father, "was asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow
... now never sleeps above an hour without waking."
If the passage omitted be of very considerable length, for instance if
it be a complete paragraph, or if a line of poetry be omitted, the
asterisks are placed in a line by themselves. There is a tendency to
confine the asterisk to such cases, and to use the full stop for
shorter ellipses. If a complete sentence be omitted, the number of
additional full stops is generally four; if a passage be omitted in
the middle of a sentence, the number is generally three.
When some of the letters of a name are omitted, their place is
supplied by a line or dash, whose length depends on the number of
letters omitted.
The scene of our story is laid in the town of B----. There
was one H----, who, I learned in after days, was seen
expiating some maturer offence in the hulks.
Blakesmoor in H----shire.
REFERENCES TO NOTES
Notes are generally placed at the foot of a page; though sometimes
they are collected at the end of a chapter, or even at the end of a
book. Various devices are in use for indicating the passage in the
text to which a note refers.
(1) The six reference signs: the "asterisk" (*), the "dagger" ([dagger
character]) (also called the "obelisk"), the "double dagger" ([double
dagger character]), the "section" (§), the "parallels" (||), the
"paragraph" (¶). They are suitable only where the notes are placed at
the foot of a page, and are invariably used in the order in which we
have mentioned them.
If the number of notes in one page exceeds six, the signs are doubled.
The seventh note is marked thus: **; the eighth, [dagger
character][dagger character]; the ninth, [double dagger
character][double dagger character]; and so on. But it is better, in
cases where the notes are so numerous, to use other means of
reference.
(2) Figures: either within parentheses, as (1), (2), (3), &c.; or,
more usually, printed in the raised or "superior" form, as ¹²³,
&c. Sometimes the first note in each page is marked;¹ but it is now
common, in books divided into chapters, to mark the first note in each
chapter with ¹ and then go on with continuous numbers to the end of
the chapter.
"Superior" figures are now the most usual marks of reference in
English books.
(3) Letters; which also may either be placed within parentheses or be
printed in "superior" form: (a), (b), (c), &c., or ^{a} ^{b} ^{c}, &c.
Italic letters are sometimes used. As a rule the first note in each
page is marked (a) or ^{a}. If in one page there are more notes than
there are letters in the alphabet (which sometimes happens), we go to
(aa), (bb), (cc), &c., ^{aa} ^{bb} ^{cc}. The letter "j" is often
omitted.
It is less common to make the letters continuous from page to page.
The sign, whatever it may be, is placed at the beginning of the note,
and also in the text immediately after the part to which the note
refers. The note may refer to a whole sentence, to a part of a
sentence, even to a single word; the sign is placed as the case may
be, at the end of the sentence, at the end of the part referred to, or
after the single word.
HOW TO CORRECT A PRINTER'S PROOF
[Illustration]
EXPLANATION
1. Where a word is to be changed from small letters to capitals, draw
three lines under it, and write _caps._ in the margin.
2. Where there is a wrong letter, draw the pen through it, and make
the right letter opposite in the margin.
3. A letter turned upside down.
4. The substitution of a comma for another point, or for a letter put
in by mistake.
5. The insertion of a hyphen.
6. To draw close together the letters of a word that stand apart.
7. To take away a superfluous letter or word, the pen is struck
through it and a round top _d_ made opposite, being the contraction of
_deleatur_='expunge.'
8. Where a word has to be changed to Italic, draw a line under it, and
write _Ital._ in the margin; and where a word has to be changed from
Italic to Roman, write _Rom._ opposite.
9. When words are to be transposed, three ways of marking them are
shown; but they are not usually numbered unless more than three words
have their order changed.
10. The transposition of letters in a word.
11. To change one word for another.
12. The substitution of a period or a colon for any other point. It is
customary to encircle these two points with a line.
13. The substitution of a capital for a small letter.
14. The insertion of a word or of a letter.
15. When a paragraph commences where it is not intended, connect the
matter by a line, and write in the margin opposite _run on_.
16. Where a space or a quadrat stands up and appears, draw a line
under it, and make a strong perpendicular line in the margin.
17. When a letter of a different size from that used, or of a
different face, appears in a word, draw a line either through it or
under it, and write opposite _w.f._, for 'wrong fount.'
18. The marks for a paragraph, when its commencement has been
omitted.
19. When a word or words have been struck out, and it is subsequently
decided that they shall remain, make dots under them, and write the
word _stet_ in the margin.
20. The mark for a space where it has been omitted between two words.
21. To change a word from small letters to small capitals, make two
lines under the word, and write _sm. caps._ opposite. To change a word
from small capitals to small letters, make one line under the word,
and write in the margin _lo. ca._, for 'lower case.'
22. The mark for the apostrophe; and also the marks for inverted
commas.
23. The manner of marking an omitted passage when it is too long to be
written in the side margin. When this occurs, it may be written either
at the top or the bottom of the page.
24. Marks when lines or words are not straight.
When corrected, the passage given above would read as follows--
ANTIQUITY, like every other quality that attracts the notice of
mankind, has undoubtedly votaries that _reverence_ it, not from
reason, but from prejudice. Some seem to admire indiscriminately
whatever has been long preserved, without considering that time has
sometimes co-operated with chance: all perhaps are more willing to
honour past than present excellence; and the mind contemplates genius
through the shades of age, as the eye surveys the sun through
artificial opacity. The great contention of criticism is to find the
faults of the moderns and the beauties of the ancients. While an
author is yet living, we estimate his powers by his worst
performances; and when he is dead, we rate them by his best.
To works, however, of which the excellence is not absolute and
definite, but gradual and comparative; to works, not raised upon
principles demonstrative and scientific, but appealing wholly to
observation and experience, no other test can be applied than LENGTH
of duration and continuance of esteem.