tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1500499634306365143.post1518595269178705859..comments2024-03-20T00:06:07.159-10:00Comments on News from 1930: The Irregular Blather July 5, 1931ikedimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08850614066530391040noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1500499634306365143.post-59009800793737363782010-07-05T17:26:20.417-10:002010-07-05T17:26:20.417-10:00Oh my, you're right, the story was attributed ...Oh my, you're right, the story was attributed to Samuel Foote as well:<br /><br /><i>A Physician at Bath told Mr Foote he had a mind to publish his poems; "but," said he, "I have so many irons in the fire, I don't know what to do." "Then take my advice," said Foote, "and put your poems into the fire with the rest of your irons."</i> (<a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=XzgCAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA109&dq=%22irons+in+the+fire%22&hl=en&ei=IIsyTNz0N4Hw0gSbzeCsAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=19&ved=0CJEBEOgBMBI#v=onepage&q=%22irons%20in%20the%20fire%22&f=false" rel="nofollow">Scrapeana: Fugitive miscellany - John Croft</a>)<br /><br />This is closer to the other more general versions, since it concerns publishing poems, not the play that Mrs Brooke brought to Johnson. Oddly enough, a play by Samuel Foote contains this line:<br /><br /><i>leave her to my Management, and consider we have more Irons in the Fire than one</i> (<a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=uK0_AAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA12&dq=%22irons+in+the+fire%22&hl=en&ei=IIsyTNz0N4Hw0gSbzeCsAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=45&ved=0CJMCEOgBMCw#v=onepage&q=%22irons%20in%20the%20fire%22&f=false" rel="nofollow">The Englishman in Paris</a>)<br /><br />I wonder whether some people deliberately switched the story to the more-famous Samuel Johnson. Foote gets around 46,000 Google results, while Johnson gets 2.5 million (though I don't know how many Google hits Foote got in the 1700s).<br /><br />A: [tells irons in fire story]<br />B: Erm, who is Samuel Foote?<br />A: Oh, you know...er...oh actually it was Samuel Johnson, not Foote.<br />B: Oh but of course, that old rascal!<br /><br />As for the phrase "irons in the fire" itself, the earliest hit that Google Books has is from 1624:<br /><br /><i>they that have many Irons in the fire some must burne</i> (<a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=1e8duZeTlC0C&pg=PA159&dq=%22irons+in+the+fire%22&hl=en&ei=hZYyTKXULIzu0gS10JCYAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=26&ved=0CLQBEOgBMBk#v=onepage&q=%22irons%20in%20the%20fire%22&f=false" rel="nofollow">The generall historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles, by John Smith</a>)<br /><br /><a href="http://docsouth.unc.edu/highlights/smith.html" rel="nofollow">John Smith: A Literary Pioneer</a>david1082https://www.blogger.com/profile/05599923470417526281noreply@blogger.com