Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 June 1884 — Similar Sayings. [ARTICLE]

Similar Sayings.

It is strange how many persons are credited with uttering similar witticisms. Lord Eldon is reported to have said of Lord Brougham, “If he only knew a little law, he would know a little of everything.” Unfortunately for the originality of the author of this witty saying, Louis XIV. of France, as we learn from Prof. Mathews’ “Illusions of History,” is credited with a moi that resembles it. Passing out of chapel after a sermon by the Abbe Maury, Louis remarked, “If the Abbe had said a little of religion, he would have spoken to us of everything.” English history records that Nelson thus wrote to the ministry, after the Battle of the Nile, — “Were I to die at this moment, more frigates would be found written on my heart.” Read this along with “Bloody Mary’s” exclamation, at the loss of the last foothold of the English in France, “When I die, Calais will be found written on my heart,” and the impression is that Nelson was a plagiarist— Youth’s Companion.