The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-04-12

The Strange story Of COckney
Blunder.

London Globe.
When Mr. Swinburne recently character
lied David Copperfeld' and Great Ex-
pectations" as the twin masterpieces of
Dickens's genius, there were, no doubt,
many admirers of the novelist who cordial
ly agreed with the estimate, and few
lukewarm readers who were either indiffer-
ent OF vaguely antagonistic to il. The effect
Of the Swinburnean announcement on one
Dickens WorShiper-who pens the present
lines-was to make him take down from
the shelf and reread book for which he
had always had special liking. Beyond
question Great Expectations" is full of
the mastery touches which nobody else
could have conveyed quite as Dickens did.
and il must always remain among the
worthy monuments Of his marvellous pow
ers.
How often 1 have read the book should
not like 10 say" writes Mr.. Wilfred Har-
greaves In The Connoisseur, land the pleas
IRE of doing so is as keen now as 1t was
years ago." But this is not the time or the
place for a panegyric of Great Expecta-
tions." Long since / found a certain pas
sage in Ii something OF stumbling block.
II is a sentence relating to Estellas mother,
in the vivid description of the dinner at
Mr.. Jagger's, where Bentley Drummie Pip,
Herbert and Startop are confronted with
the bousekeeper of the iron wrists. To suit
the novel in any of its later editions.
give the reference as Chapter XVI, Para
graph IA:
No other attendant than the housekeep-
er appeared. She set on every dish; and
always saw In her face, a face rising out
of the caldron- Years afterward made
a dreadful likeness of that woman, by cauS-
Ing face that had no other natural resem-
bance to il than il derived from flowing
air, to pass behind bowl of flaming spirits
in a dark ROOM.
1t will be noticed that there is certain
meaning in the word air in the passage
just quoted, but the idea resulting from
the last two clauses is lacking in the pre-
cision that Dickens loved and invariably
pracuced By an extraordinary blunder
| these words, exactly as they stand, have
| been printed by Dickens's own publishers
| for years, in edition after edition of the
| novel; and yet, owing to the meaning
which does happen (partly owing to the
| eccentricities of our language) to finger
/ in the sentence, nobody seems to have de-
| tected that anything is wrong with ii, and
shall presently see-looks as though 1t
might go on forever. Surely the new
| biographical edition will not perpetuate il,
| in face of the present note. Or have the
| present holders of the copyright continued
| the error so long that they will be like the
| gentleman who religiously wound up his
timepiece every night for seventeen years
before he discovered that it was an eight
day clock? Their property in Great Ex-
| pectations," however, is rapidly expiring
AS one sees by the recent issue of six
| penny edition (still with the misprint)-
and the market will soon be swamped with
| new editions. "a Tale of Two Cities" is
l freshly out of copyright, and a large num-
| Der of publishers have not been able to
| keep their hands off it. When there is a
| similar abundance of editions of Great
| Expectations" issued by publishers not so
| tightly swathed in tradition as the old firm,
II is reasonable to hope that the air will
| be cleared and replaced by the proper
word. For have just had the satisfaction
of provins. beyond the possibility of doubt
| that an old surmise of mine is perfectly
| correct-instead Of flowing air." what
| Dickens intended and wrote, was flow
ing hair Observe how this reading clears
and strengthens the passage:
II made dreadful likeness by
| causing face that had other natural
resemblance to it than it derived from
| flowing hair, to pass behind a bowl of fam
| ing spirits in dark room"
| Let 1t not be said that lay claim to any
particular triumph for having spotted
the error. / shield myself behind John
| Rokesmith's utterance to Silas Wegg the
| discovery is genuine discovery, such as
it is. Let US at least do our Dickens the
| justice to restore to him beggarly aspira te
In its proper place, as ii proceeded from
his own magic pen! Where and how the
blunder-which Is really quite a minor curl
and 1t is immaterial. l do know that ii
has been faithfully repeated In endless
editions during the last quarter of a CEN
fury. May the H-less printers reader who
first passed" tiff he is still in the la nd
of the living-never know a moments peace
until he has made full confession of his
crime! And after all. it was a fatally easy
ly correct fiery air. allusion i'm the same
chapter, paragraph Is (as printed), proba bly,
also contributed to the unhappy mans con.
fusion.