A question, perhaps of
no great practical importance, had occurred to Mr. Palliser, but one
which, if overlooked, might be fatal to the ultimate success of the
measure. There is so much in a name, and then an ounce of ridicule is
often more potent than a hundredweight of argument. By what denomination
should the fifth part of a penny be hereafter known? Some one had, ill-
naturedly, whispered to Mr. Palliser that a farthing meant a fourth, and
at once there arose a new trouble, which for a time bore very heavily on
him. Should he boldly disregard the original meaning of the useful old
word; or should he venture on the dangers of new nomenclature? October, as
he said to himself, is still the tenth month of the year, November the
eleventh, and so on, though by these names they are so plainly called the
eighth and ninth. All France tried to rid itself of this absurdity and
failed. Should he stick by the farthing; or should he call it a fifthing,
a quint, or a semitenth? "There's the 'Fortnightly Review' comes out but
once a month," he said to his friend Mr. Bonteen, "and I'm told that it
does very well." Mr. Bonteen, who was a rational man, thought the "Review"
would do better if it were called by a more rational name, and was very
much in favour of "a quint.
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