at the State House in Philadelphia, Aug. 1, 1776. (Philadelphia,
printed; London, reprinted for E. Johnson, No. 4 Ludgate Hill,
1776.) W. V. Wells, in his Life of Adams, says: "No such American
edition has ever been seen, but at least four copies are known of
the London issue. A German translation of this oration was
printed in 1778, perhaps at Berne; the place of publication is
not given."
To found a great empire for the sole purpose of raising up a
people of customers may at first sight appear a project fit only
for a nation of shopkeepers.--ADAM SMITH: _Wealth of Nations,
vol. ii. book iv. chap. vii. part 3._ (1775.)
And what is true of a shopkeeper is true of a shopkeeping
nation.--TUCKER (Dean of Gloucester): _Tract._ (1766.)
Let Pitt then boast of his victory to his nation of
shopkeepers.--BERTRAND BARÈRE. (June 11, 1794.)
New departure.
This new page opened in the book of our public expenditures, and
this new departure taken, which leads into the bottomless gulf of
civil pensions and family gratuities.--T. H. BENTON: _Speech in
the U. S. Senate against a grant to President Harrison's widow,
April, 1841._
Nothing succeeds like success.
(Rien ne réussit comme le succès.--DUMAS: _Ange Pitou, vol. i. p.
72. 1854._) A French proverb.
Orthodoxy is my doxy; Heterodoxy is another man's doxy.
"I have heard frequent use," said the late Lord Sandwich, in a
debate on the Test Laws, "of the words 'orthodoxy' and
'heterodoxy;' but I confess myself at a loss to know precisely
what they mean." "Orthodoxy, my Lord," said Bishop Warburton, in
a whisper,--"orthodoxy is my doxy; heterodoxy is another man's
doxy."--PRIESTLEY: _Memoirs, vol. i. p. 572._
Paradise of fools; Fool's paradise.
The earliest instance of this expression is found in William
Bullein's "Dialogue," p. 28 (1573). It is used by Shakespeare,
Middleton, Milton, Pope, Fielding, Crabbe, and others.
Paying through the nose.
Grimm says that Odin had a poll-tax which was called in Sweden a
nose-tax; it was a penny per nose, or poll.--_Deutsche Rechts
Alterthümer._
Public trusts.
It is not fit the public trusts should be lodged in the hands of
any till they are first proved, and found fit for the business
they are to be intrusted with.--MATHEW HENRY: _Commentaries,
Timothy iii._
To execute laws is a royal office; to execute orders is not to be
a king. However, a political executive magistracy, though merely
such, is a great trust.--BURKE: _On the French Revolution._
When a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself as
public property.--THOMAS JEFFERSON ("Winter in Washington,
1807"), in a conversation with Baron Humboldt. See Rayner's "Life
of Jefferson," p. 356 (Boston, 1834).
The very essence of a free government consists in considering
offices as public trusts, bestowed for the good of the country,
and not for the benefit of an individual or a party.--JOHN C.
CALHOUN: _Speech, July 13, 1835._
The phrase, "public office is a public trust," has of late become
common property.--CHARLES SUMNER (May 31, 1872).
The appointing power of the pope is treated as a public
trust.--W. W. CRAPO (1881).
The public offices are a public trust.--DORMAN B. EATON (1881).
Public office is a public trust.--ABRAM S. HEWITT (1883).
He who regards office as a public trust.--DANIEL S. LAMONT
(1884).
Rather your room as your company.
_Marriage of Wit and Wisdom_ (_circa_ 1570).
Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.
From an inscription on the cannon near which the ashes of
President John Bradshaw were lodged, on the top of a high hill
near Martha Bay in Jamaica.--STILES: _History of the Three Judges
of King Charles I._
This supposititious epitaph was found among the papers of Mr.
Jefferson, and in his handwriting. It was supposed to be one of
Dr. Franklin's spirit-stirring inspirations.--RANDALL: _Life of
Jefferson, vol. iii. p. 585._
Rest and be thankful.
An inscription on a stone seat on the top of one of the Highlands
in Scotland. It is also the title of one of Wordsworth's poems.
Rowland for an Oliver.
These were two of the most famous in the list of Charlemagne's
twelve peers; and their exploits are rendered so ridiculously and
equally extravagant by the old romancers, that from thence arose
that saying amongst our plain and sensible ancestors of giving
one a "Rowland for his Oliver," to signify the matching one
incredible lie with another.--THOMAS WARBURTON.
Sardonic smile.
The island of Sardinia, consisting chiefly of marshes and
mountains, has from the earliest period to the present been
cursed with a noxious air, an ill-cultivated soil, and a scanty
population. The convulsions produced by its poisonous plants gave
rise to the expression of sardonic smile, which is as old as
Homer (Odyssey, xx. 302).--MAHON: _History of England, vol. i. p.
287._
The explanation given by Mahon of the meaning of "sardonic smile"
is to be sure the traditional one, and was believed in by the
late classical writers. But in the Homeric passage referred to,
the word is "sard_a_nion" (sardanion), not "sard_o_nion." There
is no evidence that Sardinia was known to the composers of what
we call Homer. It looks as though the word was to be connected
with the verb sairô, "show the teeth;" "grin like a dog;" hence
that the "sardonic smile" was a "grim laugh."--M. H. MORGAN.
Sister Anne, do you see any one coming?
The anxious question of one of the wives of Bluebeard.
Stone-wall Jackson.
This saying took its rise from the battle of Bull Run, July 21,
1861. Said General Bernard E. Bee, "See, there is Jackson,
standing like a stone-wall."
The King is dead! Long live the King!
The death of Louis XIV. was announced by the captain of the
bodyguard from a window of the state apartment. Raising his
truncheon above his head, he broke it in the centre, and throwing
the pieces among the crowd, exclaimed in a loud voice, "Le Roi
est mort!" Then seizing another staff, he flourished it in the
air as he shouted, "Vive le Roi!"--PARDOE: _Life of Louis XIV.,
vol. iii. p. 457._
The woods are full of them!
Alexander Wilson, in the Preface to his "American Ornithology"
(1808), quotes these words, and relates the story of a boy who
had been gathering flowers. On bringing them to his mother, he
said: "Look, my dear ma! What beautiful flowers I have found
growing in our place! Why, all the woods are full of them!"
Thin red line.
The Russians dashed on towards that thin red-line streak tipped
with a line of steel.--RUSSELL: _The British Expedition to the
Crimea_ (revised edition), _p. 187_.
Soon the men of the column began to see that though the scarlet
line was slender, it was very rigid and exact.--KINGLAKE:
_Invasion of the Crimea, vol. iii. p. 455._
The spruce beauty of the slender red line.--_Ibid._ (sixth
edition), _vol. iii. p. 248_.
What you are pleased to call your mind.
A solicitor, after hearing Lord Westbury's opinion, ventured to
say that he had turned the matter over in his mind, and thought
that something might be said on the other side; to which he
replied, "Then, sir, you will turn it over once more in what you
are _pleased to call your mind_."--NASH: _Life of Lord Westbury,
vol. ii. 292._
When in doubt, win the trick.
HOYLE: _Twenty-four Rules for Learners, Rule 12._
Wisdom of many and the wit of one.
A definition of a proverb which Lord John Russell gave one
morning at breakfast at Mardock's,--"One man's wit, and all men's
wisdom."--_Memoirs of Mackintosh, vol. ii. p. 473._
Wooden walls of England.
The credite of the Realme, by defending the same with our Wodden
Walles, as Themistocles called the Ship of Athens.--_Preface to
the English translation of Linschoten_ (London).
* * * * *
But me no buts.
FIELDING: _Rape upon Rape, act ii. sc. 2._ AARON HILL: _Snake in
the Grass, sc. 1._
Cause me no causes.
MASSINGER: _A New Way to Pay Old Debts, act i. sc. 3._
Clerk me no clerks.
SCOTT: _Ivanhoe, chap. xx._
Diamond me no diamonds! prize me no prizes!
TENNYSON: _Idylls of the King. Elaine._
End me no ends.
MASSINGER: _A New Way to Pay Old Debts, act v. sc. 1._
Fool me no fools.
BULWER: _Last Days of Pompeii, book iii. chap. vi._
Front me no fronts.
FORD: _The Lady's Trial, act ii. sc. 1._
Grace me no grace, nor uncle me no uncle.
SHAKESPEARE: _Richard II., act ii. sc. 3._
Madam me no madam.
DRYDEN: _The Wild Gallant, act ii. sc. 2._
Map me no maps.
FIELDING: _Rape upon Rape, act i. sc. 5._
Midas me no Midas.
DRYDEN: _The Wild Gallant, act ii. sc. 1._
O me no O's.
BEN JONSON: _The Case is Altered, act v. sc. 1._
Parish me no parishes.
PEELE: _The Old Wives' Tale._
Petition me no petitions.
FIELDING: _Tom Thumb, act i. sc. 2._
Play me no plays.
FOOTE: _The Knight, act ii._
Plot me no plots.
BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER: _The Knight of the Burning Pestle, act ii.
sc. 5._
Thank me no thanks, nor proud me no prouds.
SHAKESPEARE: _Romeo and Juliet, act iii. sc. 5._
Virgin me no virgins.
MASSINGER: _A New Way to Pay Old Debts, act iii. sc. 2._
Vow me no vows.
BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER: _Wit without Money, act iv. sc. 4._
INDEX.