The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1888-02-18
ERRORS OF QUOTATION.
Al Evidences of tho I,triloctuai Dcprayi-
~ OF Hatnan SI'uI.

~
Evidence Of what mag b. called tho
intellectual deprayity OF human nature
Is found IN the tendency 10 follow cr-
ror, of citation. even frem woll-k1own
authors
Some one happens to blundcr into n
misquota!iOn. aud the incorrect ycr-
SION IL sure. in little while. 10 drive
ont the correct ono from the minds Of
many person, who ought 10 know bet
ter a few instances If mi-qIDtation
occur % nc. which have myself
noted. and lho list might. nodOubt, DO
easily lenglhenel. The G'ot that
comes 10 mind l. Milton line ~ tbs
conclusion Of Lycidos: Torn rrOw
10 fresh woods and pastures new"
where fields Is commonly subs itu'ol
for woods.
So slight n change ~ tha, Of "A prop
osllion puts q somewhat different
meaning into Ben JDnson's memorial
verse: III was not Il IN ago, b1t for all
time" llarr for il often made ~ rJ-
place Of / the first clause.
We aro al supp scd 70 know our
Shakespeare. but in fact cool many
persons knowledge is # The second
hand sort that dOas not onab.e them o
detect n mi5quOiatiop. When Mr..
Booth or M Irving deliver, IN, 80
DO or not 10 be" soliloquy, somo who
hear him speak of ",he thou5tnd ma
urnl shock, that llosh Is heir TO-" may
be surprised into faucying that tho
actor is making Sip. the substitution
Of Ills for shocks being 50 common
that the right word sounds strangely.
In speech aud writing how often mcn-
tion Is made Of The "bourno" whence
no traveller returns. Shakespeare
wrote Of Tho undiscovered country,
from whose bourne no traveller re-
turns" These quotations are from
one Of the bost-known plays. oftorcst
acted on The modern stage. and from
the most hacISncycd limos in H. Again
people citc from "l'he NJ reliant Of
Venice" "Iho man that hath no music
In his soul" whcr1 the text has 'in
himself"
H. is curious 90 note that certain
verses. very familiar 10 us in their
present shape are plaoiari5ms--or al.
lowable borrowings, il YOU please --
from older author. The modification
OF the original has sometimes been m
improv mont. sometimes not but in
either case he newer form has sur
planted the old. Tho modern author
gets that possession of thn poclical
properly which is nine points Of the
law. IA Campbell has done with tho
wcll-known line. like angel visits.
few aud far between This is tau'o-
logical. for if the visits arr far be-
tween, IT, i needles, to say they ar1
few John Norris, who in The latter
half of the sovontcrth century com-
pared the Joys most exquisite and
strong" which soon took their night
10 "angcrs visits. short aud brigh ="
may never havo written any thing
else worth the scaling, 50 it seems
rather cruel that he should lose Tho
credit OF his happicst thought Later,
Robert Bl air helped himself to Mr.
llH N'i0'' Hl''l'iE ~ l8hN w i'l
bctwecn.' II is probable. therefore.
that Campbell "conveycd' from Blair
rather than from the original
writcr In like manner Pbpo
mado himself free with Dry-
dcn's verse. "from grave 10 ligh'.
from pleasant to scvcrc' changing
'light' into gay and pleasant
into "livcly;" and with Prior's Emo
by degrees aud beautifully less in
this instance altering the sense rs vol
as the words. But ''iinc by dcfcctaud
dolicatcly weak is IN unmi7lakablo
imitation of Prior No doubt the same
thought may occur 30 more than ono
man, aud since human experience re-
pcats itself reflections ON life are like
ly To resemble each other Gray
wrote: "Whcrc ignorance is bliss it's
folly 10 be wisc.' Prior. before him.
made the proposition a universal ono
when he asserted thai from ignorance
our comforl flows, the only Wrcichcd
are the wi,c;" and centuries before
Prior namclcss J'w had set il down
in hs book that che that ncrraS"th
knowledge iucrca>cth sorrow. -
Atlantic NoRth'u