344. Ought and should both express obligation, but the latter is not so binding as the former. “Children ought to love their parents, and should be neat in their appearance.”
345. Alone and only are often misapplied. “He only could do it,” means that no other but himself could do it; “he alone could do it,” should mean that he, without the assistance of others, could do it.
346. “Please the pigs.”—(Old Proverb.) This is a corruption from “Please the pyx.” The pyx is the receptacle which contains the consecrated wafer on Romish altars; and the exclamation is equal to “Please God.” This corruption is as curious a one as that of “tawdry” from “’t Audrey,” or “at St. Audrey’s Fair,” famous for the sale of frippery—showy, cheap, and worthless.
347. “The partridge is a delightful bird:” do not say patridge. Also, do not say pasley for parsley.
348. “After this, let him hide his diminished head:” this common phrase is a poetical quotation from Milton, and is therefore proper to be used even when it does not literally express the idea:—
“At whose sight all the stars
Hide their diminished heads.”
349. “That bourne from whence no traveler returns.” How often are precisely these words spoken? They are improperly quoted from Shakespeare, in Hamlet, and correctly read as follows:—
“That undiscovered country, from whose bourne
No traveler returns.”
350. “Bring me my waistcoat:” pronounce as if written waste-coat, and not weskut. It should rhyme, as it did in an old ballad, with “laced coat.”
351. “Your bonnet to its right use.”—(Shakespeare:) never say bunnet.