In _The
Undertaking_
(p.
John Donne
7, 16; _To Sr Henry Wotton_, p.
180, ll.
17-18.
(_c_) The
relation of a reading to historical fact. In the letter _To Sr
Henry Wotton_, p. 187, the editors, forgetting the facts, have
confused Cadiz with Calais, and the Azores with St. Michael's
Mount. ]
[Footnote 41: It is worth while to compare the kind of
mistakes in which a manuscript abounds with those which occur
in a printed edition. The tendency of the copyist was to write
on without paying much attention to the sense, dropping words
and lines, sometimes two consecutive half-lines or whole
stanzas, ignoring or confounding punctuation, mistaking words,
&c. He was, if a professional copyist or secretary, not very
apt to attempt emendation. The kind of errors he made were
easily detected when the proof was read over, or when the
manuscript was revised with a view to printing. Words or
half-lines could be restored, &c. But in such revision a new
and dangerous source of error comes into play, the tendency of
the editor to emend. ]
[Footnote 42: Take a few instances where the latest editor,
very naturally and explicably, securing at places a reading
more obvious and euphonious, has departed from _1633_ and
followed _1635_ or _1669_. I shall take them somewhat
at random and include a few that may seem still open to
discussion.
In _The Undertaking_ (p. 10, l. 18), for 'Vertue
attir'd in woman see', _1633_, Mr. Chambers reads, with
_1635-69_, 'Vertue in woman see. ' So:
Loves Vsury, p. 13, l. 5:
let my body raigne _1633_
let my body range _1635-69_, _Chambers_
Aire and Angels, p. 22, l. 19:
Ev'ry thy hair _1633_
Thy every hair _1650-69_, _Chambers_
The Curse, p. 41, ll. 3, 10:
His only, and only his purse _1633-54_
Him, only for his purse _1669_, _Chambers_
who hath made him such _1633_
who hath made them such _1669_, _Chambers_
A Valediction, p. 50, l. 16:
Those things which elemented it _1633_
The thing which elemented it _1669_, _Chambers_
The Relique, p. 62, l. 13:
mis-devotion _1633-54_
mass-devotion _1669_, _Chambers_
Elegie II, p. 80, l.
relation of a reading to historical fact. In the letter _To Sr
Henry Wotton_, p. 187, the editors, forgetting the facts, have
confused Cadiz with Calais, and the Azores with St. Michael's
Mount. ]
[Footnote 41: It is worth while to compare the kind of
mistakes in which a manuscript abounds with those which occur
in a printed edition. The tendency of the copyist was to write
on without paying much attention to the sense, dropping words
and lines, sometimes two consecutive half-lines or whole
stanzas, ignoring or confounding punctuation, mistaking words,
&c. He was, if a professional copyist or secretary, not very
apt to attempt emendation. The kind of errors he made were
easily detected when the proof was read over, or when the
manuscript was revised with a view to printing. Words or
half-lines could be restored, &c. But in such revision a new
and dangerous source of error comes into play, the tendency of
the editor to emend. ]
[Footnote 42: Take a few instances where the latest editor,
very naturally and explicably, securing at places a reading
more obvious and euphonious, has departed from _1633_ and
followed _1635_ or _1669_. I shall take them somewhat
at random and include a few that may seem still open to
discussion.
In _The Undertaking_ (p. 10, l. 18), for 'Vertue
attir'd in woman see', _1633_, Mr. Chambers reads, with
_1635-69_, 'Vertue in woman see. ' So:
Loves Vsury, p. 13, l. 5:
let my body raigne _1633_
let my body range _1635-69_, _Chambers_
Aire and Angels, p. 22, l. 19:
Ev'ry thy hair _1633_
Thy every hair _1650-69_, _Chambers_
The Curse, p. 41, ll. 3, 10:
His only, and only his purse _1633-54_
Him, only for his purse _1669_, _Chambers_
who hath made him such _1633_
who hath made them such _1669_, _Chambers_
A Valediction, p. 50, l. 16:
Those things which elemented it _1633_
The thing which elemented it _1669_, _Chambers_
The Relique, p. 62, l. 13:
mis-devotion _1633-54_
mass-devotion _1669_, _Chambers_
Elegie II, p. 80, l.
