The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-08-01
SAn1GS or DIR. HAcKER.
Origin OF Familiar Phrases-CIipped
EnRIish, Etc.

dedcates his new bOok-PThe Sayings of
DR.. BushwhacBer and Other Learned Menu
to Mr.. Verplanck. He also indicates, in a
genial preface, that while the original ''Spar-
Towgrass" reprints fugitive pieces or writes
new ones, half-a-dozen other funny men are
the authors or the translators Of some of the
GOOD things in the volume-such as the "Daily
Hints to Epicurean Smokers" "Was Cham
pagne known to the Ancients r' "a French
breakfast" and an imitation of Macaulay's
I'Hstory of England" But Mr.. Cozzens' own
contributions are spicy, instructive, and alto
gether acceptable.
In WPhrases and Filberts, 1" he remarks that
Itit sometimes happens at the end of dinner
when Jokes and walnuts are cracked together,
that the paternity of some trite quotation is
put in question, and at once the wit of the
whole company is set woolgathering, " and
adds:--
IIf every printing. Office had a case filled
with popular phrases arranged in the manner
of types, il would save much manual labor
and the compositor would be surprised to find
how often he had occasion to use them. For
so inextTicably are the short sentences drawn
from long experience entangled in the meshes
of languages, that to eliminate them would be
like drawing out of a carpet the threads that
form the pattern. A few of these phrases,
usually found floating in the currents of ordi-
nary conversation, will be sufficient to con-
slider in paper like this if we were to include
those embraced in literature and oratory, it
would require foolscap 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 pre-
sent, we shall only play the literary ohiffonier,
and hook few scraps from the heaps of talk
we meet with every day."
Here are some specimens-
ORIGIN OF QUOTATIONS.
'Mr. John Timmins, the broker, says of
that stock, there is a0heeL Uithin ,oheel,'
without giving Paradise Lost, Young's Night
Thoughts, and the Prophet Ezekiel credit for
a phrase which may have saved him some
thousands; and when he tells his boon COM
panions at the club, that as for his wife, who
is rather inclined to be eXtravagant, he aOOuLd
deny her nothing he does not say how much he
owes to Samson Agonistes for the words he
makes use of. When he reaches his house,
Mrs. Timmins takes him to task for coming
home at such an hour of the night, in such
state;' to which he replies, in gay and festive
manner-'My dear, "To err is htman-to for
giUe, diUtne,'' from Popes essay on criti-
Oism: to which Mrs. Tmmins answers in a
snappish way, Timmins, 'there is a medium
in all things''' (from Horace. Mr.. t., dis
liking the tone in which this quotation is de-
hVered, snatches a fearful joy (from the 'Ode
on Distant Prospect of EtOn College'), by
saying he does not intend, in his house, to
(from Prior's epilogue). This only adds
fuel to the fame' (trom Milton's 'Sansom'),
and Mrs. T. observes that if we would only
see ourselves as others see u.s. (from Burns),
it would be better for some people; that ever
since he had joined that club "a change had
come o'er the spirit of her dream (from
Byron) that when he trusted her happiness
to him she had leaned upon broken reed
(from Young's Night Thoughts III, and
Isaiah xxxvi, g., and winds up long lecture
with the reflection that EVIL communications
corrupt good manners Qrom 1st Corinthians
XIV, 33). This last expression eXasperates
Mr.. Timmins, and he asks Mrs. T., as he
takes off his suspenders, to whom she
alludesH'
''If we turn from the frescoed bedchamber
OF Mrs. Tmmins to the whitewashed kitchen
Of Jim Skiver, the shoemaker, we find Ian
guage not less elevated. Jim throws leg of
mutton upon the table and says: There, Mary,
had "to take Hobson's choice,"' although
Jim had neither read the 509th Spectator, nor
knew that Hobson's epitaph had been written
by Milton. Jim, not having the fear of Beau
mont and Fletcher before his eyes, (Romans
3: lS), says, if he can catch that man wot
gave Bill Baxter black eye the day afore his
weddin' he'll 'lamm him. (Rinq and No Kinq,
act V, scene 3). To which Mary replies: Il
thought somethin' would happin': 'the course
Of true love never did run smooth" (Mid-
summer Nights Dream, act l. scene y, and Jim
responds, That's so; and they've put off the
weddin' so often that it seems kind o. Chopin
agin' hope'n (Romans 4 49,. Jim thinks
after they've had smack Pope and Dryden)
they had better go see the Siamese Twins
twins tied by nature; if they part they die
CYoung's Night Thoughts'); puts ON "a hat
not much the worse for wear (John Gilpin')
'dashes through thick and thin (same autho
rity and 'HudibrasO, and after he has seel
the Siamese, requests to see the Lilliputial
King (from 'Gulliver's Travels).
''How much language would be left US
these estrays were returned to their Lawful
owners, is a question. How could we consol
the dying if we had to give up to Gay
twenty seventh Fable the phrase, while ther
is life there's hopel' and what could we sa,
to the good in misfortune if we had to restor
to Prior's ede, Virtue is her own rewardl
The shopkeeper who ends his long list of fame,
articles with and other articles tooltedious L
mention, make use of a sentence as old as tn
Latinlanguage, and we would take the point from
Byron's hit at Coleridge if we were to replac
in 'Garrick's Epilogue on Leaving the Stage,
"a felloW-feeling makes us wondrOus kind.
So, too, must Goldsmith's Hermit lose 'rnal
wants but little here below if Young's Nigh
Thoughts ~, had its own property; and 'al
the jargon of the schools from Burns frs
epistle to j. Lapraik must be rendered up t.
Prior's 'Ode on Exodus, which has a prio
claim to it.
"We have to go back to Thomas Kempi
for man proposes but God disposes;' but 'whs
II thou withdraw and no friend takes note
tbv departure p was written by young ma
only eighteen years of age nearly fifty yeal