Old Sayings

'ihe hnicliMi languajfc M rrott tlBH ta time cnriched by strikini; phraaes and bappy turns of exnression, which takes ¦och deep and sympathetic root in the Hi.iilar vocabulary, and enter tito kuco ornmon use, ihat their authorship is alnaoat invariably overlooked. Thai does the world rob unl tben forget its benefaei il tbM Samuel BÚtler is perhaps une of the niost neglected. " True blue," lWr infUaoe isso nrdinary a phrase that we sddom stay to makeinquiriesabout ils orxin; yet we niialit, il' we lookftd, tind thal lUe autbor üi' JluJibras " ued it to loUliae, not lue tory of bis day, but thcPresbyterian. He also I was who, as hu us we have been able to discover, tirst introduced the expreszon, "the Btaia hance," in il.i aodwa nieaning. And once mure wv tobo liini wlion we -l'i'ikof "nettim; iho wronjL ow by ibe ;n " lor he wrote. " You nave a wronii -o by the ear. " The onc in the "Epittle to Arbutlinot," aad tlir other in the " DuDctad." Daan 8wiA Srtt alludod te bread "Mie -tM of lifp ; " Iryden ¦ i 1.-3 ci:it-l tbc idea, "a poen uM il", ' aii'l l'opc martfee autli ¦¦ Omni H'iUi fa i il I ju Wfll as the till BON bMklM " V. . When we ;iieak of '; a ten-t (' f;it ihmM," it lu.iy br tliat ?oiuc ut' u ii((htly attubuie the plirs-P In it antlior, tlic I'roilna'I-;iiali : bat it doe t appoar U) be a L'enorally nsaembered taal in tin: pol " come tu us t'rum i hc Second Book of Kings, and tb.it " darknoi wbich may be feil is iheliteran proprrty ut tin mbiagten Irvinir, in Tho C'reoie V'illago, ' wrotc ol " the al mighty dollar, that iniver -:il devotion throuijliout oor Tand ¦ 1 In I' i; - and Im ant i tnlly 1. iiiinonly deformed and mwfonMd, and Cowper i rafcnlÉM to ¦ lln cttfK UiHt i-lieer i.iii uot liielniittc.' [l uBUSuaüy roodered n'funing U one cup only. Tbe expresiioo 'a dim relKuu! light may 1k tound in iilton'n " renscroso," and tin' commonl rtpoted aw tbal " abaiakei the Leaii now fond," is to ii.' diaoorered ia T. II. Bayiey'a '' [sic of lïeauly." it allitrratioii arlt'nl ai'l i bf ihill, th. arttat. I In' phraai " oonipariüonü are ndious" ulujost Qvariably writteo wiüiout ciuotation iiiarlv. It umus in Bufloa'l "Anit.iiiiy ut' Mclaiichol.v," and alao iu Hef bert'í "Jacula l'rmk-ntum,'' and Bkak-peare, in " Mach Ado About Nothini;.1 apariaODS odióos." The oricia of the term " the midoUlit oil " iiccurs n Qaarlea. Of "DeD take the hinderimv-t, Heauiuont and Fletcber tuay claim tbe phrase. " Diamond cal diamond," is traccable to Fords " LoverV Melaneholy." Tbe expreaaion " neither tinh nor flesh nor itood red herring ' to beiong to 8ii II. Bheere. '"Turn over i new loaf," Baja Middli-toii in "Aoythiag tor a (s)uict Life ; " and it was Mrs. Malaprop, in SheridaD'a "The Rivala," who tirst owned "tbe oft inipcacliuieut." Uliver Goldsmith, in " The Good-Natured Man," wrote " measure.-', not men." To Milton we owe the saying that " Peac.' hsth her victories, No li ss niiowiied than wnr; ' and it was Goldsmith who, in MSfce 8toop8 to t'onquer," introducel us to " the very pink of perfection." It was Hyron who wrote : " Stranye all Uiin dillsiv.nv slimihl hr Twixt Tweedlcdum and Tweed!. It was Thomson who first spoke of teaching " the young idea how to shoot," and it H i Bacon who eaunciated the aphoristu thal " ktuiwledge is power."