The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1864-05-06
"Oar Mutual Friend. 4"
From HsrpeE's Weekly.I

This Is the title of Dickens new
novel, the frst part of which will APP
pear in the juno number of Harper s
Magazine There has been q good deal
of comment upon the title, for il is as
suined that the author must know that
tho phrase is ungrammatical and inele-
CANT, and that he has special purpose
in using it. 1t is hardly possible he an
nounced il without submitting it 20 his
literary friends And as John Forsythe,
to whom ne dedicated one Of his earl
lest stories. is one of the most intimate
of Dickens assoc 'ates, and one Of tie
most iastidi0us Of writers, il seems that
the phrase could not have escaped I'm
challenged, If it had been Q slip of the
pen. Yet it is so common an error, and
Dickens IS so far from being an exact
and dainty writer that there is some
reason for supposing that he has made
a mistake. Mutual is q word implying
reciprocity. Mutual friendship is the
feeling entertained by two persons.
each for the other A and 3 are mutu-
81 friends. c is their common friend
Webster says that the word mutual
may be and often is applied to numbers
acting in concert But the only true
standard Of language is elegant cotem-
porary use and that condemns the
phrase mutual friend as applied to a
third person.
But whatever may be the dispute
about the title, there Is likely 10 be very
little about the story itself The pro
fuse power and fertility Of the author
are unsurpassed. There seems 10 be
no exhaustion or even WEAKNESS upon
his part We know that there are some
readers who can not find the old charm
in his new works. But fortunately for
our own enjoyment, we are not one of
them, and we believe them to be very
few among the multitude Of his audi
ence We look for Mutual Friend
with the same eagerness that the read
ers of "Ivanhoe' looked for the next
work by the author Of "Waverly."
The small fry of the English press are
considerably excited over the enigmat-
ical title Of Mr. Dickens forthcoming
serial, Our Mutual Friend. The An
thenaum processes to be III the receipt
of protests against it
"'In the interest of the Queens Eng
lish,' one gentleman writes, IS it not to
be regretted that bfr. Dickens should
have aSed this phrase as the title of his
new book What Is a mutual friend?
If A has friendly feelings toward B, and
B reciprocates them, their friendship is
mutual, and may without improperly
be called mutual friends But If 4 aud
2 are two persons, each Of whom enjoys
the friendship Of a third person, c,
there IS no mutually in the case. c j.
in this case their common friend and
the use q the word mutual 10 express
the relation IN which any one OF them
stands TO either Of the Others, is mani
testify incorrect Two brothers can not
be said TO have q mutual parent Ano-
Their gentleman reminds Us that Macau-
lay has made s particular and emphatic
protest against this expression. Mr..
Dickens, il is admitted, has the power,
and the right, 20 raise mere collOquial-
ism out of the dust, and 10 confer upon
il the dignity Of a literary idiom But
where there IS great power there is
equal responsibility. At present We
can only write IN the dark, for Mr..
Dickens story is not published, aud,
for anything We know, has use OF the
tsrm may be perfectly sound We have
the right e esSuzne that & IS So