E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Prose.
Il y a plus de vingt ans que je dis de la prose, sans que j’en susse rien. I have known this these twenty years without being conscious of it. (Molière: Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme.)
1
“‘Really,’ exclaimed Lady Ambrose, brightening, ‘Il y a plus de vingt ans que je dis de la prose, sans que j’en susse rien.’ And so it seems that I have known history without suspecting it, just as Mons. Jourdain talked prose.”—Mallock: The New Republic, bk. iii. chap. 2.
Father of Greek prose. Herod’otos (B.C. 484–405).
2
Father of English prose. Wycliffe (1324–1384); and Roger Ascham (1515–1568).
3
Father of French prose. Villehardouin (pron. Veal-hard-whah’n.) (1167–1213.)
