Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-02-27
ERRORSOFTEFE PRESS.

entertaining volume might be written
concerning the curiosity of typographical
err0td, which, although exceedingly
amusing to readers, are often most exas-
perattng to editors and authors.
An Italian poet going to present a copy
of verses to the Pope, and finding, as he
was looking them over in the coach as he
went a mistake Of a single letter in the
printing, broke his heart of chagrin and
vexation, and died the day after. Baron
Grimm, in his Memoirs, mentions the
circumstances of a French writer having
died in fit of anger in consequence of a
favorite work, which he had himself re-
vised with great care, having been printed
with upward of three hundred errors,
half of them having been made by the
cOrrector of the press.
A slight mistake frequently changes the
whole effect of an article, or, as in a case
recorded in the Vans and Words Of
Men Of Letters, may utterly ruin Tri-
ter. Abiding to f011r pas of the press,
Pycroft relates a conversation which he
held with printer. "'Really,n said the
reader, gentlemen should not place such
confidence in the eyesight of our hard
worked and half-blnded reader of proofs,
for | am ashamed to say that I've utterly
ruined one poet through ludicrous mis-
print 'Indeedl and what was the IN
happy linel" "Why, sir, the poet intend
ed to say, See the pale martyr in a sheet
of fire. instead of which we made him
say, See the pale martyr with his shirt
on fire OF course the reviewers made
the most of a blunder so entertaining to
their readers, and the unfortunate author
was never heard of more in the field of
literature"
Another versifier was cxtinguishcd in
the following manner: A lad in printing
office came upon the name of Hecate
occurring in line like this:
''Shall reign the Hecate of the deepest
hell" They boy, thinking he had dis
covered an error, ran to the foreman OF
the office and inquired eagerly if there
was an in cat. ''Why no, you block
head - was the reply. Away went the
juvenile type-settcr to the press-rOom and
extracted The supcTfluous letter. But
fancy the horror of poet and publisher
when the poem appeared with the line:
<'Shall reign the He cat of the deepest
IGll. lltSG lftbBl GEAlAlCilttAl NOAlu laNO
Joined most heartily in the sentiments
contained in the following quatrain from
the pen of young lady who had been
similarly crucifed in her first published
poem, and thus gave vent to her indig-
nation:
81 wish had that editor about half minute:
I'd bang him to his hearts content and with an h
begin it;
III g-,.aT1iN vv5EI
And senG s4ln to that hill Of his: he spells with
an C..
a distinguished soldier Of the late wal,
with whom the writer had the honor of
serving at Vicksburg and elsewhere in the
Mississippi Valley and who is now the
Governor of = Western State, was an
nounced among a list of speakers who
were to address a meeting on a certain Oc-
casiOn at Chicago, as a ''battle-scGred
general. If the careless CompositOr had
added another to the itaicised word it
would have been nearer the truth. and
also what the editor wrote. The same
paper, by a singular coincidence, con-
tanned another equallyridiculoUs CTrdttfBl.
Said the writer: "There is great dis
satisfaction among the loyal masses with
the Presidents policy" Now, who
would have thought that the eXecrably
bad grammar of the above sentence could
have been made worse by the omission of
q little consonant Just after the word
J0yaI thus placing the luckless author
among the ''asses, when he had written
himself down something else.
Another instance, showing the impor-
1. = e i
vertisement that appeared in New York
paper in May, 1869, headed "IafeTaGJ
remedy" II was very possibly quite
true. but of course the coBpounder Of
the quack mixture meant to have said
Internal remedy"
4 long list of such blundcrs might be
enumerated, but we shall content our
selves with the following: a publisher
offers q hundred dollars for the best tail
for his paper; a grocer adyertises an in
voice Of boxes of pigs from Smyrna;
New York landlord announces q bOIEse to
let and possession given Immediately; at
an inquest held the other day on the
body of glutton who died in dcvOur-
ing part of turkey, the verdict ''suifo
cation was printed, with more truth
than was intended, StgBOcatjOn; IN a
list OF subscribers to charitable fund
"A Poor BOOkbindcr' gave a dollar,
and the next subscriber in order was
a. lady named A. LCga Fletcher, but
her subscription was Acknowledged as
from. "a Ledger Stitchcr;' and, to con
clude an illustration, an editor re-
Gently apologizcd for an error of the pre-
ceding day which made him refer witt
pleasure to the overlooking soakcrs OF
Mai. Eccleston's hospitable board
"overilowing beakers" was of course wha
he wrote.
As examples of errors clearly due t
bad writing we may mention that al
announcement in q British Goyernmen
blue-book, stating that ''the troops ha,
marched across Belbcc and drawn up Il
front of north ports, declared in Its mrs
shape that the troops ''hadmarched acros
the Baltic and drawn up in front OF tn
North Foreland." A quotation of
rather racy kind being -ascribed to sam
Lucius, the printers reader, doubling 1t
sanity origin, and knowing no saint o
that name, was induced TO make research
cs, which resulted in the discovery tina
the words belonged to Sir Lucius o. Tng
ger, one of the bright stars in Sheridan
comedy of The Rir0lS. An CTrGt'tHt
q very similar character occurs
Alison's LirCs Of Lord C0Sttcrodg
and Sir Charles .StC,cdrt. In d.
scribing the great public funeral of ii
Duke of Wellington, the historian
made to say that ''the pail was borne b
the marquis of Anglesea, the marquis {
Londonderry, Lord Cough, Lord Gambler
mere and Sir PeregriJlc Pickle" tt
association between 'Peregrine" n
"Picklc.n rendered immortal by Smollett
novel, was evidently too strong for eth
compositor or reader TO be struck by tl
strange anii-climax; Sir Peregrine Ma
land was the name intended.
A female cOmpatriot of the lrrepres
bic Train not long since addressed
mournful communication to a Butfa
paper: 'By some fantastic trick OF yo
type-settcr, my speech in St. James ID
on Sunday evening is suddenly terminate
and so linked to that of Mr.. Train that
am made to run off in an entirely M
vein Of c}oqucncc. Among many OF
exploits. | am made to boast that neltl
smoke, nor chew, nor drink, nor steal, I
.- Al, e sr,oL ACCOMPLISHMENTS WI