κυδιάνειρα, etc., are Homer's property. I could not use it without being felt to quote Shakspeare, which would be highly inappropriate in a Homeric translation. But if nobody had ever yet used the phrase 'heaven-kissing' (or if it were current without any proprietor) then I should be quite free to use it as a rendering of οὐρανομήκης. I cannot assent to a critic killing the vital powers of our tongue. If Shakspeare might invent the compound 'heaven-kissing', or 'man-ennobling', so might William Wordsworth or Matthew Arnold; and so might I. Inspiration is not dead, nor yet is the English language.
Mr Arnold is slow to understand what I think very obvious. Let me then put a case. What if I were to scold a missionary for rendering in Feejee the phrase 'kingdom of heaven' and 'Lamb of God' accurately; also 'saints' and other words characteristic of the New Testament? I might urge against him: 'This and that sounds very odd to the Feejees: that cannot be right, for it did not seem odd to the Nicene bishops. The latter had forgotten that βασιλεία meant "kingdom"; they took the phrase "kingdom of God" collectively to mean "the Church". The phrase did not surprise them. As to "Lambs", the Feejees are not accustomed to sacrifice, and cannot be expected to know of themselves what "Lamb of God" means, as Hebrews did. The
