The truth shall be thy warrant.
Go, since I needs must die,
And give the world the lie."
It will be satisfactory to hear at the same time in what work they are to be found. A nobleman of high rank is said to have them engraved on a silver table of the period.
ÆGROTUS.
Minor Queries Answered.
Call a Spade, a Spade.
—What is the origin of the common saying to call a spade, a spade? Is it an old proverb or a quotation? In a letter of Melancthon's to Archbishop Cranmer respecting the formularies of the Anglican Church, dated May 1st, 1548, the following sentence occurs, which seems to be another form of it:—
"In Ecclesiâ rectius, scapham, scapham dicere; nec objicere posteris ambigua dicta."
Is scapham, scapham dicere, I would also ask, a classical quotation, or a modern Latin version of the other expression?