_SOCIETY for PURE ENGLISH_ (_S. P. E_). _TRACT No. I_ Preliminary Announcement & List of Members Oct. 1919 _At the Clarendon Press_ MDCCCCXIX SOCIETY for PURE ENGLISH (S. P. E. ) The Society was founded in 1913, and was preparing to enter on itsactivities, when the declaration of war in Aug. 1914 determined theCommittee to suspend proceedings until the national distraction shouldhave abated. They met again after the Armistice in 1918 and agreed toannounce their first issues for October 1919. Although presentconditions are not as favourable as could be wished, it would seemthat the public are disposed to attend to literary matters, and thatthe war has even quickened the interest and increased the number ofthose to whom the special objects of the Society will be mostintelligible and attractive. A false start is a misfortune, and recovery from its confusion musthave an awkward appearance, for which it is needless to make furtherapology or explanation. 1. THE TITLE OF THE SOCIETY. In calling itself the Society for Pure English it was not overlookedthat the word Pure might carry a wrong suggestion. It should beexplained that it does not denote, as it is sometimes used to denote, the idea that words of foreign origin are _impurities_ in English; itrather assumes that they are not; and the Committee, whether wisely orunwisely, thought a short title of general import was preferable to adefinition which would misrepresent their purpose by its necessarylimitations. 2. FINANCIAL. The founders were originally confident that they could carry on theirwork without asking for any subscription from the members; andalthough the conditions of prices and commodities are now whollychanged and altogether unfavourable, they still hope that they may beable to keep to their scheme. If the publications of the Society areof sufficient merit, their profits should cover the expenses of anunsalaried staff; and though it shall be optional for their authors toretain a share of such prospective profits, it is hoped that most ofthose who contribute their work will be willing to allow all theprofits to go into the funds of the Society. In the place of a smallsubscription, which it is as inconvenient regularly to collect as itis to pay, the secretary invites donations of any amount, great orsmall, which will be duly acknowledged and deposited in the Society'sbanking account. The sympathetic response to their prospectus warrantsthe belief that more donations will be forthcoming. The Society havinga finite aim may, after a few years of activity, consider itsusefulness to be at an end; and if, when it is wound up, it shouldhave a balance in hand, the present Committee undertake to pay such abalance into the Pension Fund of the Society of Authors. 3. PUBLICATIONS. The Society undertakes to publish a series of tracts on the subjectswhich it is founded to deal with. It is impossible to foresee the quality or amount of such expertcontributions; but the Committee intend to issue at least a quarterlypaper which shall contain a report of proceedings up to date. Meanwhile the two first tracts are sent gratis to all the presentmembers. Later issues will be announced in the literary journals, andmembers will be expected to buy them unless they shall pre-contract tohave them supplied as they are issued, which may be done by a donationto the Society at the rate of 10s. A year. The tracts will be issuedby the Oxford University Press. 4. MANAGEMENT. The original Committee will continue to carry on until it isconvenient to call a meeting of the members to relieve them of theirresponsibility; and it is their plan that the members shouldultimately decide the constitution of the Society. Meanwhile theyguarantee the general soundness of the books and publications whichwill be advertised on their pages; but under no circumstances do theymake the Society responsible for all the opinions of its contributors;they desire full discussion of all questions. 5. MEMBERSHIP. The Committee invite the membership of all those who are genuinelyinterested in the objects of the Society and willing to assist in itswork. They should send application for membership to the HonorarySecretary, Mr. L. Pearsall Smith, 11 St. Leonards Terrace, London, S. W. 3. 6. ORIGINAL PROSPECTUS. The following is a reprint of the original prospectus as issued Oct. 1913:-- Literary education in England would seem in one grave respect to lackefficiency, for it does not inspire writers with a due sense ofresponsibility towards their native speech. In most European countriesmen of letters, and the better class of journalists, are trained toobserve the changes of the language, and to assist consciously in itsdevelopment, being guided by acknowledged principles of tradition andtaste. But the English language, which is now rapidly spreading overthe world, is subject to no such guidance, and to very littleintelligent criticism. There is indeed occasional discussion, both inthe journals and in table-talk, concerning the choice and use ofspecial words and the standards of style; but this is mostly conductedby irresponsible persons, who have no knowledge of the history ofEnglish, and are even without any definite ideal or right conceptionof what the essentials of a good language must be. It is therefore proposed that a few men of letters, supported by thescientific alliance of the best linguistic authorities, should form agroup or free association, and agree upon a modest and practicalscheme for informing popular taste on sound principles, for guidingeducational authorities, and for introducing into practice certainslight modifications and advantageous changes. The promoters of this association (which calls itself the 'Society forPure English') are of course well aware of the danger of affectation, which constitutes the chief objection to any conscious reform oflanguage. They are fully on their guard against this; and they thinkthat the scheme of activity which they propose must prevent theirbeing suspected of foolish interference with living developments. The ideal of their proposed association is both conservative anddemocratic. It would aim at preserving all the richness ofdifferentiation in our vocabulary, its nice grammatical usages, itstraditional idioms, and the music of its inherited pronunciation: itwould oppose whatever is slipshod and careless, and all blurring ofhard-won distinctions, but it would no less oppose the tyranny ofschoolmasters and grammarians, both in their pedantic conservatism, and in their ignorant enforcing of newfangled 'rules', based not onprinciple, but merely on what has come to be considered 'correct'usage. The ideal of the Society is that our language in its futuredevelopment should be controlled by the forces and processes whichhave formed it in the past; that it should keep its English character, and that the new elements added to it should be in harmony with theold; for by this means our growing knowledge would be more widelyspread, and the whole nation brought into closer touch with thenational medium of expression. The Society, therefore, will place itself in opposition to certaintendencies of modern taste; which taste it hopes gradually to modifyand improve. Its object will be best exhibited by stating a fewdefinite proposals which may be regarded as typical. I. Literary taste at the present time, with regard to foreign wordsrecently borrowed from abroad, is on wrong lines, the notions whichgovern it being scientifically incorrect, tending to impair thenational character of our standard speech, and to adapt it to thehabits of classical scholars. On account of these alien associationsour borrowed terms are now spelt and pronounced, not as English, butas foreign words, instead of being assimilated, as they were in thepast, and brought into conformity with the main structure of ourspeech. And as we more and more rarely assimilate our borrowings, soeven words that were once naturalized are being now one by one madeun-English, and driven out of the language back into their foreignforms; whence it comes that a paragraph of serious English prose maybe sometimes seen as freely sprinkled with italicized French words asa passage of Cicero is often interlarded with Greek. The mere printingof such words in italics is an active force towards degeneration. TheSociety hopes to discredit this tendency, and it will endeavour torestore to English its old reactive energy; when a choice is possiblewe should wish to give an English pronunciation and spelling to usefulforeign words, and we would attempt to restore to a good many wordsthe old English forms which they once had, but which are nowsupplanted by the original foreign forms. Other foreign denizens which are claiming naturalization we wouldencourage on the principle of preferring their more English forms. Itwould plainly be useful for writers to be acquainted with suchmatters; and a list of all such words with their English history wouldbe a good example of the sort of academic service which this Societymight render. II. The large and necessary importation of foreign words into theEnglish language has undoubtedly weakened its ancient word-makingpowers; and while all fantastic and awkward inventions andill-sounding compounds should be avoided, it seems desirable to giveat least a fair chance to words formed out of English material. Suchnew English words, especially new English compounds, need, it wouldseem, to be used for some little time before we can overcome ourdislike of them, while terms of Greek and Latin origin, howevercumbrous and unsuitable they may be, are accepted almost withoutquestion. We would discourage such unimaginative and artificialformations, and on principle prefer terms made of English material, which are easily understood and naturally spoken by English-speakingpeople. III. Until recent years English writers were in the habit ofexperimenting somewhat freely in language, and to their word-coiningactivity we owe many of our current and most useful terms. But sinceCarlyle there have been until lately few experiments of this kind. Many words are added every year to the English vocabulary, but theyare for the most part the deliberate creations of scientific writers;while the very men who should concern themselves with this matterstand aloof, and leave it to those who by nature and profession areleast sensitive to the aesthetic requirements. We would thereforeencourage those who possess the word-making faculty to exercise itfreely; and we hope in the future that suggestions from our membersmay help men of science and inventors in their search for new andappropriate names. IV. Although men of letters may occasionally add to the resources ofthe language by word-coinage, their main activity is and must be oneof selection. They are forced, for the most part, to choose theirvocabulary from the supplies at hand, and by their choice they do muchto give prevalence to the words which meet with their approval. Now, believing that language is or should be democratic both in characterand origin, and that its best word-makers are the uneducated, and notthe educated classes, we would prefer vivid popular terms to theartificial creations of scientists. We shall often do better byinquiring, for instance, not what name the inventor gave to his newmachine, but what it is called by the workmen who handle it; and inadopting their homespun terms and giving them literary currency, weshall help to preserve the living and popular character of our speech. V. The present spread of education, and the enforcement of a uniformand town-bred standard of speech throughout the schools of thecountry, is destroying dialects and local forms with great rapidity. These have been studied by specialists, and their value is fullyrecognized; but the attitude of the educated classes towards them isstill contemptuous or indifferent. This ignorant contempt is to beregretted for many reasons. Not only is some knowledge of dialectsneedful for any true understanding of the history and character of ourlanguage, but the standard speech has in the past derived muchenrichment and what is called 'regeneration' from the picturesquevocabularies of local vernaculars. The drying-up of these sourcescannot but be regarded as a misfortune. We shall therefore activelyencourage educated people, and, above all, teachers in countryschools, to take a more sympathetic interest in the forms and usagesof local speech. The Scotch Education Board has recently ordered thatdialect should not be unduly discouraged in Scottish schools, andadvised that children should be allowed some use of their naturalspeech in class. We hope that this example may be followed all overthe country. We also believe that a knowledge of provincialpronunciation, and a familiarity with the richness and beauty of thevowel sounds which it often preserves, especially in the North, wouldbe of value to those who speak the standard language, and wouldcertainly lead to some correction of the slurred and indistinct way ofspeaking which is now regarded as correct English, and deliberatelytaught as such on the Continent. VI. As to idiomatic pronunciation involving speech-rhythm. Theliterary taste of the eighteenth century, as typified in Dr. Johnson, consciously discredited idioms which it held to be ungrammatical; andthis error persists. A simple instance is the growing loss of ourenclitics. The negative _not_ was enclitic after the verb, and thisgave us our _shan't_, _don't_, _won't, _ &c. Dr. Johnson held the _not_to be too important a qualification to leave unaccented. Again, whereprepositions made a pronoun enclitic, the old accent is perishing. _For it_, which used to be pronounced _forrit_ as one word, is nowgenerally spoken _faw it_, as two. The result of such consciouspedantries is not only a great damage to the rhythmic beauty of ourolder literature, actually teaching the folk to misread the admirableprose of our Bible, but it is a bungling interference with the naturalevolution of our sentences, as we mould them to our convenience. Wewould trust the general ear in such questions of syllabic rhythm, andwould protect as far as possible the old harmonious cadences of ourtraditional speech. We have no present intention of engaging in the vexed question of theillogical and often absurd orthography of English. Members of theSociety would perhaps desire some relaxation of these bonds, but wethink it better to concentrate on other profounder modifications ofthe language which, though of first importance, are receiving nospecial attention. We are aware that proposals for violent changeoften defeat their own end, and make all reform impossible. We shalltherefore not insist on any doubtful or disputable detail as a rule ofcorrectness; but we shall rely on suggestion, believing that we shallattain the best results by causing those who lead the fashion toconsider the problems and think them out for themselves. We areconvinced that by this means an ideal of self-harmonized speech willbe gradually approved, and will spontaneously create a better standardof national taste, to which the future developments of the languagemay be safely entrusted. These proposals will be distributed and privately circulated from handto hand. Sympathizers, especially writers and teachers, who findthemselves in agreement with the main principles of the Society, andare willing, as far as convenience and current usage allow, to promoteits aims by their example, can, for the present at least, join it byinvitation from one of its members. There will be no money subscription to this Society. A list ofmembers, with their addresses, will be printed under the Society'sinitials; and this will be from time to time posted to all members, who may also obtain copies of the proposals to show to friends. With so little machinery, it may be inquired how it is expected toaccomplish anything. The idea is that all members will be guided bythe principles of the Society, and committed by their membership to_active_ promotion of its objects, one of which will be enrolment ofrecruits. Many of our members will be in a position to influencepublic opinion directly and daily. The fact that there will be a bodyof united opinion seems to us all that is needed: it is only requiredto marshal the forces. Should the Society find sufficient support, it would be proposed thata small journal or occasional fly-leaves should be printed, in whichquestions of literary usage could be discussed in detail. The printingand distribution of useful papers by members able to help in this waycould be easily arranged for by a small committee, which would beformed for dealing with this and other activities of the Society. 7. ORIGINAL COMMITTEE. HENRY BRADLEY ROBERT BRIDGES SIR WALTER RALEIGH L. PEARSALL SMITH 8. REPRINT OF LIST OF MEMBERS, 1914. (* deceased) Rev. E. A. ABBOTT, D. D. , &c. LASCELLES ABERCROMBIE W. A. AIKIN J. G. ANDERSON, Editor, Modern Language Teaching S. O. ANDREW, Head Master, Whitgift Grammar School, Croydon *Rt. Hon. Sir WILLIAM R. ANSON, Bt. , D. C. L. , M. P. , Warden, All SoulsCollege, Oxford Rt. Hon. A. J. BALFOUR, LL. D. , F. R. S. , M. P. , &c. *Very Rev. H. C. BEECHING, D. D. , Dean of Norwich BERNHARD BERENSON GORDON BOTTOMLEY A. C. BRADLEY, LL. D. , F. B. A. , HENRY BRADLEY, F. B. A. , Ph. D. , Joint Editor, Oxford English Dictionary, &c. CLOUDESLEY BRERETON ROBERT BRIDGES, F. R. C. P. , LL. D. , &c. , Poet Laureate H. H. BRINDLEY, M. A. JAMES BRITTEN, K. S. G. GILBERT CANNAN T. COBDEN-SANDERSON W. A. CRAIGIE, LL. D. , &c. , Joint Editor, Oxford English Dictionary WALTER DE LA MARE G. LOWES DICKINSON JAMES MAIN DIXON, L. H. D. HENRY AUSTIN DOBSON, LL. D. , &c. HUGH E. EGERTON, Beit Professor of Colonial History, Oxford J. FITZMAURICE-KELLY, F. B. A. , Litt. D. , &c. *JAMES ELROY FLECKER W. WARDE FOWLER, D. Litt. , &c. Rt. Hon. Sir EDWARD FRY, G. C. B. , F. R. S. , &c. ROGER FRY WILFRED WILSON GIBSON LADY GLENCONNER EDMUND GOSSE, C. B. , LL. D. , &c. Rev. CECIL GRANT, Head Master, St. George's School, Harpenden H. J. C. GRIERSON, Professor of English Literature, Aberdeen W. H. HADOW, D. Mus. , Principal, Armstrong College, Newcastle THOMAS HARDY, LL. D. , O. M. Miss JANE HARRISON, LL. D. , &c. *HORACE HART, Hon. M. A. , Controller of the University Press, Oxford MAURICE HEWLETT F. J. H. JENKINSON, Litt. D. , Librarian, Cambridge University W. P. KER, F. B. A. , Professor of English Literature, University College, London W. M. LINDSAY, F. B. A. , LL. D. , &c. , Professor of Humanity, St. Andrews R. W. MACAN, D. Litt. , &c. , Master of University College, Oxford DESMOND MACCARTHY J. W. MACKAIL, LL. D. , &c. FREDERICK MANNING E. MARSH, C. M. G. ALAN MOORE, M. B. NORMAN MOORE, F. R. C. P. *F. W. MOORMAN, Ph. D. , Professor of English Language and Literature, Leeds WALTER MORRISON GILBERT MURRAY, D. Litt. , LL. D. , F. B. A. , Regius Professor of Greek, Oxford *Sir JAMES A. H. MURRAY, D. C. L. , &c. , Editor, Oxford EnglishDictionary HENRY NEWBOLT Rev. A. SMYTHE PALMER, D. D. Rt. Hon. Sir FREDERICK POLLOCK, Bt. , D. C. L. , &c. Miss ETHEL PORTAL Sir ARTHUR QUILLER-COUCH, Litt. D. , &c. , Professor of EnglishLiterature, Cambridge Sir WALTER RALEIGH, Professor of English Literature, Oxford Rev. G. H. RENDALL, Litt. D. BRUCE L. RICHMOND FRANK ROSCOE Sir RONALD ROSS, K. C. B. , F. R. S. W. H. D. ROUSE, Litt. D. , &c. , Head Master, Perse Grammar School, Cambridge GEORGE SAINTSBURY, LL. D. , &c. , Professor of Rhetoric and EnglishLiterature, Edinburgh University E. B. SARGANT JOHN SARGEAUNT *Miss EDITH SICHEL J. A. SMITH, Waynflete Professor of Moral and Metaphysical Philosophy, Oxford G. C. MOORE SMITH, Litt, D. , Professor of English Language andLiterature, Sheffield L. PEARSALL SMITH J. A. SPENDER, Editor, Westminster Gazette CHRISTOPHER STONE LADY STRACHEY *R. J. E. TIDDY, University Lecturer in English, Oxford R. C. TREVELYAN Rev. A. W. UPCOTT, D. D. , Head Master, Christ's Hospital HUGH WALPOLE Mrs. HUMPHRY WARD T. HERBERT WARREN, D. C. L. , LL. D. , &c. , President of Magdalen College, Professor of Poetry, Oxford Mrs. WHARTON H. C. K. WYLD, B. Litt. , Professor of English Language and Philology, Liverpool University ISRAEL ZANGWILL 9. ADDITIONAL MEMBERS. Hon. MAURICE BARING ARNOLD BENNETT Prince ANTOINE BIBESCO R. W. CHAPMAN HAROLD COX A. CLUTTON-BROCK W. M. DIXON, Professor of English Literature, Glasgow OLIVER ELTON, Professor of English Literature, Liverpool E. M. FOSTER F. G. FOWLER H. W. FOWLER G. S. GORDON, Professor of English Literature, Leeds Miss MAUD HAVILAND, Newnham College C. H. HERFORD, Litt. D. , Professor of English Literature, Manchester PERCY LUBBOCK GEOFFREY MADAN P. E. MATHESON H. S. MILFORD J. C. SQUIRE Rev. H. F. STEWART, B. D. Miss C. L. THOMSON Mrs. M. L. WOODS J. WRIGHT, D. C. L. , F. B. A. , Professor of Comparative Philology, Oxford Mrs. JOSEPH WRIGHT