Louisiana capitolian. (Baton Rouge, La.) 1879-1881, 1881-06-30
ORIGIN OF POPULAR PHRASES.
"DEAD AS A HERRING

expires, and though it be thrown instant
ly back into the water it never RECEIVERS
"GoNE WHERE THE wooDBINE TWIN
Eth
1t Is very common in the New Eng
land States to see the trough, or "spout,"
which leads the water from the caves,
entwined in the claspers of the woodbine
J. Fisk, Jr., gave the above phase in
answer to question concerning GER
tain sum of money. He wished to con
vey the idea that it had gone mp the
spout,
LET SLIP THE DOGS or WAR"
In Shakspeare's play of Julius Caesar,
Act LII, scene |, twenty-five lines from
the end, occurs the expression. Anthony
is soliloquizing as to the outcome of the
murder of Cesar's spirit : shall
in these confines cry "havoc,
and let slip the dogs of war"
"nOBSON's CHOICE"
Tobias Hobson was the first man in
England who let out hackney horses.
When man came for q horse he was led
into the stable where there was q great
choice, but he obliged him to take the
horse next to the stable door; so
that every customer was alike well
served, according to his chance. Hence
it became o proverb, when what ought
to be your selection was forced upon you,
to say ''Hobson's choice"
"BY TItE SKIN OF MY TEETH"
Is found in Job xix, 20: "My bane
cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh,
and | am escaped with the skin of my
teeth"
"TfIE STYLE Is THE MAN"
This famous expression is generally
quoted as one of Buttons; but it appears
that the words thus attributed to Button
are not Buttons at all, but perversion
Of one of his phrases, which occurs in his
"Dissertation sur le style" His words
are, ''Le style est de Phomme," and nol
de style, c'est lhomme."
"DoN'T CROWD THE MoURNERs.'
This expression originated with one of
the Mier prisoners in Mexico. The cap
tured Texans 0verpowered their guard
at Rancho Salado and escaped, but were
afterwards captured and compelled to
draw lots. A number of beans were
placed in hat, every tenth bean being
. black one. The man who drew q black
bean was to be executed next morning
One of the untortunates, who had al
ready drawn black bean, was jostled
accidentally by q fellow captive who
was crowding up to try his luck. The
i5stled party, whose fate was already
sealed, laughingly remarked: "Go
slow; don't crowd the mourners, boys.'
"rIIE PENIS MIGnTIER THAN THE SWORD"
Bulwer's famous saying, which he puts
into the mouth of Richelieu, that "the
pen is mightier than the sword" is not
original, ut least not in the idea. A
number of letters written by Oliver
Cromwell have recently been found
among the family papers of the descend
ants of one of his captains, with the de-
vice of a sword crossing q pen upon
them, and the legend, "Tcn to one the
feather beats the IRON
'TnOUGH LOST TO SIGHT TO MEMORY
DEAR"
This line has frequently been quoted,
and IN almost every instance 1t is added
that its authorship is unknown. A cor
respondent in al issue of the St. Louis
Globe of 1873 asserts that an author
named Roonven Jenkyne wrote the fol-
lowing in 1901, and published it in the
Greenwich Magazine:
Sweet heart, good bye the Guttering sail
Is spread to watt me far from thee:
And soon before the fay ring gale
My ship shall bound upon the sea.
PerChanCe all desolafe and forlorn,
Those eyes shall miss thee many year,
But unforgotten every charm
Though lost to sight, to mem'ry dear.
Sweet heart good bye! one last embrace,
o. cruel fate true souls to sever;
Yet In this hearts most sacred place
Thou, thou alone shall dwell forever!
And still shall recollection trace
In fancy mirror ever near,
Each smile each tear that from that face
Though lost to sight, to mem'ry dear.
WHOM THE GODS LOVE DIE YOUNG"
Quoted by Byron III his Don Juan,
Canto 9th, 412, but the ancient author is
AcmuS Plantlus Marcus, the greatest Of
Roman comic poets, He was born in Um-
bria about 254 b. c. His history is pro-
foundly obscure, and, according to Cice-
70, he died ia B. G. Twenty of his
comedies are still extant, ont of twenty
one enumerated by Vacco, and are
scarcely less popular among the moderns
than they were during his life lime.