The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1881-02-16
NOTES AND QUERIES
On Hackneyed Sayings.
PUT PUNGENTLY PERSPICUOUS.
BY BIBLIoGRAPHER .BRIc-A-BRAC, ESQ.
D the Editor of the MOrristOwn Gazette !:

ring to the literary student is tn
unexpected authorship Of the mos
familiar sayings. Thus, Milton give
us, "On the light fantastic toe !;
| Thompson, Teach the young idei
how to shoot ;" Dryden, 'He whist
led as he went for want of thought,
and Pope, "Who shall decide whel
doctors disagree?" Pope furnishe
''the feast of reason and the flow o
SOUL" " in wit a man in simplicity I
child, and "damns with faint praise.
| "When Greek meets Greek thcT
comes the tug of war, is from Nat
Lees Alexander the Great. "MusiC
has charms to soothe the savage
breast, is from COngreve's Mourn
ing Bride. "Winter lingering chiIIs
the lap of May" is from Goldsmith s
Traveller. "When ignorance is bliss
tbs folly to be wise is by Gray, as
also Thoughts that breathe and
words that burn" "To point NOR
al and adorn a tale, is from DR..
Johnson's Vanity of Human Wish
es." Pope says many good things,
thus: ga saint in Grape is twice a
saint in lawn" "a little learning is a
dangerous thing" Gust as the twig
is bent the tree s inclined wit
that can creep and pride that licks
the dust" But here is his best:
ON her white breast a cross Of gold Ehe wore,
Which Jews might kiss and infdels adore! -
almost equalled by Burns, who, in
Tam O'Shanter, says:
cor like the snow fall in the river,
moment white, then melts forever"
"Look before you ere you leap
"count the chickens ere they're
hatched," and bid the devil take
the hindmost, is from Buffers Hu-
dibras. A fine thing, ''no line which
dying he could wish to blot, is from
Thompson's Coriolanus. "Woman,
last at the cross and earliest at the
grave" from Barrett's Woman.
From Hamlet we get, clay not the
fattering JUNCTION to your SOUL
"brevity is the soul of wit" and the
observed of all Observ-
ers." OthellO, "the devil may cite
scripture for his purpose" Sir Phil
ip Sidney puts in: Let who may
make the laws of the people, allow
me to write their ballads, and I'll
guide them at my will" In many
instances, however, you find the Ii
cense ofPoetry sadly infringed upon.
For instance:
Pope. in his Essay on Man, re-
whatever is is right" Then
is wrong, for if nothing is
right, what is what isn't? Don't
you see? Most assuredly! Cooper
states, "God made the country, man
made the town" Now, Major Coop
er, who made the country roads in
Claiborne county, State of Tennes-
see, (ne,0 iSSue?) Goldsmith, in his
Edwin and Angelina, blandly claims,
= man wants but little here below,
nor wants that little long Now,
what does this man mean? Hair,
scissor tailed coats, noses or wind
1t can't be eatables, worldly success,
or religious impressions a refer
ence to Edwin and Angelina might
solve the difficulty, but don't know
where this glorious couple reside
And that muttonhead remark Of
5terne's: "God tempers the wind to
he shorn lamb!" Now, who the
hunder shears lambs, and what sort
If wind would suit an old sucking
we, in the ridges, wandering with |
Ter forequarters briar stripped, and |
he balance of her wool clinging to |
Ter hindquarters, for all the world |
Ike a riding skirt? Shakespeare,
hat kingly bard, says:
''There is divinity that shapes our ends,
Rugh hew them as we will"
Here's precious "15 puzzle W I |
lways thought said divinity shaped
ur ends at the start i: but this "rough
elring" bothers me When [ was
boy, one of my ends was scored
but l have no recollec-
on of introducing that end to the
road axe. Possibly he refers to
orns, which, however, you may
,rape,will eventually produce boot
plitting process, which makes a
ian look like a duck in boots. Pope
ays, in his Dunciad, even Polinu-
Us nodded at the helm" Nothing
emarkable here, Mr.. Pope If
udge Polinurus wishes to nod at
le helm, why let Judge p. nod at
le helm. Perhaps his honor saw
,me acquaintance on the shore, or
erhaps he was at the lodge last
light" There is nothing, Judge
in the constitution Of the
Tnited States that forbids a man
1odding at the helm" Ask your
-ember of Congress. Gray, in the
ard, says, " Give ample room and
9rge enough" Why not simply
"" spread yourselves !" Pope
ats in, and wretches hang that
rymen may dine" Does he mean
lat the jurymen eat the wretches ?
hat would be decidedly chung
eef." That confounded saying of
"Early to bed and early to rise,
Makes a man healthy, wealthy and WISE"
as been my bette noir. Many a de-
ghtful fairy tale or precious morn
q nap has it knocked into a cock
| hat. His proverb, "God helps
lem who help themselves" "a mis- {
'int-it should be, Gold helps |
lem who help themselves, y has an
dependent, energetic tone strange t
at variance with the counsel to z
'end long winter evenings, so full {
golden opportunities for study, in G
lie slumber. Z
From Rabelais we obtain "robbing
eter to pay Paul, and che thought
le moon was made of fgreen cheese. . Q
any of the tritest Scotch and Eng 4
III proverbs have been borrowed
ON the. East. Thus, the old saw, t
a carry Goals to Newcastle" has a r