Chapter 16

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Errors and Inconsistencies:

_All corrections were checked against other versions of the text._ If an apparent error is the same in all available versions, or if the correct form was not deducible from the 1851 text alone, it was left unchanged.

Non-Errors

Many spellings were carried over unchanged from the 1804 original, even if they were archaic by 1851, such as "doat", "choak", "staid" (for "stayed") and others.

"gale": in pre-Beaufort usage, a synonym for "breeze" "ensign": starting rank in the British infantry until 1870 "prim hedge": probably the same as privet hedge, _Ligustrum vulgare_ "Dr. Franklin": Benjamin Franklin received an honorary doctorate from Oxford in 1762

Misprints

the old gentleman thus addressed them [gentlemen] hastily walked the room in much visible agony of mind, [vissible] From them you will be enabled to obtain information [enable] In them we can place the utmost confidence. [In // In at page break] I will call at your father's [you] He arose after a sleepless night [nights] "Your perverseness, Melissa [previous paragraph ends at line-end; paragraph indent missing] ascended in pyramidical columns to the zenith [columns the zenith] which widening, more rapidly advanced [nore] he betook himself to the forest for shelter [be betook] he set out to return [he sat out] he slowly recovered, but [recov-/ed at line break] Omnipotent Controller of vicissitudes! [Controler] Omniscient dispenser of destinies! [dipenser] where every object would be shrouded in crape [he shrouded] Neither did he enquire into Alonzo's prospects [Oeither] now smooth as polished glass [snooth] the woe-worn head of fortune's fugitive [woe-worm] One day she had been with my sister at my father's [" one" (lower case) with letter-width space at page-top] frequently would he burst into tears [frequntly] for mercy and forgiveness [forgivness] he had made an opening large enough [on] no person was therein except the gentleman and servant [therin] he either suspected, or really discovered [on really] All the tender powers of Alonzo's soul [Alonzon's] informed Edgar of all that had happened [hapened] Melissa's sudden and unaccountable removal [Melissa] Vain and presumptuous assurance [presumptous] perhaps you will consider it enthusiasm [peahaps] How ready you gentlemen are, replied Melissa [gentleman] one brother and two sisters, of which my uncle [or which] My aunt knew you [know] Alonzo found by this narrative that [narative] Alonzo then gave Melissa a minute account [Mellissa] they were not prepared to undeceive her father [undecieve] his crops had yielded but a scanty supply [crobs had yeilded] The sun blended its mild lustre [blendid] the spring birds carolled in varying strains [carroled] they put off among the Americans for live stock [American's] thinnest scarlet tiffany [thinest]

Invisible Letters

Here and below, "invisible" means that the letter or punctuation mark is not present, but there is an appropriately sized blank space.

A considerable pause ensued. [s in "ensued" invisible] the thousand various birds [final s invisible] Here all was solemn and silent [s in "was" invisible] Its appearance was tall and robust, wrapped in a tattered white robe [a in "and", r in "robe" invisible] By the fate of war, he replied [r in "war" invisible] he was worn to a skeleton [spacing in this line is ambiguous; the word "a" may be either missing or invisible] I find by your father's letters that [final t invisible] they projected scenes of connubial bliss [t in "they" invisible] reflected in the glassy lake [l in "lake" invisible]

Punctuation

"For far beyond the pride and pomp of power, [" invisible] A soft and silent shower had descended; [; invisible] Melissa was silent. [. missing or invisible] the same enquiry respecting you. [. missing or invisible] you are melancholy. [. invisible] It would, he said, be a delicate point [first , invisible] "In our present dilemma, said Alonzo, what is proper to be done?" [said Alonzo what] "It is difficult to determine, replied Melissa [" missing] "The world is before you, answered Vincent [" missing] alternately humming a tune, and impudently staring at Alonzo [, invisible] My mother and Edgar ardently strove [and Edgar, ardently] "I would advise you, said he [" missing or invisible] Melissa seated herself at the window. [at the window."] "Unfeeling and impertinent intruder, retorted Alonzo, [intruder?] "Well, thou hast wonderful courage, child [Well, thou hast] perhaps they were still open. [. invisible] "If you will allow me to name the place, said he [" missing] but that she must still be there. [be there..] alternately in the house and the enclosure [alternately, in] at the seat of her uncle, Col. W. D-- [her uncle. Col.] "Blue trembling billows, topp'd with foam," [" missing or invisible] grave of my Melissa?" [" missing or invisible] when we were seated she thus addressed me: [_no punctuation at end of paragraph_] "Henry, you know that to promote your peace [" invisible] though made in the presence of heaven." [" missing] Candour and correct reason must have answered yes. [. invisible] "Hallo, messmate! what, scudding under bare poles [" missing] "Thy case, said he, is a little critical [Thy case said he] when we will see what can be done." [be done.'] by which you may return to your own country." [. invisible] it is possible I have been undesignedly accessory [have been,] "A person with whom I am acquainted [" missing or invisible] if Col. D----, (Melissa's uncle) [. missing] "On my return from the inn [" missing] though slowly, yet surely, disperse [yet surely.] their eyes spoke sympathy, and they parted. [. missing or invisible] intrinsically _good for nothing_." [" missing or invisible] keep our cousin Melissa in countenance." [" missing or invisible] a few months after the melancholy tidings arrived [, invisible] leaving Alfred, their only child, then an infant, [_second comma invisible, but word-spacing suggests "Alfred, their only child then, an infant"_] "Melissa, said he, I find [Melissa said he] your father's, at Vincent's, and at Mr. Simpson's [Mr Simpson's] as I have before informed you. [informed you."] proceeded immediately to his father's. [. missing or invisible] they welcomed Alonzo, whom they had given up as lost [Alonzo. whom] "We were school-mates, he replied, and [he replied and] which my bosom must ever retain; but being separated [; invisible] they were generally informed of Alonzo's reasons [reason,s] the celebration at her father's. [. missing or invisible] The others, though they pursued them, got off. [, invisible] and for such measures we were amply prepared." [amply prepared.] The man enquired to what town they were to go, which [, invisible] They immediately set out for the aforesaid town ["They] "Ere fate and fortune frown'd severe," [closing " missing or invisible]

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The statistically minded reader may like to know that the word "bosom" occurs fifty-nine times in the text, and the word "mansion" sixty-two.