Chapter VII (3)

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._

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.

<pre id="pg-footer">