The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1878-01-19
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Origin of Some Popular Sayings.


Origin of Some Popular Sayings.
Almost every one has on hand store
of trite opposite sentences, using them
daily, but having no knowledge of their
authorship; and as men are apt to be curl
Gus eoncering the habits and laws that they
follow or are governed by, tracing their
origin back into the dimness of long-slum-
bering centuries, so that they are often
possessed with desire to know who first
framed these words into the sentences so
familiar to them. As they have not all
the time to devote TO such a labor, the
following have been strung together by
one whose nature leads him to ramble
among books for his souls best amuse-
ment.
1t was Thomas A. Kempis who in the
fifteenth century gave us-Man proposes,
but God dispOses; and the equally we'll
known saying OF two evils the less is to
be chosen, the original of Of two evils
choose the least. Thomas Tusser, wri-
ter of the sixteenth century, gave, Better
late than never, and the key for four other
common phrases in-For Christmas comes
but once . year, Its an i'll wind that turns
none to good, The stone that is rolling can
gather no moss, look ere thou leap, see ere
thougo. Itwas Francis Rabelais, French
wit of the same century, who said that by
-RObbing Peter he paid Paul, and told
that when
The devil was sick, the devil a monk would be /;
The deyn==as well, the devil a monk was he"
1t was also in the sixteenth century that
Sir Edward Coke, celebrated English
lawyer, said, For mans house is his cas-
tie, apd Lord Brooke sung, And out of
mind as soon as out of sight. 1t was
Christopher Marlowe, the forerunner of
Shakespeare, and father of the grand old
English drama, who sang to the ladies,
Love me little, love me long, and told of
Infinite riches in little room.
We owe to the prolific genius of Shake
speare, This is the short and long of it,
The worlds mine oyster, Comparisons are
odious, As merry as the day is long, A
Daniel come to judgment, 1t is a wise
father that knows his own child, And
thereby hangs a tale, He needs must 90
that the devil drives, Why, this is very
midsummer madness, The smallest worm
will turn when trodden on, Smooth runs
the water where the brook is deep, So
wise so young they say do ne'er live long.
The weakest goes to the wall, We have
seen better days, This was the most un-
kindest cut of all, Stand not upon the or
der of your going, A deed without name,
Frailty, thy name is woman, | am a man
much more sinned against than SHINING,
They laugh that win, and thousand more
as good, though not as well known.
Francis Bacon, the "wisest, greatest,
n.eanest of mankind" said, knowledge is
power, and Beaumont and Fletcher pro-
nounced that-What's one mans poison
is another's meat or drink Milton tells
US of Moping melancholy and moonstruck
madness, aud also of-A wilderness of
sweets, All hell broke loose, and-The
paradise of fools.
Samuel Butler, author of Hudibras,
dubbed a religious creed thus Twas
Presbyterian true blue. Dryden says,
None but the brave deserve the fair, and
Sweet is pleasure after pain. He also
warns thus Beware the fury of patient
man, All delays are dangerous in war, and
thinks that-Men are but children of
larger growth The Earl of Roscommou
has it that one must-Choose an author as
you choose friend, and says that-The
multitude are always in the wrong. John
Bunyan wisely reminds us that-He that
is down needs fear no fall, and Thomas
SOutherne-That PHYS akin to love. 1t
was crazy Nathaniel Lee who averred that
When Greeks joined Greeks, then was
the tug of war.
Matthew Prior thought-The end must
justify the means; and Dean Swift said,
Bread is the staff of life George Farqu-
har called-Necessity the mother of in
vention; Edward Young, very sombre
fellow, thought that-Death loves shin
ing mark; he also said, Man wants but
little, nor that little long, and that-A
fool at forty is fool indeed: he also told
of-Tired natures sweet restorer, balmy
sleep. Pope says-To err is human, to
forgive divine; and Thompson tells Of
Cruel as death, and hungry as the grave.
1t was John Gay who said-While there's
life there's hope, and sang of-Over the
hills and far away; Lawrence Sterne thought
that-God tempers the wind to the shorn
lamb, and Benjamin franklin has said
that-God helps them who helps them
selves :-COwper said that-Va Variety's the
very spice of life; Thomas Campbell that
-'Tis distance lends enchantment to the
view; he also said, And coming events
cast their shadows before; Daniel Webster
told Of a-Sea of upturned faces, and
Washington Irving who thought our idol
was-The mighty dollar; Byron says war
presents-Battle's magnificent stern array;
and Keats that-A thing of beauty is a
joy forever; and last, it was Bishop Berke-
ly, an English prelate, who in the seven
teenth century said, Westward the course
of empire takes its way.