Bears in his boasted fan an Iris bright,
When her discoloured bow she spreads through heaven bright.
F. Q. iii. 11. 47.
We meet also with places where the sense or the metre, unaided by rime, must be our guide in correcting—ex. gr.,
The round earth, heaven's great queen and Pallas to whose bands.
Chapman, Iliads, i. 395.
Here the metre shows that the right word is Minerva, not Pallas.
There is one most remarkable case of substitution to which sufficient attention has never been given by the critics. It may be termed reaction or repetition, and arises from the impression made by some particular word on the mind of the transcriber or printer, or even of the writer himself.
Thus in a proof-sheet of my Milton I found
A furnace horrible on all sides round,