Careful Words

rascal (n.)

  Modestus said of Regulus that he was "the biggest rascal that walks upon two legs."

Pliny The Younger (61-105 a d): Letters. Book i. Letter v. 14.

Should I have answer'd Caius Cassius so?

When Marcus Brutus grows so covetous,

To lock such rascal counters from his friends,

Be ready, gods, with all your thunderbolts:

Dash him to pieces!

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Julius Caesar. Act iv. Sc. 3.

  If the rascal have not given me medicines to make me love him, I 'll be hanged.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): King Henry IV. Part I. Act ii. Sc. 2.