The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-03-24
lAPSES or THE HISTORIAN.
PECULIAR MISTAKES MADE BY
mLUsTRIoUs WRITER'S.


For the Messenger.
An article from London Tid-Bits has
recently been going h round OF the
press, entitled Authors Blunders-" i'll
which this paragraph
Shakespeare made some stupendous
plumbers, apart from chronology. Thus
in the 5th act of Othello' he makes
Desdemona speak three times after she
has been ~effectua,ly sznothered. and be-
physiological fact that If the lady had
recovered sufficiently to speak she
would certainly ave lived, and that
the smothering process would have to
be repeated to insure her despatch"
This bull" as it may be called, has
been charged against Shakespeare more
than once; but, in point Of fact. the
accusation IS not true. Ter is the
passage from 'Othello, the Moor of
Venice" Scene II, Act V:
10Th. 1t is too late.
Des. o Lord, Lord! (Smothers herr
Emil. (within.) My lord, my lord.
What, no, My lord. my lord.
9th. What noise is this? Not dead?
MOI yet quite dead?
I, who am cruel will be merciful:
I would not have thee linger in thy
pain
So. SOL (Stabs her.)
This is ken from the edition Of J..
Payne Collier, T. S. A, the text Of the
plays corrected in accordance with the
original Transcript folio of 1882. re-
Gently discovered; the notes by John
C. Jewett. If it be objected that the
words, .tStabs her." do not appear in
the first edition, the reply is that the
context plainly shows that they belong
there. Besides, Othello had a knife or
sword, for Montana says: Take you
this weapon, which I have recovered
from the Moor"
Othello, discovering that his asphyx-
iation had been unsuccessful, resorted
to the more certain, deadly knife. Ut
may be that Shakespeare, as an after
Notwithstanding DesdemOna to leave
to the world a few dying words
changed the manner of death. Or,
which is more probably, he intended
by the word smother to convey the
idea of only PARTIAL suffocation. This
suppOsitiOn is not unreasonable, when
we consider that Shakespeare wrote
more han three hundred years ago,
when the English language was IN it's
formative period, and he would be like
ly to adopt the milder Specification of
the word, derived from the Irish
'.smoid' and Anglo-Saxon "methgerin,'
to
But s'even Homer. somtimes mods"
and the historian, supposed to be as
near infallible as it is in human ma
ture to be, is frequently away out CT
his bearings. An old but standard work,
Durfvages' encyclopedia of History"
makes Louis XII, the able and power
full king of France in he fifteenth
century, the son of the crazy King
Charles VI, to amuse whom, it is said,
cords were invented n whose daugh-
ter Katherine married the great Henry
V of England. the hero of AgincOurt.
Louis XI was the son of Charles VII,
who was the French Dauphin at the
beginning of the wonderful achieve
ments Of Joan Of Arc, the peasant girl
Of Domremy.
The same work makes Queen Anne
the last of the Stuart rulers of England
ascend the throne three before the
death of her predecessor. William III.
Still the same authority makes Ed
ward III of Englan1 the arbiter of toe
claims IF the rivals, Bruce and Ballot.
to the throne Of Scotland, instead OF
lis grandfather. Edward I.
Lamartinie, almost two centuries be-
fore it was written makes n of tie
warning Sultans of Understanding
amid the ruins OF :. city which his own
prowiss had destroyed and desolatea,
and mrslng over TIE vanity of earthly
greatness and amb:trons-quote the FOL
loving exquisite c-}urlet:-
The sp Ger hath voven it's web in her
palaces,
AEi the owl hath sung it's watch note
i'll the toWa;a of Afrasiab..'
Losing in one of the historical notes
to his excellent Field Book of the
American Revolution" makes Prince
Charles Edward Stuart, the "Pretender,'
who invaded England in 1745 with an
army of Highlander, the son instead
Of the grandson Of James II.
A few years ago, in the extensive es-
Enlistment of an art dealing firm in
Boston was a picture which hundreds
Of people went to see and enjoy-illus-
trating the landing of Columbus on the
Of the New World. h flag
ship of the great navigator, a hand
some sidewheel steamer of modern ap-
with the engine putting out
great volumes of black smoke, had al
made its wharf, su5stantta.
pier, which would have done
credit to a contractor of the present
right out therefor convenience
sake. on the shores Of Guanahani. Be
hind, their tall tunnels sending stream
ers of smoke toward the horizon. came
LII HUT 11CSI vi th@ oRAAA
turers. Grouped about III the wharf
were the native Indians, manifesting
about the casual interest in the event
whicn would be displayed by the dea-
Of east Fayetteville in he arrival
Of the steamer Tar Heel from Whining |
SO. not only dramatists, histor- |
writers of fiction and poets. but
painters and even scu1ptors are guilty
OF bulls" and anachronisms.
Before going further or this line, let
US revert to Durivage in a brief para
His .Cyclcpedia OF History IN
It's biography of John Smith. the nero
Of Johnstown, Va. says OF him o
1914, five years after his return to Eng |
He now Travelled about, end-av-
to enlist men OF note in his
for coaonizing America. but
without success He urged upon Queen
Anne the propriety of rewarding Po- |
who had been brought to
England; and he published a history !
Of Virginia, with an account of.his va
voyages and h~ardships-" John
-vnfxh lsrl ~ 4hn nssu af 1andnHr III /