Saturday, February 11, 2012
Footnotes and Parentheses
William Shenstone (1714-1763), Essays on Men and Manners (Philadelphia: William W. Morse, 1804), p. 172:
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It seems to me, that what are called notes at the bottom of pages (as well as parenthesis in writing) might be generally avoided, without injuring the thread of a discourse. It is true, it might require some address to interweave them gracefully into the text; but how much more agreeable would be the effect, than to interrupt the reader with such frequent avocations? How much more graceful to play a tune upon one set of keys, with varied stops, than to seek the same variety by an awkward motion from one set to another?
