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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]