_Poem by Malherbe_ (Vol. ii., p. 104.).--Possibly your correspondent MR.
SINGER may not be aware of the fact that the beauty of the fourth stanza
of Malherbe's Ode on the Death of Rosette Duperrier is owing to a
typographical error. The poet had written in his MS.--
"Et Rosette a vÈcu ce que vivent les roses," &c.,
omitting to cross his _t_'s, which the compositor took for _l_'s, and
set up _Roselle_. On receiving the proof-sheet, at the passage in
question a sudden light burst upon Malherbe; of _Roselle_ he made two
words, and put in two beautiful lines--
"Et Rose, elle a vÈcu ce que vivent les roses,
L'espace d'un matin."
(See _FranÁais peints par eux-mÈmes_, vol. ii. p. 270.)