Fwd: one-handed quote search

[Douglas G. Wilson]

> >>> <<... que j'avais plus de trente ans avant que j'eusse jeté les
> >>> yeux sur aucun de ces dangereux livres qu'une belle dame de par
> >>> le monde trouve incommodes, en ce qu'on ne peut les lire que
> >>> d'une main.>>
> >>
> >> Translation of that last part (from Google Print):
> >>
> >> <<... that I was more than thirty years old before I so much as
> >> glanced at one of those dangerous books which one lovely woman of
> >> the world finds inconvenient, so she says, because they can only be
> >> read with one hand.>>
> >
> >
> > Hmmm, so it was originally a *woman* making the "one hand" joke? That
> > certainly puts a spin on the expected readership of those dangerous
> > books.
>
>The "so she says" isn't in the French, but yes, it is implied that this
>is her opinion.

Apparently some versions or editions read "... ne peut, dit-elle, les lire
que ...."

One might ask further whether the lady quoted is identifiable as a real
person, and if so whether the concept should be attributed to her ....

-- Doug Wilson