The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1867-02-02

MIR. ". L. SroEE, of New York, lately delivered
very interesting and valuable lecture in that city
upon the s'Early History Of Newspapers in Ame-
rica." In the course Of the lecture occurs the fol-
lowing
Tho Now York Gazette was commenced BY Way
man. In 1776 Wayrnan was arrested and impr1s-
oned for a contempt of the Assembly, upon no
other charge than That of two typographical errors
in printing the speech of Sir Henry Moore, the
Governor Of tho Colony. One OF these errors con-
sisted il printing the word neuef for eoe, by reason
OF which the meaning of the sentence Was revers-
ed Nothing can be moro annoying to authors
and publishers than errors Of the Press; and yet
those who are unskilied in the art Of printing con
scarcely conceive the difficulty OF avoiding them.
TO arrive at ordinary accuracy in daily newspa-
two proofs; and even then an editor who has not
become cdse-hardened by long endurance, will
often be shocked at the transformation OF sense
into nonsense, the numbering OF one OF his hap
piest concot or tho plucking If the point from
one If his nca. It paragraphs, by q typographical
error. In the carly stages of the art Of printing,
errors were far more numerous tllan in books OF
modorn execution. TWAS thon very common for
ro1u-ste of eraiuury size to conLaln page upon
page Of errata ut the close. One Of the most re-
inarkable instances Of tins kind was tho curious
treatise Of Edward Leigh on s.Religiol and Learn
ing" published in 1866. At The close of the work
wero three folio pages OF corrections IN very
of the Latin Vulgate by rope SiStns v, although
carefully superintonded, sheet by sheet, by His
Holiness, has ever remained without rival IN
typographical inaccuracy. Still more curious was
tho fact that the Pope, in the plentude OF his
pontfcal infallibiity, prehxed to the first volume
printer who, in rcprinting the work, should ever
make any alterations in The text. Among instances
Of typographical errors the lecturer gave the fol-
lowing: A lad in printing Office who knew more
thology, in looking ovor q poem they we're print
ing, came upon the name Of Hecate, one of the
lady divinities OF the lower world, occurring in
line like this She shall reign tho Uecate Of the
dcopest He'll" The boy. thinking he had dis;
covered an error, run to tho master printer, and
".Why, no, YOU blockhoad, was tho roply. Away
went the boy to the prens-rooM aud extracted the
objectionai lotter. But fancy tue horror OF both
poet and publisher when the poem appeared with
tho line-sShe shall reign the HE Cat OF tue deep
manner in which the printers treated Miss Landon;
In speaking of it slo says: aud when had
written sstull blown roses the nasty things nlado
it s.full blown noses" Benjamin franklin once
putting to press "form" of the Common Prayer,
psses hS sss Il S 5 swa s IS Sc d eSsassd 0 %
the twinkling of an eye" When the book appear
ed, to tho horror OF the devout worshippers, the
passage read: ''Wc shall oil be hanged in the
twinkling OF an cye." Franklin has been suspect
ed of having dono this Intentionally, but 1t aE-
pears to me without good reason. But, after all,
when it is considered Of how many separate and
minute pieces Of metal book form or tho page Of
newspaper is composed, tho wonder Is that the
errCrs of the Press are not far moro numerous
than they are; Asnge page OF one OF 5 our largess
pieces OF metal, each Of which must bo nicely adj
usted i'll its Proper place, or error and confu-
sion will ensuo.