Readers of this Weekly[2] must remember reading in No 620 Mr H.W.Fowler's letter to me, dated November 24, 1933.Now I have to announce that I have just got word[3] from his brother, Mr A.J.Fowler[4], of the death of the famous grammarian and lexicographer[5], which occurred red on December 26, 1933, about a fortnight before I received the above-mentioned letter and replied to it To quote Mr A.J.Fowler's letter:
I regret to tell you that my brother, H.W.Fowler, died on December 26th, 1933, after a short illness.His answer to your first letter must have been among the last things that he wrote; and I well remember the admiration with which he spoke of your command of the English language.And his correspondence with foreign students of English was so wide as to qualify him very completely for a judgement on this point.
My brother belonged, and frequently contributed, to the Society for Pure English[6] - generally called the S.P.E.- which has issued a great many pamphlets on special subjects.[7]
My brother was engaged on a new dictionary[8] when he died; when it is now likely to be published, I cannot say.
I do not know much about Mr H.W.Fowler's life.But I believe that the little that I know will no doubt be of interest to all serious students of English.
Mr H.W.Fowler was born in 1858.It was in 1903 that his literary collaboration with his twelve-year-younger brother, F.G.Fowler, began with the translation of Lucian[9], a celebrated[10] Greek author, the result being published in four volumes[11] in 1905.Thenceforward the two brothers produced three joint works[12]:The King's English[13](1906), The Concise Oxford Dictionary(1911), and The Pocket Oxford Dictionary(1924).A Dictionary of Modern English Usage[14](1926)is the work of H.W.Fowler, though he designed it with F.G.Fowler, who died in 1918, aged 47, and did not live to see[15] the publication of The Pocket Oxford Dictionary and A Dictionary of Modern English Usage.H.W.Fowler brought out a revised edition of The Concise Oxford Dictionary in 1929[16] and one of The King's English in 1930.He was one of the editors of The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary,[17] published in 1933.
As most readers of this Weekly must know very well.I am a great admirer of Mr H.W.Fowler.I do not think I could have studied English with such results as I have got, if I had not used his books these eight or ten years[18]; and I am happy to think that I had the honour of corresponding with him within a very short time of his regretted death, on which, by the way, I have now composed the following Chinese couplet:
硕学冠群儒，有弟能传千载业
遗书成绝笔，思翁不禁九回肠
注释
[1]To the Memory of:纪念
[2]this Weekly:指The Chung Hwa English Weekly（《中华英文周报》）
[3]word:消息
[4]A.J.Fowler:H.W.Fowler之弟，生于1868年，卒于1939年
[5]famous grammarian and lexicographer:著名之文法家兼字典家（即指H.W.Fowler）
[6]Society for Pure English:按此会在英国，创于1913年
[7]which has issued a great many pamphlets on special subject:按此会自1919年来曾刊行专论数十册，讨论文法，读音，语源等题
[8]was engaged on a new dictionary:正在从事编一新字典（按此字典原定名为Quarto Oxford Dictionary，今已更名为The Oxford Dictionary of Modern English，由H.W.Fowler之弟A.J.Fowler及其友H.G.Le Mesurier继续编著。）
[9]Lucian:琉善，希腊著作家，约生于公元125年，约卒于公元180年
[10]celebrated:著名的
[11]published in four volumes:按此书及下文所述各书均系英国牛津大学出版社出版
[12]joint works:合著之书
[13]The King's English:此书论述写作英文之种种问题
[14]A Dictionary of Modern English Usage:此书论述英文中种种难点，涉及文法、句构、读音、拼法等项
[15]did not live to see:不及见……而已死
[16]brought out a revised edition of The Concise Oxford Dictionary in 1929:于1929年出版The Concise Oxford Dictionary之改订本（按此书于1934年出第三版，加一附录。）
[17]The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary:此书共两厚册，由C.T.Onions主编
[18]these eight or ten years:最近过去之八年或十年