[12] Philol.  Soc.  Trans. 1885-7, pp. 368-9.

In the Academy for Feb. 25th, 1888, Dr. Skeat explained another discovery of his of the same kind, by which he is able to correct a time-honoured blunder in English literature:—­

``CAMBRIDGE:  Feb. 14, 1888.

``When I explained, in the Academy for January 7 (p. 9), that the word `Herenus ’ is simply a mistake for `Herines,’ i.e., the furies (such being the Middle-English form of Erinnyes), I did not expect that I should so soon light upon another singular perversion of the same word. p 154

``In Chaucer’s Works, ed. 1561, fol. 322, back, there is a miserable poem, of much later date than that of Chaucer’s death, entitled `The Remedie of Love.’  The twelfth stanza begins thus: 

 `Come hither, thou Hermes, and ye furies all
  Which fer been under us, nigh the nether pole,
  Where Pluto reigneth,’ etc.

It is clear that `Hermes’ is a scribal error for `Herines,’ and that the scribe has added `thou’ out of his own head, to keep `Hermes’ company.  The context bears this out; for the author utterly rejects the inspiration of the Muses in the preceding stanza, and proceeds to invoke furies, harpies, and, to use his own expression, `all this lothsome sort.’  Many of the lines almost defy scansion, so that no help is to be got from observing the run of the lines.  Nevertheless, this fresh instance of the occurrence of `Herines’ much assists my argument; all the more so, as it appears in a disguised shape.
                    ``WALTER W. SKEAT.’’

Sometimes a misprint is intentional, as p 155in the following instance.  At the beginning of the century the Courrier des Pays Bas was bought by some young men, who changed its politics, but kept on the editor.  The motto of the paper was from Horace: 

          ``Est modus in rebus,’’

and the editor, wishing to let his friends at a distance know that things were not going on quite well between him and his proprietors, printed this motto as,—­

          ``Est nodus in rebus.’’

This was continued for three weeks before it was discovered and corrected by the persons concerned.

Another kind of misprint which we see occasionally is the misplacement of some lines of type.  This may easily occur when the formes are being locked, and the result is naturally nonsense that much confuses the reader.  Probably the finest instance of this misplacement occurred some years ago in an edition of Men of the Time (1856), where the entry relating to Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford, got mixed up with that of Robert Owen, the Socialist, p 156with the result that the bishop was stated to be ``a confirmed sceptic as regards revealed religion, but a believer in Spiritualism.’’ It was this kind of blunder which suggested the formation of cross-readings, that were once very popular.