St. Lucia.
_"Well's a fret"_ (Vol. viii., p. 197.).--I beg leave to suggest to
DEVONIENSIS the following as a probable explanation of the use of this
phrase; the rhyme that follows being superadded, for the sake of the
jingle and the truism, in the best style of rustic humour.
Well! is often used in conversation as an expletive, even by educated
people, a slight pause ensuing after the ejaculation, as if to collect
the thoughts before the reply is given. Is it not therefore called a
_fret_, or stop, in the Devon vernacular, figuratively, like the fret
or stop in a musical instrument, the cross bars or protuberance in a
stringed, and a peg in a wind instrument?
Hamlet says, in taunting Rosencrantz for his treasonable attempts to worm
himself into his confidence,--
"Call me what instrument you will; though you can _fret_ me,
you cannot play upon me."
Taken in this other sense in which we use the word _fret_, is it not
probable that it has passed into a proverb; and that the lines, as given
by DEVONIENSIS, are a corruption of
"Well! don't fret;
He who dies for love will never be hang'd for debt."
--the invention of some Damon to comfort Strephon in his loneliness.