Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1888-08-17

A cursory reading of paper in the A n
dOUer ReDtC 70 for August on Current
reveals 50 many and so
tlagrant errors of the sort which 1t cou
dennis, as to tempt one to bring the criti-
cal author himself to the test which he
would apply to others The article be
gins-and ends-with the famous bit of
advice, Verify your quotations." and
aims throughout to inculcate punctil-
ious accuracy in all citations from holy
Scripture, and from profane authors as
well.
We begin with a passage on page 1853,
which deserves citation in full.
DE Morgan informs us that the we'll
known passage from the prophet Daniel /,
shall Increase stands on. the title page of
Montucla's History of Mathematics,' in its
Latin form: Mutt pertransiount ct duge-
bitur scientia,' as aquotadon from Bacon !
Bacon had indeed made use of this passage
from Daniel as the very appropriate motto for
his great work, the DE Arguments Scientific,
and Moptuca, who, was probably better az
quainted with mathematics than with the
Vulgate, may naturally have supposed that
Bacon was the author of his own motto"
Now turn to the English Bible, whether
King James's or the revised version Dan.
Xii:4l, and you will read : MANY shall
run to and fro and knowledge shall be IN
creased" Turn now to Montucla Paris
edition of "the year VIM, and no such
motto is discernible in fact there is no
motto at all on the title page Open the
works of Bacon, and you will find no
Ode Arguments Scientific" any where,
though there Is a work entitled "De Aug
mentis Scientidrtm" but neither at the
head OF this, nor anywhere in the preface,
or in the first book, is there any citation
from the prophet Daniel at all, though
Job, Ecclesiasticus and other sacred writ
ings are often quoted. Once more open
the Nulgate, and you may read per
multi pertransibunt, ct multipler crit
scientia" There may however be editions
of Lord Bacon which present the motto
in question. Suffice it that no trace of 1t
is found in the various editions acces sible,
including the "Twoo Bookes" of 1905.
Passing now on page 159 to consider
citations from Shakspere, he gives us
this curious phrase
Familiar in our lips as household words"
No one will need to be reminded of the
genuine lection
Familiar IN their mouths as household words"
Three lines below he refers to Mrs. Nal
aprop as saying that she could not bear
Hamlet, it was so tul Of quotations. "
But dear Mrs. Malaprop, the one whom
we all know so well, said no such thing,
50 far rs Sheridan has reported her.
In his next citation he ventures to pres
ent us with an amended text:
And give to dust that is little gilt
More laud than gold o'erdusted."
The folio (and many critical editions las
Clark and Wright, Hillard, r. G. White
says guilt ii. e. gilU ore busted" Now
it is respectfully submitted, that it is a
more venlal fault to fail to quote with
perfect verbal accuracy, than deliberately
to foist new words into the text in order
to show what Shakspere ought to have
written. The emendation mad occurred
to me- he says. Yes, and to Thirdly
and Walker and Hudson,-any man
night suggest this Improvement" But
why not let well enough alone, especially
when the whole contention of the article
Is for exact verbatim citation
The next passage, page l6O, Is thus pre-
sented
ITO gild refined gold
To paint the lily, to ttrowa perfume on the
violet"
This gives us five extra syllables in what
should be a decasyllabic verse. There Is
surely no necessity for changing the stand
ard arrangement of the lines
ITO gid refined gold, to paint the lily,
To throw "A perfume on the violet
The next citation is mangled in like fash
ion, as thus
Give me that man TftO is not passlons slave,
And will veal him III my hearts core,
Aye, in my heart OF heart, HOrdtiO,
As ] do thee.
Now Shakspere did not know better
than to give this passage as follows
"Give me that man
That is not passions slave, and will wear
In my hearts core, az in my heart of heart,
AS do thee"
No "Horatio' needed to round
out the line: LAY" instead of
AYE" a rather important differ
ence in meaning and there are
other points which show SHAKESPEARE to
be a better versewright than our monitor.
In a citation from The Tempest on
page l6l, we get "unSubStantial' in lieu
of the genuine "insubstantial "a worse
error than that noted at the top of the
same page, this reading
- .-, I'VE are such stuff
Instead of the on OF the first folio Some
reputable editors give us of" but none
that know of has 'unsuhstantia'.
On page l64 we read: "Our next exam
pie is from the opposite extremity TO
Milton of the literary pole, Butler s
Hudlbras." And what, pray, is the lit
erary pole ?" Is pole" the name by
which our author reureSents to himself