FOOTNOTES:

1. Short2. Playne3. Common4. Figurative5. Antient6. TrueOtherwise it isnot a proverb atall but a1. Oration2. Riddle3. Secret4. Sentence5. Upstart6. Libel."

As he was evidently a little nervous that some persons might think the subject a little beneath the dignity of Dr Fuller, he allows an imaginary objector to have his fling, and then proceeds to demolish him. The "objection" raised by this anonymous disciple of Mrs Grundy is that "it is more proper for a person of your profession to imploy himself in reading of, andcommenting on, the Proverbs of Solomon, to know wisdome and instruction, to perceive words of understanding. Whereas you are now busied in what may be pleasant, not profitable, yet what may inform the fleshlie not edifie the inward man." As many proverbs do undoubtedly build up the inner man this judgment is wanting in charity, and as a student ourselves in the subject we are gratified to find that the doctor declines to accept this vote of censure, and is able to make out a good case for himself. His reply is somewhat longer than a quotation permits, and one must give all or none.

In his preface, also, he alludes to "snarling persons" who have deprecated his labours. This preface of his is distinctly interesting.

"All of us," he writes therein, "forget more than we remember, and therefore it hath been my constant Custom to note down and record whatever I thought of myself, or received from Men or Books worth preserving. Amongst other things I wrote out Apothegms, Maxims, Proverbs, acute Expressions, vulgar Sayings, etc., and having at length collected more than ever any Englishman has before me I have ventur'd to send them forth to try their Fortune among the People. In ancient Times, before methodical Learning had got Footing in the Nations and instructive Treatises were written, the Observations that were from Experience were us'd to be gather'd and sum'd up into brief and comprehensive Sentences, which being so contriv'd as to have something remarkable in their Expressions might be easily remember'd and brought into Use on Occasions. They are call'd Adagies or Maxims.

"Also the Men of Business and the common People, that they might in their Affairs and Conversation signify and communicate this Sense and Meaning in short, with Smartness and with Pleasantness fell into customary little Forms of Words and trite Speeches, whichare call'd Proverbs and common Sayings. The former of these are from Judgment, and are us'd by Men of Understanding and Seriousness; the other are from Wit, and are accommodate to the Vulgar and Men of Mirth. I conceive it is not needful for me accurately to determine which are to be call'd Adagies and Proverbs; nor nicely to distinguish the one from the other. All that I here take upon me to do is only to throw together a vast confus'd heap of unsorted Things, old and new, which you may pick over and make use of, According to your Judgment and Pleasure. Many of these are only plain bare Expressions, to be taken literally in their proper Meaning: others have something of the Obscure and Surprize, which, as soon as understood, renders them pretty and notable.

"It is a matter of no small Pains and Diligence (whatever lazy, snarling Persons may think) to pick up so many independent Particulars as I have done, And it is no trifling or useless thing neither: it being what many of the most learned and wisest Men of the World have in all Ages employ'd themselves upon. The Son of Syrac will be held in everlasting Remembrance for his Ecclesiasticus, but, above all, that most glorious of Kings and wisest of Men, Solomon, wrote by Divine Appointment and Inspiration, Proverbs, Precepts and Counsels.

"No man ought to despise, ridicule, or any ways discourage the Diligence and Kindness of those that take Pains to bring home to others without Price those things of Profit and Pleasure. I picked up these Sentences and Sayings at several times, according as they casually occurr'd, and most of them so long ago that I cannot remember the Particulars: and am now (by reason of great Age and ill Sight) utterly unable to review them; otherwise I would have struck out all such as are not fit for the Company, or are indecentto be spoke in the Presence of wise, grave, virtuous, modest, well-bred people." These closing words one can hardly accept. Years before age and failing sight had come these various items had been growing bit by bit, and the striking-out process might well have been going on at the same time as the collecting.

"Our excellent Mr Ray," as a contemporary writer terms him, was another great collector of proverbs, and he, too, made a book of them. The first edition of this work appeared in 1670, and a second in 1678. The first was altogether too gross, so that the second edition gave an opportunity, which was embraced, for some little amendment. This is beyond all doubt the coarsest set of proverbs that has come under our notice.

Ray was a Master of Arts and a Fellow of the Royal Society. The title of his book is as follows:—"A Collection of English Proverbs Digested into a convenient Method for the speedy finding any one upon occasion: with short Annotations. Wherunto are added Local Proverbs with their Explications, old Proverbial Rhythemes, Less known or Exotick Proverbial Sentences and Scottish Proverbs." The second edition was enlarged by the addition of several hundred more English Proverbs, and by an appendix of Hebrew sayings. The annotations of Ray on various proverbs are often very feeble. Thus to the adage, or saw, or whatever it may be, "I would not trust him though he were my brother," he adds to a thing sufficiently tame in itself the comment, "This is only a physiognomical observation." The truth is, our learned author, or compiler, seems to have heaped together all the old "saws," whether wise or not, and all the "modern instances" that came in his way, and to have strung at random the precious gems in company with the worthless beads.

His "convenient method" was the alphabetical one, based on the leading word of the saying. Thus, under A, for example, we get "Adversity makes a man wise, not rich," "There is no Alchemy like saving," "He that is Angry is seldom at ease," "For that thou canst do thyself rely not on Another," "Make a slow Answer to a hasty question," "The best Armour is to keep out of gun-shot."

Robert Codrington added yet another to the pile of proverb lore in his "Collection of many Select and Excellent Proverbs out of Several Languages." These he declared to be "most useful in all Discourses and for the Government of Life." He gives no preface or any kind of introductory matter, but begins at once with number one, and goes straight on till he gets to fourteen hundred and sixty-five. His adage, "You may not lose your friend to keep your jest," is a curious variant on the familiar present-day assertion that some men would rather lose a friend than a joke. His selection is on the whole a very good one. Such sayings as, "A young man old maketh an old man young," "A drunkard is not master either of his soul or his body," and "Curses prove choke-pears to those that plant them," are thought-compelling, and many such may be encountered.

A book of somewhat different character is the "Parœmiologia Anglo-Latina" of William Walker, B.D. The sub-title was "English and Latin proverbs and proverbial sentences and sayings matched together in a collection of them made out of Plautus, Petronius, Terentius, Horatius, and other authors." The particular copy that came under our notice bore the date of 1676. He concludes his short preface by the following deprecatory passage: "What will be the advantage and benefit hereof to the Commonwealth of learning I leave to others to judge and try, as not willing to show the Sun by the light of a Candle. And so, that I may notset up a great Gate before a little House I commit the Work to You, and You to God, and rest your humble Drudge, W. W."

As the author has himself raised the question as to the benefit of his book to others, one can only reply that the advantage to the Commonwealth would probably not be very great, since the translation of the old classic authors is so exceedingly free that it is practically no translation at all. It gives those who do not know the original writings no adequate idea of them, while the English is of so very colloquial a character that all the dignity of the original is lost, the result being that both the Latin and the English languages suffer in the process.

If we take, for example, "Versutior es quam rota figularis," we find that he cites three so-called equivalents, and none of them at all giving the beautiful image of the original; the first of these being, "You are as inconstant as the wind," the next, "As wavering as the weathercock," and, thirdly, "One knows not where to have you." The "Non habet plus sapientiæ quam lapis" of Plautus he renders fairly enough as "He hath no more wit than a stone," but he adds to this, "No more brains than a burbout. He is a very cod's head"; while "As wise as Solomon" cannot at all be accepted as a rendering of "Plus sapit quam Thales." The striking "Verba fiunt mortuo" has lost all its dignity when we are invited to accept as a translation, "It is of no purpose to talk to him: he'll not hear you speak: you may as well talk to the wall."

The well-known "Parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus" is thus Anglicised by Walker, "Great boast, little roast; Great cry and little wool, as the fellow said when he shore his hogs"; and the equally familiar "Ad Græcas calendas" is given as, "At Nevermass, when two Sundays come together." The striking "Leporis vitam vivit"loses much when we are invited to accept as an equivalent, "He is afraid of the wagging of a straw." The absurdity of teaching a fish to swim, "Piscem natare doces," is scarcely adequately rendered by, "Tell me it snows." How pleasant a glimpse of ancient customs we get in the "Stylum invertere." The waxen tablet—the stile at one end sharpened for writing, at the other flattened for erasing—rise before us. But all this is entirely lost when we are invited to accept, in place of the classic allusion, "To turn the cat in the pan," "To sing another tune"; and certainly the pith and rhythm of "A minimo ad maximum" suffers woful deterioration in such renderings of it as "Every mother's son of them, tag and rag, all that can lick a dish."

The refining influences that are associated with a study of good classic writers seem to have rather failed when this ancient schoolmaster came beneath their sway. Such expressions as, "Your brains are addle," "As subtle as a dead pig," "Chip of the old block," "Lean as a rake," "A cankered fellow," "A scurvy crack," scarcely rise to the dignity of his subject. We cannot help wondering how the school prospered in his hands, and what sort of boys he turned out after a year or two under his tuition.

The "Moral Essays on some of the most Curious and Significant English, Scotch, and Foreign Proverbs," of Samuel Palmer,[57:A]"Presbyter of the Church of England," deserves some little notice. The edition before us, we note, is dated 1710. His definition of a proverb strikes one as being an entirely satisfactory one. He tells us that it is "an Instructive Sentence, in which more is generally Design'd than is Express'd, and which haspass'd into Common Use and Esteem either among the Learned or Vulgar. I take this to be its Genuine Definition, for though the Incomparable Erasmus takes Elegance and Novelty into the Character of a Proverb it seems to be an Error: for a Proverb has not only more Honour and Authority from Antiquity, but a Sentence never comes up to that Title till it has pass'd for Sterling some Competent time, and receiv'd its Dignity from the Consent of an Age at least. 'Tisn't in a Single Author's Power to convey this Reputation to any Saying, but the Dignity grows up in the Use of it." This appears excellent common-sense, and the distinction that he draws between the use of a saying by the learned or the vulgar is a very happy one, and one that no other writer appears to regard. A proverb need not, to establish its position, be in use by all classes. There are certain sayings from the classics or elsewhere that find general acceptance amongst the educated, such as the "Ad calendas Græcas," "A la Tartuffe," "Aut Cæsar aut nullus," "Facilis est descensus Averni." These, either in the original tongue or Anglicised, are current, and have a full claim to recognition as proverbial sayings, though four-fifths of the population never heard them; while many homely sayings that come freely to the lips of the carter or the village blacksmith find no welcome or recognition from the professor, the bishop, or the banker, and yet are as truly of proverbial rank.

Our old author goes on to say: "'Tis the Use, not the Critical History or Notion of Proverbs I am concern'd in. To see People throw 'em at each other by way of Jest or Repartee, without feeling their Weight, tasting their Wit, or being better'd by the Reflection, wou'd vex a man of any Spirit, and the Indignation forces him to write somewhat that might Redeem these Fragments of Wisdom from the Contempt and Ill Treatment of the Ignorant. For as they are now us'dthey make up more of the Ridiculous Conversation than the Solid and Instructive. To this Abuse some of our Authors of the first Rank have very much contributed: for the Modern Poets and Novelists have put 'em in the Mouths of their lowest Characters. They make Fools and Clowns, little and mean People speak Sentences in Abundance, string 'em like Necklaces and make Sport with 'em, and Ridicule the Remains of our Ancestors. By this Means 'tis esteem'd Pedantry if we find one in the Mouth of a Gentleman, and an Author of Honour and very fine Parts has made the Reciting an Adage or Two the Sign of a Coxcomb. Thus they are condemn'd to the Use of the Mob, thrown out of the Minds of our People of Birth, and the Influence of 'em lost in the Manage of Education."

While Palmer was engaged upon his book, a work called "English Proverbs, with Moral Reflections" was published by a writer named Dykes, a poor production enough. "This," said Palmer, "put me on the Thought of Suppressing the whole, not doubting but an Ingenious Gentleman whose Imployment isn't only to teach Hic Hæc Hoc, but to Instruct Youth in Learning and Vertue, and convey the Notions of Religion and Good Manners while he is managing the Ferula, wou'd have managed the Proverbs to the best Purpose and without Exception. But upon a View I find my self extreamly disappointed: His Collection is so very short, being but Fifty Two, and most of 'em so Lean, Trite, and Insignificant that the Greatest Excellence of the Work is that he has been so happy as to fill up Four or Five pages upon Nothing. 'Tis not my Design to Note all his Indecencies, but I have scarce seen anything under the Name of Moral more out of Order. Execrable Rant, Curses, and little dirty Language are one Part of the Entertainment, and tho' it might perhaps be tolerable enough to cite Billingsgate when he was speaking ofScolds, yet to introduce the Dialogue of Two Fish Women, with their Curses, Lewd Epithets, and Brutish Reflections is Insufferable: 'tis opening a Sink and spreading the Infection." Palmer therefore saw no cause to discontinue his labours, the work of Dykes not at all trenching on his own ideal of what such a book should be.

Palmer is struck with "the Likeness of many which are in Modern Use to the most Sacred Apophthegms," a similarity which "forces us to show 'em very great Respect, and engages us to think 'em either of the same Original, or else deriv'd from Divine Proverbs by Wise and Pious Men, who have only given 'em a different Turn according to the Language and Genius of the Nation wherein they liv'd."

These essays of Palmer's are each some three or four pages long, the page being that of a quarto book. In some of these he takes a single adage as his theme, but very often he brackets together two of like sense. Thus, one is based on "A Mouse that has but One Hole is soon Catch'd," or, "Don't venture all your Eggs in one Basket." Another is, "Fly the Pleasure that will Bite to Morrow," or, "After Sweet Meat comes Sour Sauce," while yet another is, "Don't throw away Dirty Water till you have got Clean," or, "He that changes his Trade makes Soop in a Basket." One readily sees in each case what the drift of the essay based on the coupled adages must be.

As an example of Palmer's exposition, we will give that based on two adages of like import. "A baited Cat may grow as Fierce as a Lyon," or, "Tread on a Worm and it will Turn." "No Enemy," he tells us, "is so Mean and Impotent but at One Time or Other he becomes sensible of his own Force, knows how to Exert It, feels an Injury, and has a proportionable Resentment: for Nature can't easily be Conquer'd: isvery Rarely Forc'd, but will Struggle after all the Discipline either of Power or Principles. This made Solomon say that Oppression makes a Wise Man Mad. Now this shou'd be consider'd, and a Wise Man ought to foresee how far 'tis fit to press the most contemptible Enemy: for though his Opposition be Wicked or Ridiculous yet it may hit the Pursuer and do him a Mischief. To drive a Coward to the Wall recovers his Spirits, and fear of being shot thro' the Back makes him turn his Face. The certainty of being quite lost by Flight gives a new Turn to the Spirits, and Naturally prompts to a Sudden and Desperate Defence: and tho' this be not true Courage, nor don't act up to the Regularity that Valour is distinguished by: yet it may exceed in Face, and give a Home Thrust. He that is eager in the Pursuit may be struck through by that Hand which trembled till it was reinforced by Necessity. In Armies this is a known Rule. He that Beats a Brave Enemy ought to be glad to be Rid of him. Let him Retreat as quick as He can, provided the Main Victory be secure. In Private Quarrels, Just and Vnjust, this must be heeded: in the One Case to be Implacable is Infamous, and in the other Wicked and Dangerous. In Both, Rashness: and if Pity don't move us to forbear and abate in our Revenge, Caution and Regard to our own Safety Shou'd." A rat, if driven into a corner, will fly at a man.[61:A]And it appears that evenin baiting a cat there is a right and a wrong way of going to work. It is said by old sportsmen that the fox enjoys the sport as much as anybody, but there comes a time with baited rats and cats and most other creatures when they tire of that sort of thing, and have a very definite way of indicating the fact to all whom it may concern.

The proverbial utterances of "poor Richard" were once in great vogue. They were written by Benjamin Franklin under thenom de plumeof Richard Saunders. "Poor Richard's Almanack" was issued for twenty-six years, from 1733 to 1758, and with constantly increased acceptance. These calendars excellently combined entertainment with useful knowledge and terse concentrated wisdom. All available spaces that occurred between notable days in the months were filled in with wisdom-chips, some of them of true proverbial rank, and others the offspring of the brains of Dr Franklin.

Franklin was born on January 6th, 1706, at Boston, and there is no doubt that his sterling common-sense and quaint philosophy must have had a considerable influence in moulding the character of the early inhabitants of the United States. These almanacks were largely reprinted in Great Britain and France, and very freely quoted from, so that the area of their influence was very extensive. In the preface to the first of this long series he quaintly gives the reasons that influenced him, poor Richard, to issue it. "I might, in this place," he writes, "attempt to gain thy favour by declaring that I write Almanacks with no other view than that of the publick good, but in this I should not be sincere; and men are now-a-days too wise to be deceived by pretences. The plain truth ofthe matter is, I am extremely poor, and my wife, good woman is, I tell her, excessive proud; she cannot bear, she says, to sit spinning in her shift of tow while I do nothing but gaze at the stars, and has threatened more than once to burn all my books if I do not make some profitable use of them for the good of my family."

Next year he writes, "Your kind and charitable assistance last year in purchasing so large an impression of my almanack has made my circumstances much more easy in the world, and requires my most grateful acknowledgment. My wife has been enabled to get a pot of her own, and is no longer obliged to borrow one from a neighbour; nor have we ever since been without something to put in it. She has also got a pair of shoes and a nice new petticoat, and for my part I have bought a second-hand coat, that I am not now ashamed to go to town or be seen there. These things have rendered her temper so much more pacifick than it used to be, that I may say I have slept more and more quietly within this last year than in the three foregoing years put together."

There is much excellent wisdom in the sayings that he got together. How full of wise warning the utterance, "There is no little enemy," or this, "There's small revenge in words, but words may be greatly avenged." Or these warnings against covetousness, "If you desire many things many things will seem but a few." "Avarice and happiness never saw each other, how then should they become acquainted?" How quaintly sarcastic are these, "Lawyers, preachers, and tomtits' eggs, there are more of them hatched than come to perfection." "None preaches better than the ant, and she says nothing." How true again that "Poverty wants some things and luxury many things," and that "No man was glorious who was not first laborious." How valuable the counsel, "Deny self for self's sake,"and that "It is less discredit to abridge petty charges than to stoop to petty gettings"; and as a hint as to the value of concentration, "Don't think to hunt two hares with one dog." Others that we marked for quotation are, "Ever since follies have pleased, fools have been able to divert"; "He that can have patience can have what he will"; "Strange that he who lives by shifts can seldom shift himself," and to these many more of equal shrewdness could be added.

We make no claim that this list of ours is complete as a bibliography of proverb-writers. All references to the works of more recent men, Trench and others, are entirely omitted, as they are so easily accessible, that all who care to do so will have no difficulty in consulting them. Amongst the earlier men's works some are good, and some are good for nothing, but we trust that our readers will feel that this excursus is not without interest, while somewhat may be added to the dignity of our subject when it is seen to how many minds it has been a fascinating study.

[28:A]"A wise sentence shall be rejected when it cometh out of a fool's mouth; for he will not speak it in due season."—Ecclesiasticusxx. 20.

[28:B]The following illustrate the nature of these precepts: "Gold is tried in the fire, and acceptable men in the furnace of adversity." "Change not a friend for any good." "Of a spark of fire a heap of coals is kindled." "How agree the kettle and the earthen pot together?" "He that can rule his tongue shall live without strife." "As the climbing up a sandy way is to the aged so is a wife full of words." "The furnace trieth the potter's vessels." "Better is the life of a poor man in a mean cottage than delicate fare in another man's house." "He that taketh away his neighbour's living slayeth him." "Every counsellor extolleth counsel." "Bountifulness is as a most fruitful garden."

[29:A]Amongst the various commentators on this book the works of Ewald, Berthean, Hitzig, Elster, Rosenmuller, Hirzel, Stuart, Umbreit, and Noyes may be commended to the reader who would desire detail and analysis.

[35:A]Quick is here used in its original sense of having life. These therefore were lively sayings. In the Apostle's creed the quick and the dead are referred to, and a quick set hedge is one of growing plants as contrasted with a mere fencing or line of palings.

[39:A]"It is a comon sayinge, ware there is no ryceyver there shoulde be no thefe." "A Christian exhortation unto customable swearers," 1575.

[39:B]A more modern utterance shrewdly says, "There is a scarcity of friendship, but none of friends."

[47:A]Somewhat similar proverbs to this are, "If you play with boys you must take boy's play," and if you "play with a fool at home he will play with you abroad."

[49:A]"The messenger (one of those dogs who are not too scornful to eat dirty puddings) caught in his hand the guinea which Hector chucked at his face."—"The Antiquary."

[57:A]Our author must not be confused with a namesake, Charles Palmer, who was Deputy Serjeant of the House of Commons, and who published "A Collection of Select Aphorisms and Maxims extracted from the most Eminent Authors." He gives eighteen hundred and thirteen of these: the copy that came into our hands was dated 1748.

[61:A]"For a flying foeDiscreet and provident conquerors build upA bridge of gold."—Massinger,The Guardian."Ouuerez tousiours a voz ennemys toutes les portes et chemins et plustost leur faictes ung pont d'argent, affin des les renvoyer."—Rabelais,Gargantua.See also the Italian proverb—"A nemico che fugge un ponte d'oro." "Le Comte de Pitillan en parlant de la guerre soulouit dire quand ton ennemy voudra fuir, fais luy un port d'or."—Extract fromLes divers propos memorables des Nobles et Illustres Hommes."—Gilles Corrizot. Paris, 1571."Press not a falling man too far."—Shakespeare,King Henry VIII.

[61:A]

"For a flying foeDiscreet and provident conquerors build upA bridge of gold."—Massinger,The Guardian.

"Ouuerez tousiours a voz ennemys toutes les portes et chemins et plustost leur faictes ung pont d'argent, affin des les renvoyer."—Rabelais,Gargantua.

See also the Italian proverb—"A nemico che fugge un ponte d'oro." "Le Comte de Pitillan en parlant de la guerre soulouit dire quand ton ennemy voudra fuir, fais luy un port d'or."—Extract fromLes divers propos memorables des Nobles et Illustres Hommes."—Gilles Corrizot. Paris, 1571.

"Press not a falling man too far."—Shakespeare,King Henry VIII.

"The Book of Merry Riddles"—Introduction of Proverbs in our Literature—A Surfeit of Proverbs—"The two Angrie Women of Abington"—Fuller on the Misuse of Proverbs—The Sayings of Hendyng—Proverbs in Works of Chaucer, Lydgate, Spenser, Dryden, Shakespeare, and other Writers—The "Imitation of Christ"—Glitter is not necessarily Gold—The Cup and the Lip—Comparisons odious—The Rolling-Stone—The "Vision of Piers Plowman"—Guelph and Ghibelline—Dwellers in Glass Houses—A Spade is a Spade—Chalk and Cheese—Silence gives Consent—A Nine Days' Wonder—The little Pot soon Hot—Weakest to the Wall—Proverb-Hunting through our old Literature.

Throughout the Middle Ages a great use was made, as we have seen, of these popular adages on tapestries, rings, and in fact wherever they could be employed. Shakespeare, it will be recalled, writes of a but moderately good poetaster as one "whose poetry was

For all the world like cutler's poetryUpon a knive, 'Love me, and leave me not,'"[65:A]

and we shall therefore naturally expect to find numerous allusions to this wealth of proverb-lore in the writings of the day. The works of the Elizabethan dramatists are brimming over with them. Such a fund of material as the "Book of Merry Riddles" must have been often drawn upon. The first edition was printed in 1600, and contained, amongst other entertaining material, a collection of "choice and witty proverbs." It was often re-issued, and our last chapter has revealedto us how many other collections of like nature were issued and immediately became available.

We propose to devote now some little space to exploring in search of proverbial allusions a little of the literary wealth of our country, and we may say at once that proverbs, like everything else, require discreet use, and it is not difficult to overdo the thing. A person who would be always dragging in these adages would be a terrible nuisance in conversation, and no less so in literature. In such a case "Enough is as good as a feast." One would quickly weary of a page or two of this sort of thing—a brochure during the days of a suggested invasion of England by "Boney"—

"Our foes on the ocean sent plenty of ships,But 'It's not the best carpenter makes the most chips';They promise to give Britain's sailors a beating,Though 'the proof of the pudding is found in the eating.'The French have big armies, but their threats are but froth,For 'too many cooks do but spoil good broth';They are welcome Britannia to catch when they get her,But though 'Brag is a good dog yet Holdfast's a better.'For their threats of invasion we ne'er care a rush—'A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush';They may think, open-mouthed, to devour us like sharks,But 'Till the sky falls we must wait to catch larks.'"

"The pleasant historie of the two angrie women of Abington"[66:A]is, despite its self-assertion of its pleasantness, rendered very tedious by this abuse and superabundance of proverbs—one of the characters in the play, one Nicholas Prouerbes, introducing themad nauseam. To give any notion of the drift of the play is beside our present need. We will content ourselves,therefore, with some few extracts that will suffice to indicate the point before us, the excessive use of these popular adages:

"Nicholas.O maister Philip forbeare. You must not leape ower the stile before you come to it; haste makes waste; softe fire makes sweet malte; not too fast for falling; there's no hast to hang true men."Philip.Now will I see if my memorie will serue for some prouerbes too. O, a painted cloath were as well worth a shilling as a theefe worth a halter; wel, after my heartie commendations, as I was at the making therof. He that trots easilie will indure. You have most learnedly proverbde it, commending the virtue of patience and forbearance, but yet you know forbearance is no quittance."Nich.I promise ye, maister Philip, you have spoken as true as steele."Phil.Father, there's a prouerbe well applied."Nich.And it seemeth vnto me that you mocke me; do you not kno mocke age and see how it will prosper?"Phil.Why ye prouerbe booke bound up in follio, have ye no other sense to answere me but euery word a prouerbe, no other English?"

"Philip.Now will I see if my memorie will serue for some prouerbes too. O, a painted cloath were as well worth a shilling as a theefe worth a halter; wel, after my heartie commendations, as I was at the making therof. He that trots easilie will indure. You have most learnedly proverbde it, commending the virtue of patience and forbearance, but yet you know forbearance is no quittance.

"Nich.I promise ye, maister Philip, you have spoken as true as steele.

"Phil.Father, there's a prouerbe well applied.

"Nich.And it seemeth vnto me that you mocke me; do you not kno mocke age and see how it will prosper?

"Phil.Why ye prouerbe booke bound up in follio, have ye no other sense to answere me but euery word a prouerbe, no other English?"

Presently a dispute arises outside, and Nicholas is asked, "Wilt thou not go see the fraye?" to which this inveterate proverb-monger replies:

"No indeed, even as they brew so let them bake—I will not thrust my hand into a flame and neede not—'Tis not good to have an oare in another man's boat—Little said is soone amended, and in a little medling commeth great rest. 'Tis good sleeping in a whole skin—so a man might come home by weeping-crosse. No, by Lady, a friend is not so soone gotten as lost—blessed are the peace-makers—they that strike with the sword shall be beaten with the zcabberd."

To this flow of wisdom Philip replies:

"Well said, Prouerbes, is ne're another to that purpose?"

The too ready Nicholas makes reply:

"Yes, I could have said to you, Syr, take heede is a good reede."

His fellow serving-man at one portion of the play sees well to call Nicholas "tripe-cheeke, fat asse," and other epithets of like nature; upon which he replies:

"Good words cost nought, ill words corrupt good manners, Richard, for a hasty man never wants woe, and I had thought you had been my friende, but I see alle is not golde that glisters, time and truth tryeth all, and 'tis an old prouerbe and not so olde as true, bought wit is the best. I can see day at a little hole. I knowe your minde as well as though I were within you: goe to, you seeke to quarrell, but beware of lead I wist; so long goes the potte to the water at length it comes home broken. I knowe you are as goode a man as ever drew sword, as ere lookt man in the face, as ere broke bred or drunke drinke; but he is propper that hath propper conditions, be not you like the Cowe that gives a good sope of milke and casts it downe with his heeles. I speak, plainely, for plaine dealing is a Iewell, yet Ile take no wrong, if hee had a head as big as Brasse and lookt as high as Poules steple."

Coomes, not quite liking the tone of these remarks, replies:

"Sirra, thou grashoper, thou shal skip from my sword as from a sithe. Ile cut thee out in collops and steakes and frye thee with the fier I shall strike from the pike of thy Bucklet."

To this appalling threat, not best adapted to soothe matters over, or pour oil on the troubled waters, Nicholas replies:

"Brag's a good dog: threatened folkes liue long."

Further quotation is quite needless; enough, amply enough, has been brought forward to convince us how terrible a bore the inveterate quoter of proverbs can readily become. We are prepared after this to sympathise entirely with the sentiments of old Fuller: "Adages and prouerbs are to be accounted only as Sauce to relish Meat with, but not as substantial Dishes to make a Meal on; and therefore were never good but upon proper Subjects and Occasions, where they may serve to give a lively Force and pleasant Turn to what is said:but to apply them wrong and crack them off too thick, like Sancho in 'Don Quixote,' is abominably foppish, ridiculous and nauseous." We had our eye on Sancho Panza, but any comments that we might have made on his conduct in cracking off proverbs so thick become needless, since Fuller has already said all that need be hurled against so hardened an offender.

A very curious early manuscript has come under our notice, in which the common proverbs of the time are quoted by one of the villains. It is arranged in stanzas of six lines, each being then followed by a proverb. This latter is sometimes in two lines and sometimes in one, but is in every case attributed to the villains, "Ce dit li vilains." It deals with the proverbs current in Bretaigne, and commences:

"Qui les proverbes fistPremierement bien distAu tans qu'alors estoitOr est tout en respit.En ne chante ne litD'annor en nul endroit'Que a la bone denréeA mauvaise oubliée'Ce dit li vilains."

This quaint old French may be thus Anglicised: "He who first made proverbs spoke well to the people of his time; now all is forgotten, people neither sing nor read of honour in any place. He who has the good ware has forgotten the bad—so says the villain." The moral does not seem somehow to quite fit, unless indeed we read it to mean that when people had abundant supply of this proverb-law they had the good, and were so enamoured of it that it had supplanted in their hearts all desire for what they once preferred—the evil that was now quite driven from their hearts and forgotten.

Another verse terminates thus:

"Qui n'aime son mestierNe son mestier luiCe dit li vilains"—

"Who likes not his business his business likes not him." Another proverb that remains a very familiar one, as to the folly of not taking full precautions, and only shutting the stable door when the horse has already been taken, appears as

"Quant le cheval est embleDounke ferme fols l'estableCe dit li vilains."

The date of this poem is about the year 1300. How long the proverbs given therein date before its appearance—centuries possibly—we cannot say; but even if we took this poem as a point to start from, it is very interesting to reflect that this stolen horse and his unlocked stable have been for hundreds of years a warning to the heedless, and as well known to the men of Cressy and Agincourt as to those of this present day. However men, as Cavaliers or Roundheads, Lancastrians or Yorkists, priests or presbyters, differed from each other in much else, all agreed in this recognition of the folly of not taking better care of the steed they all knew so well.

We have an imitation of this old French poem in an English one that was almost contemporaneous, and, as in the preceding poem, each stanza is an amplification of the idea in the proverb that immediately follows, though in either case this gloss or development is not always very much to the point.

The first verse is dedicatory, invoking the Divine blessing:

"Mon that wol of wysdom herenAt wyse Hendyng he may lernenThat wes Marcolmes sone:Gode thonkes out monie thewesFor te teche fele shrewesFor that wes ever is woneJhesu Crist al folke redThat for us all tholede dedUpon the rode treLene us all to ben wysAnt to ende in his servys.Amen, par charite.God biginning maketh god endyngQuoth Hendyng."

"Of fleysh lust cometh shame," and "if thou will fleysh overcome" the wisest course is flight from the temptation:

"Wel fytht that wel flythQuoth Hendyng."

If you would avoid the evils that follow hasty speech keep the tongue with all diligence in subjection, for though one's tongue has no bone in it itself it has been the cause of many a broken bone in the quarrels that it has fostered:

"Tonge breketh bonAnt nad hire selve nonQuoth Hendyng."

"Al too dere," he warns us, "is botht that ware that we may wythoute care," gather at a terrible risk to ourselves. It is the grossest folly to find a momentary pleasure in any act that will bring misery in its train, for

"Dere is boht the hony that is licked of the thorneQuoth Hendyng."

Where counsel fails, experience may step in and exact a higher price for the lesson taught:

"So that child withdraweth is hondFrom the fur ant the brondThat hath byfore ben brendBrend child fur dredethQuoth Hendyng."[72:A]

The Italians still more powerfully say that "A scalded dog dreads cold water," the meaning of this clearly being that those who have suffered in any direction have an exaggerated fear in consequence, and are afraid, even when there is no cause, really, for terror. This idea is even more strongly brought out in the old Rabbinical adage, "He who has been bitten by a serpent fears a piece of rope," a quite imaginable state of mind to arrive at.[72:B]

Up till now we have shown how one writer may use many proverbs; we will turn to the other alternative and seek to show how one proverb is used by many writers. In doing so we are at once struck by the variety of garb in which it may appear. The inner spirit and meaning, the core, remains inviolate naturally, but its presentation to us is by no means in one set formula. We are warned not to judge alone by outward appearance, nor to assume too hastily precious metal in what may prove to be but dross or a poor counterfeit of the real thing. Hence Chaucer warns us, "All thing which that shineth as the gold He is no gold, as I have heard it told." Lydgate, writing on "the Mutability of human affairs," declares truly enough that "all is not golde that outward showeth bright"; while Spenser, in his "Faerie Queene," hath it that "Gold all is not that doth golden seem"; and Shakespeare, in the "Merchant of Venice,"writes, "All that glisters is not gold."[73:A]Dryden's version, in the "Hind and Panther," is very similar, "All, as they say, that glitters is not gold"; and Herbert, in the "Jacula Prudentum," reverses the wording into "All is not gold that glisters." In "Ralph Roister Doister" we find the reading, "All things that shineth is not by and by pure gold"; while the Italians have the equivalent, "Non é oro tutto quel che luce."

In Greene's "Perimedes," published in the year 1588, we find the passage, "Though men do determine the gods doo dispose, and oft times many things fall out betweene the cup and the lip." The first portion of this passage is almost invariably cited in French—"l'homme propose et le Dieu dispose"—giving the impression that the saying is of Gallic origin. How far back into the ages this proverb goes we cannot trace. We find it in the "Imitation of Christ" of Thomas à Kempis as, "Nam homo proponit sed Deus disponit." It is possible that the French rendering became current in our midst because the "Imitation," when first translated from the original Latin, was rendered into French. The book at once sprang into notice and esteem, and the passages under our consideration would be noticeable not only from its declaration of a great truth but from its rhythm—a rhythm that was well preserved in its French rendering. The French translation of the "Imitation of Christ" appeared in 1488, while the first English version was not produced till the year 1502. In the "Vision of Piers ploughman," written somewhere about the year 1360, we find the saying given in Latin, while George Herbert, who died in 1633, introduces it as "Man proposeth, God disposeth."

The possibilities that may exist in the short interval of time between raising the cup to the lips and setting it down again are made the subject of a warning proverb that is of immense antiquity. The Samian king, Ancæus, while planting a vineyard was warned by a diviner that he would not live to take its fruits. Time passed on and the vineyard prospered, until at length one day the king, goblet in hand, was to taste for the first time the wine it had yielded. He recalled the prophecy, and derided the power of the seer as he stood before him. At this moment a messenger arrived with the news that a wild boar was ravaging the vineyard, and Ancæus, hastily putting down the cup, seized his spear and rushed out to slay the boar, but himself fell a victim to the onslaught of the furious beast.[74:A]Thus, to quote a considerably more modern authority, Jonson's "Tale of a Tub," "you see the old adage verified—many things fall between the cup and lip."

It is a wise rule of conduct to bear in mind that great offence may be given by comparing one thing with another, as the process is almost sure to end to the more or less detriment of one or the other, or possibly, when the spirit of criticism is rampant, in the depreciation of both. Hence Lydgate writes in 1554, "Comparisons do oftimes great grevance," and in More's "Dial" the idea recurs—"Comparysons be odyouse." Gascoigne, in the year 1575, declares in his "Posies," "I will forbear to recyte examples by any of mine owne doings, since all comparisons are odious." Dr John Donne in an "Elegy" has the line, "she and comparisons are odious," and we find the same idea in Burton's "Anatomy of Melancholy," in Heywood's play, "A Woman Killed with Kindness," in "Don Quixote," and many other works.

Shakespeare, in his "Much Ado about Nothing," puts into the mouth of Dogberry the variation "comparisons are odorous." Swift, in his "Answer to Sheridan's Simile," writes:

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