A class of examples may be found in which there is an obvious incongruity between two of the words which occur. Thus, “We are more than doubtful;” that is, we are _more than full_ of doubts: this is obviously impossible. Then we read of “a man of more than doubtful sanity.” Again we read of “a more than questionable statement;” this is I suppose a very harsh elliptical construction for such a sentence as “a statement to which we might apply an epithet more condemnatory than _questionable_.” So also we read “a more unobjectionable character.” Again: “Let the Second Chamber be composed of elected members, and their utility will be _more than halved_.” To take the _half_ of anything is to perform a definite operation, which is not susceptible of more or less. Again: “The singular and almost excessive impartiality and power of appreciation.” It is impossible to conceive of _excessive impartiality_. Other recent examples of these impossible combinations are, “more faultless,” “less indisputable.” “The high antiquity of the narrative can not reasonably be doubted, and almost as little its _ultimate_ Apostolic _origin_.” The ultimate origin, that is the _last beginning_, of anything seems a contradiction. The common phrase _bad health_ seems of the same character; it is almost equivalent to _unsound soundness_ or to _unprosperous prosperity_. In a passage already quoted, we read that the czar “gave _audience_ to numerous _visitors_,” and in a similar manner a very distinguished lecturer speaks of making experiments “_visible_ to a large _audience_.” It would seem from the last instance that our language wants a word to denote a mass of people collected not so much to hear an address as to see what are called experiments. Perhaps if our savage forefathers had enjoyed the advantages of courses of scientific lectures, the vocabulary would be supplied with the missing word. _Talented_ is a vile barbarism which Coleridge indignantly denounced; there is no verb _to talent_ from which such a participle could be deduced. Perhaps this imaginary word is not common at the present; though I am sorry to see from my notes that it still finds favor with classical scholars. [Webster says: “This word—which is said to be of American origin—has been strongly objected to by Coleridge and some other critics, but as it would seem, upon not very good grounds, as the use of _talent_ or _talents_ to signify mental ability, although at first merely metaphorical, is now fully established, and _talented_, as a formative, is just as analogical and legitimate, as _gifted_, _bigoted_, _turreted_, _targeted_, and numerous other adjectives having a participial form, but derived directly from nouns, and not from verbs.”—ED. THE CHAUTAUQUAN.]