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The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (158 page)

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An ENGLISHMAN's house is his castle
1581
Positions
xl.
He is the appointer of his owne circumstance, and his house is his castle.
1642
Fast Sermon
28
It was wont to be said
A mans house is his Castle
but if this Castle of late hath proved unable to secure any, let them make their conscience their castle.
1791
Life of Johnson
II. 284
In London .. a man's own house is truly his
castle
, in which he can be in perfect safety from intrusion.
1837
Pickwick Papers
xxiv.
Some people maintains that an Englishman's house is his castle. That's gammon [nonsense].
1906
Charles Dickens
vii.
The man who said that an Englishman's house is his castle said much more than he meant.
1998
Garden (Royal Horticultural Society)
May 313
An Englishman's house may be his castle, but does it follow that his garden is his forest?
home
;
national characteristics
An ENGLISHMAN's word is his bond
c
1500
Lancelot of Lake
(STS) l. 1671
O kingis word shuld be o kingis bonde.
a
1606
Nobody & Somebody
C2
V
Nobodies worde is as good as his bond.
1642
Holy State
V. xiii.
He hath this property of an honest man, that his word is as good as his band.
1754
Grandison
I. Letter ix.
I am no flincher …The word of Sir Rowland Meredith is as good as his bond.
1841
Old Curiosity Shop
lviii.
‘Marchioness,’ said Mr. Shriveller, rising, ‘the word of a gentleman is as good as his bond—sometimes better, as in the present case.’
1916
Letter
14 Sept. in
Inglorious Soldier
iii. [List of fictions underlying national conceit:] 3.
That English justice is something much more superfine than any other sort of justice (owing to Public School training!) and that an Englishman's word is his bond.
1981
Forgotten Colony
xvi.
If a verbal promise is made the native, to seal the contract, usually says
palabra de inglés
,.. meaning that he will act as an Englishman, whose word is his bond.
honour
;
national characteristics
ENOUGH is as good as a feast
c
.
1375
Bruce
(EETS) xiv. 363
He maid thame na gud fest, perfay [truly], And nocht-for-thi [nevertheless] yneuch had thai.
c
1470
Morte d'Arthur
(1967) I. 246
Inowghe is as good as a feste.
1546
Dialogue of Proverbs
II. xi. M1
Here is enough, I am satisfied (sayd he) .. For folke say, enough is as good as a feast.
1833
Elia's Last Essays
vi.
That enough is as good as a feast. Not a man, woman, or child in ten miles round Guildhall, who really believes this saying.
1928
Woman who rode Away
165
I'll
live
with another woman but I'll never
marry
another. Enough is as good as a feast.
1976
New Yorker
26 Apr. 77
If he's so smart he'll amount to something in good time—enough is as good as a feast: that's an old saying and a true one.
content and discontent
;
food and drink
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