Contents
-BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD
S.A. Bent, comp. Familiar Short Sayings of Great Men. 1887.
Earl of Angus
[Archibald Douglas, fifth earl, sometimes called the “Great Earl of Angus,” lord chancellor of Scotland about the end of the fifteenth century; a powerful, ambitious, and lawless subject; died about 1527.]
Heed it not, I’ll bell the cat.
To the Scotch nobles in 1482, who were conspiring against Cochran, Earl of Mar, favorite of James III. An allusion to the fable of the mice who wished to put a bell on the cat’s neck to warn them of her approach: the plan was a good one, only no one was found willing to bell the cat.
