antedating (?) "dressed to the nines" (1837)

[Stephen Goranson]

Whether an antedating or no, perhaps it's worth noting in order to ask:
what has
Ben Bowline got to do with it? [The e in Ben is upsidedown, which may affect
searches.]

The Herald, (New York, NY) Saturday, March 11, 1837; Issue 310; page 2, col D
     The Penny Wedding Category: News  [19th C US Newspapers]
[It begins:] A circumstance of a very engaging nature occurred last week at a
house in the Broadway...which almost realized the Arabian tale of Aben Hassan.
One evening a smart young mechanic, "dressed to the nines," as Ben Bowline
says, might have been seen wending his way along broadway. His ais [sic--air?]
is thoughtful, yet gay--and his step light and elastic, betokens that
"Some unaccustomed spirit
Lifts him above the ground"....

Stephen Goranson
http://www.duke.edu/~goranson

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