EDNote: Thanks to Matt Roth for this gracious apology. Here's to hoping
paper-and-ink never die! ~SB
-------- Original Message --------
Some will recall that a few weeks ago I argued that Pope's use of "pale
fire" in his translation of the Thebais of Statius should merit our
attention. Well, in short, never mind. Let this be a cautionary tale
about the use of Google Books--a wonderful tool nonetheless. As it
happens, a search on "pale fire" sent me to _The Works of Alexander
Pope,
Esq., in Verse and Prose_ (1806). There I read the phrase "Let the pale
fire revisit Thebes." As it turns out, both Google books and I were
fooled
by the old-style s that looks like an f (is there a name for this?).
The
actual phrase, which I discovered in other editions, is "Let the pale
sire
revisit Thebes." Oy!
Sorry for the trouble.
Matt Roth