The simplification of English spelling : specially adapted for the rising generation : an easy way of saving time in writing, printing, and reading / by George Harley.

  • Harley, George, 1829-1896.
Date:
1877
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The simplification of English spelling : specially adapted for the rising generation : an easy way of saving time in writing, printing, and reading / by George Harley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    102/130 (page 88)
    as disgraceful at another; so that to say that Lowland Scotch is not a language, because at the present moment it is thought vulgar, and consequently ugly, is simply an absurdity. We can easily make our meaning perfectly plain by relating the following anecdote : In 1854, while standing in front of and admiring a picture of an ancient dame in hooped skirts, a young lady standing by our side exclaimed, “ Did you ever see such a hideous dress ? How could a woman with any pretentions to good taste ever dream of making herself into a guy like that?” Turning to our fair critic, we smillingly remarked, “ Fashion is taste. Were hoops fashionable to-morrow you would immediately think them beautiful, and array yourself in the very largest of them.” “No such thing, Dr. Harley ; I never could admire a hideous dress like that, even were it the very tip-top of fashion.” Strange to say, ere this same young lady was ten years older, we met her out at a grand ball given by one of our then ministers decked out in one of the most voluminous of crinolines we ever saw, and the good lady, now a matron, thought she looked magnificent in it. Her taste had changed with the fashion. Fashion was to her beauty. With this prologue we shall now