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Typo: A Monthly Newspaper and Literary Review, Volume 6
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A trade contemporary has an article headed « Blunders in the Bible, » in which such celebrated editions as the « Vinegar Bible » are noted. The three first on the list are the « Breeches, » the « Bug, » and the « Treacle » Bibles. The blunder m these instances is the para-grapher's. In each of these cases the text was quite correct, and the translation unexceptionable. The words « bug » and « treacle » were formerly generic terms, which in later times have become specific.
Stories without number are told of the book-fiend and his wiles, but one from Otago is hard to beat. It is related of a specimen who had graduated in the States, and who was despatched to Dunedin specially to work all those who had proved too much for his predecessors, and in every case he was successful. « There was only one place in the city that defied his richness of resource. He couldn't, though he tried many stratagems, get in to operate on the jail warders. He had tried often, but wouldn't be listened to, and was always cut short in the middle of an artfully-concocted tale and peremptorily ordered off. One evening, however, he was brought in with a batch of prisoners from the Police Court on a sentence of three days' imprisonment. He was run in for assaulting a professional brother; and as he refused to pay the fine, they were compelled to let him into the establishment which he wanted to work, whether they would or no. Once inside, he made such good use of his time that at the end of three days he had them all, from the governor down to the junior warder, safely on bis list. »
A reverend gentleman named Lynch addressed a letter two columns long to the Lake County Press, which the editor declined to insert until space should be available; whereupon another country paper published it in full, headed « A Dreadful Castigation. » It begins thus:— « Sir,—After two or three weeks' incubation you have brought out another achievement on 'Holy Coats.' You refer to a multitude of newspapers. You begin with the European Mail of August 28th. The Mail's 'young man' is not much of an improvement on the Cable Agency boy. Anyone who carefully reads the extracts quoted by you, can see that he has been around for his information to the back-yard of some Tréves Israelitic public-house, and has had a word with 'boots' on master's prospects this season. He seems, moreover, to have overheard the grumbling of some old-woman hawkers of the Ronge persuasion. Then he re-hashes and serves up in the columns of the Mail the information thus acquired with the gusto of one who has been among the moral sewers and malodorous gutters of Tréves, and picked up just what he wanted. » This strain of coarse, flippant, and would-be witty vituperation is maintained throughout. If Mr Lynch's discourses are on the same moral and intellectual plane as his newspaper contributions, his flock are indeed to be pitied.
We have to acknowledge receipt of a parcel of new pianoforte music from Edward Ashdown, Limited, Hanover Square, London. « Westminster Bells, » J. Pridham, is a melodious piece suited for young performers; and the same remark applies to a « Sonatina » in C, the first of a series of three by H. Franke. « Estella, » Cecil Neilson, has as its motto a passage from Dickens's « Great Expectations, » and is a very pretty melody, chiefly taken with the left hand. « Gitana, » Franz Behr, is a moderately difficult setting in B♭, of a simple Spanish melody. « Danse Gracieuse, » by Heinrich Lichner, in 6-8 time, is light and sparkling. « Alma, » Styrienne Gracieuse, by Charles Morley, is pretty in style, and a good study for right-hand legato. « Mountain Flowers » (Bergblümlein), Idyl, by Gustave Lange, is a pretty and brilliant piece for advanced performers. « Histoire Joyeuse, » is a good study for both right and left hand; and is, moreover, very melodious. Two pieces suited for moderately advanced performers are « Der gefangene Vogel, » by Franz Bernstein, a pathetic little air; and « Rothesay, » Valse dansante, by Tito Mattei. More advanced pieces, requiring taste and brilliant execution, are « Parfum des Boses, » Valse elegante, by J. Leybach, and « Notturno, » by S. Jadassohn. A more important work than either of these is the first book of Stephen Heller's Pianoforte Studies, re-arranged by Mr Lindsay Sloper, in progressive order. The complete edition is to consist of twenty books, the pieces contained in any one book being of about equal mechanical difficulty. The advantage of classifying these studies according to their mechanical difficulty had been recognized in several quarters; and a Viennese musician, Herr Hans Schmitt, to whom one of the numbers is specially and quaintly inscribed, had already made a table of the various studies, in the order in which he would recommend them for practice. In his preface, Mr Sloper says: « I wish to add that I have not collated my arrangement with that of Herr Schmitt; also, that I have been careful not to interfere with the composer's fingering. I trust, with the publisher, that this edition will have the effect of making more popular and available than ever a series of works, of their kind second to none in musical beauty, though at no time requiring such mastery over the intricacies of execution as the same class of compositions by M. Heller's eminent contemporaries. An intimacy, extending over the whole of my professional life, with M. Heller's works—each year bringing with it stronger conviction of their individuality, and proof of their constant freshness—and the personal relations with their composer that I have, during the same period, been permitted to enjoy, are at least qualifications I may without presumption claim for the duty that has been confided to me. »