscience tells us of BUcli words, ai imbroglio . and resume. Openj ai we are, .to * public criticiatn, with every word as it flows from the pen* patent to the eyes of a district who look to in fof information, it is necessary for us to be, guarded in any statements of facts that we make, and we <onceive that if we use such language as persons who have learnt to read and spell can understand, we arc not assuming to ourselves a v wish to be thought learned.'.' The conviction of bur ea^presBions comes but poorly from a writer cannot distinguish between; a Latin Dictionary and a Greek Lexicon*; The English language does' abound in words and " forcible" ones too, and we need only refer to the addressqf the Bishop ofNelaon where he uses the words terrier wad juridical(tlielatter quoted we should think from Samuel Warren's title) p,age as specimens. With so high an authority for obscurity, we may be pardoned if we do in our attempts to perfection fall short. Our ridiculous habit, we are,told,, indicates that we are in.the same position as the. poet Gray. We only wish that we were, and that a bank token was able to be offered by, us when hard vp a for a quotation. ; And now to the really serious portion of our correspondent's letter;.he lias, it seems, a Pythoness* who from her stool illumes'the whole alphabet as represented by the three first letters. We thought that the day was. past when- enigmas were to be solved, and that (Edipus had lost his occupation* Unfortunately; (for our correspondent only, we believe), we hays used.words of too hard or too concise a meaning; and he has had to refer to the "weird woman-' for their explanation. We should feel obliged- by the address of this Runic Rhymer^ for.she might be,able to explain to us how tjfje cpllectioteiofdogs an^, monkeys lately arrived can be called a Hippodrome. We may, in conclusion,' say that the letter preceding these re-< , marks is printed as it is written, and that if in thin instance there: is a want of orthography, we are not blameable for it.—Ed. Col.\

To the Editor of the Colonist. , ■ SiR,-i*Allow me to" trespass on your space upon a subject of some importance to the shippirg interest. I am induced to do so by observing in your last a paragraph extracted from the Liverpool Albion^ with respect to the damaging effects of red lead, when used for painting ships constructed of iron. A Mr. Mercer there status that as long as red lead remains on the iroa a chemical action takes place, that blisters are formed, and that, in fact, each blister is a miniature galvanic battery. He also says that the " sweat/ so well known to every person interested in iron ships, is not salt water (as is generally supposed), bat a solution of chloride of iron manufactured in the blisters,- and is due to the use of red lead paint in. immediate contact with iron* He concludes by advising special precautions to prevent its coming into direct contact with the iron. Now, having shewn us the" difficulty* with no* very definite means of. cure,, I would,- with your* permission, supply the deficient information, by merely stating that for some years past af special composition has been used that is perfectly freer from the objections enumerated in that paragraph, 7-that it has stood the test of time, that it is, in' my opinion,-the very best material yet known to keep the bottoms of iron vessels free from weeds or barnicles, and, in fact, is in every way suited to the object desired. This material has been used by the P. and O. Company, and the Royal W.L Mail Company for some years past to ,my own personal' knowledge; and, I need scarcely say, so thoroughly acknowledged to be superior to any other, that I am rather surprised to find the question has been raised at all. As a test of the adaptability of this mater al for1 iron ships, I may mention that I used it to paint the bottom of the steamship Lord Worsley a short time since, and although.applied under unfavorable circumstances, it is fully bearing out all that has been stated of it, as being'the best known material for that purpose; and with such an effective preparation at- hand, "special'preparation to prevent red lead from coming into direct 'contact with the iron "is a very needless effort, when the ! use of that color is entirely superseded, i ■ ' I am, Sir, &<j.,"". ; T. B.'LOTJISSON. To the-Editor of tilt.Colonist. Sir, —For some time past a great number of petty depredations have been committed in the neighborhood of Toi-toi Valley and Vincent-street, to the great annoyance of the inhabitants, such as the? following :—A gate has been taken away from an acre of green oats and vetches, and when replaced by a new one that was cut down. A plank which served as a bridge over the big ditch taken from its place, where it had been about four yearg. Posts and rails laying about people's promises disappeaiy and no one can tell where they are gone to. Firewood gets legs and walks away inquick time, but lit is always in the night. Is it not high time that 1 our police on night dutycame on their patrol, and kept a> look out ? The residents of the above neighborhood have as much right" to be protected as those living in the thickly populated part of the town. Hoping that-this hint may lead to the prevention or cure of the'above cvijs, I am., &c, ! ASUFF.EREK.