...primarily, the cultivation of the memory. I -quite agree with Fletcher in thinking him a wise man who said, "If a man were permitted to make all the ballads, he need not care who should make the laws of a nation." There is in the saying a great deal of philosophy worth our attention. I would not, however,...

...Orphan. Act iii. Sc. I. ANDREW FLETCHER OF SALTOUN. 1653-1716. I knew a very wise man that believed that, if a man were permitted to make all the ballads, he need not care who should make the laws of a nation. Letter to the Marquis of Montrose, the Earl of Rothes, etc. 1 Compare Gray, The Bard,...

...that others may be decorated with their feathers. FEI.LTHAM. I knew a very wise man that believed that if a man were permitted to make all the ballads, he need not care who should make the laws, of a nation. FLETCHER OF SALTOUN. By the original law of nations, war and extirpation were the punishment...

...of Saltoun wrote, " I knew a very wise man, so much of Sir Christopher's sentiment that he believed if a man were permitted to make all the ballads, he need not care who should make the laws of a nation," he referred to the popular songs of the people, but, in point of fact, a nation makes...

...this connection, Fletcher of Saltoun's famous saying about " a very wise man " who believed that " if a man were permitted to make all the ballads, he need not care who should make the laws of a nation," had more of profound truth and lorce in it ihan may be generally believed. Some comparatively...

...Anne. His writings were chiefly in the form of political tracts. He is the author of the saying, " If a man were permitted to make all the ballads, he need not care who should make the laws of a nation." Mits. MANLEY (1724), in the reign of Anne, was a dramatist, novelist, ami political writer,...

...nor cared to comprehend, nor to have understood the gentle wisdom of Fletcher of Saltoun : ' f That if a man were permitted to make all the ballads, he need not care who shoulH make the laws of a people." He never gained their respect; but, by his self-seeking, his self-promotion...

...of the Manx peasantry. Such is the influence of a ballad, that well might the sage of old remark, " if a man were permitted to make all the ballads, he need not care who should make the laws of a nation." Some on the Island deny Christian's guilt altogether; but there are others who are so...

...in a letter to the Marquis of Montrose, remarked, that he knew a very wise man that believed that, if a man were permitted to make all the ballads, he need not care who should make the laws of a nation. He has woven this maxim into his character so strongly, and so thoroughly, that it has...

...of the streets." Hereupon Fletcher of Saltoun said he knew a very wise person who believed that : " If a man were permitted to make all the ballads, he need not care who should make the laws of a nation." We have all heard these words quoted — or misquoted — times innumerable, and there...