The Greeley tribune., 1908-06-25

L
and phrases generally used in poll
teal sense. or in connection with po-
litical subjects with us, that very evi-
IDENTIFY have come down to us from
other times, some of them of COM
paratively recent date and others
from remote period in the past.
The following are few of them:-
Talking to the Galleries
| will not pretend to say when or
where this phrase originated. but
Samuel Johnson evidently referred
to the habit, when he told Boswell
that sheridan seems to think too
much of the audience, and turns his
lace too often to the galleries.
"Took nothing they couldn't lift"
or "stoic nothing they couldn't car
ry away" This expression so often
applied to politicians in office in our
day clearly originated with Chaucer;
for in the Canterbury tales he makes
the Bailiff reply to the Somnour in
the following facetious manner
Now, by my trouthe, brother dere,
seyde he
AS shall tellen thee faithful tale
My Wages been full streite and full
Smale
My lord to me is hard and daun-
gerous
And myr olfyce is full laborous
And therefore by extorcions | live
| spare not to taken, God it woot
But If it be to hevy or to hOot.
Forced designations
This is one of the commonest of
political lodges of our times. but It
appears to have originated with
Claudius the Roman Emperor nearly
two thousand years ago. for We find
in the Annals of Tacitus this ac-
count Of it
"As these reformations by Claud-
ius. in quality of censor. were ac-
ceptable to the public, he entered
upon them with great alacrity.
Anxiously deliberating how he
might remove from the senate those
who were infamous in character, he
determined to apply new and mild
expedient, rather than to follow the
rigorous example of antiquity; and
he warned them, Ito consider each
his own circumstances. and ask leave
to retire from the order" request
easily to be obtained.
Nothing Succeeds Like Success"
1t happens that for this very com
mon observation in society today
whether in reference to politics or Ii
terature or mere business affairs,
recall but one instance of its use in
an earlier age. | quote from Pepys
Diary, August 18th. 1865.
But Lord to see what success do
whether with or without reason, and
making u man seem wise. notwith-
standing never so late demonstration
of the profoundest folly in the
world"
Taking to the Woods
I 40 not find any early instance
where this phrase, SO often used in
our day in a political sense, has
| attached to it the precise modern
meaning-but in Timon of Athens
| Shakespeare makes the misanthropic
+ recluse say
"Timon will to the woods; where he
shall find
The unkindest beast more kinder
than mankind"
1.-THE Gang
No more popular, suggestive, and
expressive phrase or epithet, intend
ed at once to name and condemn a
f, corrupt controlling set or ring in the
official ranks of party in power
ever came into common use in the
| United States than THE Gang"
which for the past twenty-five years
has been applied, and quite general
W to appropriate persons too. in the
larger, worst governed cities OF our
country. 1t is probable that the ori-
ginator of the epithet intended it to
suggest resemblance in character
between the persons to whom 1t was
applied, and the members OF the
common prison chain gang or crimi-
nails often seen laboring upon public
works or highways: and 1t has, at all
events, SO fitted into our environment
and requirements that we might
well have supposed 1t to have origi-
mated in this country and in our own
day. But here again we find our
idea and its resulting nomenclature
Not so New" In Mr.. Pepy's time
that of our English Restoration, 1"
one of the most corrupt periods of
f, english history, he makes the fol-
lowing memorandum in his celebra-
/ ted diary
| Here was also Monsieur Blance-
! fort, Sir Richard Powell. Colonel
Vil,ers. Sir Johnathan Trelawny,
and others. And here drank most
excellent. and great variety. and
plenty of wines, more than | have
drank these seven years, but they
did me no great harm. Having
dined and very merry, and under
standing by Blancefort how angry
the Duke of York was about their
offering to send Saville to the Gate