Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1854-10-04

tlOn ana at once lne VIII vi the whole company Is
set wool gathering.
''The man who writes a single line,
And hears il often quoted,
Will in his lifetime surely shine,
And be hereafter noted"
If every printing office had case filled with pop
ular phrases arranged in the manner of types. it
would save much manual labour and the compos-
ltor would be surprised to find how often he had
occasion to use it. For so inextricaby are these
''short sentences drawn from long experience"
entangled in the meshes of language that to elm
mate them would be like drawing out of carpet
the threads that fom the pattern. A few ofthese
phrases, usually found floating in the currents of
ordinary conversation, will bo sufficient to consid-
er in paper like this if we were to include those
embracedin literature and oratory, it would re-
qure fooIscap enough TO cover the sands of Egypt,
and an inkstand as large as one of the pyramids.
Not being disposed to make such an Investment
in stationery at present, we shall only play the
literary chiffonier. and hook few scraps from the
heaps OF talk we meet with every day. Mr..
John T!mmns, the broker, says Of that stock,
''there IS ,cheel ,Uithin Wheei without giving
Paradise Lost, Young's Night Thoughts and the
Prophet Ezekiel credit for phrase which may
have saved him some thousands; and when he
tells his boon companions at the club, that as for
his wife, she ,couid deny her n0thing," he does
not say how much he owes to Samson Agunistes
for the words he makes use of. When he reach
es his house, Mrs. Timmins takes him to task
.'for coming home at such an hour OF the night,
in such states" to which he replies, in gay
and festive manner, my dear, To err is human
TO forgive diuine.'" from Pope's Essay on Crit
icism TO which Mrs. II. answers IN a snappish
way, ''Timmins. there Is medium IN all
things" Qrom Horace) Mr.. T., disIiking the
tone in which this quotation is sdelivered, ''snatch
es fearful joy," (from the "Ode on Distant
Prospect of Elton College,'O by saying he does
not intend, in his house, TO have "the gray mare
pr0re the better horse" (from Prior's Epilogue.)
This only adds .titet to The RGme," (from Mil
toms Sanson.) and Mrs. T. observes that if ''Wc
could only see oTselves as others See u.s." ((rom
Burns. it would be better for some people; that
ever since he had joined that club - change had
come oer the spirit 9fhcr DREAM" (from Byron y
that when she trusted her happiness to him, she
had ''leaned upon broken reed," (from Young's
Night Thoughts, III, and Isaiah Sc; 6,) and
winds up long lecture with the reflection that
''eriL communications corrupt good manners"
(from lst Corinthians Is: 32.) This last express
sion exasperateS Mr.. Timmins, and he asks Mrs.
r., as he takes of his suspenders, 'to whom she
alludes 2" Is it to Perkins, who had stood by
him 'in cru report and good reportN cd Cor
nthians 6 81 Is it to Rapley2 "a man, tahe
hi,a for all IN aH,' (Hamel act i, SC. p ''cftcr
his O1ca heart" (Acts l3: 22;) and as for Bad
rer. who had extended to him, in the tight times
OF SO and '37, 'Me right hald Of fellowship"
! Galatians 2: 81 he was as honest man as ever
6rea,hed: and here Mr.. Tmmins, with one boot
in his hand and the other in the bOot-jack, eo-
Il ., ~! t!anI un.,I
| of Godr' (from Pope's Essay.) He was proud
of the friendship of such men, if she meant them.
| Mrs T.. not at all carried away by such flood
of authorities, rather scorniuIly says, 80, Tin
Minis, ',eI,at Is friendship but a name ?''' Qrom
| Goldsnlith's Hermit y at which Mr.. T., who by
this time is undressed, and 'dS nicd as March
hare" (frcm the old English supersiliOn,) puts
out the candle in the t,cink'ing Of an eye" lst
Corinthians Is: 81 lies down as far as possible
from the ..,ceokcr cesscl," (st EpistIe of Peter
p: w. courts stirred .NayireS street. restorer,
baimy steepw (Young's Night 1'houghis.) and
wakes next morning "a Sadder and WiSer man,"
(in Colerdge's Ancient Marner)
How much language would be left US if these
estrays were returned to their lawful owners, is
question. How could we console the dying five
had to give up to Gays 9Th Fable the phrase.
.',chiie there is HfeHere's hope?" and what could
we say 10 the good in misfortune if we had to re-
store To Pror's Ode, ''Viiue is her o,cn recard7"
The shop-keeper who ends his long list of fancy
articles with ''dad other articles Too tedious 10
meaiion," makes use of sentence as old as the
Latin language and we would take the point
from Byron's hit at Coleridge, if we were to re-
place ia "Garrck's Epilogue on Leaving the
Stare" ''a fclIo,c feeling makes as 1condrous
kind" So. too, must Goldsnth's Hermit lose
:.n,an ,cents bi LHle here beloc," If Young'S
Night Thoughts. w.. had its own property and
'aH The jargon Of the Schools" from Burns st
epslle To j. Lapraik, must be rendered up to Prl-
pr's "Ode on Exodus" which has prior claim
to it. Mr.. Achitophel Scapegrace thinks the big
gest Stockholders in the Roaring River Canal Co.
will have the best chance, as ''atl The Bag fShw
cal mp The little ones" (Pericles Prince of Tyre.
act H., SC. | , and Mr.. Bombastes Underwood
talks of "ptavorm" in precisely the same sense
as Cromwell did 200 years ago, Queries i'll Let
ter or. Carlyle) 1t is in CronwelI's 7th letter
that we find for the first time that apt conjuac-
ton, "a gcntleH;aR cnd Il Christian" now some
what threadhare from misuse; and ii we want
'moiher wH," we must look for II in Sponsors
Faerie Queen, Book iv., Canto 10, v. q. Eve
rybody has seen the man in Greek costume who
sells soap by the ball, but nobody but Mr.. Levitt
cus Gaylord suggested ''that if another Greek
should meet that Creek then would be a tug of
war" and he has authority for saying 50 IN the
Rival Queens, act v., SC. |. We have TO 20
back to Thomas a Kempis for ''man proposes, bm
God diSpoScs." If we need Ito point moral
and adOrn q tale" we must get DIR. Johnson's
"Eanily of Human Wishes" and she that rms
,aay read," in Cooper's "TrociniuSl," and she
;fluy run that rcadeM 1t :" in Habbakkuk z: q
Ii any person wish to '.eonsume Tie midmghtoii,"
let him read Gays Shepherd and Philosopher.
and in Congreve's ''Mournin9 Bride" he will
find emusic hcth charms 10 Soothc aSacage breast"
TO be IN The ,crong bor," wioccur 10 him who
has dipped into the sixth book OF "FoX's Mar
tyrs," and Napoleon found that ttrom The sublime
to The ridiculous there is bat one STEP" in Tom
Pane's works, translated and published In France,
in 1871. We take "bHds 9 promise" from
Younr's .'Last Day." "Gnd men talk oaly TO c0Il-
cealtheir mind." from his Love of Fame" al
tbonph we attribute the thought to Taleyrand
"Who shall decide whsn doctors diSagree?" is a
question we may well ask between the Allopa-
lhisis and the IEomuopathists, and Pope puts it
in his Fourth Moral Essay" In '.Lochiel's
Warnng.u we find '"cOn,iag erenis cast their
shado,cs befre.n So Tim Tallea thinks as he
sees the shade deepen upon the brow Of his credi-
tor. So Dr. SIENNA thinks as he sees the premun-
itory symptoms of coming appoplexy in the fair
round proportions of Alderman Broadbutton; and
50 thinks Peter Pipkin as the delicate adumbra-
ton is visible in Mrs Ppkins natures last hest
gift paradise Lost Book v, line l9) who
finds herself, 'as ,comea wish 10 be cho lore their
lords" douglas act l., SC. y "not wiseiy Jut
loo ucL." (Uthello, act ". SC. last.) 1t is inl-
possible to see the Ravels On the tight.rope with
out thinking of '.Ac light fantastic toe,' and L.
Allegro; and ''thoughls thd breathe and ,cords
That I,uM, ;" live in the magic atmosphere that
surrounds the orator, as well as in ''Gray's Prog