| E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898. |
| | | Bath’sheba. | | |
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The Duchess of Portsmouth, a favourite court lady of Charles II. The allusion is to the wife of Uri’ah the Hittite, criminally beloved by David (2 Sam. xi.). The Duke of Monmouth says: | 1 |
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| “My father, whom with reverence yet I name, |
| Charmed into ease, is careless of his fame; |
| And, bribed with petty sums of foreign gold, |
| Is grown in Bathsheba’s embraces old.” | |
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Dryden: Absalom and Achitophel, i. 707–10. |
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