[Ads-l] Antedating of "stretch of [the] imagination"

[Steven Losie]

[BY] STRETCH OF [THE] IMAGINATION
OED3 (stretch, n., 2.d.)

The OED dates the expression "a stretch of...imagination" to 1781. Here are
some antedatings. The first two use "stretch" as a verb, so they may not be
considered antedatings, but may be of interest anyway.

[begin quote]
The turbulent appetite stretcheth the imagination, and the imagination thus
stretched presents to the appetite greater images then the naturall.
[end quote]
Source: Du Moulin, Peter. Of Peace and Contentment of Minde. Humphrey
Moseley, London, 1657. p.234 (Early English Books Online)
Link:
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo2/A81837.0001.001?rgn=main;view=fulltext

This second one comes from a 1692 book containing a series of letters, and
this letter is dated "5th. of the 11th. Moon, of the Year 1657."

[begin quote]
Therefore, let us not stretch our Vain Imaginations, nor greedily pry into
those Secrets, which for ever fly from Humane Thought: But keeping our
selves within the Bounds of Reason and Sobriety, let us Adore God and
believe his Prophet, Obey the Law of Cleanness and Purity, without Injuring
Man or Beast...
[end quote]
Source: Marana, Giovanni Paolo. The fifth volume of letters writ by a
Turkish spy who lived five and forty years undiscover'd at Paris. J. Leake
for Henry Rhodes, London, 1692. p.272. (Early English Books Online)
Link:
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo2/A51897.0001.001?rgn=main;view=fulltext

The earliest I was able to find of the precise phrase "stretch of
imagination" is from 1705. Two different books using the phrase have a 1705
date, and I do not know which was published first.

[begin quote]
But the Contemplation of God, and his Works of Creation over-fills the
utmost stretch of Imagination, and more than answers all the Faculties of
the Mind.
[end quote]
Source: Gildon, Charles. The Deist's Manual: Or, a Rational Enquiry Into
the Christian Religion. A. Roper, London, 1705. p.55. (Google Books)
Link:
https://books.google.com/books?id=67djAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA55&dq=%22stretch+of+imagination%22

[begin quote]
...and let a _Jew_ with the utmost stretch of Imagination conceive the one
as great as he can; I will shew the other to be more Real, Substantial, and
more convincing...
[end quote]
Source: Woolston, Thomas. The Old Apology for the Truth of the Christian
Religion Against the Jews and Gentiles Revived. Cambridge University Press,
and James Knapton, London. p.85. (Google Books)
Link:
https://books.google.com/books?id=tmcal6lHZuMC&pg=PA85&dq=%22stretch+of+imagination%22

The earliest instance I could find of the precise phrase "by any stretch of
the imagination" comes from a footnote in a collection of Shakespeare's
plays published in 1780. The book actually uses the phrase twice, in two
different footnotes on two different pages.

[begin quote]
It appears that, when _Pericles_ was originally performed, the theatres
were furnished with no such apparatus as by any stretch of the imagination
could be supposed to represent either a sea, or a ship...
[end quote]
Source: Johnson, Samuel, and George Steevens. Supplement to the Edition of
Shakespeare's Plays Published in 1778. Volume 2. C. Bathurst, etc., London.
1780. p.137. (Hathitrust)
Link:
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32435025650318&seq=147&q1=imagination

[begin quote]
The poet ought rather to have written "above a quarter of an hour ago;"
which is the utmost that by any stretch of the imagination can be supposed
to have elapsed since Pyeboard retired.
[end quote]
Source: Johnson, Samuel, and George Steevens. Supplement to the Edition of
Shakespeare's Plays Published in 1778. Volume 2. C. Bathurst, etc., London.
1780. p.589. (Hathitrust)
Link:
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32435025650318&seq=599&q1=imagination

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