Common Sayings--who First Said Them

Many of our commun sayinps, po trite ( uid pithy, are used without the least dea ] 'rom whose mouth or pen they first originited. Probably the wurks ol Nhakspeare l lurnish uh with more of these familiar uiax i iins than any other writer, for to him we I jwe, "All is not gold that glitters," "Make ] i virtue of necesHity," " Soww your i ge to the sticking place" (not point), " They laugh that win," "Thi is the short and lungof it," "Comparifonsaieodious," "As merry as the day is long," "A Daniel come to judgment," "Frailty, thy name is woman," and a host of others. From tbe same we culi, "Mako assurance doubly sure," " Chri.-tmas oottNÉ hut OOO6 ayear," " Count thoir ehickens ire they i are hatched," and "Look before you leap." Washington Irving gives uh " The al mighty dollar," ThomaB Morton queri.d long ago "Whatwill Mrs. Grundy .-ay ? ' while Goldsinith answers "Ask me noquestions and I'll teil you no fibs." Charles C. Pinclcney gives " Millions for defense, but not 1 cent tbr tribute." '"Firít in ar, firat io peace, and first in the hearts of his fellow-citizens" (notcountrymen), appearcd in the resolutions presented to the House of Reprenentatives in December, 1790, prepared by Gen. Henry Lee. Thomas Tasser, a writer of the sixteenth oeutury, gives us " It's an ill-will turns no good," Bettcr late than ncver," "Look ;re thou leap," and "The t-tone that is pofl ng can gather no moss." "All cry andno wool," is fóund in Butler's "Hudibra.--. " Dryden says : " None but the brave deerve the fair," "Men are but children of a larger growth," and "Through thick and hin." " No pent-up Utica eontracts our jower," declared Jonathan Sewell. " When Greeks join Greeks then comes he tug of war," Nathaniel Lee, 1692. " Of two evils I have chosen the least," and "The end must justif'y the mean," are rom Matthew Pryor. We sre indebted to 3olley Cibler for the agreeable intelligence bat '"Richard is himself again." JohDBon ,ells us in " A good hater of Mackintoh," n 1791, tbe phrase often attriliuted to John tlandolph: "Wiseand mastiriyiimctiviiy." " Variety's the very spice of life," and " Not much the worse of wear"- Cowpnr. "Men proposee, but God dis-poses " - Thomas A. Kempis. Ohiistopher Marlow gave forth the invitation so often repeated by his brolhers in a lesa public way : " Love me little, love me iong." Edward Coke was of the opinión tbat "Aman's house is his castle. " To MiltOD we owe "The paradise of fools," " A wilderness of sweets," and " Moping melancholy and moonsttutk madness." Edward Young tells us " Death loves a shining mark," " A fooi at 40 is a fooi indeed," but, alas for his knowledge of human nature when he tells us " Man wauts but little, nor that little long." From Bacon comes "Knowledge is er," andThomasSoutheineremindsus that "Pity'sakin tolove." Dean Swift thought that "Bread is the staff of Ufe." Campbell fouud that "Coining events cast their shadow8 before," and '"Tis distanee lends enchantuient to the view." "A thing of beauty is a ioy Ibrever," i írom Keats. Fianklin said, "God belps theiu who help theiuselves,"and Lawrenco Stci ntí comforts us with the thouglit, "God teiupers the wind tu the shorn lamb." Even soiue of the " ülang " ph rases of the day have a legitímate origin. "Putting your f'oot iu it " is certainly not a very elegant mode of expression, but, accordiDg to the Asiatio Kesearches, it is quito a fine poitit of law. When the title to land is disputed in Hindootan, two holes are dug in the ground, and used to inease a liuib of each lawyer (?), and the one who tired first lost bis client'a oase. Fancy, if' you can, some of our famous " liinbs of' the law " pleadiog in such a manner ! It i.s gnerally the cliënt who "puts his foot in it." When things are in disorder, they are often said to be turned topny-mivy. Thia expres.-ion is derived from the way in which turf used for fuel is placed to dry, the turf being turned downward ; and the expre.ssion then means top-side turf way. Pluturoh, in his life of Arjeesilcus, Kin(? of Sparta, gives us the origin of a quaint and familiar expression. On a certain occasion an Amhassador from Epirus, on a diplomatic mbcaoD, was shown by the King over bis capital. The Ambaesador knew of tbe monarch's fame - knew that though only noniinally King of Sparta, he was yet ruler of Greece - and he had looked to see massive walls rearing aloft their embattled towers for the defensa lesire to go very far,- to America; hut he canted an object. So he set hiw heart upon lisci-vering the northwest passage in the olar seas. He asked the Marquis de la :ouerie, who was known in America under he name of Colonel Armand, f'or a letter )t intiodut'tion to General Washington, and clt Saiut Malo in a miall t-hip with some French priet-ts wbo were going to BaltiDora. Chateaubriand landed at Ba'timore,wliieh ma then a sumll Catholic town, not very lifferent fiom an old European city. He o ik his place in a stage-coach and went to Philadelphia, where he waited a week f'or Ueneral Wa.-liington, who was away. A juiall house was the residence of the Presijcnt. "No guards, no valets. I knocked it the door ; a young womao opened it. I asked her if the General wa.s at home; she -aid he was. I said that 1 had a letter to ieliver to hitn. She asked uie for ïny naiue, ivhich is diiEcuit to pronounce in English, and which nhr. could not remember. She iliti) t-aid, t-'ently, 'Walk in, sir.'" Chateaubriand describes Washington as he appewi in all the engravings. The President asktd bim questions about the northwest passage, and expresí-ed some astonishment tbat Chateaubriand should engage in such an expedition. He asked him to dinner the next day, spoke of the French revolution, and t-howed him a key of the Bastile, which had b en sent to him. He gives a good account of hi life among the Iudiuns. He went out thootirg with tliom, slopt in their campa, paid visita to their sachems, studied their traditions. their habita, witli that catholic spirit whieh had sent the French Jesuits all over the new cont'nent. He oould well ask biiiielf' why the French governnient had abandoned its American colonice, that "nouvelle France," which was extending from Aoadia and Canada to LouiMana. and which surrounded the thirteen firsl United States. This gigantic empire died in its embryo, before it was we.ll develoi ed. New racet, new people, have civilized the interior i the continent, and traces of' the Frenuh are only found in geographical ñaues. As a Bruiuu and a born sailor, Chateaubriand had a lamer hoiizon than the uien whose lives had been centered so long at Versaillen. He sceins to have keenly enjoyed the beauty of tlie solitudes of America, of the great lake.u, of the splendid rivera. He had at time visiuns of the future. In Kentucky, for iiwtaooe, hesays: "This magnifieent country is called Kentucky, frora its river, which meanti 'river of blood.' It owes its name to its beauty. During two centuries the nations of ihe Cherokees and of the Iroquois fought for iis hunting grounds. Will the Kuropean generations be more virtuous and more free here than the exterminated American races? Will not slaves till the ground, under llie la-h of uiasters, in these deserts of the primitive independence of man? Will not priaons and gibbetM take the place of the open hut and of the high tulip-tree where the bird makes bis nest ? Will not this fertile soit engender iicw wars? Will Kentucky cease to be the land of blood?"- [Auguste Langel, International Rnview for March, 1880.