But I learned early to distrust a Mentor who took so little cognizance of the imperious ardor of my youth; who was so stupidly oblivious of the varied possibilities in brain and hand and heart, and so I began early to follow out my own devices as to a plan of character and work. Would that the generous impulse of your enthusiasm, guided by your broader opportunity, might “Give me back the wild pulsation That I felt before the strife, When I heard my days before me, And the tumult of my life.” More anon. EVANSTON, January 31, 1885. NOTES ON POPULAR ENGLISH. BY ISAAC TODHUNTER. I have from time to time recorded such examples of language as struck me for inaccuracy or any other peculiarity; but lately the pressure of other engagements has prevented me from continuing my collection, and has compelled me to renounce the design once entertained of using them for the foundation of a systematic essay. The present article contains a small selection from my store, and may be of interest to all who value accuracy and clearness. It is only necessary to say that the examples are not fabricated; all are taken from writers of good repute, and notes of the original places have been preserved, though it has not been thought necessary to encumber these pages with references. The italics have been supplied in those cases where they are used. One of the most obvious peculiarities at present to be noticed is the use of the word _if_ when there is nothing really conditional in the sentence. Thus we read: “If the Prussian plan of operations was faulty, the movements of the crown prince’s army were in a high degree excellent.” The writer does not really mean what his words seem to imply, that the excellence was contingent on the fault; he simply means to make two independent statements. As another example we have: “Yet he never founded a family; if his two daughters carried his name and blood into the families of the _Herreras_ and the Zuñigos, his two sons died before him.” Here again the two events which are connected by the conditional _if_ are really quite independent. Other examples follow: “If it be true that Paris is an American’s paradise, symptoms are not wanting that there are Parisians who cast a longing look toward the institutions of the United States.”