Liam O'Flaherty's short story "The Sniper" is set on a Dublin rooftop during the Irish Civil War. Republicans are fighting Free Staters in a pitched street battle. The protagonist of the story is a Republican sniper who is positioned on a rooftop not far from the Four Courts government buildings which had been occupied by Republican troops. The protagonist is pitted against his opposite, a sniper for the Free State forces. The Free State sniper is considered the antagonist of the story because he is in direct conflict with the protagonist. When the protagonist reveals himself, he is wounded by the antagonist. Ultimately, however, the Republican sniper is able to trick his enemy into showing himself and then kills the man with one shot from his pistol. At the end of the story, the antagonist is revealed to be the brother of the protagonist.
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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