An anecdote of Burgon's is to the point. He had preached in St. Mary's
what he regarded as an epoch-making sermon, and afterwards he walked
home to Oriel with Hawkins, the famous Provost. He looked for comment
and hoped for praise, but the Provost's only remark was, 'Why do
you say Emm[=a]us?' 'I don't know; isn't it Emm[=a]us?' 'No, no;
Emm[)a]us, Emm[)a]us.' When Hawkins was young, in the days of George
III, every one said Emmaus, and in such matters he would say, 'I will
have no innovations in my time.' On the King's lips the phrase, as
referring to politics, was foolish, but Hawkins used it with sense.
PS.--I had meant to cite an anecdote of Johnson. As he walked in the
Strand, a man with a napkin in his hand and no hat stept out of a
tavern and said, 'Pray, Sir, is it irr['e]parable or irrep['a]irable
that one should say?'--'The last, I think, Sir, for the adjective
ought to follow the verb; but you had better consult my dictionary
than me, for that was the result of more thought than you will now
give me time for.' The dictionary rightly gives _irr['e]parable_, and
both the rule and example of the Doctor's _obiter dicta_ (literally
_obiter_) are wrong.
J.S.
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE
* * * * *
ADDENDA TO HOMOPHONES IN TRACT II
Several correspondents complain of the incompleteness of the list
of Homophones in Tract II.
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