a worm at one end and a fool at the other (1805) maggot variant (1788) and other citations

[Garson O'Toole]

On February 12th, Fred Shapiro discussed a joke attributed to Jonathan
Swift in his wonderful blog at the New York Times website. The
information he gave was based on page 742 of YBQ:

[Of angling:] A stick and a string, with a fly at one end and a fool
at the other.
Citation: The Indicator, Oct. 27, 1819. A similar remark has also been
attributed to Samuel Johnson.

I think I have found a Swift attribution a few years earlier with a
worm substituted for the fly.

All this may be granted; yet we cannot wholly approve of the sport;
and we are even inclined to call in the aid of Swift's well known
satirical description of it, as exhibiting only "a stick and a string,
with  a worm at one end and a fool at the other."
Citation: The Monthly Review, Monthly Catalogue for April 1805, page
443, Vol. XLVI, 1805.

http://books.google.com/books?id=UIgCAAAAYAAJ&q=%22worm+at%22#v=snippet&q=%22worm%20at%22&f=false

In 1788, a comparable joke appears with the fly replaced by a maggot.
The joke is recorded in the form of a dictionary entry for the word
"fool". No attribution is given to Swift or Johnson.

FOOL. A fool at the end of a stick; a fool at one end, and a maggot at
the other: gibes on an angler.
Citation: A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 2nd Edition by
Francis Grose, 1788.

http://books.google.com/books?id=4HoSAAAAIAAJ&q=maggot#v=snippet&q=maggot&f=false

Some anglers detest the quip about their beloved recreation. A writer
in "Tait's Edinburgh Magazine" of September 1845 attempts to show that
Swift is not responsible for the quip:

The definition has been by some falsely attributed to Dean Swift, who
was himself an angler, and of whom tradition relates, that he often
fished in that delightful brook which ran through the bishop's demesne
at Glasnevin, when on visits to his friend, Dean Sheridan. It is
really attributable to that great, corrupt, and unmannerly literary
brute, Dr. Johnson, who it is much to be lamented, did not make a tour
through Ireland, where he might have acquired what he seems through
life to have been very deficient in - good manners.

http://books.google.com/books?id=9eERAAAAYAAJ&q=%22fool+at%22#v=snippet&q=%22fool%20at%22&f=false

However, a letter in the December 15, 1866 issue of "Notes and
Queries" argues that Samuel Johnson did not create the joke because he
was not critical of angling. Indeed, Johnson urged Moses Brown to
publish the 1750 edition of "The Compleat Angler" by Izaak Walton. The
letter writer suggests a much earlier provenance for the joke and
points to Martial Guyet:

… the other day I met with some French lines conveying an exactly
similar sentiment. These were written by Guyet, who if he was Martial
Guyet, died nearly a hundred years before the great lexicographer was
born. They are as follows:-

"Messieurs je suis pecheur, et pecheur a la ligne,
J'en fais ici l'aveu. Ce cas semble peu digne
De vos graves esprits: car on l'a dit souvent
La ligne, avec sa canne, est un long instrument,
Dont le plus mince bout tient un petit reptile,
Et dont l'autre est tenu par un grand imbécile."

http://books.google.com/books?id=3mkJAAAAQAAJ&q=guyet#v=snippet&q=guyet&f=false

I searched for these French words in the Google Books repository and
found them in a work dated 1860. But I was unable to discover earlier
citations.

http://books.google.com/books?id=rWsCAAAAYAAJ&q=reptile#v=snippet&q=reptile&f=false

Perhaps someone with knowledge of French and access to appropriate
databases could investigate.

Garson O'Toole

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