The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1881-07-29
Hartford Courant.l
Origin of Popular Phrases

Dead as herring.-This phrase may be
traced to the fact that the herring Is an ex-
tremely delicate fish. Whenever it is taken out
of the water, even though it seems to have no
hurt, it gives squeak and Immediately ex-
pires, and though it be thrown instantly back
into the water it never recovers.
Gone where the woodbine twineth.- 1t Is
very common in New England States to sec
the trough, or Spout" which leads the water
from the caves, entwined in the claspers of
the woodbine. j. Fisk, Jr., gave tire above
phrase in answer to question concerning q
certain sum of money. He wished to convey
the idea that it had gone up the spout.
Let slip the dogs of war.-In Shakespeare's
play, "Julius Cesar" act Ill, scene l., twen-
ty-fve lines from the end, occurs the above ex-
preston. Antony is soliloquizing as to the
outcome Of the murder of Caesar. "And Ce-
sar's spirit shall in these confines
cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war;"
Hobson's choice.-Tobias Hobson was the
first man in England who let out hackney
horses. When man came for a horse he was
led into the stable where there was o great
choice, but he obliged him to take the horse
which stood next to the stable door, SO that
every customer was alike well served accord
ing to his chance. Hence it became proyerb,
when what ought to be your election was
forced upon you, to say "Hobson's choice.'
By the skin of my teeth.-It is found in Job
xix, 20: "My bone cleayeth to my skin and to
my flesh; and escaped with the skin of my
teeth"
To point moral, etc.
. He left name at which the world grew pale.
To point moral or adorn a tale
Written by Samuel johnson, in speaking of
Charles XII. of Sweden, in "The Vanity Of
Human Wishes.''
The style is the man.-This famous saw is
generally quoted as one of Buffon's; but it ap-
pears that the words thus attributed to Button
are not Buttons at all, but perversion of one
OF his phrases, which occurs in his "Disserta-
tion sur le Style" His words are, Gle style
est de phomme," and not ''Le style, c'est
phomme."
The pen is mightier than the sword.-Bul-
wer's famous saying, which he puts into the
mouth of "Richelieu," that ''the pen is NIGH
tier than the sword, is not original, at least,
not in the idea. A number of letters written by
Oliver Cromwell have recently been found
among the family papers of the descendant Of
one of his captains, with the device OF sword
crossing pen upon them, and the legend,
Ten to one the feather beats the iron"
Don't crowd the mourners.-This expression
originated with one Mier prisoner in Mexico
The captured Texans oyerpowered their guard
at Rancho Salado and escaped, but were after
ward captured and compelled by them to draw
lots. A number of beans were placed in hat,
every tenth bean being black one. The man
who drew a black bean was to be executed
next morning. One of the unfortunates who
had drawn black bean was jostled acciden-
tally by fellow-captive, who was crowding
up to try his luck. The jostled party, whose
fate was already sealed, laughingly remarked:
go slow; don't crowd the mourners, boys"
Though lost to sight, to mem'ry dear.-This
line has frequently been quoted, and in almost
every instance it is added that its authorship is
unknown. A correspondent in an issue of the
named Ruchven Jeakyns wrote the following
in 170I, and published it in the Greenwich
Magazine.
Sweetheart, good-byel the auttering sail
Is spread TO watt me far from thee;
And soon before the fav'ring gale
My ship shall bound upon the sea.
Perchance all desolate and forlorn
These eyes shall miss thee many year
But unforgotten every charm,
Though lost to sight, to mem'ry dear.
Sweetheart, good-byel one last embrace.
o, cruel fate, true souls to sever;
Yet in this hearts most sacred place
Tnou, thou alone shall dwell foreveri
And still shall recollection trace
In fancys mirrors every year,
Each smile, each tear from that face,
Though lost to sight, to mem'ry dear.
Whom the gods love die young. Quoted by
Byron in his Don Juan, canto 6, 412; but the
ancient author is Accius Plautius Marcus, the
greatest of Roman comic poets. He was born
in Umbria about 254 B. @. His history is pro-
foundly obscure, and, according to Cicero, he
died 1874 B. .. Twenty of his comedies are
still extant out of the twenty-one enumerated
by Vacco, and are scarcely less popular among
the moderns than they they were during his
lifetime.
He tempers the wind to the shorn lamb
This passage originally occurs in Sternes
Sentimental Journal," in the touching cpl
sode OF "Poer Maria and her Goat" near Mou-
Inns, France