was a great choice, but he obliged him to take the horse which stood next to the stable-door; so that every customer was alike well served according to his chance, from whence it became a proverb, when what ought to be your election was forced upon you, to say "Hobson's Choice."

Spectator, No. 509.

"All is lost save honor."

It was from the imperial camp near Pavia that Francis the First, before leaving for Pizzighettone, wrote to his mother the memorable letter, which, thanks to tradition, has become altered to the form of this sublime laconism: "Madame tout est perdu fors l'honneur."

The true expression is, "Madame pour vous faire savoir comme se porte le reste de mon infortune, de toutes choses ne m'est demeuré que l'honneur et la vie qui est sauve."

Martin. Histoire de France. Tom. viii.

"As good as a play."

An exclamation of Charles II. when in Parliament attending the discussion of Lord Ross's Divorce Bill.*

* The King remained in the House while his speech was taken into consideration, a common practice with him; for the debates amused his sated mind, and were sometimes, he used to say, as good as a comedy. — Macaulay, Review of the Life and Writings of Sir William Temple.

"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.

"No one is a hero to his valet."

This phrase is commonly attributed to Madame de Sevigne, but on the authority of Mad. Aisse belongs to Madame Cornuel.

Lettres, edit, J. Ravenal, 1853.

Few men are admired by their servants.

Montaigne. Essais. Book iii. Ch. 11. When Hermodotus in his poems described Antigonus as the son of Helius, (the sun), "my valet-de-chambre," said he, "is not aware of PLUTARCH. De Iside et Osiride, ch. xxiv.

this."

"La Garde meurt et ne se rend pas." This phrase attributed to Cambronne, who was made prisoner at Waterloo, was vehemently denied by him.* It was invented by Rougemont, a

*When pressed by a pretty woman to repeat the phrase he really did use, he replied, "Ma foi, Madame, je ne sais pas

prolific author of mots, two days after the battle, in the Indépendant.

"Defend me from my friends."

The French Ana assign to Marechal Villars taking leave of Louis XIV., this aphorism, "Defend me from my friends; I can defend myself from my enemies."

But of all plagues, good Heaven, thy wrath can

send,

Save, save, oh save me from the candid friend. Canning. New Morality

"Beginning of the end."

M. Fournier* asserts, on the written authority of Talleyrand's brother, that the only breviary used by the ex-bishop was L'Improvisateur Français, a compilation of anecdotes and Bonmots, 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.

au juste ce que j'ai dit à l'officier Anglais qui me criait de me rendre mais ce qui est certain est qu'il comprenait le Francais, et qu' il m'a répondu mange."

L'Esprit dans l' Histoire.

To shew our simple skill

This is the true beginning of our end.

Shakspeare. Midsummer Night's Dream.
Act v. Sc. 1.

"Speech was given to man to disguise his thoughts." Ils n' employent les paroles que pour deguiser leur pensees.

Voltaire. Dialogue xiv. Le Chapon et la Poularde. When Harel wished to put a joke or witticism into circulation he was in the habit of connecting it with some celebrated name, on the chance of reclaiming it if it took. Thus he assigned to Talleyrand in the Nain Jaune the phrase, "Speech was given to man to disguise his thoughts." Fournier. L'Esprit dans l'Histoire.

Where Nature's end of language is declined
And men talk only to conceal the mind.

Young, Love of Fame, Satire ii. Line 207. The germ of this saying is to be found in Jeremy Taylor; Lloyd, South, Butler, Young, and Goldsmith have repeated it after him.

"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

66

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'S Memoirs. Vol. i. p. 372.

"I hear a lion in the lobby roar."

But Titus

said with his uncommon sense,

When the Exclusion Bill was in suspense,

I hear a lion in the lobby roar.

66

REV. JAMES BRAMSTON. Art of Politics.

Indemnity for the past and security for the future," are now evidently construed into Ceylon and Trinidad.

Letter to the Hon. T. Maitland.

Russell's Memoir of Fox.

Vol. iii. p. 345.

"Steal my thunder."

D'Israeli says, "the actors refused to perform one of John Dennis's tragedies to empty houses, but they retained some excellent thunder which Dennis had invented; it rolled one night when Dennis was in the pit, and it was applauded. Suddenly starting up, he cried to the audience, By, they won't act my tragedy, but they steal my thunder.' Calamities of Authors.

*Col. Titus, in a debate on the Exclusion Bill, January 7, 1680.

† Mr. Pitt's phrase. De Quincey. Theological Essays, vol. ii. p. 170.