Art preservative of all arts. From the inscription upon the façade of the house at Harlem, formerly occupied by Laurent Koster, or Coster, who is charged, among others, with the invention of printing. Mention is first made of this inscription about 1628: MEMORIE SACRUM TYPOGRAPHIA ARS ARTIUM OMNIUM CONSERVATRIX. HIC PRIMUM INVENTA CIRCA ANNUM MCCCCXL Before you could say Jack Robinson. This current phrase is said to be derived from a humorous song by Hudson, a tobacconist in Shoe Lane, London. He was a professional song-writer and vocalist, who used to be engaged to sing at supper-rooms and theatrical houses. A warke it ys as easie to be done As tys to saye Jacke! robys on. An old Play, cited by Halliwell, Arch. Dictionary. Begging the question. This is a common logical fallacy, petitio principii; and the first explanation of the phrase is to be found in Aristotle's Topica, viii. 13, where the five ways of begging the question are set forth. The earliest English work in which the expression is found is The Arte of Logike plainlie set forth in our English Tongue, &c. 1584. Beginning of the end. Fournier asserts, on the written authority of Talleyrand's brother, that the only breviary used by the ex-bishop was L'Improvi sateur Français, a compilation of anecdotes and bon-mots, in twenty-one duodecimo volumes. Whenever a good thing was wandering about in search of a parent, he adopted it; amongst others, "C'est le commencement de la fin." To show our simple skill, That is the true beginning of our end. Shakespeare, Midsummer Night's Dream. Best of all possible worlds. Que dans ce meilleur des mondes possibles, le château de monseigneur le baron était le plus beau des châteaux, et madame la meilleure des baronnes possibles. — Voltaire, Candide, Ch. i. Better to wear out than to rust out. When a friend told Bishop Cumberland (1632-1718) he would wear himself out by his incessant application, "It is better," replied the Bishop, "to wear out than to rust out." - Bishop Horne, Sermon on the Duty of Contending for the Truth. See Boswell's Tour to the Hebrides, p. 18, note. Beware of a man of one book. When St. Thomas Aquinas was asked in what manner a man might best become learned, he answered, "By reading one book." The homo unius libri is indeed proverbially formidable to all conversational figurantes. - Southey, The Doctor, p. 164. Bitter end. This phrase is nearly without meaning as it is used. The true phrase, "better end," is used properly to designate a crisis, or the moment of an extremity. When, in a gale, a vessel has paid out all her cable, her cable has run out to the "better end," the end which is secured within the vessel and little used. Robinson Crusoe, in describing the terrible storm in Yarmouth Roads, says, "We rode with two anchors ahead, and the cables veered out to the better end." Blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church. Plures efficimur, quoties metimur a vobis; semen est sanguis In a note to this passage in Tertullian, ed. 1641, is the following quotation from St. Jerome: "Est sanguis martyrum seminarium Ecclesiarum." Cæsar's wife should be above suspicion. Cæsar was asked why he had divorced his wife. "Because," said he, "I would have the chastity of my wife clear even of suspicion." Plutarch, Life of Cæsar. Call a spade a spade. Plutarch, Reg. et Imp. Apoph. Philip., xv. Τὰ σῦκα σῦκα, τὴν σκάφην δὲ σκάφην ὀνομάζων. — Aristophanes, as quoted in Lucian, Quom. Hist. sit conscrib., 41. Brought up like a rude Macedon, and taught to call a spade a spade. — Gosson, Ephemerides of Phialo. 1579. Cohesive power of public plunder. This phrase has grown out of words used by John C. Calhoun in a speech, May 27, 1836: "A power has risen up in the government greater than the people themselves, consisting of many and various and powerful interests, combined into one mass, and held together by the cohesive power of the vast surplus in the banks." Consistency, thou art a jewel. This is one of those popular sayings, like "Be good, and you will be happy," or "Virtue is its own reward," that, like Topsy, "never was born, only jist growed." From the earliest times it has been the popular tendency to call this or that cardinal virtue, or bright and shining excellence, a jewel, by way of emphasis. For example, Iago says: "Good name, in man or woman, dear my lord, Is the immediate jewel of their souls." Shakespeare elsewhere calls experience a jewel; Miranda says O discretion, thou art a jewel. - From The Skylark, a Collection of well-chosen English Songs. London, 1772. Conspicuous by his absence. Sed præfulgebant Cassius atque Brutus, eo ipso quod effigies eorum non videbantur. - Tacitus, Annals, iii. 76. Lord John Russell, alluding to an expression used by him in his address to the electors of the city of London, said, "It is not an original expression of mine, but is taken from one of the greatest historians of antiquity." Dead as Chelsea. To get Chelsea; to obtain the benefit of that hospital. "Dead as Chelsea, by G-d!" an exclamation uttered by a grenadier at Fontenoy, on having his leg carried away by a cannon-ball. - Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 1758, quoted by Brady, Var. of Lit., 1826. The French Ana assign to Maréchal Villars taking leave of Louis But of all plagues, good Heaven, thy wrath can send, Canning, The New Morality. Die in the last ditch. To William of Orange may be ascribed this saying. When Buckingham urged the inevitable destruction which hung over the United Provinces, and asked him whether he did not see that the commonwealth was ruined, "There is one certain means," replied the Prince, "by which I can be sure never to see my country's ruin, I will die in the last ditch."Hume, History of England, 1672. Eclipse first, the rest nowhere. Declared by Captain O'Kelley at Epsom, May 3, 1769. - Annals of Sporting, Vol. ii. p. 271. Emerald Isle. This expression was first used in a song called Erin, to her own Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. Author unknown. Every man is the architect of his own fortune. Sed res docuit id verum esse quod in carminibus Appius ait, Fabrum esse suæ quemque fortunæ." - Pseudo-Sallust. Epist. de Rep. Ordin., ii. 1. Exceptions prove the rule. This enigmatical phrase has not been traced to any source. "Prove" must mean bring to the test. Fiat justitia ruat cœlum. Prynne's Fresh Discovery of Prodigious New Wandering-Blaz First in a village than second in Rome. Cæsar said, "For my part, I had rather be the first man among these fellows than the second man in Rome." - Plutarch, Life of Cæsar. Gentle craft. According to Brady (Clavis Calendaria), this designation arose from the fact, that, in an old romance, a prince of the name of Crispin is made to exercise, in honour of his namesake, St. There is a tradition that King Edward IV., in one of his dis- Marry because you have drank with the King, George a-Greene. 1599. God always favours the heaviest battalions. Deos fortioribus adesse. - Tacitus, Hist., iv. 17. Dieu est d'ordinaire pour les gros escadrons contre les petits. - Le nombre des sages sera toujours petit. Il est vrai qu'il est La fortune est toujours pour les gros bataillons. - Sévigné, Napoleon said, "Providence is always on the side of the last Good as a play. An exclamation of Charles II. when in Parliament attending the The king remained in the House of Peers while his speech was Nullos his mallem ludos spectasse. Horace, Sat. ii. 8. 79. Greatest happiness of the greatest number. That action is best, which procures the greatest happiness for the Priestley was the first (unless it was Beccaria) who taught my lips to pronounce this sacred truth, that the greatest happiness of the greatest number is the foundation of morals and legislation. Bentham's Works, Vol. x. p. 142. The expression is used by Beccaria in the introduction to his |