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PROVERB LORE
[Illustration]
PROVERB LORE
_MANY SAYINGS, WISE OR OTHERWISE,
ON MANY SUBJECTS, GLEANED
FROM MANY SOURCES_
BY
F. EDWARD HULME, F.S.A.
AUTHOR OF
"WAYSIDE SKETCHES," "MYTHLAND," "NATURAL HISTORY
LORE AND LEGEND," "SYMBOLISM IN ART,"
"WILD FRUITS OF THE COUNTRYSIDE,"
"FAMILIAR WILD FLOWERS," ETC.
LONDON
ELLIOT STOCK, 62 PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C.
1902
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
PAGE
Value of Study of Proverbs -- Difficulty of exact Definition
-- Definitions by various Writers -- The Saw -- The Adage --
The Essentials of a Proverb -- The Value of Brevity --
Legitimate Use of Hyperbole -- Proverbs often one-sided Views
of Truth -- Sometimes contradict each other -- Figurativeness
of Language -- A very characteristic Feature -- Parables of
our Lord -- Proverbs often condensed Parables -- Examples
of Word-Pictures -- Commonest Objects supply Lessons --
Interesting as referring to Usages that have passed away --
Some Proverbs enduring, some transient -- May have more than
one Significance -- Some palpable Truisms and Platitudes --
Great Antiquity of Proverbs -- On Jewellery, Pottery,
Furniture, etc. -- Rustic Conservatism -- The Aid of
Alliteration -- Rhyme as an Aid to Memory 1
CHAPTER II
Ancient Collections of Proverbs -- The Proverbs of Solomon --
Ecclesiasticus -- The Work of D'Anvers on Solomon's Proverbs --
The Collections of De Worde, Trevisis, and Lydgate -- The
"Adagia" of Erasmus -- Tavernar's "Garden of Wisdom" --
Heywood's Collection of Proverbs -- Camden's "Remaines" --
Davies, the "Scourge of Folly" -- The "Apophthegms" of Lord
Bacon -- The "Outlandish Proverbs" of G. H. -- Herbert's
"Jacula Prudentum" -- The Work of Howell and Cotgrave -- The
"Gnomologia" of Fuller -- The Difficulties of
Proverb-classification, by Country, by Leading Word, by
Subject, etc. -- Ray's "Collection of English Proverbs" -- The
"Paræmiologia" of Walker -- Palmer on Proverbs -- The Sayings
of "Poor Richard" 26
CHAPTER III
"The Book of Merry Riddles" -- Introduction of Proverbs in our
Literature -- A Surfeit of Proverbs -- "The two Angrie Women of
Abington" -- Fuller on the Misuse of Proverbs -- The Sayings of
Hendyng -- Proverbs in Works of Chaucer, Lydgate, Spenser,
Dryden, Shakespeare, and other Writers -- The "Imitation of
Christ" -- Glitter is not necessarily Gold -- The Cup and the
Lip -- Comparisons odious -- The Rolling-Stone -- The "Vision
of Piers Plowman" -- Guelph and Ghibelline -- Dwellers in Glass
Houses -- A Spade is a Spade -- Chalk and Cheese -- Silence
gives Consent -- A Nine Days' Wonder -- The little Pot soon Hot
-- Weakest to the Wall -- Proverb-Hunting through our old
Literature 65
CHAPTER IV
National Idiosyncrasies -- The Seven Sages of Greece -- Know
Thyself -- The Laconic "If" -- Ancient Greek Proverbs -- Roman
Proverbs -- The Proverbs of Scotland: Strong Vein of Humour in
them -- Spanish and Italian Proverbs -- The Proverbs of France
-- The "Comédie des Proverbes" -- The Proverbs of Spain: their
Popularity and Abundance; Historic Interest: their Bibliography
-- Italian Proverbs: their Characteristics -- The Proverbs of
Germany -- Chinese Adages: their Excellence -- Japanese
Proverbs: their Poetry and Beauty -- Arab Sayings: their
Servility: their Humour -- Eastern Delight in Stories --
African Sayings: their pithy Wisdom -- The Proverb-philosophy
of the Talmud 90
CHAPTER V
Proverbs that are misunderstood -- The Cheese -- Raining Cats
and Dogs -- Cattle-harrying -- The Bitter End -- By Hook or
Crook -- Proverbs of Evil Teaching -- Necessity has no Law --
The Peck of Dirt -- Howl with the Wolves -- Sarcasm in Proverbs
-- The Fool -- Selfishness -- The Praise of Truth -- The Value
of Time -- Death -- The Conduct of Life -- Occupations that
supply Proverbs -- The Barber, Tailor, Cobbler, Physician,
Lawyer, and others -- The Cowl and the Monk -- The Long Bow --
The Meditative Angler -- Sayings associated with particular
Individuals -- Hobson and his Choice -- Plowden's Law --
Mortimer's Sow -- The Wisdom of Doddipol -- The Fear of Mrs
Grundy's Opinion -- Locality Proverbs -- Rustic Humour -- Local
Products -- Tenterden Steeple 124
CHAPTER VI
Proverbs suggested by Animals -- Animal Characteristics:
Sagacity, Fidelity, Cunning, Greed, etc. -- The Horse -- The
Dog -- The Cat: her Nine Lives; the Catspaw; falling on Feet;
in Mittens -- The Ass -- Pearls before Swine -- A Pig in a Poke
-- The Wrong Sow by the Ear -- The Sheep -- The Shorn Lamb --
The Bull -- The Goose -- The Hen -- Roasting Eggs -- The Bird
and her Nest -- Birds of a Feather -- Catching with Chaff --
Roasted Larks -- The Fox -- The Wolf; in Sheep's Clothing --
The Bear -- The Mouse -- Belling the Cat -- Fish Proverbs --
The Laborious Ant -- The Worm that turns -- Similes: from the
Animal Kingdom; from Household Surroundings; from various
Callings; from divers Colours 161
CHAPTER VII
The Power of the Tongue -- Speech and Silence -- Knowledge and
Wisdom not Interchangeable Terms -- Truth and Untruth --
Travellers' Tales -- Flattery -- Industry and Sloth -- Youth --
Friends, True and False -- Riches and Poverty -- The Ladder to
Thrift -- The Influence of Womankind -- The Good Wife -- The
Shrew -- The Testimony of Epitaphs -- The Grey Mare -- Home --
Hope -- Forethought -- Excuses -- Good and Ill Fortune --
Retribution -- Detraction -- Pretension -- Self-interest --
Bribery and Corruption -- Custom and Habit -- The general
Conduct of Life -- The Weather -- The Moon made of Green Cheese
-- Conclusion 194
PROVERB LORE
CHAPTER I
Value of Study of Proverbs -- Difficulty of exact Definition
-- Definitions by various Writers -- The Saw -- The Adage --
The Essentials of a Proverb -- The Value of Brevity --
Legitimate Use of Hyperbole -- Proverbs often one-sided Views
of Truth -- Sometimes contradict each other -- Figurativeness
of Language -- A very characteristic Feature -- Parables of
our Lord -- Proverbs often condensed Parables -- Examples
of Word-Pictures -- Commonest Objects supply Lessons --
Interesting as referring to Usages that have passed away --
Some Proverbs enduring, some transient -- May have more than
one Significance -- Some palpable Truisms and Platitudes --
Great Antiquity of Proverbs -- On Jewellery, Pottery,
Furniture, etc. -- Rustic Conservatism -- The aid of
Alliteration -- Rhyme as an Aid to Memory
The study of proverbs is one of exceeding interest and value. By means
of it our thoughts travel back through the ages to the childhood of the
world, and we see at once how amidst the surroundings that vary so
greatly in every age and in every clime the common inherent oneness of
humanity asserts itself: how, while fashions change, motives of action
remain; how, beneath the burning sun of Bengal or Ashanti, in the tents
of the Crees, or amidst the snows of Lapland, the thoughts of men on the
great problems that confront the race are strikingly at one. Hence,
while the outward garb and phraseology of these proverbial utterances
must necessarily greatly vary, we find, when we pierce below the
surface, a remarkable similarity of idea. When we desire to point out
the foolishness of providing any place or person with anything that they
are really better able to procure for themselves, the absurdity of
"carrying coals to Newcastle" is pointed out, and we might at first
sight very naturally say that surely here we have a popular saying that
we can specially claim as a piece of English proverbial wisdom. We find,
however, in the Middle Ages the popular saying, "Send Indulgences to
Rome"; while even before the Christian era the Greeks were teaching the
same lesson in the formula, "Owls to Athens," the woods of Attica
yielding these birds in abundance, while the city itself, under the
special guardianship of Pallas Athene, had, as its device and symbol, on
its coinage and elsewhere, the owl, the bird associated with that
goddess--coals, owls, indulgences, so different in outward seeming,
teaching the self-same truth. Any attempt at classification of proverbs
by nationality is exceedingly difficult, and in many cases impossible,
since the more one looks into the matter the more one realises what a
cosmopolitan thing a proverb is. Gratifying as it would be to patriotic
feeling to gather together all the best proverbs in circulation in
England and claim them as the product of English wit and wisdom, we
should at once on investigation find that in great degree they were,
perhaps in actual wording, and certainly in significance, the property
of humanity at large.
The necessity of curbing the hasty tongue, the dispraise of folly, the
value of true friendship, the watchfulness that enmity entails, the
influence of womankind, the fabrication of excuses, the vainglory of
boasting and pretension, the exposure of hypocrisy, the evil of
ingratitude, the golden irradiation of the pathway of life by hope, the
buoyant strength and confidence of youth, the sad decrepitude of old
age, the retribution that awaits wrongdoers, were as keenly understood
three thousand years ago as to-day, and the trite expression of these
verities, crystallised into warning, encouragement, or reproof, is as
much a part of the equipment of life to the date-seller of Damascus as
to the ploughman in an English shire.
Proverbs have been handed down from generation to generation from the
remotest ages, and were in circulation from mouth to mouth long before
any written records, since in the earliest writings extant we find them
given as obvious quotations. By means of them, primitive peoples entered
upon a heritage of sound wisdom and good working common-sense, and had
ready to hand counsels of prudence, hints for the conduct of life,
warnings of its pitfalls. Much that is interesting in history, in
manners and customs, is also preserved in them, and though times change
it is scarcely safe to say that any proverb is obsolete. A local
allusion may be understood by some old countryman that to the
philosopher and savant is nought.
Time after time as we travel onwards through life we find our knowledge
somewhat nebulous, our ideas in need of precision and sharpness of
definition. We accept so many things, almost unconsciously, on trust,
and should find it almost impossible in many cases to give an exact
reason for the belief that is in us. The nature and construction of a
proverb appears a thing too self-evident for any question to arise, the
definition of it one of the simplest of tasks, and we do not at all
realise its difficulty until we are fairly brought face to face with the
problem, pen in hand, and a sheet of blank paper before us. Waiving a
personal definition, we will endeavour by means of the statements of
others, men whom we may more or less recognise as authorities and
specialists, to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion.
Dr Johnson, in his noble dictionary, a splendid mass of erudition,[4:A]
defines a proverb as "a short sentence frequently repeated by the
people; a saw; an adage," but this definition, as it stands, is scarcely
sufficient. Having already a fair though nebulous notion of what a
proverb is we may perhaps accept it, since we automatically fill in what
is wanting, but if we could imagine the case of one who had no previous
notion of the nature of a proverb the definition of Dr Johnson would not
fill the void, since there are many colloquial phrases in constant use
that are not proverbial in their nature at all.[4:B] The Doctor points
out, under a second clause in his definition, that a proverb may also be
a byeword of reproach, but it would appear needless to dwell specially
on this. A proverb may exert its influence on us in many ways, by
encouragement, by derision, by warning, and so forth, and there seems no
occasion to make a special section of those that yield their lesson to
us by way of reproach. As an example of the use of this class we may
instance the passage of Milton, from his "Samson Agonistes"--
"Am I not strong and proverb'd for a fool
In ev'ry street: do they not say, how well
Are come upon him his deserts?"
Our readers will doubtless recall, too, how in Holy Writ it is declared
that "Israel shall be a proverb and a byeword among all people."
The word saw is Saxon in its origin, and is defined by our great
lexicographer as "a saying, a maxim, a sentence, an axiom, a proverb."
Shakespeare writes--
"From the table of my memory
I'll wipe away all saws of books,"
and elsewhere of another of his characters he says that "his weapons"
were "holy saws of sacred writ." Perhaps, however, the best and
best-known Shakespearian instance is in his graphic description of the
seven ages of man in "As You Like It," where we are presently introduced
to the portly Justice with eyes severe and beard of formal cut, "full of
wise saws and modern instances," a well-bound encyclopædia of legal
axiom, precedent, and practice.
Milton writes, somewhat more forbiddingly, of
"Strict age and sour severity
With their grave saws."
The word proverb is Greek in its inception, and means, literally, a
wayside saying. Adage, a fairly equivalent word, is also of Greek birth.
The reference in "Macbeth" will at once be recalled--
"Letting I dare not wait upon I would,
Like the poor cat i' the adage."[5:A]
Synesius, a Christian writer of the early part of the fifth century,
affirms, in quoting from a work of Aristotle that is now lost, that "A
proverb is a remnant of the ancient philosophy preserved amid many
destructions on account of its brevity and fitness for use," and in
like strain Agricola declares proverbs to be "short sentences into
which, as in rules, the ancients have compressed life." Cervantes puts
this yet more pithily in his definition, "Short sentences drawn from
long experience." Howell, too, is happy in his declaration, "Sayings
which combine sense, shortness, and salt." Russell declares a proverb to
be "the wisdom of many and the wit of one"--the one being the man who
puts into happy form a truth that many had already felt, and thereby
crystallised it for the use of all future time. Bacon, less happily,
declares proverbs to be "the genius, wit, and spirit of a nation"; but
this definition manifestly covers a far wider area than can be justly
claimed for them. We need scarcely here point out that the word spirit
does not mean the courage and resolution that summon a nation to the
defence of its rights. It is but the Anglicised form of the French
_esprit_, a word that has no entirely satisfactory English equivalent.
Chambers hath it that "proverbs are pithy, practical, popular sayings,
expressive of certain more or less general convictions," and this is a
definition that really seems to cover very satisfactorily the whole
ground. That of Annandale is like unto it, "A proverb is a short and
pithy sentence forming a popular saying, and expressing some result of
the experience of life in a keen, quaint, and lively fashion."
Popularity is an essential feature, an absolute necessity. A saying of
some wise man may strike us at once as one of the happiest of
utterances, but if from any cause it does not find acceptance and
adoption into the common speech, the absence of this popular recognition
of its work debars it. It may richly deserve a place amongst the
proverbs, being as pithy, as wise as any of them, and possess every
essential of a proverb save the one. This one essential of general
acceptance being wanting, we have left to us a golden sentence, a
striking aphorism, a soul-stirring utterance. This is a point that some
of the compilers of lists of proverbs have overlooked, and they have
been tempted to insert in their pages brilliant wisdom-chips from the
writings of divers clever men, or to coin them for themselves.
Worcester, in his dictionary, defines a proverb as "a common or pithy
expression which embodies some moral precept or admitted truth," but we
find in practice that some few of these popular sayings are not
altogether moral in their teaching. Hazlitt affirms that this popular
diction is "an expression or combination of words conveying a truth to
the mind by a figure, periphrasis, antithesis, or hyperbole." Here,
again, the soundness of the teaching is taken for granted.
Cooper, in his Thesaurus, A.D. 1584, translates _proverbium_ as "an old
sayed sawe," and this really, in spite of its great brevity, very nearly
touches the root of the matter. Being "old," the popular utterance has
the stamp and dignity of antiquity: it is no newfangled thing that may
or may not find a lasting resting-place in the minds and consciences of
men; while, being "sayed," it is not merely a golden maxim buried deeply
in the pages of some venerable tome, it has passed into the daily life
and struggle for existence, and become incorporated in the popular
speech. It has borne the test of time; generation after generation of
the sons of men have recognised its value and accepted it.
In the "Encyclopædia Metropolitana" a proverb is defined as "a common
saying, sentiment, or sentence in which all agree"; but while so common
a saying, a sentence that all can agree upon, as "twice two make four,"
comes entirely within this definition, it is in no sense a proverb.
Slavery we all feel to be an evil, and we deplore its existence, but
while the sentiment does credit to our hearts, and unanimous as we may
all be on the point, it is in no degree proverbial. The definition,
moreover, requires from us a unanimity of acceptance, but this is by no
means always forthcoming, as regards the moral teaching, for example, of
some of our ancient adages. If we take, for instance, so well recognised
a proverb as "Honesty is the best policy," some persons will see in it a
mine of shrewd wisdom, while others will decide that the man who is
honest because he thinks that it will pay best is at heart a rogue. Our
acceptance or rejection of its teaching does not alter the fact that for
good or ill the utterance ranks as a proverb.
The Rev. John Ward, the vicar of Stratford-on-Avon in the reign of
Charles the Second, was a great collector of these items of proverbial
wisdom, and his stipulations as to the correct structure of a proverb
were very definite, though perhaps a little too severe. He declared that
in each such utterance six things were essential. It should be short,
plain in its language and teaching, in common use, figurative in its
expression, ancient, true. When all these requirements are met we have,
doubtless, an ideal proverb, but many excellent adages are current that
cannot be thus bound in.
Horace declares, wisely enough, in his "Art of Poetry," in favour of
brevity:
"Short be the precept which with care is gained
By docile minds, and faithfully retained,"
and it is a very valuable feature. How happy in expression, for
instance, are such proverbs as "Fast bind, fast find," "Forewarned,
forearmed," "Haste is waste."
That a proverb should be plain in language and teaching is, we take it,
by no means an essential. It rather owes often somewhat of its value to
the fact that there is something in it that compels analysis, possibly
awakens doubt or resistance, startles us by an apparent contradiction,
and compels us to delve at some trouble to ourselves before we grasp its
significance. Ray, one of the best known students of proverb-lore,
realises this when he stipulates for "an instructive sentence in which
more is generally designed than expressed" as his ideal.
Quaint exaggeration of statement, the use of hyperbole, is often
employed, and very happily, to compel attention. Some men seem to be so
specially the children of fortune that they from the most untoward
events gain increased advantage, and after a submergence that would
drown most men emerge buoyantly from this sea of trouble and go cheerily
on their way. Such are very happily described in the Arab proverb, "If
you throw him into the sea he will come up with a fish in his mouth." To
those who would attempt great tasks with inadequate means how truly may
we say, "It is hard to sail across the sea in an eggshell." Of those who
labour hard for results that bear no proportion to the effort made we
may equally truly say, "He dives deep and brings up a potsherd." In
France, if a man attempts a prodigious, or possibly impossible, task, it
is said of him, "Il a la mer à boire," while the thoughtless or reckless
man, who to avoid a slight and passing inconvenience will run imminent
risk of grave misfortune, is said to jump into the river that he may
escape the rain, "Il se jette à l'eau, peur de la pluie." The hyperbole
employed startles and arouses the attention and drives the lesson home.
It is especially characteristic of the Eastern mind, and the Bible, a
book of the East, is full of examples of its use.
Proverbial wisdom, it must be borne in mind, deals sometimes with only
one aspect of a truth. The necessary brevity often makes the teaching
one-sided, as the various limitations and exceptions that may be
necessary to a complete statement of a truth are perforce left unsaid.
One proverb therefore is often in direct contradiction to another, and
yet each may be equally true. Solomon, for example, tells us to "answer
a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit," and
he also tells us to "answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou
also be like unto him."[10:A] These two directions are placed one
immediately after the other of deliberate forethought that the sharp
contrast may force itself on the attention. The two modes of action are
in direct contradiction, yet each is equally valuable in its place, and
according to circumstances one or other of them would be the right
course to pursue. To the restless, unstable man we may well quote the
well-known adage, "A rolling stone gathers no moss";[10:B] but, on the
other hand, it is equally true that "A tethered sheep soon starves."
While one villager is content to remain in the little hamlet where he
was born, living hardly throughout his life, the recipient of a scanty
wage, of soup and blankets from the vicarage or the hall, and, finally,
of a pauper grave, his schoolmate, the rolling stone, goes out into the
big world and fights his way into a position of independence.
The fourth stipulation of Ward--figurativeness of expression--while it
may appear to somewhat clash with his second, the demand for plainness
of utterance, is undoubtedly of great value; but it is not an essential.
Such proverbs as "Plough, or not plough, you must pay your rent," "The
receiver is as bad as the thief," "The child says what father says,"
"Misfortunes never come singly," "Extremes meet," "Ill doers are ill
deemers," are direct statements to be literally accepted, and to these
scores more could be added. The figurative treatment is, nevertheless,
still more in evidence, and very justly so. By its employment the
attention is at once arrested and the memory helped. This love of
picture language is specially characteristic of early days and of
primitive peoples, and those who would turn away from an abstract
discourse in praise of virtue, temperance, or strenuous endeavour will
gladly accept the teaching if presented in more concrete form--the fairy
tale, the fable, or the parable.
This figurativeness of language was a marked characteristic of the
teaching of our Lord, and the common people, who would have been
repulsed by dogma or exhortation, thronged gladly to the Teacher who
reached their hearts through the beautiful and simple stories that
fascinated them and awoke their interest. The sharp experiences of the
wayward son in the far-off land, the story of the anxious housewife
seeking at midnight for the lost piece of silver, the lonely traveller
sore beset by thieves, the withering grain that fell amidst the roadside
stones, the goodman of the house so stoutly guarding his belongings, the
sheep that had strayed afar into the perils of the wilderness, the
useless tares amidst the fruitful grain, the house upon the shifting
sand, the widely-gathering net, the pearl of great price, have been a
delight to countless generations, and will ever continue to be so.[11:A]
A proverb that is figurative in its construction may be considered as
really a condensed parable. Hence Chaucer, in the prologue of "The Wife
of Bathe," refers to "eke the paraboles of Salomon."
Numerous examples of these word-pictures will at once occur to us. How
expressive of the reproductive power of evil is the well-known proverb,
"Ill weeds grow apace." In one of the Harleian MSS. of about the year
1490 we find it given as "Ewyl weed ys sone y-growe"; or, as another
writer hath it,--
"Ill weede groweth fast, ales, whereby the corne is lorne,
For surely the weed overgroweth the corn."
In France it is "Mauvaise herbe croit toujours," and in Italy "Erba mala
preste cresce," and in some kindred form it appears in the proverb lore
of almost all people. How telling, again, the picture and the lesson in
"Still waters run deep."
"Small griefs find tongues: full casks are ever found
To give, if any, yet but little sound;
Deep waters noiseless are, and this we know,
That chiding streams betray small depth below."--_Herrick._
In Germany it is "Stille Wasser sind tief"--"Still waters are deep"--or
"gründen tief," "are grounded deep." In its English and German dress we
learn that the silent man is a thoughtful man, but in France it is
rendered as "Il n'y a pire eau que l'eau qui dort"--"There is no worse
water than that which sleeps"--making the considerably stronger
assertion that a thoughtful man becomes thereby a distinctly dangerous
member of society!
While we are reminded of the restless turmoil of the babbling brook, and
gain in its contemplation a hint of the fussy activity that in shallow
minds ends in little but outward show, we must nevertheless learn that
the day of small things must not be despised, for "Little brooks make
great rivers." Recalling the fable of the ensnared lion and the kindly
and industrious mouse that came to his rescue, we learn afresh that the
weak may often help the great, for "When large ships run aground, little
boats may pull them off." How true, too, to experience is it that "To a
crazy ship all winds are contrary," when in many lives there seem times
when everything goes wrong, and the unfortunate victim of circumstances
is buffeted from all directions. Another of these aqueous proverbs
reminds us how in such case the most desperate remedies may be tried,
for "A drowning man will catch at a straw." To profit, too, by seasons
of good fortune is no less needful, for "Every tide will have an ebb,"
and we may not assume that the opportunities we neglect to-day will be
always open to our embrace.
"There is a tide in the affairs of men,"
we are told by Shakespeare, who doubtless knew this proverb, and
transmuted it by his genius into fine gold--
"Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries."
In the day of prosperity friends appear to be numerous, but adversity
tries their worth, and it is too true for the credit of human nature,
that "Men shut their doors against the setting sun." "Strike," then,
"while the iron is hot"--"Batti il ferro quando è caldo," say in like
manner the Italians. This is a proverb, however, that is met with almost
universally, seeing that the necessity for prompt decision is also
almost equally universal. Chaucer tells us how
"Pandarus, whiche that stode her faste by,
Felt iron hotte, and he began to smite."
Yet, remember, would one prosper, "Have not too many irons in the fire."
These proverbs suggested by the smithy recall yet one other, and a very
ancient one, "Inter malleum et incudem"--"Between the hammer and the
anvil"--a position so hemmed in with danger that no way of escape seems
possible.
When a continuous use of any advantage blinds us to the need of
caution, we must remember that "The pitcher goes oft to the well, but is
broken at last," and what we have grown careless in the use of we may
presently find that we have lost.[14:A] When this day comes another
proverb--as to the folly of "shutting the stable door after the horse is
stolen"--may be too late recalled. How picturesque and how true to life
the well-worn adages, "A new broom sweeps clean," "A creaking door hangs
long on its hinges," "One nail drives out another," as portrayed in the
new-born diligence that, mayhap, will not last; in the career that drags
along despite all probabilities of its survival; in the fickle heart and
mind that lightly supplant old friends with new, or drop some hobby that
a week ago seemed all-absorbing in favour of some other thing of no
greater value, but possessing the attraction of novelty.
To those who live in constant nervous dread of impending misfortune it
should be some little comfort to remember that "Every mote doth not
blind a man." Things often work out better than the anticipation of them
suggested. No action is unimportant, and all have their consequences,
seeing "There is no hair so small but hath its shadow." If the action be
wrong the results will accord, for "A crooked stick throws a crooked
shadow." As one sows, so must they reap; thistles will never yield figs,
nor thorns grapes.
As the pains so the gains; and "He that will eat the kernel must crack
the nut." For everything the price must be paid, and "One cannot make
pancakes without breaking eggs."[14:B] We cannot all be of high
position, whatever our zeal and industry, and in every army the rank and
file are far in excess of the leaders, and are yet as indispensable as
they. The French saying, "Toute chair n'est pas venaison"--"All meat is
not venison"--comes in very happily here. When we recall how one revolts
against "toujours perdrix," and how the London apprentices rebelled
against being expected to eat salmon four days a week, we see that there
is abundant welcome in the world for the steady workman, the diligent
official, the succulent sirloin, the fragrant bloater.
That merit shall not go unrewarded, that fitness for duty may fairly
hope to meet full and fair recognition is suggested in the proverb, "A
stone that is fit for the wall is not left in the way," and men, sooner
or later, receive the recognition of their worth that they deserve, for
"The turtle, though brought in at the back door, takes the head of the
table." A little influence, a friend at court, and a bribe to blind his
eyes therewith have ere now been tried as an aid to fortune, for "A
silver key can open an iron lock" in this fallen world it has been
found. While this prescription is working the expectant suitor may amuse
himself by "building castles in the air."
The commonest objects yield their lesson and are worked into the great
mass of proverbial philosophy at the service of those who were daily
using them, and could thus most fully realise the point of the
utterance. The cooper soon found out that "Empty vessels make the most
sound," and that every tub may well be expected to stand on its own
bottom; and the miller early grasped the truth that "A little barrel
gives but a little meal." He saw, too, that "A torn sack will hold no
corn," and that "An empty sack cannot stand upright." The soldier was
warned, "Draw not thy bow before thine arrow be fixed," and did not
shoot before he had some definite aim. He knew, too, how prudent it was
to have "two strings to one's bow," and that "A bow long bent at last
waxeth weak." The woodman's experience added to the store of proverbial
wisdom, "A blunt wedge will sometimes do what a sharp axe cannot"; that
"Willows are weak, but yet they bind other wood"; that "Oaks may fall
while reeds remain"; and that "Great trees keep down little ones"; while
the gardener saw that "Ripe fruit may grow on rough wall"; and even the
nursery yields the declaration that "A burnt child dreads the fire"; and
the tailor grasps the wisdom of the advice, "Measure thy cloth thrice
ere thou cut it once." Other homely adages are--"At open doors dogs come
in," "A spur in the head is worth two in the heels," "The rotten apple
injures its neighbour," "Darns are bad, but better than debts."
Proverbs are of immense value, as they furnish an inexhaustible store of
epigrammatic utterances, and many of them are of considerable
archæological and folk-lore value as keys to usages, beliefs, and so
forth, that have now passed away. The many proverbs, for illustration,
that deal with bows and arrows are survivals from remote antiquity or
mediæval experience.
All proverbs, we need scarcely point out, are not of equal value or
popularity. Some, from their going down to the solid bed-rock of human
nature and common experience, have lasted for centuries, and will
continue, doubtless, while time shall last, their appeal to humanity,
while others are transient, local, restricted. While some collections of
proverbs run into thousands of examples, it is astonishing how few in
these latter days are really in use. If our readers, to test this
matter, will turn their thoughts inwards, or consult any of their
friends, they will probably find that half a sheet of note-paper will
very comfortably suffice to put down their stores, and if a hundred
people did this their lists would be curiously alike, showing that only
a very limited number have really nowadays found popular acceptance. One
hundred per cent. of these lists would include "All is not gold that
glitters," "There is a silver lining to every cloud," and "Those who
live in glass houses should not throw stones," all, it will be noted,
being word-pictures. "A rolling stone gathers no moss," and "A bird in
the hand is worth two in the bush," are also very popular proverbs, and
greatly for the same reason.
Proverbs may have more than one significance, and smite as two-edged
swords. Like the old-fashioned flail, that has now so largely been
superseded by the thrashing-machine, they may very smartly return on the
head of the careless user of them. If, for example, we quote the adage,
"Set the saddle on the right horse," it may signify our intention to see
that those whose action in some matter is blameworthy shall be duly held
up to execration, or it may with the utmost kindliness desire that the
"willing horse," human or equine, shall not be imposed on, and that
those shall bear the burden that are most fit to do so.
Some proverbs are merely palpable truisms, and have little or no claim
on our consideration. They have largely arisen from the mistaken zeal of
some of the old writers in endeavouring to force into their lists
anything that could be got together with any semblance of propriety, and
in such a case the sharp dividing line that should be in evidence
between proverb and platitude was often overstepped. Should A publish a
select list of one hundred proverbs, the book of B, which contains two
hundred examples--the hundred of A, plus axioms, platitudes to make up
the double amount--is not twice as good; it is only half as good,
because one has to spend time and energy in separating the gold from the
dross. The following may be taken as illustrations of the sort of thing
we are protesting against:--"He that does no good does evil," "The act
proves the intention," "Defer not charities till death," "Diligence is
the mother of good luck," "Books should inspire thought, not supersede
it," "Learn first to obey before proceeding to govern," "Great designs
require great consideration," "Self is a poor centre," "Affected
simplicity is but imposture," "Yield graciously or oppose firmly," "Good
cause gives stout heart and strong arm," "It is good to begin well,
better to end well," "Procrastination often brings repentance." These,
all culled from various collections, are perfectly harmless, and,
indeed, praiseworthy. As copy-book headings they might render good
service, but they want the "salt" to make them popular or acceptable. As
truisms they are superb.
The antiquity of many of our proverbs is very great, and their parentage
is enveloped in mystery. Howell, an old writer on the subject, likens
them to "natural children legitimated by prescription and long tract of
ancestriall time," and these foundlings have certainly been made very
welcome. While the name of the coiner is not transmitted with it, the
gift he bestows on posterity enjoys an unending popular appreciation
that the authors of soul-stirring appeals, of learned treatises, of
exquisite poems, sometimes fail to reach. It is a piece of proverbial
wisdom that "liars should have good memories," and there is a very
modern ring about it, but St Jerome, writing in the fourth century,
introduces it to clinch an argument, and refers to it as an old proverb.
Quintilian, a contemporary of Martial, Juvenal, Tacitus, during the
reigns of Titus and Domitian, some three hundred years before the days
of Jerome, also introduced it. How many centuries before this the
proverb was in use, who can say? The rule it lays down would be a
valuable one any time this three thousand years or more, and as
political economists tell us that supply and demand act and react upon
each other, we may reasonably assume that in the earliest ages the
demand for such an axiom would give it birth. There is a homely ring in
the saying that "He who lies down with dogs will rise up with fleas,"
and we could well imagine it starting into circulation somewhere about
the time of our great-grandfathers, when manners were a little coarser,
or at all events, a little more coarsely expressed, and when, without
circumlocution, a spade was a spade; but over eighteen centuries ago
Seneca quoted this proverb, and we find it in his writings in all its
homely directness--"Qui cum canibus concumbunt cum pulicibus surgent."
Hesiod introduces many proverbs in his writings, and we find them again
referred to by Plutarch, Cicero, and others. When St Paul warned his
hearers that "Evil communications corrupt good manners," he was quoting
a saying doubtless well known to them. It may be found again in the
writings of the poet Menander. In the Edda we meet with many striking
Scandinavian proverbs, and one of the books of the Bible, compiled about
a thousand years before the Christian era, is wholly devoted to
proverbial teaching.
Proverbs form a branch of that great mass of folk-lore that is more
especially the possession of the humbler denizens of our towns and rural
districts, and seem to have comparatively little sympathy with the great
ones of the earth. In "Eastward Hoe," written in 1605, we have a quaint
illustration of their use--where Touchstone declares, "I hired me a
small shop, fought low, tooke small game, kept no debt-booke, and
garnished my shop, for want of plate, with good wholesome thriftie
sentences, as 'Touchstone, keepe thy shoppe and thy shoppe will keepe
thee,' 'Light gaines make heavie purses,' ''Tis good to be merrie and
wise.'" A great use was made of proverbs and mottoes during the middle
ages on jewellery, pottery, furniture, and in fact wherever they could
be applied.
"Proverbs," Whateley very happily says, "are somewhat analogous to
those medical formulas which, being in frequent use, are kept ready made
up in the chemists' shops, and which often save the framing of a
distinct prescription." The uneducated are quite willing to be supplied
with happy arguments ready made,[20:A] and having tested their efficacy,
are well content to abide by them. Motherwell very aptly observes that
"A man whose mind has been enlarged by education, and who has a complete
mastery over the riches of his own language, expresses his ideas in his
own words, while a vulgar man, on the other hand, uses these proverbial
forms which daily use and tradition have made familiar to him, and when
he makes a remark which needs confirmation, he clinches it by a
proverb." It is of course obvious here that the word vulgar is not used
in the offensive sense that has in these latter days been associated
with it.
With the uneducated and poorer folk an axiom never becomes hackneyed. In
all such matters they are very conservative, and do not readily forsake
the old paths. Rustic humour, rustic customs, rustic remedies, all
conform to this well-nigh immutable law. Years ago, when we lived in a
little Wiltshire village, the leading farmer had a black horse with a
broad blaize of white running from between its ears to the nostrils, and
anyone meeting the carter leading this animal to plough or stable would
accost him as follows: "That harse of yourn looks pretty baad!" to which
the carter would reply, "Yees, he looks pretty white about the faace,
doant he?" Should this horse, or such a horse, be still to the fore, we
do not for a moment doubt--it is only eighteen years since we left--that
this formula is still flourishing in perennial youth. Everyone knew just
what to say and when to slowly chuckle, and so everybody was entirely
satisfied, and the sally was a guaranteed success. It had ripened with
age, and had long passed the troublesome experimental stage.
Lord Chesterfield declared that "a man of fashion never had recourse to
proverbs," but after all his opinion is not final. The utterance is
often quoted, but proverbs still survive his anathema, and the ban under
which he would place them has had no binding force. It is, moreover, a
matter quite immaterial what the man of fashion thinks of them at all.
They yet remain interesting objects of study for the philosopher, and
are for the man of the busy world a storehouse of practical wisdom.
The Divine Teacher did not scruple to employ this form of speech. In the
synagogue of Nazareth He reminds them of the popular proverb,
"Physician, heal thyself," and at the Well of Sychar He declares that
saying true, "One soweth, another reapeth."
There is reason in all things, and the "happy medium" is one of the most
valuable objects one can strive after in almost every direction. A man
who was continuously firing off adages and axioms would be as terrible
an infliction as the inveterate anecdotist or the everlasting
pun-producer. Shakespeare freely introduces this proverb-lore, and the
titles of two of his plays, "Measure for Measure," and "All's Well that
Ends Well," owe their titles to popular proverbs of the day. Fuller uses
it very largely and effectively in his writings. Butler's "Hudibras" is
overflowing with proverbial allusions, and so, too, are the writings of
Rabelais, Montaigne, Cervantes, and many another who might be instanced.
We shall have occasion, however, later on to dwell at length on their
introduction into literature.
"Apt alliteration's artful aid" is sometimes invoked. Such precepts as
"Live and let live," "No silver, no servant," "Like likes like," "Out of
debt, out of danger," "Time tryeth troth,"[22:A] and "No cross, no
crown," and the Latin, "In vino veritas,"[22:B] are the more easily
retained in the memory in consequence.
Another valuable aid to remembrance is found in rhyme, and many of our
most widely current proverbs owe, no doubt, some at least of their
popular acceptance to the catching jingle that fixes them on the ear.
The following are examples:--"Who goes a borrowing goes a sorrowing,"
"Store is no sore," "The counsels that are given in wine will do no good
to thee or thine," "Little strokes fell great oaks," "One drop of ink
may make a million think." Very familiar examples are these--"Little
pot, soon hot," "A stitch in time saves nine," "Many a little makes a
mickle," "No gains without pains," and "Man proposes, God disposes." How
true to life is it in a censorious world that "When I did well I heard
it never, when I did ill I heard it ever." There is a touch of sarcasm
in the following:--"As a man is friended so the law is ended," and the
old saying, "In vino veritas," reappears in this, "What soberness
conceals, drunkenness reveals." The equally well-known "Bis dat qui cito
dat" is seen in the adage, "He giveth twice who gives in a trice," "He
that by the plough would thrive, himself must either hold or drive," for
"Well begun is half done," and "By hawk and by hound small profit is
found." There are "No gains without pains," and it is "Better small fish
than empty dish," "He that leaves certainty and sticks to chance, when
fools pipe he may dance." He will find it true enough that "Great
spenders are bad lenders," and so it is a case of "Help, hands, for I
have no lands," and "Be the day never so long, at last it cometh to
evensong." "Easy fool is knave's tool," but "He that mischief hatcheth
mischief catcheth." "He has wit at will that with an angry heart can
hold him still," but far better yet, "A little house well filled, a
little land well tilled, a little wife well willed," for "A good wife
and health is a man's best wealth."
Naturally, as rhyming proverbs are found to be valuable as aids to
memory in England, they are equally esteemed elsewhere; thus in France
we have "L'homme propose et le Dieu dispose,"[23:A] and "Ami de table
est variable"--"The friend of one's table is of very little
value,"--while the Spaniard says, "A malas hadas, malas bragas"--"Ill
fortune is shabbily attired." "Asi es el marido sin hecho, como casa sin
techo"--"A husband without ability is like a house without a roof." "El
que lleva la renta que adobe la venta"--"Let him who receives the rent
repair the inn." Those who take the profits should also bear the
expense. In Latin we have "Durum et durum non faciunt murum,"[23:B] that
is to say, two hard materials do not come well together in building a
wall, we must have some soft yielding substance to soften their
asperities, and to bind them together. In other words, two headstrong,
domineering people will never get on well alone: there must be the
intervention of some gentler spirit to palliate, to excuse, to be a
peacemaker, and avert friction. "Nocumentum, documentum" is another
illustration. Its significance is that trouble teaches a man and opens
his eyes, the wise course being to profit by our misfortunes. "Via
crucis, via lucis," and "Qualis vita, finis ita" are other examples of
the rhyming proverb. Portuguese examples are, "De ora em hora Deus
mellora," "Agua molle em pedra dura tanto dà até que fura," "Quem do
alheio veste na praça o despe." Greek, German, Italian and other
proverbs equally conform to this custom of aiding the memory by a
rhyming treatment; but enough has been brought forward to indicate the
point.
Sometimes actual rhyme is absent, but there is nevertheless a certain
catch or jingle in the wording that attracts the attention; as, for
example, "The law of love is better than the love of law," "Look rather
on the good of evil men than on the evil of good men," "It is better to
suffer without cause than to have cause for suffering," and "Take heed
when thou seest no need of taking heed." A Latin example is,
"Præmonitus, præmunitus," being forewarned one is forearmed, and
prepared to defend oneself from a threatened mischief.
Such rhymes, alliterations, and quaint turns of diction have at all
times had a great attraction to children and to primitive people, and to
the great mass of mankind. That "Peter Piper picked a peck of pepper" is
of overwhelmingly more interest, for instance, in the nursery than that
George Piper should have ground a pound of coffee. When Cæsar reported
his success to Rome in the words "Veni, vidi, vici," there can be little
doubt that by both sender and recipients it was considered that he had
put the matter very neatly, and the kindly Gregory and his hearers no
doubt equally felt that a decidedly happy remark had been made when he
hailed the fair-haired Saxon children as "Non angli sed Angeli."
A very interesting Greek inscription that reads the same either
backwards or forwards is found in many English and foreign
churches--"Nipson anonemata me monan opsin." In the Greek lettering the
reversal is complete, but in English characters the "ps" is two letters
instead of one, and when read backwards becomes "sp." The significance
is, "Cleanse thy sins and not thy face only." It appears ordinarily on
the font, and, less usually, on the sacred vessels, and may be taken as
a fair equivalent of the scriptural precept, "Rend your heart and not
your garments." Examples will be found in England in Hadleigh Church,
Suffolk; West Shefford, Berks; Clipston Church, Northampton;
Worlingworth Church, Suffolk; Harlow, in Essex; Melton Mowbray, in
Leicestershire, and other places. One notable and interesting example of
its introduction was on the font of the Basilica of the Heavenly Wisdom
at Constantinople, but on the conversion of this building into a mosque
this font was destroyed.
FOOTNOTES:
[4:A] "A dictionary of the English language, in which the words are
deduced from their originals, and illustrated in their different
significations by examples from the best authors." This early edition is
in two massive quarto volumes, and the later abridgments that are now
alone seen give no conception of the value of the original work.
[4:B] The two illustrative quotations appended are from the writings of
Bacon and Addison respectively. The first runs as follows:--"The proverb
is true that light gains make heavy purses; for light gains come thick,
whereas great come but now and then"; while the second, from Addison,
declares that "the proverb says of the Genoese that they have a sea
without fish, land without trees, and men without faith." This latter
would appear to be rather an epigram than a proverb.
[5:A] We shall later on, when we deal with proverbial philosophy
suggested by the various traits of animal life, find that the cat
furnishes material for several popular sayings. The particular facts
here brought out are the two antagonistic points in the feline
economy--a great liking for fish, and a great disliking to getting wet,
so that "I dare not" becomes the insurmountable obstacle to "I would."
In a sixteenth century manuscript this adage is given as "a cat doth
love the fishe, but she will not wett her foote," and, with various
slight modifications of diction, the proverb is an oft-quoted one.
[10:A] A great use is made in the Bible of this thought-compelling
antithesis. One illustration will suffice: "There is a shame that
bringeth sin, and there is a shame that is glory and grace."
[10:B]
"The stone that is rouling can gather no mosse,
Who often remooueth is sure of losse,
The riche it compelleth to paie for his pride;
The poore it vndooeth on euerie side."
[11:A] "In manye suche parablis he spak to hem the word, as thei myghten
here, and he spak not to hem withoute parable."--_Wiclif's translation
of the Bible._
"The holye scripture hath her figure and historye, her mysterye and
veritie, her parable and playne doctryne."--_Bale._
[14:A] "Or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher broken at the
cistern."--_Ecclesiastes_ xii. 6.
[14:B] "Ou ne fait point d'omelettes sans casser les oeufs," says the
Frenchman, and the Spaniard agrees, "No se hacen tortillas sin romper
huevos."
[20:A]
"My reasoning your reason setteth nought by,
But reason for reason yee so stiffly lay,
By proverbe for proverbe that with you doe way."--_Heywood._
[22:A] Nearly equivalent to the delightful saying of classic times,
"Veritas temporis filia."
[22:B] To some extent preserved in the modern equivalents, "La verdad
está en el vino," "Dans le vin on dit la vérité."
[23:A] In modern Portuguese, "O homem impoem, Deus dispoem."
[23:B] In modern Portuguese, "Duro com duro nao faz bom muro."