ON NOSES
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I have read J. B. Morton's clever article " On Noses " in the Spectator for April 18th, with interest and amusement.
But he brings it to a climax which astonishes me, for he must indeed be obsessed by his subject to be able, so quaintly, to
misquote Waller's poem "The Rose." He makes nonsense of it by printing :
" Go, lovely nose !
Toll her that wastes her time and me, That now she knows, When I resemble her to thee, How sweet and fair she seems to be."
and adds : " What could be fairer than that ? " Why a rose of course ! The lines, of course, ought to read :
" Go, lovely Rose."
—I am, Sir, &c. (Miss) L. BEATRICE THOMPSON.
Manton Cottage, 22 Bath Road, Frotne, Somerset.
[Mr. J. B. Morton writes : " I think I must have had my leg pulled. One of our foremost literary critics has assured me that Waller's poem in the original manuscript read ' nose' and not ' rose.' Of course, ' rose' makes it much more beautiful, but I still think ' nose ' is more original."—En. Spectator.]
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