Mr. Editor,--The offence of misquoting the poets is become so general,
that I would suggest to publishers the advantage of printing more
copious indexes than those which are now offered to the public. For
the want of these, the newspapers sometimes make strange blunders. The
_Times_, for instance, has lately, more than once, given the following
version of a well-known couplet:--

"Vice is a monster of _so frightful_ mien,
_As_ to be hated needs but to be seen."

The reader's memory will no doubt instantly substitute _such hideous_
for "so frightful," and _that_ for "as."

The same paper, a short time since, made sad work with Moore, thus:--

"You may break, you may ruin the vase if you will,
But the scent of the roses will _hang by_ it still."

Moore says nothing about the scents _hanging by_ the vase. "Hanging"
is an odious term, and destroys the sentiment altogether. What Moore
really does say is this:--

"You may break, you may ruin the vase if you will,
But the scent of the roses will _cling round_ it still."

Now the couplet appears in its original beauty.

It is impossible to speak of the poets without thinking of Shakspeare,
who towers above them all. We have yet to discover an editor capable