"When I upon a time was somewhat ill,
Then every man did press on me a cure;
And when my wife departed, all of them
Came crowding round, commending me a spouse;
But now my ass is dead, not one of them
Has offered me another--devil a one!"--_Spanish Jests_.
"_Tu vai cercando il mal_, _come fanno i Medici_"--"Thou goest about
seeking evil, even as the Medici do, and of thee and of them it may
be said, _Anagyram commoves_."--_Italian Proverbs_, A.D. 1618.
The higher a tree grows, the more do petty animals burrow into its roots,
and displace the dirt to show how it grew in lowly earth; and so it is
with great families, who never want for such investigators, as appears by
the following tale, which refers to the origin of the Medicis, yet which
is withal rather merry than malicious.