Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-07-29
ORIGIN OF POPULAR PHRASES.


ers no moss Thomas Tusser, in "Good
Husbandry Lessons, has "the stone tnat
is rolling can gather no moss.
Better late than never. This proverb-
ialism originated with Thomas Tusser, au-
thor of Five Hundred Points Of Good
Husbandry," who put it into his IAN
Habitation Enforced" Tusser's writings
are prolific of expressions which have long
since become proverbisl.
"No Royal Road to Geometry. Ed
cid, who opened a school OF mathematics
at Alexandria, in the reign of the First
Ptolemy, was once asked by that sovereign
whether he could not explain his art to
him in more eompendious way, to which
Euclid made the celebrated answer that
there was no royal road to geometry.
The Nine Worthless. The historical
personsges designated "The Nine Worth
les " were three Gentiles, Hector, son OF
Prism Alexander the Great and julius
Caesar three Jews, Joshua, conquerer of
Canaan David, King OF Israel, and Judas
Maccsbeus and three CHRISTIANS, Arthur,
King of Britain, Charlemagne and Godfrey
of Bouillon.
1.-The Bed of Procrustas. -Procrustes,
called by Parusanias Polyramon, was, in
mythology, a robber of ancient Greece,
VINO placed on an iron bed the travellers
who fell into his hands, which their stature
was made to fit by cutting off the project
ing limbs, or by stretching them to SUIT its
dimensions, whence the metaphorical eX
preston of "the bed OF Proerustes.
"City of Magnificent Distances. A
popular name given to the city of Wash.
ington, the capital of the United States,
from the fact of its being laid out on a
very large scale. The entire site is ira.
versed by two sets of streets, from 20 to
100 feet wide, at right angles to one an
other, the whole agaia interseeted oblique-
ly by fifteen avenues from $50 to 100 feet
wide.
"See You I'D First. Lord ThHrlow,
who died in 1906, wound up Que of his
speeches in the British Parliament with ::
" When forget my sovereign, may my
God forget me y whereupon Wilkes is re-
ported to have said. somewhat coarsely,
but not unhappily Forget You He'll
see you id tirst" Burke also exclaimed ::
"Tne best thing that could happen to
you"
Sleeveless Errand. This phrase &C.
ours in Heywood's Proverbs, 1916 The
origin of the word sleeveless, IL the sense
of Improbable, has defed the most careful
research at the hands of S1arman and other
noted philologists. It is frequently found,
says the former, allied to other substan-
tives. Bishop Hall speaks of the sleeve.
less tale of transubstantiation, and Milton
writes Of Sleeveless reason" Chaucer
uses it in the Testament OF Love"
"Drawn and Chartered. In the stat
utes of Great Britain the punishment for
treason still is that the offender be drawn
TO the place of execution on hurdle; that
he be hanged by the neck until he be dead I;
that his head be severed from his body,
and that body divided into four parts, or
CHARTERED. The sovereign may, and nov
certainly would, by a warrant under the
sign-manual, countersignei by principal
Secretary OF State, change the sentence
into beheading. In the case of females the
quartering is dispensed with. From this
statute rose the expression drawn and
quartered."
eve recognize Hercules from the size
of his foot. "-Pythagoras ingeniously cal
culated the great stature OF Hercules by
comparing the length of various stadia in
Greece. All these courses were nominally
600 feet in length; but Hercules was said
to have measured out the stadium at
Olympia with his own feet, while the
others followed standard of latter days.
The philosopher argued that by now much
the Olympic course exceeded all others in
length by the said proportion did the foot
of Hercules exceed that of men of sub
sequent age; and, again, by the same pro-
portion must the stature of Hercules
have been pre-emlnent.
prairie Schooner. An Americanism
for large two or four-horse emigrant
wagon, covered with white canvas, such as
were very commonly used by the early
emgrants from the Eastern and Southwest
ern States. The expression is alleged TO
have been originated by George Francis
Trair, who said in one of his early stump
speeches '.To the east lies the Atlantic
Ocean, bearing upon its surface the white
doves of commerce, bound for distant
ports, laden with the products of the
broad West, whose bosom is to-day dotted
loaded with sturdy men and women, who
will ere long make its remotest quarters
blossom as the rose.
Horns of Dilemma. "A true diem
ma is defined by Whatley :" conditional
syllogism with two or more antecedents in
the major, and distinctive minor" The
following dilemma of the kind called de-
structive, will perhaps convey clearer
notion than any definition If this man
were wise, he would not speak irreverently
of Scripture in Jest; and if he were good,
he would not do so in earnest but he does
it, either in jest or earnest Z; therefore he is
either not wise or not good" There being
two conclusions, one or other OF which
your opponent must admit, he is in man
ner caught between them hence we speak
of the horns OF a dilemma.
cd oomsday Book. The name of one
of the Oldest and most valuable records of
England, containing the results of stats.
William the Conqueror and completed in
1856. The origin of the Dame-which
seems TO have been given to other records
of the same kinds somewhat uncertain /;
but it has obvious reference to the supreme
authority of the book in doom or judgment
on the matters contained in it. 1t was
anciently known by several other names,
such as the "Liber de Wintonia. or Book
of Winchester and the " Rotulus Win
tonie," or Roll of Winchester, because it
was at one time preserved in thu royal
treasury in that city.
"Dance of Death. "A name given to a
certain class of allegorical presentations,
illustrative of the universal power of
Death, and dating from the fourteenth GEN.
tury. When the introduction of Chris
tianity first banished the ancient Germanic
conception of future state, new de-
scription of death-nythology arose, partly
out of Biblical sources, partly out of the
popular character itself, wherein the Last
Enemy was represented under simple and
majestic images, such as that of hus-
bandman watering the ground with blood,
blowing it with swords, roofing out
weeds, plucking up flowers, or telling trees,
sowing it with corpses or OF monarch
assembling his armies, making war, taking
prisoners, inviting his subjects to festi-
val, or citing them to Judgment. But
with gradual change in national manners
came a change in the mode of treating the
subject, and it was associated withevery day
images, such as the confessional, chess.
playing, and above all, with the adjuncts
of festival, viz: music and dancing.