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Dictionary of Phrase and Fable—B

Bombastus

The family name of Aureolus Paracelsus (1493-1541). He is said to have kept a small devil prisoner in the pommel of his sword.

Bombastus kept a devil's bird
Shut in the pommel of his sword,
That taught him all the cunning pranks
Of past and future mountebanks.

S. Butler: Hudibras, part ii. 3.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
Bon Gaultier Ballads
Bombastes Furioso
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