1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Hobson's Choice

HOBSON’S CHOICE, i.e. “this or nothing,” an expression that arose from the fact that the Cambridge-London carrier, Thomas Hobson (1544–1630), refused, when letting his horses on hire, to allow any animal to leave the stable out of its turn. Among other bequests made by Hobson, and commemorated by Milton, was a conduit for the Cambridge market-place, for which he provided the perpetual maintenance. See Spectator, No. 509 (14th of October 1712).