In Henry V, Shakespeare has the Duke of Exeter say:
Therefore in fierce tempest is he coming, In thunder and in earthquake, like a Jove, That if requiring fail, he will compel; And bids you, in the bowels of the Lord, Deliver up the crown; and to take mercy On the poor souls for whom this hungry war Opens his vasty jaws...
Therefore in fierce tempest is he coming,
In thunder and in earthquake, like a Jove,
That if requiring fail, he will compel;
And bids you, in the bowels of the Lord,
Deliver up the crown; and to take mercy
On the poor souls for whom this hungry war
Opens his vasty jaws...
So it seems to have been a fairly common idiom in 17th C English.
In Henry V, Shakespeare has the Duke of Exeter say:
So it seems to have been a fairly common idiom in 17th C English.