ABSTRACT
The Saturday Review says it is absurd tD pretend that we Americans speak good English, implying of course that good English is the English of Great Britain. If any fair comparison is drawn, it must be either between the speech 'Of peDple of the same class in the two countries, Dr else between fair averages, as nearly as they can be had, 'Of all the people of the two countries. If the talk 'Of street loafers in American cities, and the verbal peculiariti.es that one may find in 'Outlying regions of Texas, are to be cDunted as ,characteristic of American speech, we must also take just as careful account, in striking the balance, of the ling'O of the slums of London and Edinburgh and Oork, and 'Of the jargon of the most unprogressive counties of the three kingdoms. TD compare the conversation 'Of a London drawing-room with the talk that you might hear in a road-house in Arkansas is manifestly unprofitable; nothing 'can be learned by such methods, though it is to be feared that some of our critics have not invariably been quite as careful as they might be to avoid them.
