=Charity begins at home.=
This is literally true in the most exalted sense. The best of men are
those
"Whose circling charities begin
With the few loved ones Heaven has placed them near,
Nor cease till all mankind are in their sphere."
It is only in irony, or by an odious abuse of its meaning, that the
proverb is ever used as an apology for that sort of charity which not
only begins at home, but ends there likewise. The egotist holds that
"Self is the first object of charity" (Latin).[398] "Every one has his
hands turned towards himself" (Polish).
=The priest christens his own child first.=
=Every man draws the water to his own mill.=
"Every cow licks her own calf." "Every old woman blows under her own
kettle" (both Servian). "Every one rakes the embers to his own cake"
(Arab).
=Every one for himself, and God for us all.=
=Let every tub stand on its own bottom.=
=Let every sheep hang by its own shank.=
=Let every herring hang by its own gills.=
=Ilka man for his ain hand, as John Jelly fought.=--_Scotch._
James Kelly gives this explanation of the last proverb: "As two men
were fighting, John Jelly, going by, made up fiercely to them. Each
of them asked him which he was for: he answered for his own hand, and
beat them both." Sir Walter Scott puts aside John Jelly's claims to
the authorship of this saying, and assigns it to Harry Smith in the
following passage of "The Fair Maid of Perth." After the fight between
the clans at the North Inch, Black Douglas says to the smith,--
"'If thou wilt follow me, good fellow, I will change thy leathern apron
for a knight's girdle, thy burgage tenement for an hundred-pound-land
to maintain thy rank withal.'
"'I thank you humbly, my lord,' said the smith dejectedly, 'but I have
shed blood enough already; and Heaven has punished me by foiling the
only purpose for which I entered the contest.'
"'How, friend?' said Douglas. 'Didst thou not fight for the Clan
Chattan, and have they not gained a glorious conquest?'
"'I fought for my own hand,' said the smith indifferently; and the
expression is still proverbial in Scotland--meaning, 'I did such a
thing for my own pleasure, not for your profit.'"
=Let every man skin his own skunk.=--_American._
The skunk stinks ten thousand times worse than a polecat. "Let every
one carry his own sack to the mill" (German).[399] "Let every fox take
care of his own tail" (Italian).[400]
=Self do, self have.=
Analogous to this manly proverb, as it seems to me, is that Dutch one,
"Self's the man."[401] which Dean Trench has stigmatised as merely
selfish.
=The tod [fox] ne'er sped better than when he went his ain
errand.=--_Scotch._
=The miller ne'er got better moulter [toll] than he took wi' his ain
hands.=--_Scotch._
=If you would have your business done, go; if not, send.=
=If you would have a thing well done, do it yourself.=
=Ilka man's man had a man, and that made the Treve fa'.=--_Scotch._
The Treve was a strong castle built by Black Douglas. The governor left
the care of it to a deputy, and he to an under-deputy, through whose
negligence the castle was taken and burned. "The master bids the man,
and the man bids the cat, and the cat bids its tail" (Portuguese).[402]
General Sir Charles Napier, speaking of what happened during his
temporary absence from the government of Corfu, says, "How entirely all
things depend on the mode of executing them, and how ridiculous mere
theories are! My successor thought, as half the world always thinks,
that a man in command has only to order, and obedience will follow.
Hence they are baffled, not from want of talent, but from inactivity,
vainly thinking that while they spare themselves every one under them
will work like horses."
=Trust not to another for what you can do yourself.=
"Let him that has a mouth not say to another, Blow" (Spanish).[403]
=The master's eye will do more work than both his hands.=
"If you have money to throw away, set on workmen and don't stand by"
(Italian);[404] for
=When the cat's away the mice will play.=
=The eye of the master fattens the steed.=
=The master's eye puts mate on the horse's bones.=--_Ulster._
"The answers of Perses and Libys are worth observing," says Aristotle.
"The former being asked what was the best thing to make a horse fat,
answered, 'The master's eye;' the other being asked what was the
best manure, answered, 'The master's footsteps.'" The Spaniards have
naturalised this last saying among them.[405] Aulus Gellius tells a
story of a man who, being asked why he was so fat, and the horse he
rode was so lean, replied, "Because I feed myself, and my servant feeds
my horse."
=He that owns the cow goes nearest her tail.=--_Scotch._
=Let him that owns the cow take her by the tail.=
In some districts formerly the cattle used to suffer greatly from want
of food in winter and the early months of spring, before the grass had
begun to grow. Sometimes a cow would become so weak from inanition
as to be unable to rise if she once lay down. In that case it was
necessary to lift her up by means of ropes passed under her, and,
above all, by pulling at her tail. This part of the job being the most
important, was naturally undertaken by the owner of the animal.
=A man is a lion in his own cause.=
=No man cries stinking fish.=
On the contrary, every man tries to set off his wares to the best
advantage, to make the most of his own case, &c. "Every one says, 'I
have right on my side'" (French).[406] Æsop's currier maintained that
for fortifying a town there was "nothing like leather." "Every potter
praises his pot, and all the more if it is cracked" (Spanish).[407]
"'Tis a mad priest who blasphemes his relics" (Italian).[408] "Ask the
host if he has good wine" (Italian).[409] One canny Scot compliments
another with the remark,--
=Ye'll no sell your hens on a rainy day;=
for then the drenched feathers, sticking close to the skin, give the
poor things a lean and miserable appearance.
=It is an ill bird that fouls its own nest.=
=He was scant o' news that tauld his feyther was hangit.=--_Scotch._
=They're scarce of news that speak ill of their mother.=--_Ulster._
Why wantonly proclaim one's own disgrace, or expose the faults or
weaknesses of one's kindred or people? "If you have lost your nose
put your hand before the place" (Italian).[410] Napoleon I. used
to say, "People should wash their foul linen in private." It is a
necessary process, but there is no need to obtrude it on public notice.
English writers often quote this maxim of the great emperor, but
always mistranslate it. _Il faut laver son linge sale en famille_ is
one of those idiomatic phrases which cannot be perfectly rendered in
another tongue. Our version of it comes near to its meaning, which is
quite lost in that which is commonly given, "People should wash their
foul linen at home." The point of the proverb lies in the privacy it
enjoins, and this might equally be secured whether the linen was washed
at home or sent away to the laundress's. _En famille_ and _at home_ are
not mutually equivalent; the former means more than the latter. We may
say of a man who entertains a large dinner party in his own house, that
he dines at home, but not that he dines _en famille_.
=No one knows where the shoe pinches so well as he that wears it.=
=I wot weel where my ain shoe binds me.=--_Scotch._
Erskine used to say that when the hour came that all secrets should be
revealed we should know the reason why--shoes are always too tight.
The authorship of this proverb is commonly ascribed to Æmilius Paulus;
but the story told by Plutarch leaves it doubtful whether Æmilius
used a known illustration or invented one. The relations of his wife
remonstrated with him on his determination to repudiate her, she being
an honourable matron, against whom no fault could be alleged. Æmilius
admitted the lady's worth; but, pointing to one of his shoes, he asked
the remonstrants what they thought of it. They thought it a handsome,
well-fitting shoe. "But none of you," he rejoined, "can tell where it
pinches me."
=The heart knoweth its own bitterness.=--_Solomon._
"To every one his own cross seems heaviest" (Italian);[411] but "The
burden is light on the shoulders of another" (Russian); and "One does
not feel three hundred blows on another's back" (Servian). "Another's
care hangs by a hair" (Spanish).[412] "Another's woe is a dream"
(French).[413] Rochefoucauld has had the credit of saying, "We all
have fortitude enough to endure the woes of others;" but it is plain
from this and other examples that he was not the sole author of
"Rochefoucauld's Maxims."
="The case is altered," quoth Plowden.=
Edmund Plowden, an eminent lawyer in Queen Elizabeth's time, was asked
by a neighbour what remedy there was in law against the owner of some
hogs that had trespassed on the inquirer's ground. Plowden answered
he might have very good remedy. "Marry, then," said the other, "the
hogs are your own." "Nay, then, neighbour, the case is altered," quoth
Plowden. Others, says Ray, with more probability make this the original
of the proverb:--"Plowden being a Roman Catholic, some neighbours
of his who bare him no good-will, intending to entrap him and bring
him under the lash of the law, had taken care to dress up an altar
in a certain place, and provided a layman in a priest's habit, who
should say mass there at such a time. And, withal, notice thereof was
given privately to Mr. Plowden, who thereupon went and was present
at the mass. For this he was presently accused and indicted. He at
first stands upon his defence, and would not acknowledge the thing.
Witnesses are produced, and among the rest one who deposed that he
himself performed the mass, and saw Mr. Plowden there. Saith Plowden to
him, 'Art thou a priest, then?' The fellow replied, 'No.' 'Why, then,
gentlemen,' quoth he, 'the case is altered: no priest, no mass,' which
came to be a proverb, and continues still in Shropshire with this
addition--'The case is altered,' quoth Plowden: 'no priest, no mass.'"
=That's Hackerton's cow.=
This is a proverb of the Scotch, and they tell a story about it
similar to the first of the two above related of Plowden. Hackerton
was a lawyer, whose cow had gored a neighbour's ox. The man told him
the reverse. "Why, then," said Hackerton, "your ox must go for my
heifer--the law provides that." "No," said the man, "your cow killed
my ox." "The case alters there," said Hackerton. Many a one exclaims
in secret with the Spaniard, "Justice, but not brought home to
myself!"[414] "Nobody likes that" (Italian).[415]
=Close sits my shirt, but closer my skin.=
That is, I love my friends well, but myself better; or, my body is
dearer to me than my goods.
=Near is my petticoat, but nearer is my smock.=
Some friends are nearer to me than others. There are many proverbs in
various languages similar to the last two in meaning and in form, but
with different terms of comparison. They are all modelled upon the
Latin adage, "The tunic is nearer than the frock."[416]