_Definition of a Proverb_ (Vol. viii., p. 242.).--The proverb, "Wit of one
man, the wisdom of many," has been attributed to Lord John Russell: I think
in a recent number of the _Quarterly Review_. The foundation was laid most
probably by Bacon:
"The genius, wit, and spirit of a nation are discovered by their
proverbs."
It may not be perhaps generally known to your readers, that in a small
volume, called _Origines de la Lengua Espanola, &c., por Don Gregorio
Mayans y Siscar, Bibliothecario del Rei nuestro Senor_, en Madrid, Ano
1737, will be found a numerous collection of Spanish proverbs. A MS. note
in my copy has a note, stating that the MS. made for Mayans, from the
original, in the national library at Madrid, is now in the British Museum,
Additional MSS., No. 9939.
The work is divided into dialogues; and in the copy in question are some
remarks by a Spanish gentleman, I fear too long for your pages: but I send
you an English version by a friend, of one of the couplets in the
dialogues, "Diez marcos tengo de oro:"
"Ten marks of gold for the telling,
And of silver I have nine score,
Good houses are mine to dwell in,
And I have a rent-roll more:
My line and lineage please me:
Ten squires to come at my call,
And no lord who flatters or fees me,
Which pleases me most of them all."