1
Smell a rat.
Butler—Hudibras. Pt. I. Canto I. L. 821. Cervantes—Don Quixote. Pt. I. Bk. IV. Ch. X. Ben Jonson—Tale of a Tub. Act IV. Sc. 3. Thos. Middleton—Blurt, Master Constable. Act III. Sc. 3.
2
Snug as a bug in a rug.
The Stratford Jubilee. II. 1. 1779. Letter to Miss Georgiana Shipley. September, 1772.
3
Something given that way.
4
So obliging that he ne'er oblig'd.
Pope—
Prologue to Satires. L. 207.
5
Sop to Cerebus.
If I can find that Cerebus a sop, I shall be at rest for one day.
Congreve—Love for Love. Act I. Sc. 1.
6
So was hir jolly whistel wel y-wette.
Chaucer—Canterbury Tales. The Reeve's Tale. L. 4,155.
7
Spare your breath to cool your porridge.
Cervantes—Don Quixote. Pt. II. Ch. V. Rabelais—Works. Bk. V. Ch. XXVIII.
8
Strike the iron whilst it is hot.
Rabelais—Works. Bk. II. Ch.XXXI.
9
Strike while the iron is hot.
Farquhar—The Beaux' Stratagem. Act IV. Sc. 2. Scott—The Fair Maid of Perth. Ch. V. Webster—Westward Ho. III. 2. Chaucer—Troylus and Cresseyde. Bk. II. St. 178.
10
That was laid on with a trowel.
As You Like It. Act I. Sc. 2. L. 112.
11
The coast was clear.
Michael Drayton—Nymphidia.
12
The fat's all in the fire.
Cobbe—Prophecies. Bullens reprint. (1614) Marston—What You Will. (1607) The Balancing Captain. Whole poem quoted by Walpole in a letter to Mann, Nov. 2, 1741.
13
The finest edge is made with the blunt whetstone.
Lily—Euphues. Arber's Reprint. (1579) P. 47.
14
The foule Toade hath a faire stone in bis head.
Lyly—Euphues. Arber's Reprint. (1679) P. 53.
15
The man that heweth over high,
Some chip falleth in his eye.
Story of Sir Eglamour of Artoys. MSS. in Garrick Collection.
16
The more thou stir it the worse it will be.
Cervantes—Don Quixote. Bk. III. Ch.VIII.
17
The next way home's the farthest way about.
Quarles—Emblems. Bk. IV. Em. 2. Ep.2.
18
The point is plain as a pike staff.
John Byron—Epistle to a Friend.
19
The short and the long of it.
Merry Wives of Windsor. Act II. Sc. 2. L. 60.
20
The total depravity of inanimate things.
Katherine K. C. Walker—Title of an Essay in the Atlantic Monthly. Sept., 1864. Mary Abigail Dodge—Epigram.
21
This is a pretty flimflam.
22
Though this may be play to you,
'Tis death to us.
Roger L 'Estrange—Fables. 398.
23
Thou will scarce be a man before thy mother.
24
Three things are men most likely to be cheated in, a horse, a wig, and a wife.
Benj. Franklin—Poor Richard. 1736.
25
Through thick and thin, both over bank and bush.
Spenser—Faerie Queene. Bk. III. Canto I. St. 17.
26
Through thick and thin, both over Hill and Plain.
Du Bartas—Divine Weekes and Workes. Second Week. Fourth Day. Bk. IV.
27
Through thick and thin.
Butler—
Hudibras. Pt.I. Canto II. L. 370.
Cowper—
John Gilpin.
Drayton—
Nymphidia.
Dryden—
Absalom and Achitophel. Pt. II. L. 414.
Kemp—
Nine Days' Wonder.
Middleton—
The Roaring Girl. Act IV. Sc. 2.
Pope—
Dunciad. Bk. II.
(See also Butler under Constancy)
28
Though last, not least in love.
Julius Caesar. Act III. Sc. 1. L. 189.
Although the last, not least.
King Lear. Act I. Sc. 1. L. 85. Spenser—Colin Clout. L. 444.
29
Thursday come, and the week is gone.
30
'Tis as cheap sitting as standing.
31
'Tis a stinger.
Thos. Middleton—More Dissemblers Besides Women. Act III. Sc. 2.
32
'Tis in grain, sir, 'twill endure wind and weather.
Twelfth Night. Act I. Sc. 5. L. 253.
33
'Tis neither here nor there.
