The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1888-02-18

tnre Is found In the tendency 10 Toll
low errors of citation. even from we'll
known authors.
Some one happens to blnnder into n
msquotation. and the incorrect vcr-
sion is sure. in little while. 10 drive
out the correct one from the minds OF
many persons who ought 10 know
better. A few instances OF misquota-
talion occur TO me. which have myself
noted. and the list might. no doubt.
bc easily heightened. The first that
comes 10 mind Is Millions limo at the
conclusion of Lycidas. Tomorrow to
fresh woods and pastures new" where
fields is commonly substituted for
woods
So slight change as that of a prep
osition puts somewhat different
meaning into Ben Johnson's memorial
verse. ''Hc was not of I'M age. but for
all time" Here for Is often made to
replace OF in the first clnuse.
We are all supposed TO know our
Shakespeare. bat Ia fact good many
persons knowledge is Of the second
hand sort that docs not enable them TO
detect msquotation. When Mr..
Booth or Mr.. Irving delivers the ITO
be or not TO be- soliloquy. some who
hear him speak OF 'thc thousand nat
ural shocks that flesh is heir to-" may
be surprised into fancying that the
actor is making slip, the substitution
Of ills for shocks being so common
that the right word sounds strangely.
In speech and writing how often men
ton is made of the bourne" whence no
traveller returns. Shakespeare wrote
OF the undiscovered country. from
whose bourne no traveller returns.
These quotations are from one of tho
best known plays. oftcncsl acted on
tile modern Stage. and from the most
hackncycd lines in IL. Again people
cite from The Merchant of Venice, !"
THE man that hath no music In his
soul. where tho text has ''in himself :"
IL Is curious TO note that certain
verses. very familiar to us in their pre-
sent shape. are plagiarsms--or allow
able borrowings. il you plcasc--from
older authors. The modification of the
original has sonnet mes been IN i'm
! provcmcnt. sonnet mes not but in
either case the newer form has sup
/ planted the old. The modern author
gets that possession OF tho poetical pro.
pcriy which is nine points of the law
Ms Campbell has done W ia tho well
known line. IL Ike angels visits. few
and far between" This i taulo-
logical, for II the visits arc far between,
II is needless To say they are few. John
Norris, who. in the latter half OF the
seventeenth century. compared the
Joys most exquisite aud strong"
VIII ch soon took their flight to angel $
visits. short and bright" may never
have written anything else worth the
stealing. so IL seems rather cruel that
he should lose the credit Of his happest
thought. Later Robert Blair helped
himself TO Norris verse, altering
bright TO FAR between 1t is
probable. therefore. that Camp
bell conveyed" from Blair rather
than from the original writer. In Ike
manner Pope made himself free with
Dryden verse. "From grave To light
from pleasant to severe" changing
light" into gay and pheasant" in
to ''lively;" anil with Pr or's Fine by
degrees and beautifully less" in this
instance altering the sense MS well as
the words. But elmo by defect and
dcl'cately weak" is an unmistakable
imitation Of Prior. No. doubt the same
thought may occur TO more than one
man, and since human experiences re-
poats itself reflections on life are likely
TO resemble each other Gray wrote
where ignorance Is bliss It's folly to
be wise. Prior. before him, made
the propos ton universal one when
he asserted that from ignorance our
comfort flows. the only wretcliod are
the wIsei" and centuries before Prior a
Dameless jew had set IL down in his
book that "hc that incroaseill knowl-
edge incruaselh sorrow. ~ Atlantic
Monthly.
-
Destroying the Dies.