"doldrum" antedating (1765)

[Stephen Goranson]

OED has 1811f.

"News," [signed Sheeli na Ghigg] Public Ledger (London, England),[Burney
Collection] Tuesday, July 9, 1765; Issue 1719. p.1. vol. 4
This struck me into a Doldrum, until Mr. Middleton cried, cheer up Sheela ni
Ghigg, it's all of your side; for (says he) all that Mr. Broadsword means, is,
that in the 33rd of King Henry the VIII, act of Parliament was made in Dublin,
that the King and his successors are to be Kings imperial of the realm of
Ireland...and consequently intituled to an equal share of all the freedoms and
blessings claimed by Britons....

Rosina: a novel. Mts. [Mary] Pilkington. (London: William Lane, 1793) vol. 1,
ch. 7, p. 42.
...one could hardly believe there was so much water in the world; and it quite
puzzles a body's head, and throws one into a sort of bewilderment or doldrum,
as it were, to see it going and coming, and coming and going, world without
end, for evermore."
Thus did Sir Gregory describe his sensations on viewing the _multitudinous
ocean._"

May 1796 The European magazine, and London review, Page 347
?he DOLDRUM, or 1803, a Farce by Mr. [John] O'Keefe, was acted the first time
at Covent
Garden Theatre. This composition of whim and extravagance is founded on the
supposition of a man's sleeping from 1796 to 1803, and on his surprise at the
changes around him.


Stephen Goranson
httP;//www.duke.edu/~goranson

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