The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1891-10-18


doubt that Hcywood's Proverbs is tho original
fount. 30 far as oven Mr.. Bartlctt's researches
can enlighten us. OF multitude Of household
words. Among the apothcgms which can be
traced no further than his collection may DO
cited: Haste maketh waste" Tho fat is in
tho nro."" When the sun shineth make hay"
Tho tide tarrieth for no man" To beat the
bush while others catch the bird" Moro
frightened than hurt" To take mine ease in
mine inn." ITO hold their noses to the grind
stone."" "A day after the fair" To cut your
coat after your cloth" Two heads arc better
than one.""A short horse is soon curried."
ITO tell tales out OF school" To look as II
butter would melt In your mouth" ITO
rob Peter to pay Paul. Bono was not built
in a day" Better ia half loaf than no
bread" and "One good turn asketh another"
II is uncertain whether Haywood or his con-
temporary. Thomas Tusser. should be cred
tied with "Safo bind safe find" and Nothing
venture nothing have: but Mr.. Bartlett does
not challenge Tusser's claim to 1T is an i'll
wind turns none to good" and WHO Roeth n
borrowing goeth a Borrowing" To another
contemporary OF Heywoods, Richard Edwards.
whose name las long since been forgotten
by his countrymeu. must 10 attributed tho
FIRST mention In English OF tho proverb The
falling out OF faithful friends ia tho renewing
OF love-" which. however. is really as old as
Terence. who tells US that the nuarrclling Of
lovers intensines their love. 1t Is not easy to
determine the English authorship Of My
mind to me a kingdom is." for tho limo Is used
by three different poets. Dyer Byrd. and
Southwell. in the last halt Of the sixteenth
century With mono Of them was the saying
original. for it was Simply translation Of
Seneca's Mems yeYnunt bona pOssidet"
hat NO ON N q
Bacon many familiar quotations. md the
reader therefore will not be surprised to find
eight pages Of this book allotted to him. 1t is
less generally known that Bacon's rival in the
quest OF judicial distinction. Sir Edward Coke
must also DO credited with three current say
ings. namely: THE law is tho perfection Of
reason" A mans house Is his CASTLE" and
Corporations havo no souls" To another
distinguished English contemporary Of Ba-
cons. Sir Walter Raleigh. and not. rs Is often
assumed. to Shakespeare. belongs tho first
English reproduction OF the proverb Smooth
waters run deep" Raleigh's version. it will
be remembered, is:
Passions are likened best to floods and streams:
The shallow inurnuf, but the deep are dumb
The Latin original Of this thought is met
with in Quintus Curtius "AHssima Queque
fumi,,a miai,no sono labi." A well-known dis
itch Of Wither' 8 was also derived from Raleigh:
If sho undervalue me. what care how fair
she be?' 1t was Raleighs protage. Edmund
Spenser. who first used the phrase. "A bold.
bad man." and who. two centuries before DAN
ton. uttered the Injunction, BE bold. be bold.
and everywhere DO bold" 1t was moreover.
from Spenser that Shakespeare borrowed the
idea advanced in Measure for Measure:
"The hand that hath made you fair hath made
you good" To John Lyly. author OF the
once admired "Euphues." we should acknowl-
edge our indebtedness for several adages
which have passed into our common speech.
He was the first, for instance to speak OF
brown study and Of tho main chance"
and to declare that There can no great smoke
arise but there must be some fire." and that
Soft drops Of rain pierce hard marble" The
last-named fact. however. had been observed
and pithily expressed by Plutarch in Greek.
and still earlier by Lucretius in Latin. To Sir
Philip Sydney we owe the phrase. MANY
headed multitude" and the description OF q
wife as mans better half"
III.
We come now to quotations from the drama
lists. 1t seems uncertain whether we should
credit Chapman or Mariowe with the saying:
None ever loved that loved not at first sight"
The authorship also. OF several familiar quo
tations usually ascribed to Shakespeare. be-
cause they appear in his plays. should. in fair
ness. be attributed to Chapman. No ono can
dispute Chapman's claim to the dictum.
Young men think old meu are fools. but old
men know young men arc FOOLS" Neither does
any one challenge his ownership Of ITO make
ducks and brakes with shillings." Three mod
quoted lines. or rather ideas. from Chapman.
Thus Longfellow's Lives Of great men all
remind us we can make our lives sublime " is
clearly paraphrase OF Chapmans
80 ourives
In acts exemplary not only win
Natter for virtuous deeds by which we live"
Again. tho well phrase in the epitaph
penned by Keats for himself. Here lies one
whose name was writ in water" is evidently a
"reminiscences. conscious or unconscious. Of
Chapman's Words writ in waters" 10. too.
Tennyson's "'Tis only noble to be good" was
apparently suggested by Chapmans They
are only truly great who are truly good"
Passing to Marlowe. we observe that Shake
speare plainly borrowed from him. though he
gave the thought more compact expression.
Thrice is lie armed that hath his quarrel
just" for Murlowe Ind written II am armed
with more than complete steel-the justice Of
my quarrel" 1t is, by tho way. from Marlowe
that we get the phrase Infinite riches in lit
tie ROOM" To another Elizabethan dramatist.
John Webster. we owe Il see him now going
the way OF all lesh." and " know death hath
ten thousand several doors for men to
take their exit" The latter thought reap
pears In Beaumont and Fetcher's Death hath
so many doors to let out life.' and in Sir
Thomas Brownies Considering the thousand
doors that lead to death" 1t is uncertain
whether we owe ' Turn over a new lear to
Thomas Decker or Thomas Middleton. To
tho latter unquestlonably belongs "On his
last legs" There is no hate lost between
U.S." and Have YOU summoned your wits
from wool Gathering Middleton also uses
the phrase Plain rs packstafr." which
only some years later appeared In the
form plain as pikestaff." Whether to
Middleton or to Ben Jonson belongs II smell
n rat" is disputabe, but each of them en-