Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1888-02-23
ERRORS OF QUOTATION.
a, Evidence of the Intellectual Depravl-
y Of Human Mature.

chHOHS OF QUOTATION.
a, Evidence of the Iatellectual Oepravl-
y Of Human Mature.
Evidence 1T what may be called tho
intellectual depravity OF huraan nature
| is found in the tendency to follow err
rors of citation. even from wcll-knowu
authors
Some one happens to bluntlcr into a
misquotaiion. and the incorrect ver-
sion is sure. in little while. 10 drive
ont tho correct one from the minds OF
many persons who ought to know bet
ter: A few instances Of misIuo:ation
occur to me. which I have myself
noted. and the list might no .loubt, be
easily Heightened. The first that
comes to mind is Millions line n. the
conclusion Of Lycidas: ..To-murrow
to fresh woods and pastures ncw."
where fields is commonly subs itu.el
for woods.
So slight change rs tina. Of a prep
"sition puts somewhat different
meaning into Ben Jonson's memorial
verse: He was not of an age. but for all
time. Here for is often made to re-
place of il the frs. clause.
We are all supposed TO know our
Shakespeare. but i'm fact u good many
persons knowledge is IF the second
hand sort tina: does not enable them %
detect Il Interpretation. When Mr..
Booth or Mr. Irving deliver, the $50
be or not to be" soiloquy. some who
hear him speak of "rhe Thousand nat
ural shocks that flesh is heir to-" nav
be surprised into fancyinS that tn,
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 tho undiscovered country,
from whose bourne no traveller re.
turns" These quotations are from
one of the bcst-known plays. ofteness
acted on the modern stage. and from
tie most hackncyed lines in it. Again
people. cite from 1.-The Merchant of
Venice" 1.-The man that hath no music
in his SOUL" where tho text has lin
himself"
1t is curious to note that certain
verses. very familiar to us in their
present shape. are plagiarisms-or a.
lowable borrowings. if you please
from older authors. The modification
of the original has sometimes been al
improve m.nt. soma!imcs not. but in
either case tho newer form has sup
planted the old. The modern author
gets that possession OF the poetical
properly which is nine points of the
Jaw. as Campbell has done with the
wcll-knOwn line. Like angels visits.
few and flr between" This is tau,o-
logical. for if the visits are far be-
tween. it is needless to say they ara
few. John Norris. who in the latter
half of the scven;eeth century. COM
pared the Joys most exquisite and !
strong" which soon took their flight
% "angers visits. short and brigh '"
may never have written any thing
Else worth the stealing. so it seems /
'athcr cr.ucl that he should lose the
'redit of lis happiest thought. Later,
Robert Blair helped himself t. Nor
is verse. altering bright to far
between. 1t is probable. therefore,
hat Campbell conveyed from Blair
'ather than from the ORIGINAL
writer In like manner Popo
made himself free with Dry
lens verse, '.Erom grave 10 ligh.,
ron. pleasant to severe" changing
light" into "gay" and pleasant"
nto lively" and with Prior's Fine
~ degrees and beautifully less in
his instance altering the sense as we'll
IS the words. But Fine by defect and
weak" is IN unmisiakable
OF Prior: No doubt the same
bought may Occur to more than one
nan. aud since human eNpcricnce re-
eats itself reflections on life are like
Y to resemble each other. Gray
'ro,e: where ignorance is bliss It's
oily TO be wise" Prior before him.
made the proposition II universal one
lhcn he asserted that ''from ignorance
ur comfnrG flows. the only wreiclicl
re the WISE and centuries before
'r:or nameless jew had set it down
a his book that '.hc that increaseth
increascth Sorrow
tiantic Monthly.