AN ANOMALOUS ADJECTIVE
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Janus in " A Spectator's Notebook " in last week's issue, commenting on Mrs. Sidney Webb's approaching eightieth birthday, remarks that " one or two provincial Universities have given ' the Webbs ' honorary degrees," but neither Oxford nor Cambridge has seen fit to do so. I do not know whether under " provincial Universities " Janus means to include the Metropolitan Scottish University of Edinburgh, which in 1924 made Mrs. Webb a Doctor of Laws ; if he does, I should like—at the risk of incurring his contempt as a touchy Scot—to query the accuracy of the epithet. If Scotland is a " province," and the Scottish capital a " provincial " city, it can only be in relation to London, and in that sense, can either Oxford or Cambridge call itself " metropolitan " ?—I enclose my card and sign myself, yours, &c., EDINENSIS. Edinburgh.
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