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Page 15
A story is told of an eccentric Essex rector. He was reading in
church the fourth chapter of Judges, and after 'Now D[)e]borah, a
prophetess', suddenly stopped, not much to the astonishment of
the rustics, for they knew his ways. Then he went on 'Deb[)o]rah?
Deb[)o]rah? Deb[=o]rah! Now Deb[=o]rah, a prophetess', and so on.
Probably a freak of memory had reminded him that the letter was
omega in the Septuagint. It will be remembered that Miss Jenkyns in
_Cranford_ liked her sister to call her Deb[=o]rah, 'her father having
once said that the Hebrew name ought to be so pronounced', and it will
not be forgotten that the good rector was too sound a scholar to read
'Deb[=o]rah' at the lettern.
An anecdote of Burgon's is to the point. He had preached in St. Mary's
what he regarded as an epoch-making sermon, and afterwards he walked
home to Oriel with Hawkins, the famous Provost. He looked for comment
and hoped for praise, but the Provost's only remark was, 'Why do
you say Emm[=a]us?' 'I don't know; isn't it Emm[=a]us?' 'No, no;
Emm[)a]us, Emm[)a]us.' When Hawkins was young, in the days of George
III, every one said Emmaus, and in such matters he would say, 'I will
have no innovations in my time.' On the King's lips the phrase, as
referring to politics, was foolish, but Hawkins used it with sense.
PS.--I had meant to cite an anecdote of Johnson. As he walked in the
Strand, a man with a napkin in his hand and no hat stept out of a
tavern and said, 'Pray, Sir, is it irr�parable or irrep�irable that
one should say?'--'The last, I think, Sir, for the adjective ought to
follow the verb; but you had better consult my dictionary than me,
for that was the result of more thought than you will now give me time
for.' The dictionary rightly gives _irr�parable_, and both the rule
and example of the Doctor's _obiter dicta_ (literally _obiter_) are
wrong.
J.S.
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE
* * * * *
ADDENDA TO HOMOPHONES IN TRACT II
Several correspondents complain of the incompleteness of the list
of Homophones in Tract II. The object of that list was to convince
readers of the magnitude of the mischief, and the consequent
necessity for preserving niceties of pronunciation: evidence of its
incompleteness must strengthen its plea. The following words may be
added; they are set here in the order of the literary alphabet.
Add to Table I (p. 7)
band, [^1] _a tie_, [^2] _a company_.
bend, [^1] _verb_, [^2] _heraldic sub._
bay, [^1] _tree_, [^2] _arm of sea_, [^3] _window_,
[^4] _barking of dog_, and '_at bay_',
[^5] _a dam_, [^6] _of antler_, [^7] _a colour_.
blaze, [^1] _of flame_, [^2] _to sound forth_.
bluff, [^1] _adj. & sub. = broad = fronted_,
[^2] _blinker_, [^3] _sub. and v. confusing_ [^1] _and_ [^2].
boom, [^1] _to hum_, [^2] _= beam_.
cant, [^1] _whine_, [^2] _to tilt_.
chaff, [^1] _of wheat_, [^2] _= chafe (slang)_.
cove, [^1] _a recess_, [^2] _= chap (slang)_.
file, [^1] _string_, [^2] _rasp_, [^3] _= to defile_.
grave, [^1] _sub._, [^2] _adj._
hind, [^1] _fem. of stag_, [^2] _a peasant_, [^3] _adj. of behind_.
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