6 OCTOBER 1923, Page 24

LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.

Language and Literature.

Tract No. XIV. of The Society for Pure English (Clarendon Press. 2s. 6d. net). At the time of his death, Dr. Henry Bradley was engaged in writing a paper on a problem that worries all journalists and authors—what terms can be used to describe individual members (1) of the United Kingdom, and (2) of the British Empire. In this tract a short note of his is printed, and Dr. Robert Bridges completes the dis- cussion. Briton, Britishman, and Britisher have been used for both ; but none of them is satisfactory. There is too pompous an air in calling a man a Briton : we cannot banish from the word a suggestion that he will never be a slave. Britisher is distasteful to most people, and Britishman has never gained much following. In addition, of course, they are of no help in distinguishing between Great-Britisher ant' Greater-Britisher. What can we call ourselves ? Dr. Bridger propounds no solution ; but he hopes that good may come from a ventilation of this problem.