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Marbles

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The Arundeʹlian Marbles. Some thirty-seven statues and 128 busts with inscriptions, collected by W. Petty, in the reign of James I., in the island of Paros, and purchased of him by Lord Arundel, who gave them to the University of Oxford in 1627.

The Elgin marbles. A collection of basso-relievos and fragments of statuary from the Parthenon of Athens (built by Phidʹias), collected by Thomas, Lord Elgin, during his mission to the Ottoman Porte in 1802. They were purchased from him by the British Government, in 1816, for £35,000, and are now in the British Museum. (The gin of “Elgin” is like the -gin of “begin.”)

Money and marbles. Cash and furniture.

 

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

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Many
Many a Mickle makes a Muckle
Many Men, Many Minds
Maori (The)
Mara
Marabou Feathers
Marabout (in French)
Marabuts
Maranatha (Syriac, the Lord will comei.e. to execute judgment)
Maravedi
Marbles
Marcassin (The Prince)
Marcella
Marcellina
Marcellus (in Dibdin’s Bibliomania, a romance,)
March
March Dust
March Hare
Marches (boundaries)
Marchaundes Tale (in Chaucer)
Marching Watch