The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1891-06-18
SOME OLD SAYINGS.

There are hundreds of trite and
pithy sayings which have become
common property in the every day
speech OF the people and are used
with never thought to their origin !;
yet even among scholars and book
worms there are the fewest number
who can answer off-hand who first
coined and uttered many of the popu-
lar pnrazes, proverbs and pithy sayings
met with in the everyday speech of
the masses. Many of these, indeed,
are SO old and their origin SO shrouded
in mistery that no amount of research
and exploration among musty books
can find their source and not ever
tradition gives hint or clue. Many
pithy sayings were doubtless of low orr
gin, the happy thought of some "mute
inglorious Milton, who bequeathed his
proverb to mankind but not his name !;
and, again, after saying has reached
a certain age it is like woman in like
situation-you can never tell just how
old it is. Many of them have been
repeated over and over again by diff
ferent authors, sometimes at wide in
tervals, and it is often the case that
the supposed inventor has himself but
borrowed from the common speech.
Thus very many of these popular say
ings are found in Shakespeare, which
were evidently current proverbs in
his day. The proverb comparisons
are odious," for instance, belongs un-
doubtedly to this class, as appears not
only from its freqent repetition, but
from the ludicrous substitution of
"odorous" for odious in the mouth of
Dogberry Shakespeare also says Call
that glistens is not gold," but Chaucer
quotes it as common proyerb even
in his day. Still, there are not few
which can derive their origin from a
certain source. Thus, Thomas A.
Kempis said some 500 or 600 years
ago, "Man proposes, but God dis
"of two evils the lesser is to be chosen
Thomas Tusser, who wrote in the
sixteenth centuary work called,
give Hundred Points of Good Hus-
bandry," was the father of number
of sayings which "were not born to
die" Among therein, "better late
than never" sits an i'll mind terms
none too good" ''look before you
leap" "the rolling stone gathers no
MOSS" Calls fish that comes to my
net" "Christmas comes but once a
year." "such master, such man."
In the same century Francis Rabe-
lais "robbed Peter to pay Paul" and
struck off the happy couplet:
The devil was sick, the devil monk
would be;
The devil got well, the devil monk
was he.
Sir Edward Coke, the great lawyer
of England, was the author of that
powerful sentence, so full of the maj
esty of law and the spirit of liberty.
ga mans house is his castle" "Out oi
sight, out of mind" originated with
Lord Brooke, and Christopher Mar
lowe sang "love me little, love me
long," and asked "Whoever loved that
loved not atfrst sight"
Bacon said knowledge is power .
and the original Of whats one mans
poison is another mans meat" is from
Beaumont and Fletcher, whats one
mans poison, signor, is ancther's
meat or drink" Call hell broke
loose" "a wilderness of sweets" the
Paradise of FOOLS" Confusion worse
confounded," and "Moping melan
choly and moonstruck madness" are
from Milton, who also gaily bids us to
Come and trip it as you go
On the light, fantastic toe.
Samuel Butler, author of Hudibras
was also the originator of many say
ings which became fixed in the popu
lar speech. Thus: "'Twas Presbyte
lian, true blue," was one of his coin
age, and the hero of his story first dis
tinguished "tweedledum" from ''twee
dledee," and laid down the maxim
''those tha! fly may fight again
though Demosthenes, when re
preached for running away from The
disastrous battlefield of Cheronea had
made the same answer. Sir Johr
Mennis 1866 is the author OF The
lines more often quoted,
He that fights and runs away
May live to fight another day.
Dryden says "All delays are dan
gerous in war" "Sweet is the pleasure
after pain" None but the brave de
serve the fair" "Men are but children
of larger growth" tells US to "Be
ware the fury of patient man." ant
says that "They never pardon who
have done the wrong"
The Earl of Roscommon, go fa
from believing that the "VoIce of th'
people is the voice of God" though
that "The multitude are always in tn
wrong" He was himself nearer il
the right when he said that YOU mus