Aubrey in his Letters, speaking of the handwriting of the poet Waller, says:—“He writes a lamentable hand, as bad as the scratching of a hen.” Probably suggested by the “gallina scripsit” of Plautus.
The phrase masterly inactivity, first used by Sir James Mackintosh in his Vindiciæ Gallicæ, finds a prototype in the Horatian expression, “strenua nos exercet inertia,” (Epist. lib. I., xi. 28,) and in the words of Isaiah, “their strength is to sit still” (xxx. 7).
From Don Quixote we have Honesty is the best policy. From Gil Blas, (Smollet’s trans.,) comes Facts are stubborn things. From Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy, (P. iii. Sec. 3, Mem. i. Subs. 2,) Comparisons are odious. From Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, Dark as pitch, and Every tub must stand on its own bottom. From Shakspeare, Fast and loose (Love’s Labor Lost, iii. 1.); Main chance (2 Henry IV. iii. 1); Let the world slide (Taming of the Shrew, Induc. i.). From Burns, (Epistle from Esopus to Maria,) Durance vile.
Christmas comes but once a year.—Thomas Tusser, 1580.
It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good.
Originally written,—
It is an ill wind turns none to good.—Thomas Tusser.
Look ere thou leap.—Tusser.
And
Look before you ere you leap.—Butler: Hudibras, c. 2.