middle passagen.

1567 G. Turberville tr. Ovid Heroycall Epist. 77^v When I thinke of Troie, both wind and Seas Returne to minde:..And that the windes your middle passage barre Moues me.

1622 G. Markham Herod & Antipater Epilogve Though not the best, nor worst; yet wee hope It keepes the middle passage.

1656 T. Heywood Hist. Sir Richard Whittington Observe his beginning, forget not the middle passage of his life, and thou wilt..crowne his end.

1798 C. B. Brown Wieland vi. 66 In each story were two rooms, separated by an entry, or middle passage.

1845 S. Judd Margaret ii. v. 272 It boots not to describe that Middle Passage of the Pock House, or follow from day to day the progress of a dreadful disorder.

1860 W. Collins Woman in White (new ed.) III. 271 The Count turned round..and disappeared in the middle passage down the centre of the pit [in the opera house].

1788 T. Clarkson Ess. Slavery (ed. 2) iii. iii. 98 The captain of a ship, then on the middle passage, had lost a considerable number of his slaves by death.

1812 Examiner 28 Sept. 621/1 Captains of the slave ships, on board whose ships..the..cruelties of a middle passage had been practised.

1870 Gentleman's Mag. July 182 The Channel Passage..in the excursion season, the scenes witnessed on board are describable only by the well-worn reference to ‘the middle passage’.

1905 J. Davidson Theatrocra iii. 136 That supreme emprise, The middle passage of the maze of streams,..And the return alive from Dis's hall.

1949 C. Lloyd Navy & Slave Trade i. i. 5 The Round Trip..was commonly divided into three ‘passages’. On the outward passage the cargo consisted of textiles, hardware, alcohol and antiquated firearms. These were traded on the coast for slaves, who were shipped to America and the West Indies on the notorious Middle Passage. The principal cargoes taken on there for the homeward passage were sugar, tobacco and rum.

1978 N. C. L. Madgett Exits & Entrances 40 From Ife and Timbuktu we came, Crying to Thee in the agonies Of the Middle Passage.

1994 E. E. Miller First Light 119 Tomorrow i will take the journey back sail the middle passage it would be better to be packed like spoons again than to continue to live among knives and forks.