JOHN DENNIS. 1657-1734. A man who could make so vile a pun would not scruple to pick a pocket. The Gentleman's Magazine. Vol. li. Page 324. They will not let my play run; and yet they steal my thunder.1 THOMAS. SOUTHERNE. 1660-1746. Pity 's akin to love.2 Oroonoka. Act i. Sc. 1. Of the king's creation you may be; but he who makes a count ne'er made a man.3 Sir Anthony Love. Act ii. Sc. 1. MATHEW HENRY. 1662-1714. The better day, the worse deed.5 Commentaries. Genesis iii. Many a dangerous temptation comes to us in fine gay colours that are but skin-deep. Ibid. 1 Our author, for the advantage of this play (" Appius and Virginia"), had invented a new species of thunder, which was approved of by the actors, and is the very sort that at present is used in the theatre. The tragedy however was coldly received, notwithstanding such assistance, and was acted but a short time. Some nights after, Mr. Dennis, being in the pit at the representation of "Macbeth," heard his own thunder made use of; upon which he rose in a violent passion, and exclaimed, with an oath, that it was his thunder. See," said he, "how the rascals use me! They will not let my play run, and yet they steal my thunder!"— Biographia Britannica, vol. v. p. 103. 2 See Beaumont and Fletcher, page 198. 8 I weigh the man, not his title; 't is not the king's stamp can make the metal better.WYCHERLEY: The Plaindealer, act i. sc. 1. A prince can make a belted knight, A marquis, duke, and a' that; But an honest man 's aboon his might: Guid faith, he maunna fa' that. BURNS: For a' that and a' that. 4 Mathew Henry says of his father, Rev. Philip Henry (1631-1691): "He would say sometimes, when he was in the midst of the comforts of this life, All this, and heaven too!'"— Life of Rev. Philip Henry, p. 70, (London, 1830.) 5 See Middleton, page 172. 6 See Venning, page 262. So great was the extremity of his pain and anguish that he did not only sigh but roar.1 Commentaries. Job iii. vi. Our creature comforts. To their own second thoughts.2 He rolls it under his tongue as a sweet morsel. Psalm xxxvi. xxxvii. lviii. lix. lr. None so deaf as those that will not hear.3 They that die by famine die by inches. To fish in troubled waters. Here is bread, which strengthens man's heart, and therefore called the staff of life.* Hearkners, we say, seldom hear good of themselves. civ. Ecclesiastes vii. It was a common saying among the Puritans, "Brown bread and the Gospel is good fare." Blushing is the colour of virtue." Isaiah xxx. Jeremiah iii. It is common for those that are farthest from God, to boast themselves most of their being near to the Church." None so blind as those that will not see." vii. xx. Matthew ii. 1 Nature says best; and she says, Roar!-EDGEWORTH; Ormond, chap. v. (King Corny in a paroxysm of gout.) 2 I consider biennial elections as a security that the sober second thought of the people shall be law. - FISHER AMES: On Biennial Elections, 1788. 8 See Heywood, page 19. 4 Bread is the staff of life. SWIFT: Tale of a Tub. Corne, which is the staffe of life. England, p. 47. (London, 1624.) WINSLOW: Good Newes from New The stay and the staff, the whole staff of bread. Isaiah iii. 1. 5 Diogenes once saw a youth blushing, and said: "Courage, my boy! that is the complexion of virtue." 6 See Heywood, page 12. DIOGENES LAERTIUS: Diogenes, vi. 7 There is none so blind as they that won't see. - SWIFT: Polite Con versation, dialogue iii. 8 Literally from Seneca, Epistola lxiii. 16. Not dead, but gone before. - ROGERS: Human Life. It is good news, worthy of all acceptation; not too good to be true. and yet Timothy i. 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 entrusted with." iii. RICHARD BENTLEY. 1662-1742. It is a maxim with me that no man was ever written out of reputation but by himself. Monk's Life of Bentley. Page 90. "Whatever is, is not," is the maxim of the anarchist, as often as anything comes across him in the shape of a law which he happens not to like.3 Declaration of Rights. The fortuitous or casual concourse of atoms.4 Sermons, vii. Works, Vol. ii. p. 147 (1692). 1 See Heywood page 13. 2 See Appendix, page 859. 8 See Dryden, page 276. 4 That fortuitous concourse of atoms. - Review of Sir Robert Peel's Address. Quarterly Review, vol. liii. p. 270 (1835). In this article a party was described as a fortuitous concourse of atoms, - a phrase supposed to have been used for the first time many years afterwards by Lord John Russell. Croker Papers, vol. ii. p. 54. HENRY CAREY. 1663–1743. God save our gracious king! Long live our noble king! God save the king! Aldeborontiphoscophornio! Where left you Chrononhotonthologos? God save the King. Chrononhotonthologos. Act i. Sc. 1. His cogitative faculties immersed In cogibundity of cogitation. Ibid. Let the singing singers With vocal voices, most vociferous, To thee, and gentle Rigdom Funnidos, Go call a coach, and let a coach be called; Ibid. Sc. 3. But "Coach! Coach! Coach! Oh for a coach, ye gods!" Genteel in personage, Conduct, and equipage; Noble by heritage, Generous and free. Act ii. Sc. 4. The Contrivances. Act i. Sc. 2. What a monstrous tail our cat has got! The Dragon of Wantley. Act ii. Sc. 1. Of all the girls that are so smart, Of all the days that's in the week And that's the day that comes betwixt 1 Of all the girls that e'er was seen, There's none so fine as Nelly. Sally in our Alley. Ibid. SWIFT: Ballad on Miss Nelly Bennet. DANIEL DEFOE. 1663–1731. 1 Wherever God erects a house of prayer, The True-Born Englishman. Part i. Line 1. Great families of yesterday we show, Ibid. TOM BROWN. 1663-1704. I do not love thee, Doctor Fell, To treat a poor wretch with a bottle of Burgundy, and fill his snuff-box, is like giving a pair of laced ruffles to a man that has never a shirt on his back.3 Laconics. In the reign of Charles II. a certain worthy divine at Whitehall thus addressed himself to the auditory at the conclusion of his sermon: "In short, if you don't live up to the precepts of the Gospel, but abandon yourselves to 1 See Burton, page 192. 2 A slightly different version is found in Brown's Works collected and published after his death: Non amo te, Sabidi, nec possum dicere quare; Hoc tantum possum dicere, non amo te (I do not love thee, Sabidius, nor can I say why; this only I can say, not love thee). MARTIAL: Epigram i. 33. I do Je ne vous aime pas, Hylas; Je n'en saurois dire la cause, Je sais seulement une chose; C'est que je ne vous aime pas. BUSSY: Comte de Rabutin. (1618-1693.) 3 Like sending them ruffles, when wanting a shirt. - SORBIENNE (1610 1670). GOLDSMITH: The Haunch of Venison. |