Quote: he only lamented, that he had but one life to lose for his country (Nathan Hale 1799)

[Dan Goncharoff]

Garson

Thanks for the explanation.

I do think it can be confusing to use the date of attribution without
labeling it as a date of attribution. At least, it sure did confuse me in
this instance.

DanG


On Sun, Apr 22, 2012 at 12:54 PM, Garson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Quote: he only lamented, that he had but one life to
> lose for
>              his country (Nathan Hale 1799)
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Dan Goncharoff wrote:
> > ... It just doesn't explain to my satisfaction
> > why a quote from a guy who died in 1776 is dated 1799.
>
> The original post on this thread contained the 1799 citation (given
> further below) for the quotation ascribed to Nathan Hale. When I
> started this thread this 1799 cite was the earliest verified evidence
> I was able to locate for a version of the quotation. The 1799 date
> referred to the date of publication of the book containing the quote.
> The date did not refer to the day in 1776 on which Nathan Hale was
> supposed to have uttered his famous statement. I apologize if my
> presentation caused confusion.
>
> A follow-up post included earlier citations in 1777 and 1781 that
> provided evidence of the existence of some version of Hale's remark. I
> did not change the title of the thread. Hence the 1799 date was still
> listed in the title.
>
> Quotation references sometimes give multiple dates for a quote:
>
> 1) the date on which the quote was supposedly spoken or written
> 2) the date of a piece of evidence for the quote, e.g., in a
> periodical, book, or diary
> 3) dates that trace the evolution of the quote
>
> Note that the 1777 quote differs markedly from the 1781 quote, and
> both of these quotes differ from the 1799 quote. Hence, it is useful
> to keep track of multiple dates when tracing the evolution of a
> quotation.
>
> If the earliest evidence is a diary then sometimes two more dates are
> given: The date the diary was published and the date the diarist
> assigned to the event/quote.
>
> Cite: 1799, A Summary History of New-England: From the First
> Settlement at Plymouth to the Acceptance of the Federal Constitution:
> Comprehending a General Sketch of the American War by Hannah Adams,
> Quote Page 359, Printed for the Author by H. Mann and J. H. Adams,
> Dedham. (HathiTrust)
> [Begin excerpt]
> "Unknown to all around him, without a single friend to offer him the
> least consolation, thus fell as amiable and as worthy a young man as
> America could boast, with this, as his dying observation, "that he
> only lamented, that he had but one life to lose for his country."
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
> On Sun, Apr 22, 2012 at 12:00 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: Quote: he only lamented, that he had but one life to
> lose for
> >              his country (Nathan Hale 1799)
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > No argument here. It just doesn't explain to my satisfaction why a
> > quote from a guy who died in 1776 is dated 1799. Neoclassicism and
> > Romanticism still used the calendar correctly.
> >
> > Sent from my iPhone
> >
> > On Apr 22, 2012, at 10:13 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> wrote:
> >
> >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> >> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> >> Subject:      Re: Quote: he only lamented, that he had but one life to
> lose for
> >>              his country (Nathan Hale 1799)
> >>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >> To elucidate:  Neoclassical "Literary types" weren't hoaxers and liars;
> >> they just believed that the idea was more important than exact words,
> and
> >> that important ideas should be expressed and preserved in their most
> nearly
> >> perfect form. The Romantics probably felt the same way.
> >>
> >> Or am I dreaming that?
> >>
> >> JL
>
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