192 



AXD PXIXT2SS. 



quested to -walk into tlie compos- 

 ing-room. 



" The opportunity "was taken in 

 his absence to request of Sir John 

 to indulge the bard with his favour- 

 ite seat, but without mentioning his 

 name. Sir John said, ' I will not 

 give up my seat tb yon impudent, 

 staring fellow.' Upon which it was 

 replied, ' Do you not know that that 

 staring fellow, as you call him, is 

 Burns, the poet 1 ' Sir John in- 

 stantly left the stool, exclaiming, 

 * Good gracious ! Give him all the 

 seats in your house ! ' Burns was 

 then called in, took possession of his 

 stool, and commenced the reading 

 of his proofs." 



ERRORS OF THE PRESS. 



The original memoirs of Cowper, 

 the poet, were apparently printed 

 from an obscurely written manu- 

 script. Of this there is a whimsi- 

 cal proof, where the Persian Let- 

 ters of Montesquieu are spoken of, 

 and the compositor, unable to de- 

 cipher the author's name, has con- 

 verted it into Mules Quince! 



A newspaper heads an advertise- 

 ment, "Infernal Remedy." This 

 may be quite true, but we imagine 

 that " internal remedy" was intend- 

 ed. Mistakes, even of single let- 

 ters, are sad things. 



An important house in New 

 York had occasion to advertise for 

 sale a quantity of brass hoppers, 

 such as are used in coffee-mills. 

 But instead of brass hoppers, the 

 newspaper read grasshoppers. In 

 a short time the merchant's count- 

 ing-room was thronged with in- 

 quirers respecting the new article 

 of merchandise. 



The editor of the Evangelical 

 Observer, in reference to an indi- 

 vidual,. took occasion to write that 

 he was rectus in ecclesia, that is, in 

 good standing in the church. The 

 type-setter, to whom this was a 

 -dead language, in the editor's ab- 

 sence, converted it into rectus in 



culina, which, although pretty good 

 Latin, alters, in some degree, the 

 sense, as it accorded to the reverend 

 gentleman spoken of only a good 

 standing in the kitchen. 



By a ridiculous error of the 

 press, the Eclectic /fezu'ew was adver- 

 tised as the Epileptic Review, and, 

 on inquiry being made for it at a 

 bookseller's shop, the bibliopole re- 

 plied: "He knew. of no periodical 

 called the Epileptic Review, though 

 there might be such a publication 

 coming out by fits and starts." 



JEALOUSY OF BOOKSELLERS AND 

 PRINTERS. 



Day, the printer, in Elizabeth's 

 time, envied by the rest of his fra- 

 ternity, who did what they could 

 to hinder the sale of his books, had 

 books upon his hands, in the year 

 1572, to the value of 3000 or 

 4000 a great sum in those days. 

 But living under Aldersgate, an 

 obscure corner of the city, he wanted 

 a good vent for them. His friends, 

 who were among the learned, pro- 

 cured aid from the dean and chap- 

 ter of St. Paul's Church-yard, so 

 that he had a neat, handsome shop 

 framed. It was little and low, and 

 flat-roofed, and leaded like a ter- 

 race, railed and posted, fit for men 

 to stand upon in any triumph or 

 show, but could not in any wise 

 either hurt or deface the same. This 

 cost him 40 or 50. 



But his brethren, the booksellers, 

 envied him, and, by their interest, 

 got the mayor and aldermen to for- 

 bid him setting it up. Archbishop 

 Parker interfered, and obtained the 

 queen's permission on his behalf, 

 and he at length succeeded. 



STATIONERS' COMPANY. 

 The Stationers' Company existed 

 as a fraternity long previous to the 

 invention of printing. Some of its 

 members, indeed, haveacquired im- 

 mortality by being among the first 

 to introduce this new power into 



