"She is, quoth he, bent to force you perforce,
To know that the grey mare is the better horse,"
and in many of the old plays the saying crops up:
"Ill thrives that hapless family that shows
A cock that's silent and a hen that crows;
I know not which live more unnatural lives,
Obeying husbands, or commanding wives."
"The whistling maid" and "the crowing hen" are alike held objectionable,
these masculine performances being considered entirely out of place and
of bad omen.
The perils of matrimony would, according to the proverb-mongers, appear
to be so great that we can scarcely wonder at the counsel:
"If that a batchelor thou bee
Keepe the same style, be ruled by mee,
Lest that repentance all too late
Rewarde thee withe a broken pate.
Iff thou be yonge then marye not yett,
Iff thou be olde thou hast more wytt:
For yonge men's wyves wyll not be taught,
And olde men's wyves bee good for nought."
The home-life has goodly store of proverbial wisdom associated with it.
The French say: "Chaque oiseau trouve son nid bien," and the Italians,
"Ad ogni uccello il suo nido é bello," while the Englishman says, "East,
west, home is best."[239:A] Monckton Milnes very truly says, "A man's
best things are nearest him, lie close about his feet"; and a charming
old saying is this, that "Small cheer, with great welcome, make a big
feast." Proverbs, it must be confessed, are ordinarily very worldly
wise, and much more frequently see the worse than the better side of
things, and most of the adages about the home are very materialistic in
tone; the sweet sentiment that is associated with the idea must be
sought elsewhere. "The suit is best that fits me best," says an English
adage, and the comfort of content is seen again in the Scottish
saying--"Better a little fire that warms than mickle that burns."
Socrates, passing through the markets, cried: "How much is here I do not
want." "He who wants content," says an old proverb, "cannot find an easy
chair."
Prudential maxims are very numerous; thus, we are warned that "Wilful
waste makes woful want," that "Silks and satins put out the kitchen
fire," and that "If you pay not a servant his wages he will pay
himself;" while caution in another direction is advised in the saying,
"The child says in the street what he heard at the fireside," and in
this: "One bad example spoils many good precepts." The Germans say that
"It is easier to build two hearths than to keep a fire in one," while
the Portuguese advocate a judicious blending of prudence with sentiment
in the adage: "Marry, marry, but what about the housekeeping?"--a by no
means unimportant consideration. Love in a cottage will fare the better
if the larder be not too bare.
The writer of Ecclesiasticus describes very happily the plight of the
unwelcome guest--the man or woman who, as we say in English, is sitting
all the while on thorns. "Better is the life of a poor man in a mean
cottage than delicate fare in another man's house. For it is a miserable
life to go from house to house, for where thou art a stranger thou
darest not open thy mouth. Give place, thou stranger, to an honourable
man; my brother cometh to be lodged, and I have need of mine house"--a
sufficiently humiliating dismissal. It has, we presume, been the lot of
most people to find themselves the objects of a special and not quite
disinterested friendship; to feel that one is being used, and one's
kindness abused. Such people in the end defeat their own object, since
one soon learns to avoid the risk of an invitation for a week when we
remember that the last acceptance of such an invitation meant a two
months' sojourn, and the upsetting of all our plans. Proverbs relating
to this state of things will be seen in "An unbidden guest knows not
where to sit"; "Who depends on another's table may often dine late"; and
the advice to "Scald not your lips with another's porridge"--all
warnings of excellent value and weight.
Our readers will long ere this have discovered that the book of
Ecclesiasticus is ever at our elbow when we would find words of wisdom,
and we turn to it now afresh in our search for caution as to the
tale-bearer and the breaker of confidences. "Love thy friend and be
faithful unto him; but if thou bewrayest his secrets follow no more
after him. For as a man hath destroyed his enemy, so hast thou lost the
love of thy neighbour. As one that letteth a bird go out of his hand, so
hast thou let thy neighbour go, and shall not get him again." And
elsewhere, in the same treasury of wisdom, we read: "Whoso discovereth
secrets loseth his credit, and shall never find friend to his need." In
the Book of Proverbs[241:A] we find: "He that repeateth a matter
separateth very friends"--loss of faith implying loss of friend.
Chaucer, it will be remembered, says that "Three may keep a counsel if
twain be away." Another old writer tells us that "Curiosity is a kernel
of the forbidden fruit, which still sticketh in the heart of the natural
man," and this is seen almost at its worst when endeavouring to find out
a matter that the person most concerned would desire to leave unknown,
and quite at its worst when knowledge thus gained is made general
property. "None are so fond of secrets as those who do not mean to keep
them." There is no more trying person to deal with than he or she who
continually punctuate their conversation with cautions that they "wish
this matter to go no further," and warn us that that detail is "entirely
between ourselves." They are an unmitigated nuisance.
A very quaint old proverb is that which tells us that "He was scarce of
news that told that his father was hanged," and a very excellent rule of
conduct is this: "Whether it be to friend or foe talk not of other men's
lives." We are warned, too, that "He who chatters to you will chatter
also of you," and the experience of most of us will confirm the wisdom
of the adage.
Other happy sayings are these: "No one will repeat the matter if it be
not said"; "Sudden trust heralds sudden repentance"; "More have
repented of speech than of silence"; "A fool will neither give nor keep
counsel"; "He that tells all he knows will also tell what he does not
know"; "To tell our own secrets is folly, to tell those of others
treachery"; "Thy friend has a friend, and thy friend's friend hath a
friend"--great discretion is therefore necessary.
Heywood warns the man who thinks himself secure:
"Some heare and see him whom he heareth and seeth not
For fieldes have eies and woods have eares ye wot,"
an idea that we find yet earlier in a manuscript, "King Edward and the
Shepherd," written about the year 1300:
"The were bettur be styll,
Wode has erys, felde has syght."
So gracious a gift of Heaven to the sons of men as hope must necessarily
find recognition in our proverbial wisdom. Our readers will recall the
lines in Pope's "Essay on Man," where he declares that
"Hope springs eternal in the human breast;
Man never is, but always to be, blest.
The soul, uneasy, and confin'd from home
Rests and expatiates in a life to come."
And in "Measure for Measure" we read that "the miserable have no other
medicine, but only hope"; hence the saying: "Quench not hope, for when
hope dies all dies." The Italians say: "L'ultima che si perde è la
speranza"--the last thing lost is hope,[242:A] and the terrible words
in the "Paradise Lost" recur to us:
"So farewell hope, and, with hope, farewell fear,
Farewell remorse: all good to me is lost,
Evil, be thou my good."
Lord Bacon, being in York House garden, looking at some fishermen as
they were throwing their nets in what was then the pellucid and silvery
Thames, asked them what they would take for their catch. They mentioned
a certain price, and his lordship offered them somewhat less, which they
declined to accept. They drew up their nets and in it were but three
small fishes, and Lord Bacon said that it had been better for them had
they closed with his offer. They replied that they had hoped that the
catch would have been much greater, and his lordship in response
reminded them of the proverb, "Hope is a good breakfast, but a bad
supper";[243:A] and an admirably true saying it is.
A pithy old adage has it that "Hope is as cheap as despair," and it is
certainly pleasanter; while another proverb tells us, as we lament
departed opportunities, "When one door shuts another opens," a
comforting state of things that the experience of many will confirm. How
strong the encouragement to look forward with courage when cares seem
overwhelming is the reminder that "When the tale of bricks is doubled
Moses comes." Philosophy, good as it is, breaks under the strain, and
is, when most wanted, but a broken reed. Goldsmith, in his play of "The
Good-natured Man," says that "this same philosophy is a good horse in
the stable, but an arrant jade on a journey," and Rochefoucauld equally
happily declares that "Philosophy triumphs easily over past and over
future evils, but present evils triumph over philosophy." We are
reminded here anew of that definition of a proverb, "The wit of one
voicing the experience of many," for certainly here Rochefoucauld
supplies the _esprit_ while the rest of mankind can in this matter
supply the experience.
A quaint little French proverb is this, "L'espoir du pendu que la corde
casse," when they wish to express the idea of a very faint ground indeed
for hope. When all that a man who is already hanging can hope for is
that the cord may perchance break, his chance of a reprieve is but
small. He has most legitimate ground for hope who has already done what
in him lay to deserve success, hence foresight and forethought are a
valuable possession: the one to see in advance the possibilities, the
other to think how best to turn them to account:
"When all is done, lerne this my sonne
Not friend, nor skill, nor wit at will,
Nor ship, nor clod, but onelie God,
Doth all in all.
Man taketh paine, God giueth gaine,
Man doth his best, God doth the rest,
Man knew well intendes, God foizon[244:A] sendes
Else want he shall."
The value of forethought in various directions is enforced in the
following wisdom-chips: "A wise man will make more opportunities than he
finds"; "Hasty climbers have sudden falls";[245:A] "Count not your
chickens before they are hatched"; "He that would enjoy the fruit must
not gather the flower"; "Short reflection may save long regret"; "From
bad to worse is poor exchange"; "Haste makes waste"; "Leave not to
hazard what forethought may provide for"; "Cast not away the dirty water
till thou hast clean"; "Little chips will kindle a large fire"; "Look
before you leap"; "Beware of--had I known this before"; "Better be sure
first than sorry after"; "Be wisely worldly, not worldly wise"; "Take
heed that the relish be not spoiled by the cost"; "Heaven is a cheap
purchase, whatever it costs"; "Ask thy purse what thou shouldest buy";
"He that measureth not himself is measured"; "When a fool hath bethought
himself, the market is over"; "If things could be done twice all would
be wise"; "Small beginnings may have great endings"; "A forest is in an
acorn"; "Every maybe hath a maybe not"; "While it is fine weather mend
your sails"; "Measure thrice before cutting once"; "Haste trips up its
own heels"; "Take more time, that you may have done the sooner"; "Wisdom
not only gets but retains"; "Defer not till to-morrow to be wise"; "Safe
bind, safe find"; "A little wariness may save much weariness"; "Haste is
a poor apology"; "That which the fool has to do in the end the wise man
does at first"; and even then the dilatory man may never compass the
task, for our position in life on the morrow depends largely upon our
attitude of to-day, and the remedy of to-morrow may come too late. "Our
deeds determine us as much as we determine our deeds." It has been said
that if we cannot go backward and change what has been we can go forward
and change what is, but even this unfortunately is only partly true, and
the shadow of the past may darken the future, do what we will.[246:A]
Hence the adage, "To-morrow is untouched," cannot be accepted without
reservation.
Other proverbs that may well be quoted in praise of forethought are
these: "Little stumble may save big fall"; "He who begins and does not
finish, loses his labour"; "Put out your arm no further than your sleeve
will reach"; "To change and to better are not always the same thing";
"Quick choice, long repentance."
"Take warning at once, that a worse may not hap,
Foresight is the stopper of many a gap."
The French say truly enough that "Tout le monde est sage après coup," an
equivalent saying to our "After-wit is everybody's wit"; and the
Portuguese declare that "An empty purse makes a man wise, but too
late,"--a most unfortunate state of things. Another well-known adage is
"Festina lente"--tarry a little that we make our end the sooner. "Presto
et bene non conviene"--hastily and well rarely meet. A Ciceronian maxim
was, "Certis rebus certa signa præcurrunt"--certain signs are the
forerunners of certain events, or, as we say in English, "Coming events
cast their shadows before."
"Often do the spirits
Of great events stride on before the events,
And in to-day already walks to-morrow."[246:B]
"Chi va piano va lontano"--he who goes gently travels far. A quaint old
proverb tells us that "It is good to have a hatch before your door"--in
order, that is, that one may not rush out too impetuously, but that a
momentary pause may give opportunity for a moment's consideration. One
of the most startling proverbs on this need of forethought is the Arab
"Live, thou ass, until the clover sprouts"--a better day is coming,
despondency must give place to patience and to hope.
The manufacture of excuses has not escaped the notice of the
proverb-makers and users. These excuses take two forms--the excuses that
omission calls for, and those that commission needs--that black may look
at least grey, if not absolutely white. A very good example of the
former is this, "Am I my brother's keeper?"--originally the plea of a
murderer, and ever after the excuse of those who would wrap themselves
up in their selfishness, and shut their eyes, their hearts, their
consciences, their pockets, to the needs of the suffering. It has been
well said that "Apologies only account for that which they do not
alter." In some few cases, such as "A bad workman finds fault with his
tools," or "The creaking wheel blames the badness of the road," the
utterance is quaint and not unwholesome, and very true to human nature;
but in most of these proverbs dealing with excuses there is an actual
incitement to evil, a justification of wrongdoing, an implication that
people are only honest because it pays better or because the chance of
knavery is for the time being debarred to them. We have so often heard
the declaration that "Opportunity makes the thief," that it has lost its
meaning; but if we really think it out a moment, how abominable in
teaching it is! A similar saying is this, "A bad padlock invites a
picklock," an insinuation that we would all be dishonest if we got the
opportunity; while the Spaniards say, "Puerta abierta al santo
tiento"--an open door tempts a saint. Shakespeare's utterance, "How oft
the sight of means to do ill deeds makes ill deeds done," may express a
sad truth, but after all we would fain believe that things are not quite
so bad as not a few of our proverbs would imply: there is surely yet
some little virtue and honesty left.
Fortune, good or ill, is not by any means overlooked. Thus we find the
philosophic reflection, "Fortune can take nothing from us but what she
gave"; and the warning, "Fortune is constant in nothing but
inconstancy." We are warned yet again that "When fortune comes smiling
she often designs the most mischief." All, however, is not blind chance;
the hand of God is guiding; "There's a divinity that shapes our ends,
rough hew them how we will." Nor is the hand of man without its
influence, for "To him that is willing ways are not wanting," and "If
you weave your web God will find the thread." The Italians say, "Vien la
fortuna a chi la procura"--good fortune is to him who earns it; while
the French declare, "Qui ne se lasse pas lasse l'adversité"--he who does
not tire tires adversity, and steady perseverance will conquer
ill-fortune. "La fortune aide aux audacieux," say the French again,
while the Romans declared, "Fortes fortuna adjuvat"--fortune assists the
brave, the classic reading of our more homely version, "Nothing venture,
nothing have."
The victim of ill-fortune is reminded that "It is a long lane that has
no turning"; or, as Gower puts it:
"Sometime I drew into memoire
Howe sorowe maie not euer last."
The French have a saying, "The wind in a man's face makes him wise,"
equivalent to the English adage, "Adversity makes a man wise, not rich,"
and so the Psalmist sings, "It is good for me that I have been
afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes." Trouble works, however, in
a twofold way, and while some it softens, others it hardens.
It is a matter of common observation that misfortunes often fall most
unexpectedly, and that they seldom come singly.
"O soden hap, O thou fortune unstable,
Like to the scorpion so deceivable,
That flatrest with thy hed whan thou wilt sting."[249:A]
"Mischiefs," says an old proverb, "come by the pound and go away by the
ounce," and the Italians have a practically identical saying. These
calamities come sometimes in such a flood that no resistance to their
attack seems of any avail, hence the quaint and homely adage, "There is
no fence against a flail." The Romans had the saw, "Mustelam habes"--you
have a weasel in your house, which they applied to those with whom
everything seemed to turn out unfortunately: to meet a weasel being
considered by the Romans an ill-omen.
It has been said that each man is the architect of his own
fortune.[249:B] The statement is not wholly true, but it is sufficiently
so to justify such proverbs as "As you have made your bed, so you must
lie"; "As you brew, so must you drink"; and we must be prepared to take
the consequences of our own fault. Zeno, the philosopher, having
detected his servant in a theft, ordered him to be whipped; the servant,
in excuse for what he had done, said it was decreed by the fates that
he should be a thief, alluding to the doctrine of fatalism which his
master maintained. And so, too, it was decreed, said Zeno, that you
should be whipped. It has been well said that "Presumption first blinds
a man, and then sets him running." The Germans say, "Wer da fallt, über
ihm laufen alle Welt"--he that falls down all the world runs over. All
are ready to bear a hand in beating the man whom fortune buffets; and,
as an old proverb says, "When the tree is fallen every man goeth to it
with his hatchet." This kicking a man when he is down would appear a
mean and contemptible proceeding were it not dignified by being termed
the survival of the fittest in the struggle for existence, and this
somehow throws a halo of philosophy on the proceeding, and the kicker is
seen to be working out a law of the universe, in which the kicked also
has an essential place.
We are told, truly enough, that "Half a loaf is better than no bread,"
that "A man had better be half-blind than have both his eyes out." Burke
declares that "He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and
sharpens our skill; our antagonist is our helper"; and the French say,
"On apprend en faillant"--one learns by failing. Riches entail
responsibility and anxiety, and a poet of the reign of Queen Elizabeth
would have us believe that they are on the whole more trouble than gain:
"Take upp thy fortune wythe good hape,
Wyth rytches thou doste fyle thy lappe;
Yet lesse were better for thy store,
Thy quyetnes sholde be the more."
One compensation of poverty is perhaps seen in the adage, "He that is
down need fear no fall." We are told, too, that "A threadbare coat is
armour against the highwayman"; and Chaucer, in "The Wif of Bathe's
Tale," tells how
"The poure man whan he goth by the way,
Before the theves he may sing and play,"
since he has nothing to lose, and therefore nothing to fear.
The sad but just law of retribution finds its due recognition in our
proverb lore. The following may be taken as a few examples of this: "He
that toucheth pitch shall be defiled therewith"; "Over-reachers most
ordinarily over-reach themselves"; "A guilty mind punishes itself"; "He
that will not be saved needs no preacher"; "He who sows thorns must not
go barefoot"; "He who sows the wind shall reap the whirlwind"; "Hoist
with his own petard." Shakespeare tells us how
"Diseases, desperate grown,
By desperate appliance are relieved,
Or not at all";
and of one elsewhere who cries: "I have lost my reputation! I have lost
the immortal part, sir, of myself, and what remains is bestial." Do we
not see again the dread law of retribution in the passage:
"Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind:
The thief doth fear each bush an officer,"
and Gay tells us how at last all has to be faced, and the responsibility
of one's actions has to be realised--
"Then comes a reckoning when the banquet's o'er,
The dreadful reckoning, and men smile no more."
As an alternative to a picture so sombre, we may quote the declaration,
that "Chastisement is the knife that tells we still abide in the Vine."
Detraction, hypocrisy, ingratitude are all scourged by proverbs, but one
feels over and over again how very much the proverbial wisdom of our
ancestors seemed to dwell on the darker side of things. One may find a
dozen adages that have ingratitude as their theme, but scarcely one that
sings the praise of sweet thankfulness, and in like manner pretension,
boasting, time-serving, self-interest have their attendant proverbs,
while the praise of gentle modesty and sweet self-surrender finds little
or no place. It may, perhaps, be said that this latter end is reached
practically by the denouncing of the evil, but this is scarcely so--a
scathing attack on falsehood is in its time needful, but there is still
place and need for the recognition of the spotless beauty of truth.
Denunciation may do much, but sweet persuasiveness yet more.
Shakespeare, in his "Cymbeline," writes of deadly slander--
"Whose edge is sharper than the sword; whose tongue
Outvenoms all the worms of Nile";
and again, in "Much Ado about Nothing," we find the line--"Done to death
by slanderous tongues"; and yet again warns us that "No might nor
greatness in mortality can censure 'scape," and that "Back-wounding
calumny the whitest virtue strikes." Byron writes in his "Childe
Harold's Pilgrimage" of those whose evil task is "Sapping a solemn creed
with solemn sneer," and Thomson tells how "Still the world prevailed,
and its dread laugh,"--a laugh "which scarce the firm philosopher can
scorn."
The following adages may be quoted:--"Envy shoots at others and wounds
itself"; "Envy never does a good turn but when it designs an evil one";
"Malice seldom wants a mark to aim at"; "'They say' is a poisoned
arrow." The Welsh say--"Faults are thick where love is thin." Other
sayings are--"One jeer going forth brings back another"; "Once in
people's mouths, 'tis hard to get out of them again"; "Those who have
most need of credit seldom get much"; "The evil which issues from thy
mouth falls into thy bosom"; "The sting of a reproach is in the truth of
it";[253:A] "He that prepares a net for another should not shut his own
eyes"; "Respect is better got by deserving than by exacting"; "Little
minds, like weak liquors, are soon soured"; "Suspicion, like bats, fly
by twilight"; "In a little mind everything is little"; "Despise none and
despair of none"; "Faint praise is disparagement"; "A blow from a
frying-pan blacks, though it may not hurt"; "Truth is truth, though
spoken by an enemy"; "Harm set, harm get"; "Envy never enriched any
man."
In a curious manuscript of the fifteenth century may be found "the
answere which God gave to a certyn creture that desired to wit whate
thinge was moost plesure to hym in this worlde." The answer is a very
full one, fuller than we can quote, but it includes the following
precepts:--"Suffre noysous wordis with a meke harte, for that pleseth me
more than thow beate thy body with as many roddys as growen in an
hundred wodys. Have compassion on the seeke and poore, for that pleaseth
me more than thow fasteth fifty wynter brede and water. Saye no
bakbyting wordis, but shon from them and love thy nayghber and turne
alle that he saithe or dothe to good, me onely love and alle other for
me, for that pleseth me more than if thowe every daye goo upon a whele
stikking fulle of nayles that shulde prik thy bodye." Another manuscript
of the same date that has come under our notice, in the Library of Jesus
College, Cambridge, introduces a personification of the deadly sins,
and each is treated with much graphic power, thus, under the heading of
"Invidia" we find--
"I am full sory in my hert
Of other mens welefare and whert:
I ban and bakbyte wykkedly,
And hynder all that I may sikerly."
The sneaking treachery of the envious man, grieved to the heart at the
welfare of others, and doing them what evil he can safely compass, is
very forcibly painted, and this of "Ira," in its picture of downright
brutality, is as graphic--
"I chide and feght and manas fast;
All my fomen I wylle doun kast,
Mercy on thaym I wylle none haue
But vengeance take, so God me saue."
Revenge, however sweet it may appear, always costs more than it is
worth, so that to be of this mind is to scourge oneself with one's own
flail. Thus the adage says truly enough, "To be angry is to revenge the
faults of others on ourselves." Another useful hint is that "Anger is
danger, and even the anger of the righteous is not always righteous
anger." How full, too, of wisdom the precept that "Anger should set with
the sun but not rise with it," carrying on with vindictive perseverance
into the present and the future the evil of the past. Other proverbs
are:--"Anger begins with folly and ends with repentance"; "Anger makes a
rich man hated, and a poor man scorned"; "Anger is more hurtful than the
injury that caused it"; "A man in a passion rides a horse that runs away
with him"; "Anger may glance into the breast of a good man, but rests
only in the bosom of fools"; "An angry man opens his mouth and shuts his
eyes"; and to these many others bearing on the subject might be added.
Other excellent wisdom chips are these:--"Religion is the best armour
in the world, but the worst cloak"; "Imitate good but do not counterfeit
it"; "Roguery with pretext is double roguery"; "Better the blame of the
just than the praise of the wicked." Of all the virtues it has been said
that gratitude has the shortest memory--"Eaten bread is soon forgotten."
The Spaniards have, too, a very graphic proverb: "Cria el cuervo y
sacarte ha los ojos"--breed up a crow and he will tear out your eyes;
while the French say: "Otez un vilain, du gibet, il vous y mettra"--save
a thief from the gallows and he will place you there.
Pretension is exposed in many proverbs. An excellent one is this: "The
best horseman is always on his feet." This is sometimes varied into "The
man on the wall is the best player." It is in either version an obvious
satire on the looker-on, who always tells how he could have done the
thing better. Other good saws are these: "In a calm all can steer";
"Vainglory blossoms but does not bear"; "All his geese are swans"; "We
cannot all do everything"; "Not even the youngest is infallible";
"Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works"; "Presumption blinds a man
and then sets him running"; "Vanity has no greater foe than itself"; "A
small mind has usually still room for pride"; "Insolence is pride with
her mask pulled off"; "Arrogance is a weed that grows on poor soil."
Sir Thomas More reminds us that "Pride, as the proverb is, must needs
have a shame," while a yet older writer declares that "Loste and
deignouse pride and ille avisement mishapnes oftentide," and centuries
even before this we find the warning that "A haughty spirit goes before
a fall." Shakespeare puts the matter very pithily--"Who knows himself a
braggart (let him fear this: for it will come to pass), That every
braggart shall be found an ass." "Brag is a good dog, but hold-fast is a
better," we are told; a less familiar version found in old collections
of proverbs being, "Brag is a good dog, but dares not bite." A very
quaint old saw against boasting and pretension is this, "We hounds
killed the hare, quoth the lap-dog"; while another good doggy adage is
the warning that "A snappish cur must be tied short." "Great boasters,"
we are told, "are little doers,"[256:A] even as "Great promisers are bad
paymasters." It is equally true, the statement that "One sword keeps
another in its sheath." A quaint proverb hath it that "My father's name
was Loaf, and I die of hunger," a Spanish satire on those who, in
poorest circumstances, yet boast of their kindred,[256:B] while a very
true Italian saw is that "Many are brave when the enemy is running." On
the other hand, "A brave retreat is a brave exploit." Throughout our
pages we have made but slight reference to Biblical sayings since these
are so readily accessible to all, and are, we may presume, so well
known, but we cannot here quite forbear, for the counsel--"Let not him
that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it
off"--seems so particularly happy a termination to our proverbs on
pretension and boasting. Having thus broken through our procedure, we
are tempted to add yet one more reference from the same source, the
splendid irony on the man, "Wiser in his own conceit than seven men
that can render a reason"--a race not yet extinct.
The following proverbs, dealing with various phases of self-interest,
have more or less of worldly wisdom in them, and are worth
quotation:--"Better go round than fall in the ditch"; "Better say here
it is than here it was"; "Better cut the shoe than pinch the foot"; "If
you wish a thing done--go; if not--send"; "Light not a blaze that you
cannot extinguish"; "A hook's well lost to catch a salmon"; "Buyers want
a hundred eyes; sellers, two"; "All is lost that is poured into a
cracked dish"; "Those who put on livery must put on patience"; "Of two
evils choose the less"; "Better one's house too little one day than too
large all the year beside"; "Sometimes it is better to give your apple
than to eat it yourself"; "Venture not all in one bottom"; "A man's gift
makes room for him"; "An ass laden with gold overtakes everything"; "If
you grease a cause well it will stretch"; "Praise the bridge by which
you pass over"; "It is wit to pick a lock, but wisdom to let it alone";
"Those disposed for mischief will never want occasion"; "A petitioner
that spares his purse angles without his bait."
In "The Ship of Fools," 1570, we find the line, "Aungels worke wonders
in Westminster Hall," the angel being a coin of that period, and the
Hall the great seat of Justice, or at all events, of Law. The Romans had
a proverb--"Bos in lingua"--an ox on the tongue. As some of the ancient
money was stamped with the device of an ox, the proverb was a delicate
way of saying that a man had been bribed to be silent. We are told that
Demosthenes, having received a present from some who wished to obtain a
privilege that they were fearful he would oppose, appeared in the court
with his throat muffled up, pretending that he had so violent a cold as
to be incapable of speaking; but one of the members of the court
suspected the matter, and quoted this proverb, intimating that it was
not the cold but the bribe that had debarred him from speech. Another of
these old Roman proverbs was, "Argenteis hastis pugna et omnia
expugnabis"--if only one fights with silver spear they will be
all-conquering. A similar cynical maxim appreciative of the power of
bribery and corruption is that, "Where gold avails argument fails."
Another old Roman adage was, "Oleum et operam perdere"--to lose both oil
and labour. This was applied to those who had spent much time, given
much labour, made considerable pecuniary sacrifice, to attain some
object, and had, after all, failed in doing so. Those who contended in
the public games freely anointed their limbs with oil to make them
supple ere entering on the contest, and so if, after all, they were
conquered they lost both oil and labour. In like manner, the student
poring over his books and burning the midnight oil, if he failed in the
acquisition of knowledge, lost oil and labour. The ancients tell how a
man, having a suit at law, sent to the judge a present of a vessel of
oil, but his antagonist sent a fatted pig, and this turned the scale in
his favour, and he gained his cause. Justice may well be represented as
blind when such proceedings are possible. The first man complained and
reminded the judge of his gift, but the judge told him that a great pig
had rushed in and overturned the oil, so that it and his labour in
bringing it had been lost. Whether the proverb grew out of the story or
the story out of the proverb it is now impossible to pronounce any
opinion upon.
Other keen proverbs are:--"He that finds a thing steals it if he
restores it not"; "What will not make a pot may make a lid"; "The best
patch is off the same cloth"; "Break not eggs with a hatchet"; "Ease and
honour are seldom bedfellows"; "Stretch your legs according to your
coverlet"; "Pin not your faith on another's sleeve"; "As a man is finded
so the law is ended"; "Live and let live"; "An ill agreement is better
than a good judgment"; "Misreckoning is no payment"; "Name not a rope in
his house that hanged himself." A very marked example of this delicacy
of feeling is seen in the saying, "Father disappeared about
assizes-time, and we asked no questions!" "Take away fuel and you take
away fire"; "No man is impatient with his creditors"; "Command yourself
and you may command much else."
Turning our attention awhile in other directions, we find the Spaniard's
warning, "Cada cuba bucele al vino que tiene"--the cask smells of the
liquid it held; a man's surroundings stamp him, and he is known by the
company he keeps. Self-interest is blatant in the Spanish saying that
"People don't give black puddings to those who kill no pigs"; and the
same cynical teaching is found in the French adage, "To one who has a
pie in the oven you may give a piece of your cake."[259:A] The French
version of "To him that hath shall be given," is, "He who eats chicken
gets chicken."[259:B] The Spanish proverbs, as we have seen, have a
strong tinge of mocking sarcasm in them; here are two more examples:
"Give away for the good of your soul what you cannot eat"; "Steal the
pig but give away the feet in alms." There is a delightful touch of
human nature in the French saying, "No one is so open-handed as he who
has nothing to give," or its Scotch equivalent, "They are aye gudewilly
o' their horse that hae nane." Another canny Scotch experience is that
"He that lacks (disparages) my mare would buy my mare." Self-interest
degenerates into self-abasement in the Arab counsel, "If the king at
noon-day says it is night, behold the stars." The Persian warning, "It
is ill sport between the cotton and the fire," is very graphic. The old
Roman, "Aliam quercum excute," the advice to go and shake some other
tree, since enough has been gathered here, is expressive. It is
equivalent to telling one's importunate neighbour that he must really
try fresh ground at last; to advise one's friend to cease from the
pursuit they have been following, since they have reaped from it all the
advantage it is likely to yield to them. A dignified and noble saying is
this, "Deridet sed non derideor"--he laugheth, but I am not laughed at;
the impertinence is suffered, is passed unregarded, and falls flat and
dead.
Custom and habit exercise their influence on our proverb lore; thus we
are told, wisely enough, that "Custom is the plague of wise men, the
idol of fools." Kelly tells a good story, in illustration of this bowing
to custom, of a captain's wife whose husband the South Sea Islanders had
eaten, being consoled by a friend; "Mais, madame, que voulez-vous?
Chaque peuple a ses usages." The power of habit is immense; an old
saying tells us that "Habit is overcome by habit," but ordinarily the
habit in possession fights hard, and is not readily dispossessed. Hence
it is of solemn warning to "Kill the cockatrice while yet in the egg."
It is one of the most familiar of truisms that "Habit becomes second
nature," and that "What is bred in the bone will never come out of the
flesh." To check at the beginning may be difficult, but to overcome in
the end may be impossible. "Can the Ethiopian," asks the prophet,
"change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then may you also do good
that are accustomed to do evil." As the bough of a tree bent from its
usual direction returns to its old position so soon as the temporary
force to which it yielded is removed, so do men return to their old
habits so soon as the motives, whether of interest or fear, which had
influenced them, are done away. "Nature," says Lord Bacon, "is often
hidden, sometimes overcome, seldom extinguished. Let not a man trust his
victory over his nature too far; for nature will be buried a great time
and yet revive upon the occasion or temptation, like as it was with
Æsop's damsel, turned from a cat to a woman, who sat very demurely at
the board's end till a mouse ran before her." The same philosopher gives
the following admirable caution: "A man's nature runs either to herbs or
weeds: therefore let him seasonably water the one and destroy the
other." The Spaniards say: "Mudar costumbre a par de muerte"--to change
a habit is like death.
"Ill habits gather by unseen degrees,
As brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas."
And Shakespeare, in the "Two Gentlemen of Verona," exclaims: "How use
doth breed a habit in a man!" The ancient Romans declared: "Fabricando
fit faber," which we find in French as "En forgeant ou devient
forgeron"; in Spanish, as "El usar saca oficial"; in German, as "Uebung
macht den meister"; and in English, as "Use makes the craftsman."
Boys catch the habit of stammering if thrown with those who stammer, and
the Dutch declare: "Die bij kreupelen woont, leert hinken"--he that
lives with cripples learns to limp. Fortunately, there are good habits
as well as bad ones; hence the Romans taught: "Boni principii finis
bonus," and the French say, "De bon commencement bonne fin"--we
insensibly imitate what we habitually admire.
Experience teaches, and we propose to quote some few of the proverbial
lessons that are of value in the conduct and wear and tear of life, and
we commence with the homely bit of wisdom that, if realised, would save
so much of worry and heartache: "What can't be cured must be
endured."[262:A] Another good saying is: "Well begun is half
done"--poetically rendered by the Italians in the counsel, "Begin your
web, and God will find you thread." "Procrastination is the thief of
time," is another well-worn and excellent adage. How valuable, again,
are these: "Teaching of others teacheth the teacher"; "He teaches ill
that teaches all"; "He that seeks trouble rarely misses it"; "He that is
surety is not sure"; "Look before you leap"; "The horse that draws is
most whipped"; "Blow first and sip after"; "At open doors dogs come in";
"He that is angry without cause must be pleased without amends"; "It is
but lip-wisdom that lacks experience"; "Fetters, though of gold, are
fetters still"; "Without danger, danger cannot be overcome"; "Experience
is a dear school, but fools learn in no other"; "Some advice at
fourpence is a groat too dear"; "The counsel that we favour we most
scrutinise"; "He that sits to work in the market-place shall have many
teachers"; "Valour that parleys is near surrender"; "As you salute you
will be saluted"; "Responsibility must be shouldered, you cannot carry
it under your arm"; "One eye-witness is better than ten hear-says"; "If
you pity knaves you are no friend to honest men"; "Every man is a pilot
in a calm sea"; "Plant the crab-tree where you will it will never bear
pippins"; "Wide will wear, but narrow will tear." This last, homely as
it sounds, is excellent in its counsel in praise of a wise liberality.
The ancient Roman, "Bis dat qui cito dat," that is so often quoted in
advocacy of prompt aid, re-appears in modern Italy in the version, "A
gift long waited for is not given, but sold." "Say not to your
neighbour, Go, and come again, and to-morrow I will give, when thou hast
it by thee." "Hope deferred maketh the heart sick,"[263:A] and ready
help at the critical moment might have averted a catastrophe. Another
very true classic adage is, "Beneficium accipere, libertam est
vendere"--accept a favour and you sell your freedom. Excellent counsel
is in the twin proverbs, "Deliberating is not delaying," and "That is a
wise delay which maketh the road safe." An old writer[263:B] very sagely
puts it thus: "When we are in a strait that we know not what to do, we
must have a care of doing we know not what," and thus save time by
giving time.
Advice for the conduct of life is freely bestowed on us by our
proverbial wisdom. We may well head the examples we propose to give with
the caution, "In vain does he ask advice who will not follow it."
"Few things," says Dr Johnson, "are so liberally bestowed, or
squandered with so little effect, as good advice." Another reading is
that "He that will not be counselled cannot be helped." Some few
specimens of counsel tendered are these: "At great bargains pause
awhile"; "The best throw of the dice is to throw them away"; "Raise up
no spirits that you cannot lay"; "Rather suffer a great evil than do a
little one"; "Agree, for the law is costly"; "Avoid the pleasure that
will bite to-morrow"; "Let the shipwrecks of others be your beacons";
"Let every man praise the bridge he goes over." Speak not ill of him who
hath done you a courtesy, or whom you have made use of to your benefit.
The Arabs in like spirit teach, "A well from which thou drinkest throw
not a stone into it." An Italian saw sarcastically says, "Does thy
neighbour annoy thee? lend him a zechin"--he will then keep out of the
way. A Danish proverb wisely advises to "Take help of many, and counsel
of few"; while a homely German proverb--"Henke nicht alles auf einen
Nagel"--warns us not to hang all on one nail; or, as our equally homely
English proverb has it, "Do not carry all your eggs in one basket"--have
not all your ventures in one vessel.
The weather in this our changeable climate has supplied abundant store
for popular lore; it would indeed suffice in itself to yield material
for a goodly volume, and the result would be a collection of great
literary and antiquarian interest.
One very familiar adage is the comforting statement that "It is an ill
wind that blows no one any good." Shakespeare quotes it more than once;
in one case it is rendered as "Ill blows the wind that profits nobody,"
and elsewhere, "Not the ill wind which blows no man good," while Tusser
gives us the rhyming version--
"Except wind stands as never it stood,
It is an ill wind turns none to good."
Another old saw teaches that "Ill weather is seen soon enough when it
comes," but this is indefensible, for while it is a wise counsel not to
meet troubles half way, to exercise no forethought at all is mere
lunacy. Such a proverb, again, as this, "Though the sun shine leave not
your coat at home," is much too rigid in its insistence, and the advice,
whether taken literally or metaphorically, would be at times absurd. If
we try it, for instance, in this guise--Though surrounded by loving
friends carry suspicion ever with you--we feel that the tension is
needless. A much truer saying is this, "When the sun shines nobody minds
him, but when he is eclipsed all consider him," and we realise at last
on the withdrawal of the benefit of how great value it had been to us.
A wise and helpful Latin proverb is, "Sequitur Ver Hyemem"--spring
succeeds winter, and sunshine follows rain. "After a storm, calm," or,
as the French have it, "Apres la pluie vient le beau temps."
"What, man, plucke up your harte, bee of good cheere,
After cloudes blacke wee shall have wether clere."
"Heaviness may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning," is no
discovery of yesterday.
"March winds and April showers bring forth the May flowers," and the
French recognise the welcome assurance in their version, "Mars venteux,
Avril pluvieux, font le Mai gai et gracieux," while across the Rhine the
saying is again, "Märzen Wind and Aprilen Regen verheissen im Mai
grossen segen." The value of dry weather at sowing time is indicated in
the saying that "A bushel of March dust is worth a king's ransom"; while
"February fill-dyke" is a testimony to the abundant rain that is
ordinarily characteristic of that month; in France it is said that
"Fevrier remplit les fosses: Mars les seche." This rain is of great
value, and "All the months of the year curse a fair Februeer," and "If
the grass look green in Janiveer 'twill look the worser all the year."
The exigencies of rhyme are responsible for the miscalling of these
month-names. A great many of these rustic weather proverbs are thrown
into more or less, and ordinarily more, uncouth rhyme, no doubt as an
aid to memory; thus we are told that "No weather's ill if the wind be
still," that it is well should "September blow soft till the fruit's in
the loft," and that "If the first of July be rainy weather, 'twill rain
more or less four weeks together." We are taught again that "In February
if thou hearest thunder thou wilt see a summer's wonder." Undoubtedly a
thunderstorm in February might well be regarded as one of the least
likely things to happen in July, while the hearing of its sonorous peals
would certainly be a remarkable feat of vision. As the literal
acceptance is so impossible we must perforce look a little below the
surface, and when we recall that our ancestors were great at prognostics
we see that we are expected to regard this ill-timed storm as an omen of
coming events of startling nature. Thus Willford, in his "Nature's
Secrets," teaches that "Thunder and lightning in winter is held ominous,
portending factions, tumults, and bloody wars, and a thing seldome seen,
according to ye old adigy, Winter's thunder is ye Sommer's
wonder."[266:A]
The countryman has abundant opportunity of studying the varying aspects
of Nature, hence he has discovered that "An evening red and morning grey
will set the traveller on his way";[267:A] though he seems to have also
observed that "If the sun in red should set, the next day surely will be
wet." The two statements appear to directly contradict each other. On
the other hand we are told that when the reverse happens, "The evening
grey and morning red make the shepherd hang his head"; and that "If the
sun should set in grey the next will be a rainy day"; the sun setting in
a bank of clouds--the west in this country being the direction in which
we ordinarily look for wet weather--the result on the morrow will
probably be rain. Hence, "A rainbow in the morning is the shepherd's
warning, a rainbow at night is the shepherd's delight"; or in Germany,
"Regenborgen am Morgen macht dem Schäfer sorgen: Regenborgen am Abend
ist dem Schäfer labend."
The statement that "The moon is made of green cheese" may be mentioned
in passing. Shacklock, in the "Hatchet of Heresies," written in 1565,
says, "They may make theyr blinde brotherhode, and the ignorant sort
beleeve that the mone is made of grene chese," and many old writers
introduce this venerable belief in their plays and other works. We
now-a-days associate the idea with age, the green suggesting mouldiness,
but the word here means the very opposite, and refers really to a cheese
not matured; the moon being new every month, the material of which it
was composed never got beyond the green or unripe stage.
It is popularly held that "When the wind is in the east 'tis good for
neither man nor beast," and a quaint Spanish proverb advises, "Ask no
favour during the Solano." This Solano is a wind that blows over from
Africa, and is exceedingly hot and dry. It is also known as the sirocco.
The moral clearly is that when people are in a state of irritation it is
not advisable to lay one's needs before them, the time being
inopportune.
Many of our weather proverbs are very naturally associated with various
saints' days. Thus we get "St Martin's Summer" and "All Saints' Summer"
in reference to the bright clear weather that we occasionally get in the
late autumn, All Saints' Day being on the first, and St Martin's Day on
the eleventh of November. Allusions to both will be found in
Shakespeare; thus, in "I. Henry VI."--"Expect St Martin's Summer,
halcyon days." The eighteenth of October was in like manner called "St
Luke's little Summer." Another old adage was, "If the day of St Paul be
clear, then shall betide a happy year"; this day, the festival of the
conversion of the saint, was in the calendar ascribed to January the
25th.
Another well-known belief is summed up in the old rhyme: "St Swithin's
day if it do rain, for forty days it will remain." This date is July
15th, and it may not be generally known that, taking the year round,
July is often a very rainy month. The Saint was Bishop of Winchester,
and when he died, in the year 862, he desired to rest where the sweet
rain of heaven might fall. His desire was respected, but later on the
monks thought it beneath his and their dignity that he should be laid to
rest in the graveyard, and so they proposed to re-inter the body in the
choir, but when the day came the rain was so terrific that they had to
postpone matters till the next day. This, however, was no better, nor
was the next, or next, till at length, after forty such postponements,
it dawned upon them that their late bishop felt a strong objection to
the removal of his remains, and they at last had the sense to decide to
let him rest in peace as he had desired, whereupon the sun burst forth,
and it is to be hoped that they all lived happy ever after.
* * * * *
The subject of our book has a scope so all-embracing, a wisdom so
piquant, an utterance so quaint, a wit so trenchant, a body of material
so vast, an antiquity so remarkable that not a volume but a library
would be needed to do it justice.
He who would desire to discourse wisely, comprehensively, on the
proverbs of all times and of all countries has before him a task too
great for fulfilment, if not too vast for ambition, and what to select
from the sheer necessity of its inclusion, what to discard since the
impossibility of completeness might be our plea in forgiveness of its
absence, has been a problem constantly before us. Where there are many
men there are many minds, and we shall be, doubtless, blamed alike by
some for what they find, and, no less, for what they fail to find. Could
our readers see, as we now see before us on reaching this our last page,
the great bulk of material that we have accumulated, and that remains
unused, they would realise the better the vastness of the field--the
ever-recurring problem and responsibility of selection.
The subject has been, from the first page to the last, one of abounding
interest to us, and we would fain hope that we have succeeded in imbuing
our readers with something of the pleasure that we have ourselves
derived from a study in itself so full of charm.
FOOTNOTES:
[194:A] The Portuguese warn us that great talkers make many mistakes, in
the adage, "Quem muito falla muito erra."
[195:A] "They have spent theyr tyme lesse fruitfully heretofore in ouer
runnyng a multitude of wordes with small consideracion or weyghing of
them."--FISHER, _A Godlye Treatise_.
[196:A] "There are perilous times at hande by reason of some that vnder
pretence of godlynesse turne true godlynesse vp side down, and so prate
boastynglye of themselues as thoughe the Christian religion consisted in
wordes and not rather in purenesse of herte."--_Udall._
[197:A] "The tunge is but a litel membre, and reiseth greet thingis. Lo
hou litel fier breuneth a ful greet word: and our tunge is fier, the
unyversitie of wickidnesse."--_St James._ Translation of Wiclif.
[198:A] In the "Parlament of Byrdes," written somewhere about 1550, the
chough, or Cornish crow, is thus admonished, in very similar strains to
the above:
"Thou Cornysshe, quod the Hauke, by thy wil
Say well, and holde thee styll."
[198:B] The following wisdom-chips may be commended to these
unfortunates: "Affectation of wisdom often prevents our being wise";
"The man who knows most knows his own ignorance"; "Knowledge is proud
that he has learned so much: wisdom is humble that he knows no more."
[199:A]
"Thou hast hearde of many a man,
Tongue breaketh bone and it selfe hath none."
--The "Parlament of Byrdes," _c._ 1550.
[199:B] "Raise not the credit of your wit at the expense of your
judgment."
[200:A] "Beaucoup de bruit, peu de fruit," as the expressive French
jingle has it.
[201:A] "By a fole in the prouerbes is pryncypally vnderstande him that
in folowynge his awne councell defendeth infydelyte and the vnknowing of
God for trueth and hyghe wysdome."--_Matthew._
[202:A]
"A foole and his monie be soone at debate
Which after with sorrow repents him too late."
--TUSSER'S _Husbandrie_, 1580.
[203:A] "No creature smarts so little as a fool."--_Pope._
[206:A]
"A fault denied is twice committed,
And, oftentimes, excusing of a fault
Doth make the fault the worse for the excuse."--_Shakespeare._
[207:A] And again in another passage--
"O that men's ears should be
To counsel deaf, but not to flattery."
[208:A] In France they say, "Il est bien avancé qui a bien commencé." In
both English and French versions there is a certain ring that helps the
memory.
[209:A] "Industrie is a qualitie procedying of Wytte and Experience by
whyche a man perceyveth quickely, inuenteth freshely, and counsayleth
spedily: wherfore they that be called industrious do most craftely and
depely vnderstand in al affayres what is expedient, and by what meanes
or wayes they may sonest exployte them. Those thingis in whome other men
trauayle these lightley and with facilitie spedeth, and findeth new
wayes and meanes to bring to effecte that he deseyreth."--_Sir Thomas
Elyot._
[212:A] "To dread no eye, and to fear no tongue is the great and blessed
prerogative of the innocent life"; "Man is a thinking being, whether he
will or not--all he can do, then, is to turn his thoughts aright."
[217:A] Similar wise counsel is found in the warning that "A jest driven
too far brings home hate," and that "Jeerers must be content to taste of
their own broth."
[219:A]
"Myne ease is builded all on trust,
And yet mistrust breedes myne anoye."--_Gascoigne._
[219:B] "I love everything that is old--old friends, old times, old
manners, old books."--"She Stoops to Conquer."
"What find you better or more honourable than age? Take the pre-eminence
of it in everything: in an old friend, in old wine, in an old
pedigree."--"The Antiquary."
[221:A] "Geflickte Freundschaft wird selten wieder ganz," say the
Germans--patched up friendship seldom becomes whole again.
[222:A] Tusser writes of such:
"His promise to pay is as slipprie as ice,
His credit much like the cast of the dice,
His knowledge and skill is in prating too much,
His companie shunned, and so be all such.
His friendship is counterfeit, seldome to trust."
[225:A] "The book sayeth that no wight retourneth safely into the grace
of his olde enemie, and Ysope sayth, ne troste not to hem, to which thou
hast some time hed werre or enmitee, ne telle hem not thy
counseil."--CHAUCER, _The Tale of Melibeus_.
[229:A] "To become rich is a good thing, but to make all rich about you
is better."--_V. Hugo._
[229:B]
"They call'd thee rich, I deem'd thee poor,
Since, if thou dar'dst not use thy store,
But sav'd it only for thy heirs,
The treasure was not thine, but theirs."
"The prodigal robs his heir; the miser himself."
[229:C] "Bountifulness is as a most fruitful garden, and mercifulness
endureth for ever." "Of great riches there is no real use, except it be
in distribution, the rest is but conceit."
"Who shuts his hand hath lost his gold,
Who opens it, hath it twice told."
[230:A] "If lyberalyte be well and duely employed it acquireth
pepetuelle honour to the gyuer, and moche frute and syngular commoditie
thereby encreaseth."--_Elyot._
[230:B] "A little wealth will suffice us to live well, and still less to
die well." "Seek not proud riches, but such as thou mayest get justly,
use soberly, distribute cheerfully, and leave contentedly."
[231:A] "But then their saving pennie proverbe comes."--"Two Angry Women
of Abington," 1599.
[231:B] "Who so fyndeth an honest faythfull woman she is moch more worth
than perles. The hert of her husband maye safely trust in her, so that
he shall have no nede of spoyles. She wyll do hym good and not euill all
the dayes of her lyf. Strength and honoure is her clothynge and in the
latter daye she shall reioyce. She openeth her mouth with wysdome, and
in her tonge is the lawe of grace. She loketh well to the wayes of her
housholde, and eateth not her bred with ydelnes. Her children aryse and
call her blessed: and her husband maketh moche of her."--"Matthew's
Version of Bible," 1537.
[232:A]
"La beauté du visage est un frêle ornement,
Une fleur passagère, un éclat d'un moment."--_Molière._
[232:B] "But admitting your body's finer, all that beauty is but
skin-deep."--"The Female Rebellion," 1682. "All the beauty of the world,
'tis but skin-deep, a sunne-blast defaceth it."--"Orthodoxe Paradoxes,"
1650.
[233:A]
"Daughter, in this I can thinke none other
But that it is true thys prouerbe old,
Hastye loue is soone hot and soone cold."
--"Play of Wyt and Science," c. 1540.
[233:B] "Whosoever lives unmarried lives without joy, without comfort,
without blessing. Love your wife like yourself, honour her more than
yourself. It is woman alone through whom God's blessings are vouchsafed
to a house. She teaches the children, speeds the husband, and welcomes
him when he returns, keeps the house godly and pure, and God's blessings
rest upon these things."--_Talmud._
[234:A] "You see marriage is destinie, made in heaven, though
consummated on earth."--LELY, _Mother Bombie_, 1594. Shakespeare, too,
in the "Merchant of Venice," declares that "hanging and wiving go by
destiny." In "The Cheats," written by Wilson in 1662, Scruple remarks,
"Good sir, marriages are made in heaven." Many similar passages to these
might be cited.
[235:A]
"He is a fool who thinks by force or skill
To turn the current of a woman's will."
TUKE, _Adventures of Five Hours_, 1673.
[236:A] The following, from Wycombe Church, is an agreeable variation:
"Here lies one, whose rest
Gives me a restless life,
Because I've lost a good
And virtuous wife."
In Milton Abbot Church we find a memorial to one Bartholomew Doidge and
Joan, his wife. The wife was buried on the 1st of February 1681, and the
husband on the 12th, and the inscription goes on to say:
"She first deceased: he a little tried
To live without her, liked it not, and died."
[237:A] "By thys tale ye may se that the olde prouerbe ys trew that yt
is as gret pyte to se a woman wepe as a gose to go barefoote."--"Mery
Tayls," c. 1525. Puttenham, in "The Arte of English Poesie," 1589, gives
a rather different rendering, a satire on feminine gush and misplaced
sympathy, "By the common prouerbe a woman will weepe for pitie to see a
gosling goe barefoote."
[239:A]
"The shuddering tenant of the frigid zone,
Boldly proclaims the happiest spot his own,
Extols the treasures of his stormy seas,
And his long night of revelry and ease.
The naked savage, panting at the line,
Boasts of his golden sands, and palmy wine,
Basks in the glare, or stems the tepid wave,
And thanks his gods for all the good they gave.
Nor less the patriot's boast, where'er he roam,
His first, best country, ever is at home."
--GOLDSMITH, _The Traveller._
[241:A] The Book of Proverbs is no less rich in wisdom than the Book of
Ecclesiasticus, but the latter being somewhat less familiar to many
readers we prefer to draw upon its pages in illustration of our English
adages.
[242:A]
"To speed to-day, to be put back to-morrow;
To feed on hope, to pine with feare and sorrow;
To fret thy soule with crosses and with cares;
To eate thy heart through comfortlesse dispaires."
--_Spenser._
[243:A] In the following passage Bacon shows us hope as a veritable
life-preserver. "Hope, being the best of all the affections and
passions, is very powerful to prolong life, if, like a nodding muse, it
does not fall asleep and languish, but continually feeds the fancy: and
therefore such as propose certain ends to be compassed, thriving and
prospering therein according to their desire, are commonly long-lived;
but having attained to their highest hopes, all their expectations and
desires being satisfied, live not long afterwards."
[244:A] In Cotgrave's Dictionary defined as "store, plentie, abundance,
great fulnesse, enough."
[245:A] "Babel's projectors, seeking a name, found confusion; and
Icarus, by flying too high, melted his waxen wings and fell into the
sea." "_Grey cap for a green head._" Gray express the idea very
forcibly:
"Ambition this shall tempt to rise,
Then hurl the wretch from high,
To bitter scorn a sacrifice,
And grinning infamy!"
[246:A] "Life is like wine, he that would drink it pure must not drain
it to the dregs."--_Sir William Temple._
[246:B] _Coleridge._
[249:A] CHAUCER, _The Marchaunt's Tale_.
[249:B] "Men at some time are masters of their fates."--SHAKESPEARE,
_Julius Cæsar_.
[253:A] The friends of a Roman patrician condemned by Tiberias to death,
dwelt strongly on the injustice of the sentence. "That," said he, "my
friends, is my greatest consolation, you do not surely wish that I had
been guilty!"
[256:A]
"But did this boaster threaten, did he pray,
Or, by his own example, urge their stay?
None, none of these, but ran himself away."
--DRYDEN, _Ovid's Metamorphoses_, Book xiii.
[256:B] The Spanish revel in these proverbs of sarcastic nature.
Another, for instance, is, "Praise me, friends, I love my daughters,"
applied to those who expect commendation for fulfilling the most obvious
duties.
[259:A] In Germany they say, "Siedet der Topf, so blühet die
Freundschaft"--while the pot boils the friendship blooms.
[259:B] In Welsh proverb lore, "Have a horse of your own and then you
can borrow another."
[262:A]
"Things without all remedy
Should be without regard: what's done is done."
_Macbeth._
[263:A] "Is not a patron," says Dr Johnson to the Earl of Chesterfield,
"one who looks with unconcern on a man struggling for life in the water,
and when he has reached the land encumbers him with help? The notice
which you have been pleased to take of my labours had been kind: but it
has been delayed until I am indifferent, and cannot enjoy it; till I am
solitary, and cannot impart it; till I am known, and do not want it."
[263:B] One Richard Nichols, of Warrington, writing in 1670 or
thereabouts. Many of his sayings are admirable; here are half-a-dozen of
them: "Self-denial makes a poor condition easy, and a rich one safe"; "A
good intention will not justify a bad action"; "Though time be not
lasting, yet what depends upon time is everlasting"; "The weak, when
watchful, are more safe than the strong when secure"; "He that has all
his religion in his prayers has no religion at all"; "The best way to
wipe off reproaches is to live so that none will believe them."
[266:A] "Sondayes thundre should bryng ye death of learned men, judges,
and others: Mondayes thundre ye death of women: Tuesdayes thundre
plentie of graine: Wednesdayes thundre ye death of ye wicked: Thursdayes
thundre plentie of sheepe and corne: Fridaies thundre ye slaughter of a
great man and other horrible murders: Saturdayes thundre a generall
plague and grate deathe."--LEONARD DIGGES, _A Prognostication
Everlasting of Ryght Good Effecte_, 1556.
[267:A] Sometimes rendered as, "Evening red and morning grey, tokens of
a bonny day"; or, "An evening red and a morning grey are the two sure
signs of a fine day."
_Elliot Stock, 62 Paternoster Row, London, E.C._
[Illustration]
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES
The following words use an oe ligature in the original:
Coelum Paroemiologia
Croesus Phoenicia
oeufs
The following corrections have been made to the text:
Page iii: "[original has single quote]FAMILIAR WILD FLOWERS,"
ETC.
Page 23: Durum et durum non[original has not] faciunt murum
Page 43: bottom of the sea," says the old proverb.[original
has comma]
Page 99: old English[original has Engish] proverb
Page 113: what sacred book shall he[original has be] recite
Page 118: recalls the hypocrisy[original has hyprocrisy] of
the wolf
Page 126: you may have a horse of your[original has you] own
some day
Page 135: and[original has nad] "Every day in thy life is a
page in thy history."
Page 135: "The Notable and Antient Historie of the Cherrie and
the Slae"[original has single quote]
Page 144: who they list and whosoever[original has whoesoever]
displeaseth them
Page 171: Echar magaritas a puercos[original has puerco s]
Page 180: estimate of the respective[original has repective]
values
Page 185: we read in "[original has single quote]Colyn Cloute"
Page 189: the saying that we have already quoted[original has
quotod]
Page 191: perhaps puzzle them to explain.[original has comma]
Page 215: "Wine neither keeps secrets nor carries out
promises"[quotation mark missing in original]
Page 234: Some would tell[original has tells] us that
marriages
Page 246: saying to our[original has extraneous comma]
"After-wit is everybody's wit"
Page 267: refers really to a cheese[original has chesse] not
matured
[29:A] the works of Ewald,[comma missing in original]
Berthean, Hitzig
[149:A] "[quotation mark missing in original]Set thee up
waymarks."
[232:A] Number was added to footnote by transcriber.