where does the phrase cloak and dagger come from
Cloak and dagger The phrase has two possible origins. The first, dating from the early 19th century, is a translation from the French de cape et d'épée and Spanish de capa y espada (literally "of cloak and sword"). These phrases referred to a genre of swashbuckler drama in which the main characters literally wore these items. In 1840, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote, "In the afternoon read La Dama Duende of Calderón – a very good comedy of 'cloak and sword'." Charles Dickens subsequently used the phrase "cloak and dagger" in his work Barnaby Rudge a year later as a sarcastic reference to this style of drama.[1] The imagery of these two items became associated with the archetypal spy or assassin: the cloak, worn to hide one's identity or remain hidden from view, and the dagger, a concealable and silent weapon.