O discretion, thou art a jewel!—The Skylark, a Collection of well-chosen English Songs. (London, 1772.)

The origin of this expression is unknown. Some wag of the day allayed public curiosity in regard to its source with the information that it is from the ballad of Robin Roughhead in Murtagh's "Collection of Ballads (1754)." It is needless to say that Murtagh is a verbal phantom, and the ballad of Robin Roughhead first appeared in an American newspaper in 1867.

Cotton is King; or, Slavery in the Light of Political Economy.

This is the title of a book by David Christy (1855).

The expression "Cotton is king" was used by James Henry Hammond in the United States Senate, March, 1858.

Dead as Chelsea.

To get Chelsea: to obtain the benefit of that hospital. "Dead as Chelsea, by God!" 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, "Varieties of Literature," 1826).

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. (1622.)

[[855]] Drive a coach and six through an Act of Parliament.