John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.
Page 172
| Thomas Middleton. (1580–1627) |
| 1992 |
| As the case stands. 1 |
| The Old Law. Act ii. Sc. 1. |
| 1993 |
| On his last legs. |
| The Old Law. Act v. Sc. 1. |
| 1994 |
| Hold their noses to the grindstone. 2 |
| Blurt, Master-Constable. Act iii. Sc. 3. |
| 1995 |
| I smell a rat. 3 |
| Blurt, Master-Constable. Act iii. Sc. 3. |
| 1996 |
| A little too wise, they say, do ne’er live long. 4 |
| The Phœnix. Act i. Sc. 1. |
| 1997 |
| The better day, the better deed. 5 |
| The Phœnix. Act iii. Sc. 1. |
| 1998 |
| The worst comes to the worst. 6 |
| The Phœnix. Act iii. Sc. 1. |
| 1999 |
| ’T is slight, not strength, that gives the greatest lift. 7 |
| Michaelmas Term. Act iv. Sc. 1. |
| 2000 |
| From thousands of our undone widows One may derive some wit. 8 |
| A Trick to catch the Old One. Act i. Sc. 2. |
| 2001 |
| Ground not upon dreams; you know they are ever contrary. 9 |
| The Family of Love. Act iv. Sc. 3. |
| 2002 |
| Spick and span new. 10 |
| The Family of Love. Act iv. Sc. 3. |
| 2003 |
| A flat case as plain as a pack-staff. 11 |
| The Family of Love. Act v. Sc. 3. |
| Note 1. As the case stands.—Mathew Henry: Commentaries, Psalm cxix. [back] |
| Note 2. See Heywood, Quotation 30. [back] |
| Note 3. I smell a rat.—Ben Jonson: Tale of a Tub, act iv. Sc. 3. Samuel Butler: Hudibras, part i. canto i. line 281. I begin to smell a rat.—Cervantes: Don Quixote, book iv. chap. x. [back] |
| Note 4. See Shakespeare, King Richard III, Quotation 10. [back] |
| Note 5. The better day, the worse deed.—Mathew Henry: Commentaries, Genesis iii. [back] |
| Note 6. Worst comes to the worst.—Cervantes: Don Quixote, part i. book iii. chap. v. Marston: The Dutch Courtezan, act iii. sc. 1. [back] |
| Note 7. It is not strength, but art, obtains the prize.—Alexander Pope: The Iliad, book xxiii. line 383. [back] |
| Note 8. Some undone widow sits upon mine arm.—Philip Massinger: A New Way to pay Old Debts, act v. sc. 1. [back] |
| Note 9. For drames always go by contraries.—Samuel Lover: The Angel’s Whisper. [back] |
| Note 10. Spick and span new.—FORD: The Lover’s Melancholy, act i. sc. 1. George Farquhar: Preface to his Works. [back] |
| Note 11. Plain as a pike-staff.—Terence in English (1641). Buckingham: Speech in the House of Lords, 1675. Gil Blas (Smollett’s translation), book xii. chap. viii. John Byrom: Epistle to a Friend. [back] |