24 DECEMBER 1881, Page 16

PRINTERS' DEVILRY.

[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR29 SIR,—Iii it so certain that the misprint " freshly-blown noses " was an invention ? Was it not rather an instance of the printer's diablerie, from which, good and bad, we of the Paper- stainers' Guild suffer such torments ? The other day I indulged in a flowery paragraph about my heroine " warbling the love- notes of Rosine," and it appeared as " Nosine." Further, I described her as a budding beauty, putting forth " new shoots of honour " every day ; and under the printers' hands she put forth "new streets of houses,"—a delightful person to take to wife, certainly, and a profitable ; but not poetic.

But it is when our printers think for us, and set us right, that we suffer most. If language was given us to conceal our thoughts, I sometimes think their thoughts were given them to conceal our language. My heroine was described by me as of a Creole's disposition, and on one touching occasion her voice sounded like an Eolian harp. Putting two and two together, this became a" Creolian harp." Obviously, the printer thought that the lady, like to her in Thackeray's " Codlingsby," carried about with her an instrument " of the kind peculiar to her nation." In a graver moment, indulging in historic disserta- tion, I described " General Hoche " as about to do something "in a few days." The printer, or reader, queried the latter ex- pression, as, in his opinion, a vile phrase; and called the eminent soldier " General Hooke." I was forced to point out to him that "in a few days" was very good English, and " General Hooke" very bad French.—I am, Sir, &c., INKPEN.