1630. Taylor, Works [Nares]. If our hackney ratlers were so drawne, With cords, or ropes, or halters.
1633. Cottington, To Strafford [Hallam, Const. Hist., 11. 89]. The King hath so rattled my lord-keeper that he is the most pliable man in England.
1633. Prynne, 1 Histrio-Matrix, i. v. Our lascivious, impudent, rattle-pated gadding females.
1636. Heywood, Love's Mistress, 9. Boys without beards get boys, and girls bear girls; Fine little rattle-babies, scarce thus high, Are now called wives.
1644. Heylin, Life of Laud, 257. Receiving such a rattle for his former contempt.
d. 1649. Hakewell, Apology. All this ado about the golden age, is but an empty rattle and frivolous conceit.
1669. Pepys, Diary, 25 March. I did lay the law open to them, and rattle the master-attendants out of their wits almost.
1693. Hacket, Williams, i. 130. Many rattleheads as well as they, did bestir them to gain-stand this match.
1694. Congreve, Double Dealer, ii. 4. Pray your ladyship, give me leave to be angry—I'll rattle him up, I warrant you.
1701. Farquhar, Sir Henry Wildair, v. 3. I rather fancy that the rattle-headed fellow, her husband, has broken the poor lady's heart.
1708. Swift, Agst. Abolishing Xtnty. [Ency. Dict.]. He rattles it out against Popery. Ibid., Jour. Stella, lx. I chid the servants and made a rattle.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 2. My Lady with her tongue was still prepar'd, She rattled loud, and he impatient heard.
1715. Hearne, Reliquiæ, 1715. Townshend, one of the secretaries of state, hath sent rattling letters to Dr. Charlett.
1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, 1V. v. Tom, though an idle, thoughtless, rattling rascal, was nobody's enemy but his own.
1754. Disc. John Poulter, 37. Go three or four miles out of Town to meet the rattlers.
1764. Murphy, No One's Enemy, ii. This rattle seems to please you: but let me tell you, the man who prevails with me must have extraordinary merit.
1773. Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, iii. At the Ladies' Club in town I'm called their agreeable rattle.
1781. Messink, Choice of Harlequin, Song. Rattling up your darbies, come hither at my call.
1788. Stevens, Adv. of a Speculist, ii. 151. He was such a rattle-head, so inconstant and so unthinking.
1790. Shirref, Poems, 49. Gin Geordy be the rattle-scull I'm taul', I may expect to find him stiff and baul'.
1818. Austen, Northanger Abbey, ix. She had not been brought up to understand the propensities of a rattle, nor to know to how many idle assertions and impudent falsehoods the excess of vanity will lead.
1819. Moore, Tom Crib, 8. And long before daylight, gigs, rattlers, and prads were in motion for Moulsey.
1820. Lamb, Elia (South-sea House). A little less facetious, and a great deal more obstreperous, was fine, rattling, rattle-headed Plumer.
1821. Egan, Life in London, 11. v. At length a move was made, but not a rattler was to be had.
1844. Thackeray, Barry Lyndon, i. 21. He danced prettily, to be sure, and was a pleasant rattle of a man.
1848. Ruxton, Far West, 12. Crawled like rattlers along this bottom.
1854. Whyte Melville, General Bounce, xiii. Who would have suspected the rattling, agreeable, off-hand Mount Helicon of deep-laid schemes and daring ambition?
1857. Kingsley, Two Years Ago, xi. "Rattle-pate as I am, I forgot all about it."
1862. Cornhill, Nov., 648. We have just touched for a rattling stake of sugar at Brum.
1865. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend. I should have given him a rattler for himself, if Mrs. Boffin had not thrown herself betwixt us.
1878. James, Europeans, iv. Robert Acton would put his hand into his pocket every day in the week if that rattle-pated little sister of his should bid him.
