Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1867-03-02
MISCELf4 A NYI
Typographical Errors.

in that city upon the &c Early History of News
papers in America" In the course of the
lecture occurs the following:
Tho New York Gazette . was commenced
by Wayman. In 177G Waymau was arrested
and imprisoned for a contempt of the Assem-
bly,, upon no other charge than that of two
typographical errors in printing the speech of
Sir Henry Moore, the Governor of tho Colo
ny. One Of these errors consisting in print
ing tho word neuer for cUcr, by reason of
which the meaning of tho sentence was re-
verscd. Nothing. can be moro annoying to
authors and publishers than errors of the
Press; and yet those who are uuskillcd in the
art OF printing can scarcely conceive the diff.
fculty Of avoiding them. 10 arrive at ordi-
nary acc acy in daily newspaper requires
tho reading and correction of at least two
proofs; and even then an editor who has not
become case.hurdcncd by long endurance, will
often bo shocked at tho transformation of
sense into NONSENSE or the numbering of one
OF his happicst conccits, or the plucking of
the point from one of his ncatcst paragraphs,
by typographical error. In the early stages
of the art of printing, errors were far more
numerous than IN books of modern execution.
It was then very common for volume of or
dnary size to contain pago upon page of crIata
at the close. One OF the most remarkable in-
stances of this kind was the curious treatise
OF Edward Leigh, on " Religion and Learn
ing" published in 1856 At the close of the
work were three folio pages of corrections in
very minute typo. 1t is singular fact that
the edition of the Latin Vulgntc, by Popc
Sxtus ", although carefully supcriutcndcd,
sheet BY sheet, by His Holiness, has ever re-
manned without rival in typographical mac
curacy. Still more curious was the fact that
the Pope, in the plenitudc of his pontiical in.
fallibility, prcfiXcd to the first volume n bull
OF excommunlcation against any and every
printer who, Ill rcprintinS the work, should
over mnkc any alterations in the text Among
instances of typographical errors the lecturer
gave the following: \ lad in printing Office,
who knew more about typc.sctting than he
did of the Greek mythology, in looking over a
poem they were printing came upon the name
Of Hecatc. one Of INC lady divinties to the
lower world, occurring in line like this =
"Shc Shall reign the Iiccatc of the dccpcst
He'll" The boy, thinking he had discovered
an error ran to the master printer, and in
quircd eagerly whether there was e in cat.
Why, no, you b!ockhcad," was the reply.
Away went the boy to the press room and OK
tracted the Objectionable letter. But fancy
the horror of both poet and publisher when
Poo'h'
reign the III. Cat OF the deepest He'll" This,
however, WIS not so bad as the manner in
which the printers treated Miss I.andon. In
speaking of it she says: And when | had
written full blown roses" the nasty things
made it "full blown noses" Benjamin Frank
I'm once putting to press form f" of the
Common Prayer, the acttcr in the following
passage dropped out unperccived by him, I'VE
shall all be changed in the twinking Of an
eye" When the book appeared, to tic hor.
ror of the dcvout worshippers, the passae ee
read "Wc shall all be hanged in the twink.
ling of an eye" Franklin has been suspectcJ
of having done this Intentionally, but it an.
pears to me without good reason. But, after
all, when it is considered of how many scpa.
rate and minute pieces Of metal a book form
or the page of a newspaper is composed, the
wonder is that the errors of the Press are not
far more numerous than they are. A single
page OF one OF our largest papers cannot con
ttln less than 100000 separate pieces of met.
al, each of which must be nicely adjusted in
its own proper place, or error and confusion
will cnsuc.
AN ANEcDoTE Worm PREsERv1No.-A
Paris correspondent vouches for the truth Of
the following. True or false, it is a good sto.
Ty, and will bear repetition:
A Frenchman, prisoner in Ednburg hav-
ing managed to escape, took refuge in .ho
powder magazine When the authorities
wished to seize him they found him sitting on a
barrel with lighted matchs aud threatening
to blow up the town. The authorities reflcc.
ted prudently, and the rcsul-of their dclibe.
rations was that it would be better to starvc
the Frcnchman out But they rcconcd with.
out their prisoner, who loved good cheer and
was determined to live we'll In CONSEQUENCE
he called out that he would blow the town to
pieces if he did not get three meals n day-he