PREFACE.

THE advantages of Books of Reference are now so universally acknowledged that it would be wholly superfluous to endeavor to recommend the present work by dwelling on its peculiar merits.

To give a more copious amount of information than has hitherto appeared in any work of the kind has been the design of the present publication; and, unless its author be greatly deceived as to its execution, it can hardly fail to be useful to individuals of all ranks and conditions,-to the man of business and the man of pleasure, the student and the superficial reader, the busy and the idle. Every one who takes any share in conversation, or who dips, however cursorily, into any newspaper or other publication, will every now and then find the advantage of having access to the "New Dictionary of Quotations."

The author has not restricted himself to purely Classical Quotations, but, as his object is to supply the need of the unlearned as well as to refresh the memory of the scholar, isolated words, expressions in frequent use but imperfectly understood, and terms which have wandered far from their original import, have been freely incorporated in the work.

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The value of this Dictionary is greatly enhanced by the complete and voluminous Index which is appended, by the aid of which a passage may be readily found where only two or three words of a quotation have been caught by the ear or remain upon the memory. Without this addition the utility of such a work is limited to the occasions on which an entire quotation is sought for.

The abbreviations Gr. Lat. Fr. Ital. Ger. Span. Port. and Prov. stand respectively for Greek, Latin, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese, and Proverb.

A

NEW DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS,

&c.

A.

A barbe de fou, on apprend à raire. Fr.-"Men learn to shave on the chin of a fool."-They like to make experiments at the expense hers.

of

"By trimming fools about the gill,

A barber's 'prentice learns his skill."

A bas. Fr.-"Down, down with." "With audacious and fearful sincerity do these hungry hordes inscribe on their banners two watchwords, destructive alike of domestic and political society, A bas la famille, Down with family! and La propriété est un vol, Property is robbery!"

A beau jour beau retour. Fr.-"One good turn deserves another." N.B. This must be understood ironically in English, as the French proverb is said when one has, has had, or is likely to have, an opportunity of resenting an injury.

A beau mentir qui vient de loin. Fr. prov.-"Travelers have the privilege of lying." "It would be difficult to find a more striking proof of the truth of this proverb, A beau mentir qui vient de loin: that is to say, He who comes from afar may lie with impunity, without fear of contradiction, as he is sure of being listened to with the utmost attention. Travelers, they say, often draw the long bow [indulge in exaggeration]."

A bis et à blanc. Fr. prov.-"By fits and starts."

A bolza vazia, e a casa acabada, faz o home sesudo, mas tarde. Port. prov.- "An empty purse, and a new house, make a man wise, but too late.”

A bon appetit il ne faut point de sauce. Fr. prov.-“A good appetite needs no sauce; hunger, or a good stomach, is the best sauce.'

A bon chat bon rat. Fr.-"To a good cat a good rat; tit for tat; set a thief to catch a thief." The parties are well matched, well met.

A bon chien il ne vient jamais un bon os. Fr. prov.-"A good bone does not always come to a good dog." Merit seldom meets with its reward.

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A bon demandeur bon refuseur. Fr. prov.-"Shameless craving must have shameful nay."

A bon entendeur il ne faut que demie parole. Fr. prov:—“ A word is enough to the wise;" literally, "To one of quick apprehension half a word is sufficient." The Italians say, A buon intenditor poche parole," which has about the same meaning.

A bon entendeur peu de paroles, or, A bon entendeur salut. Fr. prov.-"To a good, an attentive, hearer, but few words are necessary." A word to the wise.

A bon vin il ne faut point de bouchon. Fr. prov.-"Good wine needs no bush."

A brebis tondue, Dieu mesure le vent. Fr.-"God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb."

A cade va, chi troppo alto sale. Ital. prov.-"Hasty climbers have sudden falls."

A capite ad calcem. Lat.-"From head to foot." Thoroughly, completely. From the beginning to the end.

A causa persa parole assai. Ital. prov.-"When the cause, lawsuit, is lost, there has been enough of words, enough has been said." Do not discuss what has already been decided-settled.

Every bird thinks its own nest, finds its own nest, beautiful." See "Ad ogni uccello," &c.

A chi consiglia, non duole il capo. Ital. prov.-"He who gives advice is not often troubled with a headache."

A cœur jeûn. Fr.-"Fasting."

A cœur ouvert. Fr.-"Openly; open-heartedly; with the most perfect candor, or unreservedness."

A contre cœur. Fr.-"Against the grain; against one's will; with a bad grace."

A cuspide corona. Lat.-"A crown from the spear." Honor! earned by military exploits: in other words, by legally blowing one's fellow-creatures' brains out, or running them through. "If Christian nations," said SOAME JENYNS, were nations of Christians, there would be no wars.

"War is a game, which, were their subjects wise,

Kings could not play at."-Cowper.

"The worse the man, the better the soldier; if soldiers be not corrupt, they ought to be made so."-BONAPARTE.

"I abominate war as unchristian. I hold it the greatest of human crimes. I deem it to involve all others--violence, blood, rapine, fraud; every thing that can deform the character, alter the nature, and debase the name of man."-LORD BROUGHAM.

On the subject of Honor there is more philosophy in FALSTAFF's soliloquy, than many casual readers have discovered:

Well, 'tis no matter; Honor pricks me on. Yea, but how if Honor prick me off, when I come on? how then? Can Honor set a leg? No. Or an arm? No. Or take away the grief of a wound? No. Honor hath

What is

He that
No.

Is

no skill in surgery, then? No. What is Honor? A word. that word Honor? Air. A trim reckoning! Who hath it? died o' Wednesday. Doth he feel it? No. Doth he hear it? it insensible, then? Yea, to the dead. But will it not live with the living? No. Why? Detraction will not suffer it-therefore, I'll none of it! Honor is a mere scutcheon; and so ends my catechism."—First Part of Henry IV.

A facto ad jus non datur consequentia. Lat. Law maxim.— "The inference from the fact to the law is not allowed." A general law is not to be trammeled by a specific or particular precedent.

A fome he boa mostarda. Port. prov.-"Hunger is the best sauce." Literally, "Hunger is capital, good, mustard."

A fortiori. Lat.-"With stronger or greater reason."

If a weak man be dangerous, it follows, a fortiori, that a weak and bad man must be more dangerous.

A fronte praecipitium, a tergo lupi. Lat. prov.-" A precipice "A in front of you, and wolves behind you, in your rear." Go forward, and fall: go backward, and mar all.

A gorge déployée. Fr.-"Immoderately, to or in an immoderate degree." A poor pleasantry, by the help of some ludicrous turn, or expression, or association of.ideas, may provoke cachinnation [roars of laughter] à gorge déployée,” that is, sufficient to split the sides.

A goupil endormi rien ne tombe en la gueule. Old Fr. prov."A close mouth catcheth no flies."

A grands frais. Fr.-" At great expense; very expensively.” Sumptuously.

A grand seigneur peu de paroles. Fr. prov.-"In addressing a man of distinguished rank, express yourself in few words, as briefly as possible."

A gusto. Ital. To one's heart's content."

A haute voix. Fr.-"Loudly, openly."

A l'abri. Fr.-" Sheltered, under cover."

A l'aise marche à pied qui mène son cheval par la bride. Fr. prov.-"'Tis good to go on foot when a man hath a horse in his hand." A l'antique. Fr.-“ After or according to the old way or fashion.” A l'impossible nul n'est tenu. Fr. prov.-"There is no flying without wings; there is no doing impossibilities."

A l'improviste. Fr.-"Unawares; on a sudden; unexpectedly." A l'ongle on connait le lion. Fr.-"The lion is known by his paw." A la barba de pazzi, il barbier impara a radere. Ital. prov.— “A barber learns to shave by shaving fools."

A la belle étoile. Fr.-"In the street, in the open air."

A la bonne heure! Fr.-" Well and good; very well; so be it; be it so !"

A la dérobée. Fr.-"By stealth; stealthily; on the sly; secretly; privately."

A la faim il n'y a point de mauvais pain. Fr. prov.-"With hunger no bread is nasty." Hungry dogs will eat dirty puddings.

A la française. Fr.-"After or according to the French fashion."