The Delaware ledger., 1883-09-01
Origin of Popular Phrases,

'tDeYil take the hindmost. This
far more expressive than elegant say
ing occurs originally in Beaumont and
Fletcher's play of "Bonduca " 1t
also occurs in Buffers ''Hudibras,"
Prior's "Ode on Taking Nemur,"
Pope's ''Dunciad," and in the poem
''TO Haggis," by Robert Burns.
Enough is as good as a feast. -
One of the Oldest of all the popular say
ings in use. 1t has been traced as far
back as 1433 occurring in book enti-
tied ''D.ves and Pauper," published in
that year. 1t is also found in Gas
coigne's Memories, I" 1873. Rays
proverbs, " Gielding's "Covert Garden
Tragedy" and Bickerstaff's "Love in
Village"
Gas good as play. AN exclama-
tion of Charles II. when in Parliament
attending the discussion of Lord Ross
divorce bill. Macaulay, in his review
of the life and writings of Sir William
Temple, refers to the saying as follows:
HThe King remained in the House of
Peers while his speech was taken into
considerations common practice with
him for the debates amused his sated
mind, and were sometimes, he used to
say, as good as comedy"
"Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to
God. - From an inscription on the
cannon near which the ashes of Presi-
dent John Bradshaw were lodged, on
| the top of hill near Martha Bay, in
Jamaica. Randall, in his "Life of
jefferson" has this to say of the quota
tion in question 'This suppositious
epitaph was found among the papers of
Mr.. jefferson, i'll his handwriting.
1t was supposed to be one of DIR. Frank
Inns spirit stirring inspirations.
BLESSINGS on Him who Invented
sleep. Miguel de Cervantes, 1547,
died 1916, originated this well-known
saying. 1t occurs in passag, in Don
Quixote, as follows:
BLESSINGS on Him who invented
sleep, the mantle that covers all human
thoughts, the food that appeases hunger,
the drink that quenches thirst, the fire
that warns cold, the cold that moder-
ates heat, and, lastly, the general coin
that purchases all things, the BALANCE
and weight that equals the shepherd
with the King and the simple with the
WISE"
"Dies Ire.-The name generally given
, (from the opening words) to the famous
medieval hymn on the Last Judgment
,, On account of the solemn grandeur Of
the ideas which it brings to the mind
as well as the deep and trembling emo
tions it is fitted to excite, it soon foun(
; its way into the liturgy of the Church
The authorship of the hymn ha
been ascribed to Gregory the Great st
Bernard, of Clairvaux Umbertus, AM
Frangipani, the last two of whom wer
neted as Church hymnists; but in al
:, probability it proceeded from the pen o
the Franciscan, Thomas of Celano,
native of the Abrazzi, in the Kingdom
Eof Naples, who died about the year 1856
n When the Church adopted it, and mad
a it portion of the service of the mas
cannot be entertained with any exact
~ ness, but it must have been in any cas-
. before 1885. Several alterations wer
then made in the text; that, however
"A is believed to be the original which
!. engraved on a marble tablet in I'll
= Church of st. Francis at Mantua. Ge
III many has produced many translation
of the hymn, such as those of Schlege
In Fichte and Runsen. 1t was translate
" into English by Richard Cranshaw,
al the seventeenth century, and by Lol
or Macsulay, Lord Lindsay, the Re
Isaac Williams, Of Woodford, al
oil others in our own day. Sir Walt
,ot Scott has introduced two or three of Il
opening verses into his "Lay of the La
Minstrel"