‘Daft’ seems to be used to mean ‘insane’ and the ‘hound’ apparently alludes to a stricken sailing ship. The story is, to current sensibilities, pretty much bonkers. Let sleeping dogs lie, said the daft man, when he saw the dead hound before him. There is also the expression lie like a rug which can have the same meanings as lie like a dog. Several centuries later it was used either when saying someone was lazy or when referring to someone as a liar. In December 1822 The London Magazine published a fanciful mariner’s yarn entitled The Second Tale of Allan Lorburne, which included: Let Sleeping Dogs Lie, Hardcover by Erickson, John R. In this example, the phrase let sleeping dogs lie is used to suggest that one should be cautious in letting children know good news before it happens. The expression was used as long ago as the 13001400s, but at that time it was referring to someone being lazy, not telling a lie. To Tilt at Windmills: To Wage a Battle or Take Arms Up Against an Imaginary Enemy or Evil. To get to the current wording of the proverb we have to move to the 19th century. Let Sleeping Dogs Lie: To Let a Matter or Person which is presently at Rest to Stay at Rest (or Asleep) rather than to Create a Disturbance. Sir Robert may have been in the habit of advising caution in political policy but, as far as the evidence shows, he didn’t coin or even use the expression ‘let sleeping dogs lie’. Of course, he may have repeated the form of the proverb printed earlier by Heywood. The expression appears nowhere in any of Walpole’s published writings and, as far as I can tell, there is no record of his ever uttering it. The reason for that attribution is never explained and doesn’t appear to be based on any evidence. It is so closely associated with him as to have been the source of a later cartoon. ‘Let sleeping dogs lie’ is frequently associated with or even attributed to Walpole and the proverb is many times mentioned in print as being his motto. Let sleeping dogs lie derives from the long-standing observation that dogs are often unpredictable when they are suddenly disturbed. At this point I ought to mention the 18th century British politician Sir Robert Walpole.
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