expression ``the officer was broke'' as
meaning broke on a wheel and translated
it by _rou
_ made a very serious matter of
what was possibly but a small fault.
In the translation of _The Conscript_ by
Erckmann-Chatrian, the old botcher is
turned into the old butcher.
Sometimes in attempting to correct a
supposed blunder of another we fall into
a very real one of our own. Thus a few
years ago, before we knew so much about
folk-lore as we do now, we should very
probably have pointed out that Cinderella's
glass slipper owed its existence to a
misprint. Fur was formerly so rare and so
highly prized that its use was restricted
by sumptuary laws to kings, princes, and
persons holding honourable offices. In
these laws sable is called vair, and it has
been asserted that Perrault marked the
dignity conferred upon Cinderella by the
fairy's gift of a slipper of vair, a privilege
confined to the highest rank of princesses.
It is further stated that by an error of the
printer _vair_ was changed into _verre_. Now,
however, we find in the various versions
which have been collected of this favourite
tale that, however much the incidents may
