antedating (?) "mad as a hatter" (1829)

[Stephen Goranson]

At Google Books full view with the date on the running heads:

 From a strange [I first typed strage, strange stage] play in Blackwood's
Magazine, June 1829, page 790. Three different characters have the following
exchange:

He's raving.

Dementit [sic].

Mad as a hatter. Hand me a segar.

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

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