Sardonic smile. The island of Sardinia, consisting chiefly of marshes and mountains, has from the earliest period to the present been cursed with a noxious air, an ill-cultivated soil, and a scanty population. The convulsions produced by its poisonous plants gave rise to the expression of sardonic simile, which is as old as Homer (Odyssey, xx. 302).— MAHON: History of England, vol. i. p. 287. The explanation given by Mahon of the meaning of "sardonic smile" is to be sure the traditional one, and was believed in by the late classical writers. But in the Homeric passage referred to, the word is "sardanion" (σapdáviov), not "sardonion" There is no evidence that Sardinia was known to the composers of what we call Homer. It looks as though the word was to be connected with the verb caipa, "show the teeth;" "grin like a dog;" hence that the "sardonic smile" was a "grim laugh."--M. H. MORGAN. Sister Anne, do you see any one coming? The anxious question of one of the wives of Bluebeard. Stone-wall Jackson. This saying took its rise from the battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861. a stone-wall." The King is dead! Long live the King! The death of Louis XIV. was announced by the captain of the body guard from a window of the state apartment. Raising his truncheon above his head, he broke it in the centre, and throwing the pieces among the crowd, exclaimed in a loud voice, "Le Roi est mort!" Then seizing another staff, he flourished it in the air as he shouted, "Vive le Roi!" - PARDOE: Life of Louis XIV., vol. iii. p. 457. The woods are full of them! Alexander Wilson, in the Preface to his "American Ornithology" (1808), quotes these words, and relates the story of a boy who had been gathering flowers. On bringing them to his mother, he said: "Look, my dear ma! What beautiful flowers I have found grow. ing in our place! Why, all the woods are full of them!" Thin red line. The Russians dashed on towards that thin red-line streak tipped with a line of steel. RUSSELL: The British Expedition to the Crimes (revised edition), p. 187. Soon the men of the column began to see that though the scarlet line was slender, it was very rigid and exact. - KINGLAKE: Invasion of the Crimea, vol. iii. p. 455. The spruce beauty of the slender red line. — Ibid. (sixth edition), vol. iii. p. 248. What you are pleased to call your mind. A solicitor, after hearing Lord Westbury's opinion, ventured to say that he had turned the matter over in his mind, and thought that something might be said on the other side; to which he replied, "Then, sir, you will turn it over once more in what you are pleased to call your mind.” — NASH : Life of Lord Westbury, vol. ii. 292. When in doubt, win the trick. HOYLE: Twenty-four Rules for Learners, Rule 12. Wisdom of many and the wit of one. A definition of a proverb which Lord John Russell gave one morning at breakfast at Mardock's, "One man's wit, and all men's wisdom." Memoirs of Mackintosh, vol. ii. p. 473. Wooden walls of England. The credite of the Realme, by defending the same with our Wodden Walles, as Themistocles called the Ship of Athens. - Preface to the English translation of Linschoten (London). But me no buts. FIELDING: Rape upon Rape, act ii. sc. 2. AARON HILL: Snake in the Grass, sc. 1. Cause me no causes. MASSINGER: A New Way to Pay Old Debts, act i. sc. 3. Clerk me no clerks. SCOTT: Ivanhoe, chap. xx. Diamond me no diamonds! prize me no prizes! TENNYSON: Idylls of the King. Elaine. End me no ends. MASSINGER: A New Way to Pay Old Debts, act v. sc. 1. Fool me no fools. BULWER: Last Days of Pompeii, book iii. chap. vi. Front me no fronts. FORD: The Lady's Trial, act ii. sc. 1. Grace me no grace, nor uncle me no uncle. SHAKESPEARE: Richard II., act ii. sc. 3. Madam me no madam. DRYDEN: The Wild Gallant, act ii. sc. 2. Map me no maps. FIELDING: Rape upon Rape, act i. sc. 5. Midas me no Midas. DRYDEN: The Wild Gallant, act ii. sc. 1. O me no O's. BEN JONSON: The Case is Altered, act v. sc. 1. Parish me no parishes. PEELE: The Old Wives' Tale. Petition me no petitions. FIELDING: Tom Thumb, act i. sc. 2. Play me no plays. FOOTE: The Knight, act ii. Plot me no plots. BEAUMONT and FLETCHER: The Knight of the Burning Festie, ad ii. sc. 5. Thank me no thanks, nor proud me no prouds. SHAKESPEARE: Romeo and Juliet, act iii. sc. 5. Virgin me no virgins. MASSINGER: A New Way to Pay Old Debts, act iii. sc. 3. Vow me no vows. BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER: Wit without Money, act iv. x. 4 INDEX. AARON's serpent, like, 317. Ability, knowing how to conceal, 795. that they never perform, 102. to execute, 407. to investigate, 750. Able, more performance than they are, 102. Ablest navigators, 430. Abodes, aiming at the blest, 316. Above, affections on things, 847. all low delay, 524. all Roman fame, 329. all, this, 130. any Greek or Roman, 267. Lord descended from, 23. that which is written, 845. the reach of ordinary men, 470. the smoke and stir, 243. the vulgar flight, 393. there is a life, 497. they that are, 197. 't is not so, 139. Abra was ready ere I called, 288. Abraham's bosom, sleep in, 97. Abram, O father, 62. Absence I dote on his very, 61. of occupation is not rest, 415. friends, remember, 757. in body, but present in spirit, 845. sway, with, 670. Absolutism tempered by assassination, Abstain from beans, 729. Abstinence, easiness to the next, 141. easy as temperance is difficult, 375. of the heart, out of the, 839. they that level at my, 163. Abyssinia, Prince of, 368. Abyssinian maid, it was an, 500. Academe, grove of, 241. Academes that nourish all the world, 56. Accents flow with artless ease, 437. that are ours, 39. Accept a miracle instead of wit, 311. Acceptation, worthy of all, 284. Abridgment of all that was pleasant in Accepted time, now is the, 846. man, 399. Abroad, came flying all, 23, 327. let the soldier be, 527. Access of stupidity, 371. Accident, a happy, 174, 402, 792. of an accident, 426. Accidents by flood and field, 150. chapter of, 353. Accommodated, excellent to be, 89. Accompany old age, that which, 124. Accompt, more for number than, 48. to the appearance, 843. Account, beggarly, of empty boxes, 108. Accoutred as I was I plunged in, 110. Ace, coldest that ever turned up, 159. penury and imprisonment, 49. Aches, fill all thy bones with, 42. Achilles absent was Achilles still, 341. Achilles' tomb, stood upon, 558. wrath to Greece, 336. Aching void, left an, 422. Acorn, the lofty oak from a small, 459. Acquire and beget a temperance, 137. of his neighbor's corn, 472. over whose, walked, 82. Act and know, does both, 263. prologues to the swelling, 116. Acts being seven ages, 69. four first, already passed, 312. illustrious, high raptures do infuse, 220. in memory, to keep good, 171. like a Samaritan, 607. little nameless, 467. of dear benevolence, 342. the best who thinks most, 654. of a dreadful thing, 111. Action faithful 'n, 323. fine, makes that and the, 204. no stronger than a flower, 162 suit the, to the word, 137. of the last age, 258. speech the image of, 757. Actor, condemn not the, 47. Cupid, young, 105, 150. waked so customed, 234. stingeth like an, 828. Adding fuel to the flame, 242 |