The mildest manner'd man that ever scuttled ship or cut a throat

[ciphergoth]

"The kindest, gentlest man that ever scuttled a ship or slit a throat"

Where does that turn of phrase come from? The instances I can find in Google

http://www.google.com/search?q=%22man+that+ever%22+%22slit+a+throat%22

don't seem to refer to the origin of the phrase, so I can't work out about whom it was first said...

Update: Thanks, rosenkavalier! Have corrected title of the post.

Comments

[wwhyte.livejournal.com]

I have to guess it's from the Pirates of Penzance.

[djm4]

I know what you mean, but IIRC the closest you get in Pirates is 'a keener hand at scuttling a Cunarder or cutting out a P. & O. never shipped a handspike.'

[rosenkavalier.livejournal.com]

I think it's from Byron's 'Don Juan', but I'll need to find a copy to check.

[rosenkavalier.livejournal.com]

I've found the bit I was thinking of - it's not precisely the same quote, but in Canto 3, Verse 41:

You're wrong. -- He was the mildest manner'd man
That ever scuttled ship or cut a throat:
With such true breeding of a gentleman,
You never could divine his real thought;
No courtier could, and scarcely woman can
Gird more deceit within a petticoat;
Pity he loved adventurous life's variety,
He was so great a loss to good society.