IRAN OR PERSIA ?
SIR,--A8 I am the writer whom Mr. Siodia quotes in his letter in your last issue, perhaps you will allow me to explain why I prefer " Persia " to " Iran." " Persia," like " Venice," is an English word charged with Magnificent associations ; it has been consecrated by the Authorised Version, by Chaucer, Marlowe, Shakespeare, Milton and Gibbon. If I spoke Persian, I should talk of Iran just as when I speak Italian I talk of Venezia. But when writing English, I prefer to use the tradi- tional and noble English name. Since writing an article in this sense,
I have been confirmed in my view by the practice of the Prime Minister, and I believe that my feeling will be shared by most of those who care both for Persian civilisation and English literature.—I am,
Sir, yours, &c., RAYMOND MORTIMER.
"The New Statesman and Nation."
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