It is important to remember that even though he was nationally prominent, William Lloyd Garrison was at no point a mainstream figure. He was on the radical fringe of the abolitionist movement, one which brooked no compromise whatsoever over the issue of slavery. Garrison even sometimes advocated the dissolution of the Union to rid the body politic of the stain of slavery. This being said, Garrison rose to prominence by the publication of The Liberator, his newspaper which remained in publication from 1831 through the Civil War. This paper, while relatively limited in circulation, inspired abolitionists throughout the North, most famously Frederick Douglass. Garrison also engaged in almost constant public speaking tours, lecturing like-minded groups around the North. He also took part in dramatic and provocative acts of protest, famously burning a copy of the Constitution, which he denounced as a "covenant with death." He organized the American Anti-Slavery Society, an organization that gained thousands of members throughout the North. Though he disdained politics, Garrison had become very well known by the time the Civil War broke out.
Does anybody know the etymology of the phrase "sweet dreams"? I tried googling but did not find anything satisfying. Is this a relatively new phrase of the modern world or has this been in use for some time? I think it's the latter one. Answer The OED has the interjection as "a farewell to someone going to bed" from the 20th century: 1908 Sears Roebuck Catal. 198/1 Tenor Solos..Good Bye, Sweet Dreams, Good Bye. But it goes back until at least the 19th and possibly 18th centuries. John Wolcot, writing under the pseudonym of Peter Pindar, used it in his poem "Orson and Ellen; A Legendary Tale" published in 1801: Also from 1801 in The infernal Quixote (Page 287) by Charles Lucas: In the March 1776 of The Universal Magazine was published "The Serenade. A Pastoral Tale. From the German of Gesner" , where the shepherd Daphnis watches over his beloved as she sleeps and sings: The same tale appears in 1776's as Idyl XI, " Daphnis ...
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