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 1620. Ford, Line of Life. But is his resolution any way infracted, for that some refractaries are (like knights of the post) hired to witnesse against him?

1621. Burton, Anat. of Mel., III. xi. 187 (1836). Perjur'd knaves, knights of the post, lyers.

c.1633. Lady Alimony, i. 3. That knight of the sun who employed me should have done his errand himself. Ibid. iii. 7. Doubt nothing, my fellow knights of hornsey.

1635. Glapthorne, The Hollander, in Wks. (1874), i. 94. Not John-a-Stiles, the knight of the post, is it?

1653. Brome, The Damoiselle, in Wks. (1873), Act i. 1. He takes me for a knight of the post.

1662. Rump Songs, ii. 47. Then the knight of the pestle, King Lambert, and Vane, With a sceptre of iron did over it reign. Ibid., ii. 185. A knight of the post, and a cobbling lord.

1662. Wilson, The Cheats, v. 2. How? Stick a bull's feather in my cap! Make me a knight of the forked order! Ibid. iv. 1.

1671. R. Head, English Rogue, 1, ch. xxx. p. 246 (Repr. 1874). His investation into the honour of one of the knights of the road.

1691-2. Gentlemen's Journal, Mar. p. 2. I know some of your sturdy, stuff knights of the quill. Ibid. Feb. p. 5. knights of the post, Alsatian braves.

1694. Echard, Plautus, p. 151. Whene'er we meet with fellows who hire knights of the post in law-sutes, and rascals who forswear themselves.

1709. Mrs. Centlivre, Gamester (1872), i. 162. It is a kind of knight of the post.—That will swear on either side for interest.

1711. Spectator, No. 172. A couple of courtiers making professions of esteem, would make the same figure after breach of promise, as two knights of the post convicted of perjury.

d.1721. Prior, Poems (1892), i. 156. There the Squires of the Pad, and the knights of the post.

1777. Foote, Trip to Calais (1795), i. p. 23. That may be the case, Master Minnikin, with those of the trade who live in the city; but I would have you to know, the knights of the needle are another sort of people at our end of the town.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib, 76. Whose kiss to my lip is as sweet As the brandy and tea, rather thinnish, That knights of the rumpad so rurally sip.

1821. Scott, Kenilworth, viii. 'When an old song comes across us merry old knights of the spigot, it runs away with our discretion.'

1828. Jon Bee, Picture of London, p. 27. To the practices and necessities of the coachmen and guard's private trade, we owe the increasing number and fresh supply of hangers-on, whose first business has been the performing fetch-and-carry services for those knights of the whip.

1838. Jas. Grant, Sketches in London, iii. 119. 'You'll do what, Sir?' observed the 'man with the Macintosh,' eyeing the knight of the thimble steadily. 'Just call me a tailor agin, Sir.'

1840. Thackeray, Catherine, v. We did not go into the Park, but turned off and cantered smartly up towards Kilburn; and, when we got into the country, galloped as if the devil were at our heels. Bless you, my love, it was all done in a minute; and the Ensign and I found ourselves regular knights of the road, before we knew where we were almost.

1843. W. T. Moncrieff, The Scamps of London, ii. 2. Our hells are full of Greeks—they are the Corinthians of the order, the top sawyers—knights of the post, whom you will find in Regent-street, in the clubs, at Epsom, Ascot, Newmarket, and Doncaster.

1858. A. Mayhew, Paved with Gold, III, iii. p. 267. 'It's scarcely wages for a knight of the rainbow (footman).'

1864. Reader, 22 Oct., p. 505. i. The best guard against any such spirit, [that of only regarding books by the light of 'will they pay'] is that the publisher should be a knight of the pen himself.

1881. New York Slang Dictionary. Gamblers are called knights of the green cloth, and their lieutenants, who are sent out after greenhorns, are called decoys, cappers, and steerers.

1885. John Coleman, in Longm. Mag., vii. 78. Occasionally however, the author has his nose put out of joint by the scene-painter. I once heard a distinguished knight of the brush exclaim,