=It is an ill wind that blows no good to Cornwall.=
On the rock-bound coasts of that shire almost any wind brought gain
to the wreckers. We have seen it somewhere alleged that the general
proverb grew out of the local one; but this is certainly not the fact,
for the former exists in other languages. Its Italian equivalent[242]
agrees closely with it in form as well as in spirit. The French say,
"Misfortune is good for something;"[243] the Spaniards, "There is no
ill but comes for good;"[244] and, "I broke my leg, perhaps for my
good."[245]
=Our worst misfortunes are those that never befall us.=
"Never give way to melancholy: nothing encroaches more. I fight
vigorously. One great remedy is to take short views of life. Are you
happy now? Are you likely to remain so till this evening? or next week?
or next month? or next year? Then why destroy present happiness by a
distant misery which may never come at all, or you may never live to
see? For every substantial grief has twenty shadows, and most of them
shadows of your own making."--_Sydney Smith._
=Ye're fleyed [frightened] o' the day ye ne'er saw.=--_Scotch._
=You cry out before you are hurt.=
=Never yowl till you're hit.=--_Ulster._
=Let your trouble tarry till its own day comes.=
=Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.=
In French, "À chaque jour suffit sa peine," words which were frequently
in Napoleon's mouth at St. Helena. An Eastern proverb says, "He is
miserable once who feels it, but twice who fears it before it comes."
=When bale is highest, boot is nighest.=
"Bale" is obsolete as a substantive, but retains a place in current
English as the root of the adjective "baleful." The proverb means that
=When the night's darkest the day's nearest.=
=The darkest hour is that before dawn.=
=When things come to the worst they'll mend.=
They must change, for that is the law of nature, and any change in them
must be for the better. Thus, "By dint of going wrong all will come
right" (French).[246] "Ill is the eve of well" (Italian);[247] and "It
is at the narrowest part of the defile that the valley begins to open"
(Persian). "When the tale of bricks is doubled Moses comes" (Hebrew).
=He that's down, down with him.=
Such is the way of the world--"the oppressed oppressing." "Him
that falls all the world run over" (German).[248] "He that has ill
luck gets ill usage" (Old French).[249] "All bite the bitten dog"
(Portuguese).[250] "When a dog is drowning everybody brings him drink"
(French).[251]
=Knock a man down, and kick him for falling.=
A sort of treatment like what they call in France "The custom of
Lorris: the beaten pay the fine."[252] It was enacted by the charter
of Lorris in the Orléanais, conferred by Philip the Fair, that any man
claiming to have money due to him from another, but unable to produce
proof of the debt, might challenge the alleged debtor to a judicial
combat with fists. The beaten combatant had judgment given against him,
which always included a fine to the lord of the manor.
=The puir man is aye put to the warst.=--_Scotch._
"The ill-clad to windward" (French).[253]
=The weakest goes to the wall=,
which is the worst place in a crowd and a crush. Also,
=Where the dyke is lowest men go over=.
"Where the dam is lowest the water first runs over" (Dutch).[254]
People overrun and oppress those who are least able to resist.
=When the tree falls every man goes with his hatchet.=
"When the tree is down everybody gathers wood" (Latin).[255] "If my
beard is burnt, others try to light their pipes at it" (Turkish).
=Where the carcass is, the eagles will be gathered together.=
"'We are, then, irremediably ruined, Mr. Oldbuck?' (The speaker is Miss
Wardour, in the 'Antiquary.')
"'Irremediably? I hope not; but the instant demand is very large, and
others will doubtless pour in.'
"'Ay, never doubt that, Monkbarns,' said Sir Arthur; 'where the
slaughter is, the eagles will be gathered together. I am like a sheep
which I have seen fall down a precipice, or drop down from sickness:
if you had not seen a single raven or hooded crow for a fortnight
before, he will not be on the heather ten minutes before half a dozen
will be pecking out his eyes (and he drew his hand over his own), and
tearing out his heart-strings before the poor devil has time to die.'"
=Put your finger in the fire and say it was your fortune.=--_Scotch._
Blame yourself only for the consequences of your own folly. Edgar, in
_Lear_, says, "This is the excellent foppery of the world! That when we
are sick in fortune we make guilty of our disasters, the sun, the moon,
and the stars: as if we were villains on necessity; fools by heavenly
compulsion; knaves, thieves, and treachers, by spherical predominance;
drunkards, liars, and adulterers, by a forced obedience of planetary
influence; and all that we are evil in by a divine thrusting on: an
admirable evasion!"