"Rule of thumb" (1685)

[Amy West]

I am probably waaaay behind the times, but the instance of "rule of
thumb" in Hope's _Fencing Master_ is no longer the earliest cite?
Bummer! That was part of my motivation for studying his manual for my
museum job.

---Amy West

>Date:    Sun, 22 Jul 2007 18:47:09 -0400
>From:    Bonnie Taylor-Blake <taylor-blake at NC.RR.COM>
>Subject: "Rule of thumb" (1685)
>
>I see that Chadwyck-Healey's "Early English Books Online" database shows a
>1685 occurrence of "rule of thumb," which is only slightly older than that
>which appears in the OED2 (1692).  Note, though, that James Durham, author
>of _Heaven upon earth ... _, had been dead for nearly three decades before
>his collection of sermons was published.

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