"It is the wisdom of rats, that will be sure to leave a house somewhat
before it fall."] Query, How and when did this popular notion (now
engrafted upon our political language) originate?
"It is the wisdom of crocodiles, that shed tears when they would
devour."] This saying seems to be derived from the belief, that the
crocodile imitates the cry of children in order to attract their mothers,
and then to devour them. See Salgues, _Des Erreurs et des Préjugés_, tom.
ii. p. 406.
Essay XXIV. Of Innovations.--See _Antitheta_, No. 40. vol. viii. p. 375.
Essay XXV. Of Despatch.--See _Antitheta_, No. 27. vol. viii. p. 368.
"I knew a wise man, that had it for a by-word, when he saw men hasten to
a conclusion, 'Stay a little, that we may make an end the sooner.'"] Mr.
Markby says that Sir Amias Paulet is the {144} person alluded to. The
saying in _Apophthegms_, No. 14. p. 414.
"The Spartans and Spaniards have been noted to be of small despatch: 'Mi
venga la muerte de Spagna,--Let my death come from Spain, for then it
will be sure to be long in coming.'"] The slow and dilatory character of
the Lacedæmonians is noted in Thucyd. i. 70.: "Καὶ μὴν καὶ ἄοκνοι πρὸς
ὑμᾶς μελλητάς." And again, i. 84.: "Καὶ τὸ βραδὺ καὶ μέλλον, ὃ μέμφονται
μάλιστα ἡμῶν." Livy represents the Rhodians making a similar remark to
the Roman senate in 167 B.C.: "Atheniensium populum fama est celerem et
supra vires audacem esse ad conandum: Lacedæmoniorum cunctatorem, et vix
in ea, quibus fidit, ingredientem," xlv. 23. Bayle, in his _Pensées sur
les Comètes_, § 243., has a passage which illustrates the slowness of the
Spaniards:--"D'un côté on prévoyoit, que l'empereur et le roi d'Espagne
se serviroient de très grandes forces, pour opprimer la chrétienté:
mais on prévoyoit aussi de l'autre, qu'ils ne seroient jamais en état
de l'accabler, parceque la lenteur et les longues délibérations qui
ont toujours fait leur partage, font perdre trop de bonnes occasions.
Vous savez la pensée de Malherbe sur ce sujet: S'il est vrai, dit-il
dans quelqu'une de ses lettres, que l'Espagne aspire à la monarchie
universelle, je lui conseille de demander à Dieu une surséance de la fin
du monde."