Dr. Fell

I do not like thee, Dr. Fell. A correspondent of Notes and Queries says the author was Tom Brown, who wrote Dialogues of the Dead, and the person referred to was Dr. Fell, Dean of Christchurch (1625–1686), who expelled him, but said he would remit the sentence if he translated the thirty-third Epigram of Martial:

“Non amo te, Zabidi, nec possum dicere quare;

Hoc tantum possum dicere, non amo te.”

“I do not like thee, Dr. Fell,

The reason why I cannot tell;

But this I know, I know full well,

I do not like thee, Dr. Fell.”

T. Brown.

· ·

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.