[Ads-l] Motto: Nits will be lice. (Request EEBO verification in 1683)

Wed Dec 16 18:41:04 UTC 2015

The whole paragraph, from  John Nalson, LL: D., _An impartial collection of
the great affairs of state. From the beginning of the Scotch rebellion in
the year MDCXXXIX...._  Vol. II. Published by His Majesty's special command.

P. [vii]:

There is not any one particular which hath been Exaggerated with more
vehemence then the Cruelty of the Rebels, by Sir *John Temple,* Dr.
*Borlase,* and others; and doubtless their Cruelty was strange and
barbarous; but then on the other side there is not the least mention of any
Cruelty exercised upon the *Irish,* or of the hard measure they received
from some of the Board in *Ireland,* who were of the Parliamentarian
Faction, and *Scottish *Religion, which rendred them desperate, and made
the Rebellion Universal; they take no notice of the Severities of the
Provost Martials, nor of the Barbarism of the Soldiers to the *Irish,* which
was such, that I have heard a Relation of my own, who was a Captain in that
Service, Relate, that no manner of Compassion or Discrimination was shewed
either to Age or Sex, but that the little Children were promiscuously
Sufferers with the Guilty, and that if any who had some grains of
Compassion reprehended the Soldiers for this unchristian Inhumanity, they
would scoffingly reply, *Why? Nits will be Lice,* and so would dispatch
them: And certainly as to acknowledge an undeniable Truth, does in no
manner Excuse the barbarous Cruelty of the Rebels; so to deny or smother
Matters of Fact, so easily to be proved, even by many Protestants still
alive, has given the Papists the advantage to bring into Question,
especially in Foreign Courts and Countries, the truth of all those inhumane
Cruelties which are charged upon them by such Writers as are found Guilty
of such manifest Partiality.

On Wed, Dec 16, 2015 at 12:58 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole <
adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Motto: Nits will be lice. (Request EEBO verification in 1683)
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> A figurative expression has been attributed to soldiers and military
> commanders. The merciless saying purports to provide a rationale for
> the killing of children and infants during wartime. I was asked to
> trace the saying. Here are some versions:
>
> Nits become lice. Nits will become lice. Nits make lice. Nits will be lice.
>
> In the 1860s the expression was linked to John M. Chivington. But the
> saying is much older. H. L. Mencken noted in his massive compendium
> that the saying has been ascribed to Oliver Cromwell.
>
> There is a match for "nits will be lice" dated 1683 in Early English
> Books Online 2. Perhaps someone with access to this database would be
> willing to forward to me the full citation details and the matching
> text (with some surrounding text).
>
> [Begin match information]
> Title: An impartial collection of the great affairs of state. From the
> beginning of the Scotch rebellion in the year MDCXXXIX. To the murther
> of King Charles I. Wherein the first occasions, and the whole series
> of the late troubles in England, Scotland & Ireland, are faithfully
> represented. Taken from authentic records, and methodically digested.
> Author: Nalson, John, 1638?-1686.
> Publication Info: London : Printed for S. Mearne, T. Dring, B. Tooke,
> T. Sawbrige, and C. Mearne, M DC LXXXIII [i.e. 1683]
> Collection: Early English Books Online 2
> [End match information]
>
> The earliest matches I've found in Google Books are dated 1720, 1761,
> and 1765. The 1765 cite seems to refer to the 1683 cite mentioned
> above.
>
> Year: 1720 (estimated date listed in WorldCat)
> Title: Familiar Letters Betwixt a Gentleman and a Lady
> Author: Mary Davys
> (Epistolary novel: Letter to Artander from Berina dated November 10)
> Publisher: Unknown
> Quote Page 272
> Database: Google Books Full View
>
> https://books.google.com/books?id=4htkAAAAcAAJ&q=nits#v=snippet&
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> I went to the Irish Rebellion, where I saw more than three hundred
> thousand Souls murder'd in cold Blood . . .
> . . . Children ripp'd out of their Mother's Womb, and thrown to the
> Dogs, or dash'd against the Stones; crying, Nits will become Lice,
> destroy Root and Branch: with a thousand other Barbarities, too
> tedious as well as too dreadful to repeat, beside what has been
> transasted abroad.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Year: 1761
> Title: Hau Kiou Choaan: Or, The Pleasing History: A Translation from
> the Chinese Language
> Volume: 3
> Printed for R. and J. Dodssley in Pall-mall, London
> Section: Chinese Proverbs and Apothegms
> Quote Page: 213
> Database: Google Books Full View
>
> https://books.google.com/books?id=kl8iAAAAMAAJ&q=%22nits+will%22#v=snippet&
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Look for horns in the head of a lamb newly brought forth.
> [Parallel to that coarse but expressive saying of Oliver Cromwell,
> "Nits will be lice."]
> [End excerpt]
>
>
> Year: 1765
> Title: Historical Memoirs of the Irish Rebellion, in the Year 1641:
> Extracted from Parliamentary Journals, State-Acts, And the most
> Eminent Protestant Historians,
> Author: John Curry
> Publisher Location: London
> Quote Page 103
> Database: Google Books Full View
>
> https://books.google.com/books?id=HLkvAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Nits+will%22#v=snippet&
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> And accordingly, Doctor Nalson, Protestant Divine, and Historian,
> assures us, that, "the Severities of the Provost-Marshals, and the
> Barbarism of the Soldiers to the Irish, were such, that he heard a
> Relation of his own, who was a Captain in that Service, relate, That
> no Manner of Compassion or Discrimination was shewed either to Age or
> Sex, but that the little Children were promiscuously Sufferers with
> the Guilty; and that, if any, who had some Grains of Compassion,
> reprehended the Soldiers for this unchristian Inhumanity, they would
> scornfully reply, Why! Nits will be Lice, and so would dispatch them."
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
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