Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
Share image
1
150
Literary Lapses
·
Stephen Leacock
113
I
have
before
me
a
pathetic
witness
of
this
fact.
It
is
the
note-book
once
used
for
the
random
jottings
of
a
gentleman
of
the
period.
In
it
I
read:
"Fair
Lydia,
if
my
earthly
harp."
This
is
crossed
out,
and
below
it
appears,
"Fair
Lydia,
COULD
my
earthly
harp."
This
again
is
erased,
and
under
it
appears,
"Fair
Lydia,
SHOULD
my
earthly
harp."
This
again
is
struck
out
with
a
despairing
stroke,
and
amended
to
read:
"Fair
Lydia,
DID
my
earthly
harp."
So
that
finally,
when
the
lines
appeared
in
the
Gentleman's
Magazine
(1845)
in
their
ultimate
shape--"Fair
Edith,
when
with
fluent
pen,"
etc.,
etc.--one
can
realize
from
what
a
desperate
congelation
the
fluent
pen
had
been
so
perseveringly
rescued.
There
can
be
little
doubt
of
the
deleterious
effect
occasioned
both
to
public
and
private
morals
by
this
deliberate
exaltation
of
mental
susceptibility
on
the
part
of
the
early
Victorian.
In
many
cases
we
can
detect
the
evidences
of
incipient
paresis.
The
undue
access
of
emotion
frequently
assumed
a
pathological
character.
The
sight
of
a
daisy,
of
a
withered
leaf
or
an
upturned
sod,
seemed
to
disturb
the
poet's
mental
equipoise.
Spring
unnerved
him.
The
lambs
distressed
him.
The
flowers
made
him
cry.
The
daffodils
made
him
laugh.
Day
dazzled
him.
Night
frightened
him.
This
exalted
mood,
combined
with
the
man's
culpable
ignorance
of
the
plainest
principles
of
physical
science,
made
him
see
something
out
of
the
ordinary
in
the
flight
of
a
waterfowl
or
the
song
of
a
skylark.
He
complained
that
he
could
HEAR
it,
but
not
SEE
it--a
phenomenon
too
familiar
to
the
scientific
observer
to
occasion
any
comment.
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
