The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1910-07-28
M, NDERs or ,NNOTATORS.
Erudiie Persons VINO solemniy Make Al"
surf Mistakes.

To IHE EDITOR ~ TIM STS-Str' The
ludicrous perver sionS Of Compositors. the
strange lap-ss OF authors. the solemn slips
Of editors have all been made time and
again the subject Of compilations that have
added tn the Rayety Of that ready critic the
general reader. The traitorous translator
and the dead and gone reviewer who missed
his gusss have increased his hilaTity. Homer
may nod. but when lesser men snore let
them bsware.
Has a collection ever been made Of a
class of blunders still more unexpected
thoss OF professional annotatoTs, selected
for their erudition. who In tho very act
Of teaching students and readers TO slide
smoothly through our Clas-ic sometines
themselves fall sprawling in "A way nt 70
destroy all belief In human Omniscience'
As start toward such a compilation. ~
none exists. l beg 10 submit the following
taken almost at random from a modest col
lection OF books
DR. Samuel johnson in his life OF Pope
says. referring To the poet
That nj. excellence may he properly estimated
I recommend a comparison of his Characters
Of " omen with Rolleaus satire. IL viii then be
seen With how much more perSpicacliy female
nature 4 Investigated and female cSrcllenee ~
lected. and he surely Il no mean writer TO whom
PolleaI should be found Interior
\ reference 10 a biographical dictionary
- all that - needed to convince any one
that tho satire here referred To must 10
'Contre le- Femms- written toward the
close Of Boileau's career but the learned
gentleman selected 10 supply notes TO "A
college edition OF Iohnson's ldfe Of Pope
evidently had no biographical dictionary,
for he -apiently remarks
Boileau's ~Aure Ies Precleuses Ridicules
leseH 4 satire on the ladies who discussed I'oite
language and literature In Paris
90 a..
dergraduaIe mind What q pity that this
satire nv young man OF - should have
been completely forgotten by all save this
Annotator. owing TO the production Of =
famous play With the same title and on he
same subject in the same year by one Mo-
In a reprint of Mrs Trollop-'- Domestic
Manners of the AmeTioan-. specially recon-
msnded by the publishers because Of the
practical value of the annexation. occur
some Of the most remarkable TRANSACTIONS
81 French and Italian ulotA tions ever seen
.ssn e e. . .,s2 s,.SS.
10 the universally known all hope abandon.
Va who enter here. perhap- the most ia
CaTv speak not 81 them. but look and pas.
them 10y This line Mrs Trollope alters
to her purpose ~ follows
GuArdA pAs>a e not raglonar n To-
Thi. sentence surely presents no dim
Guilty 10 the mere-t tNro in Italian None
the less our Anno'ator. Il - 20 be feared
consulted neither Cary nor longtellow nor
an Italian dictionary nor the NeapOlitan
Who polished hi- -hoep, but his own inner
consciousness only. Here l. his transla-
ton
watch AMI wait and hen guard Nhatisle"
Ihia sentence hy the way. IL absolutely
m~aninrless In the context supplied NV
Mrs Trollope
one more specimen hlunder viii suffice
. In that little read poem -Gehir. by Walter
Savage Lander. occur five lines or 40 on n
.eazhell. two ~ which are
md n remembers its august sbodes
md wurrnurs 80 the oc~an Uurmur~ there
Byron IN his poem The Island para
4 phra-ad the-R lines a. follows
The ocean scarce spoar 'oYfer with Ms swell
. Than hreathe- his mimic rrurnurcf IN the shell
In footnots Byron acknowledged Nis
Indebtedness To andor. WhoZe lines he had
I heard quoted by shelley though he him - II
4 had not read "Gshir And then comes tho
b light bearing snnotator ~ standard ed
ton ct Byron poems and grsvely informs
IS that the lines from Lander which Byron
7 Uonfe-s..s 80 have initiated are the-e
For have seen Nsr vith both hands
ShAlc a dry crocoiiie % equal height
And listen 90 the shells within The srales
md fancy there VAS NE. and yet Apply
The iAgeet laws vide Op-n 20 the ear
: Could ineptituds 20 turth~r?
! NV YORK. July - FHANK & WILLS.