Reference > Brewer’s Dictionary > Bandbox Plot (The).

 Bandbox.Bande Noire. 
CONTENTS · BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD
E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
 
Bandbox Plot (The).
 
Rapin (History of England, iv. 297) tells us that a bandbox was sent to the lord-treasurer, in Queen Anne’s reign, with three pistols charged and cocked, the triggers being tied to a pack-thread fastened to the lid. When the lid was lifted, the pistols would go off, and shoot the person who opened the lid. He adds that [dean] Swift happened to be by at the time, and seeing the pack-thread, cut it, thereby saving the life of the lord-treasurer.   1
       
“Two ink-horn tops your Whigs did fill
With gunpowder and lead;
Which with two serpents made of quill,
You in a bandbox laid;
A tinder-box there was beside,
Which had a trigger to it,
To which the very string was ty’d
That was designed to do it.”
       
Plot upon Plot (about 1713).
 


 Bandbox.Bande Noire. 

 
Loading
Click here to shop the Bartleby Bookstore.
Shakespeare · Bible · Saints · Anatomy · Harvard Classics · Lit. History · Quotations · Poetry
© 1993–2013 Bartleby.com · [Top 150]