THE STOCK QUOTATION FROM CONGREVE.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
SIR,—In reading your article upon Congreve's plays, I am surprised to find the first line of The Mourning Bride quoted as "Music hath charms to soothe a savage breast."
You say that this line has the distinction of having been misquoted oftener than any single line in any other drama. The only two quotation-books that I can refer to—viz., Bartlett's, published by Routledge, and one published by Murray—support me in the idea that it is again misquoted, and that the correct line runs, "Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast." Brewer, in his "Reader's Handbook," varies it by changing the adjective, "Music hath charms to soothe the stubborn breast," but the definite article is in my [" L. J. N.'s " letter is a striking proof of the correctness of our statement about Congreve's line. Had our correspondent, instead of referring to quotation-books, which are generally unreliable, taken the trouble of looking at any copy of the play itself, he would, no doubt, have found the initial line correctly printed as we have quoted it,—" Music has [not hath, as he unjustly charges us with having written] charms to soothe a savage breast." It is so printed in the standard one-volume edition of the plays of Wycherley, Congreve, Vanbrugh, and Farquhar, published by Messrs. Routledge. It is a pity that so many people should content themselves with a second-hand knowledge of our great writers, instead of applying to the originals, which would save them from blunders. —En. Spectator.]
Previous page
