"coat"? And "whom the coat fits"

[Joel S. Berson]

A later article in the Courant, by the same writer, may cast a light
on "coat" below -- as well as provide a variant form of "if the shoe
fits, wear it".

"Will[iam] Coatless" writes that NEC articles pointing fingers at
particular persons is not allowable.  Charity does not permit calling
someone an atheist when he is not; good manners does not permit
calling someone a "fellow" [a "low person" in the 18th
century].  "Coatless" writes that you [the editor] will say "Them
that the Coat fits let them take it."

1)  Perhaps "Those Pieces you have published of late, which some call
Coats" means that some people think the articles in question "coat"
their subjects falsely.

2)   "Them that the Coat fits let them take it." -- a variant of "if
the shoe fits, wear it".

I do not have quotation dictionaries to consult.  In Google I find
only the following: "then indeed the Coat fits them, the Sermon is to
them, and let them wear it, let them take it".  From "The Convocation
Anatomized. Being a Brief Examination of the Proceedings against the
Ld. Bp. of Bangor's Writings: by the Lower House of Convocation"
(London, 1717).  [From a typically-poor OCR rendering by archive.org,
but also in ECCO I'm told.]

Joel

At 11/9/2012 09:51 AM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>In a letter to the 1722 New England Courant, the writer assumes the
>persona of a child complaining that her stepmother has led her father
>into cruelty towards his first wife's children, and threatens to
>expose him if such treatment continues.
>
>She then writes "Those Pieces you have published of late, which some
>call _Coats_, they say, have wrought Reformation in several Families
>and particular Persons; and therefore I hope you will publish this as
>soon as possible."
>
>What are "coats" in this context?  Or is there some misprint I am not seeing?
>
>Joel
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org