The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1910-12-24

more resented being caught in q similar
trap 10 inn-s that he had laid for others
Anothsr hoaN % that date found in
way into The biographies ~ Milton. n
~as seaesd that when the young poet
was at Cambridge he was one day found
sleeping beneath "a tree by Two foreign
ladies. on. Of whom. smitt.n by his beauty
wrote some Italian verses on a piece Of
paper and slipped it into his pocket
When heawakensd h. resolv ed to dlscov .r
IN. fair unknown and set on To Italy
for the purpose. This absurd inv ention
was actually credited for a time 10y the
biographers ~ Milton
Chattrrton and Macpherson are both
sometimes claS-ed a. literary hnax.rs.
and II must br confessed that the term
- deserved by the marvellous boy
however candidly We may pity his fat.
and admire his genius With Macpherson
III" case IL slightly different. He col
l"Ct"d, ""lhted and very literally edited
rather than forged: there was undoubt-
'-dly "a subst-itum OF authenticity under
lying his versions Of Ossian. In those
days the duties ~ editing and translating
were interpreted very freely.
Parts of Pope's Homer are almost as
free as anything in Ossian. and the cur
rent TRANSACTIONS Of Virgil. Horace and
OVID were very far from literal. II
was also an age Of pretended auihorships.
supposed transla tions from foreign works
wer" constantly being presented to the
public, who were not often deceiv ed nor
really intended To he. johnson pub
li-hcd his -Rass.las- as an Eastern tale:
L..
man Life a. a translation from an In
dian manuscript. written by a Brahmin'
Pope. IN a manner more reprehensible
still. may bc Said to have forged his own
letter- Goldsmith'- Citizen OF the
World" was issued as the work Of a China
man r"slden ia England. though IL prob
ably deceived few
These things were merely literary
arthCe of tn. time. intended to arrest
attention General know ledge Of Eastern
literature was 80 slight that any thinx
could h. palneo on as a translation from
al Eastern manuscript and very much
the same thing prevailed with other
lIt.-aiure-
VIScount St-ang:ord's so-called trans
lafiuus from CamOcns were little better
than 10 forgery. ana many Of SSr John
Rovrinys rcnderings 81 European verse
=, hitl" later. are hardly more authentic
scott and MaCaulAy. together with a wide
public. were deceived into thinking
Hawker', ballad Of Trelawney "A genuine
Cornish fragment. hut this was no fault
IT Hawk-r'S who had simply published
the poem anonymously
Scott was deceived more than once in
he matter Of old ballads. or rather sup
posed old ballads. and he did sonnet hing
IN his way himself besides misleading
he public for years with regard to the
s,uf hor-hip Of his novels Books by OF her
writers were also sonnet ines palmed on
h. public ~ belonging to the Waverley
series
ConCaalmenrs of urhorship are perhaps
hardly to b- Clssssd under liz erary hoaxes:
a writer IN al liberty 20 appear before the
public under any disguise he CD noses 30
iouE ~ rhe Concealfnent IL harmless 10
any on. sl-. Thus Marian Evans was
quite Just filed IN producing her novels
under IN" name Of George Eliot and the
Bron'e- "A irii" more sCrupulous. were
..luallv justified in figuring under their
ficiitinl~ and ambiguous names Of Currer
Ellis and Acton Bell
p.rhnps one Of the Cl.yereSt hoaxes
ever p"rpe' rated was when Pore wrote
A paper supposed to he eulogizing the
pa- oralS Of Ambrose Philips in the
GYI dian. writing ANONYMOUSLY and com
parlng tho poems Of Philips with his own
Tn" comparison was aptly don. thar
while pref ending 20 assert THAT Philips
wa. superior an undert one OF irony really
gave tho adva ntaRe to Pope himself
81 ele was deceived that he hesit AZ cd
30 pyini the article. NOT detecting the
authorship and fearing that Pope would
h.. pgainad but Addison saw the drift at
once POPE Was indeed prince Of
h"aNar= doing his work with d.ftness and
cunning. coupled with mastery genius