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CONTENTS.

  • CHAPTER I BLUNDERS IN GENERAL. PAGE Distinction between a blunder and a mistake— Long life of a literary blunder —Professor Skeat's «ghost words»— Dr. Murray's «ghost words»—Marriage Service—Absurd etymology— Imaginary persons—Family pride— Fortunate blunders—Misquotations— Bulls from Ireland and elsewhere . . . . . . . . . . 1
  • CHAPTER II. BLUNDERS OF AUTHORS. Goldsmith—French memoir writers— Historians—Napier's bones—Mr. Gladstone— Lord Macaulay—Newspaper writers—Critics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
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  • CHAPTER III. BLUNDERS OF TRANSLATORS. PAGE «Translators are traitors»—Amusing translations—Translations of names— Cinderella—«Oh that mine adversary had written a book»—Perversions of the true meaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47
  • CHAPTER IV. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL BLUNDERS. Watt's Bibliotheca Britannica—Imaginary authors—Faulty classification . . . . . . . . . . .63
  • CHAPTER V. LISTS OF ERRATA. Early use of errata—Intentional blunders— Authors correct their books—Ineffectual attempts to be immaculate—Misprints never corrected. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78
  • CHAPTER VI. MISPRINTS. Misprints not always amusing—A Dictionary of Misprints—Blades's Shakspere and Typography—Upper and lower cases—Stops—Byron—Wicked Bible—Malherbe—Coquilles—Hood's lines—Chaucer—Misplacement of type . . . . . . . 100
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  • PAGE CHAPTER VII. SCHOOLBOYS' BLUNDERS. Cleverness of these blunders— Etymological guesses—English as she is Taught—Scriptural confusions— Musical blunders—History and geography— How to question—Professor Oliver Lodge's specimens of answers to examination papers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
  • CHAPTER VIII. FOREIGNERS ENGLISH. Exhibition English—French Work on the Societies of the World—Hotel keepers' English—Barcelona Exhibition—Paris Exhibition of 1889—How to learn English— Foreign Guides in so called English —Addition to God save the King— Shenstone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
  • INDEX. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
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