The English Oracle

Genesis of the phrase "life and times"

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Chapters
00:00 Genesis Of The Phrase &Quot;Life And Times&Quot;
00:11 Answer 1 Score 0
00:26 Accepted Answer Score 3
00:50 Thank you

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Full question
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Tags
#phrases #history

#avk47



ACCEPTED ANSWER

Score 3


I found this use of the phrase in a collection of letters by Francis Bacon published posthumously in 1702 by historian Robert Stephens. The placement of the letter in the collection dates it around 1606.

http://books.google.com/books?id=NX5BAAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=snippet&q=%22life%20and%20times%22&f=false

So the phrase may be as old as the early 1600s, but didn't appear in print until a century later.




ANSWER 2

Score 0


The earliest use that I can find was a biography of Cecil Rhodes (of Rhodesia and Rhodes Scholar fame), The Life and Times of the Right Honorable Cecil John Rhodes, 1910.