E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Amazia,
meant for Charles II., in Pordage’s poem of Azaria and Hushai. We are told by the poet, “his father’s murtherers he destroyed;” and then he preposterously adds—
1
“Beloved of all, for merciful was he,
Like God, in the superlative degree.”
To say that such a selfish, promise-breaking, impious libertine was “like God, in the superlative degree,” is an outrage against even poetical licence and court flattery.
