ABSTRACT
Occasion to see ourselves, not merely as others see us, but as they reflect our own reflection of ourselves, through whatever glass, however darkly - such is the gallery of mirrors our subject opens before us. To traverse it, to glance in passing at its multiplied and refracted images, is not a proud but a chastening experience. Possibly it may lead us, via those corridors which our publicists are now contriving, into the midst of the American Century. The strongest continuity, which of course is our language, can be traced through successive editions of H. L. Mencken's rich compilation; the American language, having gradually attained its autonomy, has more recently asserted a counter-influence over English speech. With England the problems are those of emphasis and adjustment, within the framework of shifting but more or less familiar conditions. At the end of the last war Gide told an imaginary reporter that America had abandoned its soulless contentment.
