Selective Tendencies, etc.
tarch as early as 1579; and it also appears in the earliest English translations of Cervantes.
Many over-critical efforts, made by conscientious conservators of good English, are embalmed in most books on words and their uses, etc. Ambrose Bierce in A Little Blacklist of Literary Faults, condemns the phrase, “the goods were sold at auction.” He says it should be, “the goods were sold by auction.” The meaing of the first phrase is clear and its form is correct. It says in effect that the goods were sold at a public sale; auction defines the kind of sale; presumably they were sold by a person through his agent, the auctioneer.
Mr. Bierce also objects to back of for behind. “Back of all progress is human wisdom; back of law is force.” There is nothing the matter with that. In no way does it offend either the law or the spirit of English. It merely is a question of taste whether in this sense one says behind or back of. Other things being equal, good usage inclines to-
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