Frank J. Wilstach, comp. A Dictionary of Similes. 1916.

Joseph Hall

Chaste as a veiled nun.

Leers like Æsop’s fox upon a crane whose neck he craves for his chirurgian.

Recreation is intended to the mind, as whetting is to the scythe; to sharpen the edge of it, which otherwise would grow dull and blunt. He, therefore, that spends his whole time in recreation, is ever whetting, never mowing: his grass may grow, and his steed starve. As, contrarily, he, that always toils and never recreates, is ever mowing, never whetting; labouring much to little purpose: as good no scythe, as no edge. Then only doth the work go forward, when the scythe is so seasonably and moderately whetted, that it may cut; and so cuts, that it may have the help of sharpening. I would also so interchange, that I neither be dull with work, nor idle and wanton with recreation.

Soft as is the falling thistle downe.

His tongue, like the tail of Samson’s foxes, carries firebrands, and is enough to set the whole field of the world on a flame.

Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD