1589. Hughes, Misf. Arthur [Dodsley, Old Plays (Hazlitt), iv. 324]. There fortune laid the prime of Britain's pride, There laid her pomp, all topsy-turvy turn'd.
1594. Kyd, Cornelia [Dodsley, Old Plays (Reed), ii. 301]. When thwarting destiny, at Africk walls, Did topside-turvey turn their common-wealth.
1596. Spenser, Fairy Queen, v. viii. 42. At last they have all overthrowne to grounde Quite topside turvey.
1598. Shakspeare, 1 Henry IV., iv. 1. We shall o'er-turn it topsie-turvy down.
1605. Sylvester, Du Bartas, ii. His trembling tent all topsie turuie wheels. Ibid., 'The Vocation,' 744. He breaketh in through thickest of his foes And by his travail topsi-turneth them. Ibid., 'Schisme,' 993. Now Nereus foams, and now the furious waues All topsie-turned by the Æolian slaues Do mount and roule.
1606. Rich, Farewell to Mil. Life (1846), 29. Now, behoulde, all . . . my purposes tourned cleane topse-turve.
1612. Chapman, Widows' Tears, v. In this topsy-turvy world friendship and bosom-kindness are but made covers for mischief.
1617. Minsheu, Guide to Tongues, s.v. Topsiturnie, arsiversie.
1625. Burton, Anat. Melan., III. ii. iii. 3. Would rather have the commonwealth turned topsie turvie than her tires marred.
1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, i. xi. This little lecher was always groping his nurses and governesses, upside down, arsiversy, topsiturvy.
1654. H. L'Estrange, Reign K. Charles (1655), 75. Thus were all things strangely turned . . . topside the otherwaie.
1664. Cotton, Virgil Travestie (1770), 61. Then, turning Topsey on her Thumb, says, Look, heres Supernaculum. Ibid., 288. If I had not knock'd him down, And turn'd him topsy-turvy under.
1694. Congreve, Double-dealer, v. All turned topsy-turvy, as sure as a gun.
1713. Addison, Guardian, 154. I found nature turned topside turvy; women changed into men, and men into women.
1740. Richardson, Pamela, ii. 40. My poor mind is all topsy-turvied.
1759-67. Sterne, Tristram Shandy, iii. 169. With all my precautions how was my system turned topside turvy!
1765. Tucker, Light of Nature, ii. ii. 23. His words are to be turned topside tother way to understand them.
d. 1774. Goldsmith, Hyperbole. Here the winds not only blow together, but they turn the whole body of the ocean topsy-turvy.
1796. Reynolds, Fortune's Fool, Epil. What a bonnet! why it looks quite scurvy, It's like a coal-scuttle turn'd topsy-turvy.
d. 1796. Burns, Green Grow the Rashes, 3. An' war'ly cares an' war'ly men May a' gae tapsalteerie, O!
1834. Southey, Doctor, xxxix. In the topsy-turveying course of time Hexthorp has become part of the soke of Doncaster.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Revol., II. i. x. Then is it verily, as in Herr Tieck's drama, a verkeherte welt, or world topsyturvied.
1840. Thackeray, Paris Sketch Book, 'Madame Sand.' 'Valentine' was followed by 'Lelia,' . . . a regular topsyturvyfication of morality, a thieves' and prostitutes' apotheosis.
1851. Hawthorne, Seven Gables, i. The topsy-turvy commonwealth of sleep.
d. 1878. Bowles [Merriam, Life, ii. 159]. It is very hard to keep it [optimistic faith] fresh and strong in the presence . . . of such topsy-turning of right and wrong.
1879. Eliot, Theoph. Such, x. Insane patients whose system, all out of joint, finds matter for screaming laughter in mere topsy-turvy.
1885. D. Teleg., 26 Nov., 2. Vivisection is topsyturvyfied in a manner far from pleasing to humanity. Ibid. (1886), 5 Feb. Has done some clever things in his time, can sing a good song, and might well be employed for Faust viewed topsiturvily.
1885. Athenæum, 21 Mar., 384. The view of cynical topsyturvydom which has been so long worked with success at length shows signs of exhaustion.
