FOOTNOTES:

FOOTNOTES:[317]Assai è rico a chi non manca.[318]Assez n'y a, si trop n'y a.[319]Trop n'est pas assez.[320]La codicia rompe il saco.[321]Chi troppo abbraccia, nulla stringe. Qui trop embrasse, mal étreint.[322]Den Geiz und die Augen kann niemand füllen.[323]El tramposo presto engaña al codicioso.[324]On se saoule bien de manger tartes.[325]Ne quid nimis.[326]Mais quero asno que me leve que cavallo que me derrube.[327]Chi va piano, va sano, e chi va sano, va lontano.[328]Gehgemach und Lebelang sind Bruder.[329]Eile mit Weile.[330]Sat cito si sat bene.[331]Qui trop se hâte en cheminant, en beau chemin se fourvoye souvent.[332]Trà la briglia e lo speron consiste la raggion.[333]Plus fait douceur que violence.[334]Bezerrinha mansa todas as vaccas mamma.[335]Muchos componedores descomponen la novia.[336]Panella que muito ferve, o sabor perde.[337]A la burla, dejarla quando mas agrada.[338]Jeu de mains, jeu de vilains.

[317]Assai è rico a chi non manca.

[318]Assez n'y a, si trop n'y a.

[319]Trop n'est pas assez.

[320]La codicia rompe il saco.

[321]Chi troppo abbraccia, nulla stringe. Qui trop embrasse, mal étreint.

[322]Den Geiz und die Augen kann niemand füllen.

[323]El tramposo presto engaña al codicioso.

[324]On se saoule bien de manger tartes.

[325]Ne quid nimis.

[326]Mais quero asno que me leve que cavallo que me derrube.

[327]Chi va piano, va sano, e chi va sano, va lontano.

[328]Gehgemach und Lebelang sind Bruder.

[329]Eile mit Weile.

[330]Sat cito si sat bene.

[331]Qui trop se hâte en cheminant, en beau chemin se fourvoye souvent.

[332]Trà la briglia e lo speron consiste la raggion.

[333]Plus fait douceur que violence.

[334]Bezerrinha mansa todas as vaccas mamma.

[335]Muchos componedores descomponen la novia.

[336]Panella que muito ferve, o sabor perde.

[337]A la burla, dejarla quando mas agrada.

[338]Jeu de mains, jeu de vilains.

In for a penny, in for a pound.As good be hanged for a sheep as a lamb.Ne'er go to the deil wi' a dishclout in your hand.—Scotch.Over shoes, over boots.

In for a penny, in for a pound.

As good be hanged for a sheep as a lamb.

Ne'er go to the deil wi' a dishclout in your hand.—Scotch.

Over shoes, over boots.

"There is nothing like being bespattered for making one defy the slough" (French).[339]These proverbs are as true in their physical as in their moral application. Persons who have ventured a little way will venture further. Persons whose characters are already sullied will not be very careful to preserve them from further discredit. When Madame de Cornuel remonstrated with a court lady on certain improprieties of conduct, the latter exclaimed, "Eh! madame, laissez-moi jouir de ma mauvaise réputation" ("Do let me enjoy the benefit of my bad reputation"). "It is the first shower that wets" (Italian).[340]"It is all the same whether a man has both legs in the stocks or one" (German).[341]Honest Launce "would have one that would be a dogindeed, to be as it were a dog in all things." The author ofThe Romany Ryelearned a practical illustration of this whole-hog doctrine from an old ostler who had served in his youth at a small inn at Hounslow, much patronised by highwaymen.

"He said that when a person had once made up his mind to become a highwayman his best policy was to go the whole hog, fearing nothing, but making everybody afraid of him; that people never thought of resisting a savage-faced, foul-mouthed highwayman, and if he were taken were afraid to bear witness against him, lest he should get off and cut their throats some time or other upon the roads; whereas people would resist being robbed by a sneaking, pale-visaged rascal, and would swear bodily against him on the first opportunity; adding that Abershaw and Ferguson, two most awful fellows, had enjoyed a long career, whereas two disbanded officers of the army, who wished to rob a coach like gentlemen, had begged the passengers' pardon, and talked of hard necessity, had been set upon by the passengers themselves, amongst whom were three women, pulled from their horses, conducted to Maidstone, and hanged with as little pity as such contemptible fellows deserved."

Neck or nothing, for the king loves no cripples.

Either break your neck or come off safe: broken limbs will make you a less profitable subject.

Either a man or a mouse.

Either succeed or fail outright.Aut Cæsar, aut nullus.

Either win the horse or lose the saddle.Either make a spoon or spoil a horn.He that takes the devil into his boat must carry him over the sound.He that is embarked with the devil must make the passage along with him.

Either win the horse or lose the saddle.

Either make a spoon or spoil a horn.

He that takes the devil into his boat must carry him over the sound.

He that is embarked with the devil must make the passage along with him.

"He that is at sea must either sail or sink" (Danish). "He that is at sea has not the wind in his hands" (Dutch).[342]

Such things must be if we sell ale.

This was the good woman's reply to her husband when he complained of the exciseman's too demonstrative gallantry.

If you would have the hen's egg you must bear with her cackling.The cat loves fish, but she is loath to wet her feet.

If you would have the hen's egg you must bear with her cackling.

The cat loves fish, but she is loath to wet her feet.

It is to this proverb that Lady Macbeth alludes when she upbraids her husband for his irresolution:—

"Letting 'I dare not' wait upon 'I would,'Like the poor cat in the adage."

"Letting 'I dare not' wait upon 'I would,'

Like the poor cat in the adage."

"There's no catching trouts with dry breeches" (Portuguese).[343]

Almost and hardly save many a lie.

"Perhaps hinders folk from lying" (French).[344]

Almost was never hanged.

"All but saves many a man" (Danish).[345]"Almost kills no man" (Danish).[346]"Almost never killed a fly" (German);[347]for

An inch of a miss is as good as a mile.

This is the original reading of the proverb, and better than that which is now more current: "A miss is as good as a mile." The French say, "For a point Martin lost his ass,"[348]and thereby hangs a tale. An ecclesiastic named Martin, Abbot of Asello, in Italy, wished to have this Latin line inscribed over the gate of the abbey:—

PORTA PATENS ESTO. NULLI CLAUDARIS HONESTO."Gate be open. Never be closed against an honest man."

PORTA PATENS ESTO. NULLI CLAUDARIS HONESTO.

"Gate be open. Never be closed against an honest man."

It was just the time when the long-forgotten art of punctuation was beginning to be brought into use again. Abbot Martin was not skilled in this art, and unfortunately he employed a copyist to whom it was equally unknown. The consequence was, that the point which ought to have followed the wordestowas placed afternulli, completely changing the meaning of the line, thus:—

PORTA PATENS ESTO NULLI. CLAUDARIS HONESTO."Gate be open never. Be closed against an honest man."

PORTA PATENS ESTO NULLI. CLAUDARIS HONESTO.

"Gate be open never. Be closed against an honest man."

The pope, being informed of this unseemly inscription, deposed Abbot Martin, and gave the abbey to another. The new dignitary corrected the punctuation of the unlucky line, and added the following one:—

UNO PRO PUNCTO CARUIT MARTINUS ASELLO.

That is to say, "For a single point Martin lost his Asello." ButAsello, the name of the abbey, being Latin forass, it happened, in the most natural way in the world, that the line was translated thus: "For a point Martin lost his ass," and this erroneous version passed into a proverb. Other accounts of its origin have been given; but that which we have here set down is confirmed by the fact that in Italy they have also another reading of the proverb, namely,Per un punto Martino perse la cappa("For a point Martin lost the cope"); that is, the dignity of abbot typified in that vestment.

FOOTNOTES:[339]Il n'est que d'être crotté pour affronter le bourbier.[340]La primiera pioggia è quel che bagna.[341]Mit beiden Beinen im Stock, oder mit Einem, ist gleichviel.[342]D'e op de zee is heeft de wind niet in zijn handen.[343]Naô se tomaô trutas a bragas enxutas.[344]Peut-être empêche les gens de mentir.[345]Nær hielper mangen Mand.[346]Nærved slaaer ingen Mand ihiel.[347]Beinahe bringt keine Mücke um.[348]Pour un point Martin perdit son âne.

[339]Il n'est que d'être crotté pour affronter le bourbier.

[340]La primiera pioggia è quel che bagna.

[341]Mit beiden Beinen im Stock, oder mit Einem, ist gleichviel.

[342]D'e op de zee is heeft de wind niet in zijn handen.

[343]Naô se tomaô trutas a bragas enxutas.

[344]Peut-être empêche les gens de mentir.

[345]Nær hielper mangen Mand.

[346]Nærved slaaer ingen Mand ihiel.

[347]Beinahe bringt keine Mücke um.

[348]Pour un point Martin perdit son âne.

Where there's a will there's a way.A wight man ne'er wanted a weapon.—Scotch.

Where there's a will there's a way.

A wight man ne'er wanted a weapon.—Scotch.

"A good knight is not at a loss for a lance" (Italian).[349]A man of sense and resolution will make instruments of whatever comes to his hands; and truly "He is not a good mason who refuses any stone" (Italian).[350]"He that has a good head does not want for hats" (French).[351]

Where the will is ready the feet are light.[352]

"The willing dancer is easily played to" (Servian).[353]"The will does it" (German).[354]"A voluntary burden is no burden" (Italian).[355]

"The labour we delight in physics pain."

"A joyous heart spins the hemp" (Servian); and, as Autolycus sings,—

"A merry heart goes all the day,Your sad tires in a mile-a."

"A merry heart goes all the day,

Your sad tires in a mile-a."

One man may lead the horse to the water, but fifty can't make him drink.

"You cannot make an ass drink if he is not thirsty" (French).[356]"It is bad coursing with unwilling hounds" (Dutch).[357]"A thing done perforce is not worth a rush" (Italian).[358]

None so deaf as he that will not hear.Nothing is impossible to a willing mind.

None so deaf as he that will not hear.

Nothing is impossible to a willing mind.

"Madame," said M. de Calonne to a lady who solicited his aid in a certain affair, "if the thing is possible, it is done; and if it is impossible, it shall be done."[359]

Good-will should be taken in part payment.Take the will for the deed.

Good-will should be taken in part payment.

Take the will for the deed.

"Gifts are as the givers" (German).[360]"The will gives the work its name." "The will is the soul of the work" (German).[361]

Hell is paved with good intentions.

A great moral conveyed in a bold figure. What is the worth of virtuous resolutions that never ripen intoaction? In the German version of the proverb a slight change greatly improves the metaphor, thus: "The way to perdition is paved with good intentions."[362]A Scotch proverb warns the weak in will, who are always hoping to reform and do well, that

Hopers go to hell.As the fool thinks, the bell tinks.

Hopers go to hell.

As the fool thinks, the bell tinks.

We are all prone to interpret facts and tokens in accordance with our own inclinations and habits of thought. It was not the voice of the bells that first inspired young Whittington with hopes of attaining civic honours; it was because he had conceived such hopes already that he was able to hear so distinctly the words, "Turn again, Whittington, thrice Lord Mayor of London." "People make the bells say whatever they have a mind" (French).[363]In a Latin sermon on widowhood by Jean Raulin, a monk of Cluny of the fifteenth century, there is a story which Rabelais has told again in his own way. Raulin's version is this:—

A widow consulted her parish priest about her entering into a second marriage. She told him she stood in need of a helpmate and protector, and that her journeyman, for whom she had taken a fancy, was industrious and well acquainted with her late husband's trade. "Very well," said the priest, "you had bettermarry him." "And yet," rejoined the widow, "I am afraid to do it, for who knows but I may find my servant become my master?" "Well, then," said the priest, "don't have him." "But what shall I do?" said the widow; "the business left me by my poor dear departed husband is more than I can manage by myself." "Marry him, then," said the priest. "Ay, but suppose he turns out a scamp," said the widow; "he may get hold of my property, and run through it all." "Don't have him," said the priest. Thus the dialogue went on, the priest always agreeing in the last opinion expressed by the widow, until at length, seeing that her mind was actually made up to marry the journeyman, he told her to consult the church bells, and they would advise her best what to do. The bells were rung, and the widow heard them distinctly say, "Do take your man; do take your man."[364]Accordingly she went home and married him forthwith; but it was not long before he thrashed her soundly, and made her feel that instead of his mistress she had become his servant. Back she went to the priest, cursing the hour when she had been credulous enough to act upon his advice. "Good woman," said he, "I am afraid you did not rightly understand what the bells said to you." He rang them again, and then the poor woman heard clearly, but too late, these warning words: "Do not take him, do not take him."[365]

Wilful will do it.A wilfu' man maun hae his way.—Scotch.He that will to Cupar maun to Cupar.—Scotch.

Wilful will do it.

A wilfu' man maun hae his way.—Scotch.

He that will to Cupar maun to Cupar.—Scotch.

Cupar is a town in Fife, and that is all that Scotch paræmiologists condescend to tell us about it. I suppose there is some special reason why insisting on going to Cupar above all other towns is a notable proof of pig-headedness.

A wilful man never wanted woe.A wilfu' man should be unco' wise.—Scotch.

A wilful man never wanted woe.

A wilfu' man should be unco' wise.—Scotch.

Since he chooses to rely on his own wisdom only.

Forbidden fruit is sweet.

"Sweet is the apple when the keeper is away" (Latin).[366]

"Stolen sweets are always sweeter,Stolen kisses much completer;Stolen looks are nice in chapels;Stolen, stolen be your apples!"

"Stolen sweets are always sweeter,

Stolen kisses much completer;

Stolen looks are nice in chapels;

Stolen, stolen be your apples!"

So sings Leigh Hunt, translating from the Latin of Thomas Randolph. The doctrine of these poets is as old as Solomon, who says, "Stolen waters are sweet"—a sentence thus paraphrased in German: "Forbidden water is Malmsey."[367]A story is told of a French lady, say Madame du Barry, who happened once, by some extraordinary chance, to have nothing but pure water to drink when very thirsty. She took a deep draught, and finding in it what the Roman emperorhad sighed for in vain—a new pleasure—she cried out, "Ah! what a pity it is that drinking water is not a sin!"

"There is no pleasure but palls, and all the more if it costs nothing" (Spanish).[368]"The sweetest grapes hang highest" (German).[369]"The figs on the far side of the hedge are sweeter" (Servian). "Every fish that escapes appears greater than it is" (Turkish). Upon the same principle it is that what nature never intended a man to do is often the very thing he particularly desires to do. "A man who can't sing is always striving to sing" (Latin);[370]and generally "He who can't do, always wants to do" (Italian).[371]

Forbid a fool a thing, and that he'll do.

Of course; and so will many a one who is otherwise no fool. What mortal man, to say nothing of women, but would have done as Bluebeard's wife did when left in the castle with the key of that mysterious chamber in her hand?

Every man has his hobby.

Some men pay dearly for theirs. "Hobby horses are more costly than Arabians" (German).[372]

You may pay too dear for your whistle.

The origin of this saying, which has become thoroughly proverbial, is found in the following extract from a paper by its author, Benjamin Franklin:—"When I was a child of seven years old my friends on a holiday filled my pockets with coppers. I went directly to a shop where they sold toys for children, and being charmed with the sound of a whistle that I met by the way in the hands of another boy, I voluntarily offered him all my money for it. I then came home, and went whistling all over the house, much pleased with my whistle, but disturbing all the family. My brothers, and sisters, and cousins, understanding the bargain I had made, told me I had given for it four times as much as it was worth. This put me in mind what good things I might have bought with the rest of the money; and they laughed at me so much for my folly that I cried with vexation, and the reflection gave me more chagrin than the whistle gave me pleasure. This, however, was afterwards of use to me, the impression continuing on my mind; so that often when I was tempted to buy some unnecessary thing I said to myself, 'Don't give too much for the whistle;' and so I saved my money. As I grew up, came into the world, and observed the actions of men, I met with many, very many who gave too much for the whistle."

FOOTNOTES:[349]A buon cavalier non manca lancia.[350]Non è buon murator chi rifiuta pietra alcuna.[351]Qui a bonne tête ne manque pas de chapeaux.[352]In German, Willig Herz macht leichte Füsse.[353]Also Flemish, Het is licht genoech ghepepen die gheein danst.[354]Der Wille thut's.[355]Carica volontaria non carica.[356]On ne saurait faire boire un âne s'il n'a pas soif.[357]Med onwillige honden is kwaad hazen vangen.[358]Cosa fatta per forza non val una scorza.[359]Madame, si la chose est possible, elle est déjà faite; et si elle est impossible, elle se fera.[360]Die Gaben sind wie die Geber.[361]Der Wille giebt dem Werke den Namen. Der Wille ist des Werkes Seele.[362]Der Weg zum Verderbenistmit guten Vorsätzen gepflastert.[363]On fait dire aux cloches tout ce qu'on veut.[364]Prends ton valet; prends ton valet.[365]Ne le prends pas; ne le prends pas.[366]Dulce pomum quum abest custos.[367]Verbotenes Wasser ist Malvasier.[368]No hay placer que no enhade, y mas se cuesta de balde.[369]Die süssessten Trauben hangen am höchsten.[370]Qui nescit canere semper canere laborat.[371]Chi non puole, sempre vuole.[372]Steckenpferde sind theuerer als arabische Hengste.

[349]A buon cavalier non manca lancia.

[350]Non è buon murator chi rifiuta pietra alcuna.

[351]Qui a bonne tête ne manque pas de chapeaux.

[352]In German, Willig Herz macht leichte Füsse.

[353]Also Flemish, Het is licht genoech ghepepen die gheein danst.

[354]Der Wille thut's.

[355]Carica volontaria non carica.

[356]On ne saurait faire boire un âne s'il n'a pas soif.

[357]Med onwillige honden is kwaad hazen vangen.

[358]Cosa fatta per forza non val una scorza.

[359]Madame, si la chose est possible, elle est déjà faite; et si elle est impossible, elle se fera.

[360]Die Gaben sind wie die Geber.

[361]Der Wille giebt dem Werke den Namen. Der Wille ist des Werkes Seele.

[362]Der Weg zum Verderbenistmit guten Vorsätzen gepflastert.

[363]On fait dire aux cloches tout ce qu'on veut.

[364]Prends ton valet; prends ton valet.

[365]Ne le prends pas; ne le prends pas.

[366]Dulce pomum quum abest custos.

[367]Verbotenes Wasser ist Malvasier.

[368]No hay placer que no enhade, y mas se cuesta de balde.

[369]Die süssessten Trauben hangen am höchsten.

[370]Qui nescit canere semper canere laborat.

[371]Chi non puole, sempre vuole.

[372]Steckenpferde sind theuerer als arabische Hengste.

Use will make a man live in a lion's den.Custom is second nature.

Use will make a man live in a lion's den.

Custom is second nature.

Cicero says nearly the same thing,[373]and the thought has been happily amplified by Sydney Smith. "There is no degree of disguise or distortion which human nature may not be made to assume from habit; it grows in every direction in which it is trained, and accommodates itself to every circumstance which caprice or design places in its way. It is a plant with such various aptitudes, and such opposite propensities, that it flourishes in a hothouse or the open air; is terrestrial or aquatic, parasitical or independent; looks well in exposed situations, thrives in protected ones; can bear its own luxuriance, admits of amputation; succeeds in perfect liberty, and can be bent down into any forms of art; it is so flexible and ductile, so accommodating and vivacious, that of two methods of managing it—completely opposite—neither the one nor the other need be considered as mistaken and bad. Not that habit can give any new principle; but of those numerous principles whichdoexist in our nature it entirely determines the order and force."[374]

Once a use and ever a custom.

"Continuance becomes usage" (Italian).[375]Whatever we do often we become more and more apt to do, till at last the propensity to the act becomes irresistible, though the performance of it may have ceased to give any pleasure. In Fielding's "Life of Jonathan Wild" the great thief is represented as playing at cards with the Count, a professed gambler. "Such was the power of habit over the minds of these illustrious persons, that Mr. Wild could not keep his hands out of the Count's pockets, though he knew they were empty; nor could the Count abstain from palming a card, though he was well aware Mr. Wild had no money to pay him." "To change a habit is like death" (Spanish).[376]

Hand in use is father o' lear [learning, skill].—Scotch.Practice makes perfect.

Hand in use is father o' lear [learning, skill].—Scotch.

Practice makes perfect.

"By working in the smithy one becomes a smith" (Latin, French).[377]"Use makes the craftsman" (Spanish, German).[378]An emir had bought a left eye of a glassmaker, and was vexed at finding that he could not see with it. The man begged him to give it a little time; he could not expect that it would see all at once so well as the right eye, which had been for so many years in the habit of it. We take this whimsical storyfrom Coleridge, who does not tell us in what Oriental Joe Miller he found it.

No man is his craft's master the first day.

But some people fancy themselves masters born, like "The Portuguese apprentice, who does not know how to sew, and wants to cut out" (Spanish).[379]

You must spoil before you spin.

"One learns by failing" (French).[380]"He that stumbles, if he does not fall, quickens his pace" (Spanish).[381]

Eith to learn the cat to the kirn.—Scotch.

That is, it is easy to teach the cat the way to the churn. Bad habits are easily acquired.

A bad custom is like a good cake—better broken than kept.

On this proverb is built, perhaps, that remark of Hamlet's which has troubled some hypercritical commentators, "A custom more honoured in the breach than in the observance." An energetic Spanish proverb counsels us to "Break the leg of a bad habit."[382]

At Rome do as Rome does.

"Wherever you be, do as you see" (Spanish).[383]Avery terse German proverb, which can only be paraphrased in English, signifies that whatever is customary in any country is proper and becoming there; or, as we might say, "After the land's manner is mannerly."[384]The Livonians say, "In the land of the naked people are ashamed of clothes." "So many countries, so many customs" (French).[385]In a Palais Royal farce a captain's wife is deploring her husband, who has been eaten by the Caffres. Her servant observes, by way of consolation,Mais, madame, que voulez-vous? Chaque peuple a ses usages("Well, well, ma'am, after all, every people has its own manners and customs").

Tell me the company you keep, and I'll tell you what you are.Tell me with whom thou goest, and I'll tell thee what thou doest.

Tell me the company you keep, and I'll tell you what you are.

Tell me with whom thou goest, and I'll tell thee what thou doest.

"He that lives with cripples learns to limp" (Dutch).[386]"He that goes with wolves learns to howl" (Spanish);[387]and "He that lies down with dogs gets up with fleas" (Spanish).[388]

As good be out of the world as out of the fashion.

Mrs. Hutchinson tells us that, although her husband acted with the Puritan party, they would not allow him to be religious because his hair was not in their cut.The world will more readily forgive a breach of all the Ten Commandments than a violation of one of its own conventional rules. "Fools invent fashions, and wise men follow them" (French).[389]"Better be mad with all the world than wise alone" (French).[390]

The used key is always bright.

"'If I rest, I rust,' it says" (German).[391]

Drawn wells have sweetest water;

but

Standing pools gather filth.Drawn wells are seldom dry.

Standing pools gather filth.

Drawn wells are seldom dry.

FOOTNOTES:[373]Ferme in naturam consuetudo vestitur.—(De Invent.i. 2.)[374]"Lectures on Moral Philosophy."[375]Continuanza diventa usanza.[376]Mudar costumbre a par de muerte.[377]Fabricando fit faber. En forgeant on devient forgeron.[378]El usar saca oficial. Uebung macht den Meister.[379]Aprendiz de Portugal, no sabe cozer y quiere cortar.[380]On apprend en faillant.[381]Quien estropieça, si no cae, el camino adelanta.[382]A mal costumbre, quebrarle la pierna.[383]Por donde fueres, haz como vieres.[384]Ländlich, sittlich.[385]Tant de pays, tant de guises.[386]Die bij kreupelen woont, leert hinken.[387]Quien con lobos anda, á aullar se enseña.[388]Quien con perros se echa, con pulgas se levanta.[389]Les fous inventent les modes, et les sages les suivent.[390]Il vaut mieux être fou avec tous que sage tout seul.[391]Rast ich, so rost ich, sagt der Schlüssel.

[373]Ferme in naturam consuetudo vestitur.—(De Invent.i. 2.)

[374]"Lectures on Moral Philosophy."

[375]Continuanza diventa usanza.

[376]Mudar costumbre a par de muerte.

[377]Fabricando fit faber. En forgeant on devient forgeron.

[378]El usar saca oficial. Uebung macht den Meister.

[379]Aprendiz de Portugal, no sabe cozer y quiere cortar.

[380]On apprend en faillant.

[381]Quien estropieça, si no cae, el camino adelanta.

[382]A mal costumbre, quebrarle la pierna.

[383]Por donde fueres, haz como vieres.

[384]Ländlich, sittlich.

[385]Tant de pays, tant de guises.

[386]Die bij kreupelen woont, leert hinken.

[387]Quien con lobos anda, á aullar se enseña.

[388]Quien con perros se echa, con pulgas se levanta.

[389]Les fous inventent les modes, et les sages les suivent.

[390]Il vaut mieux être fou avec tous que sage tout seul.

[391]Rast ich, so rost ich, sagt der Schlüssel.

How we apples swim!

So said the horsedung as it floated down the stream along with fruit.

"We hounds slew the hare," quoth the messan [lapdog].—Scotch.

"They came to shoe the horses of the pacha; the beetle then stretched out its leg" (Arab). We read in the Talmud that "All kinds of wood burn silently except thorns, which crackle and call out, 'We, too, are wood.'" "It was prettily devised of Æsop," says Lord Bacon; "the fly sat upon the axle of the chariot, and said, 'What a dust do I raise!'"

A' Stuarts are no sib to the king.—Scotch.

That is, not all who bear that name belong to the royal race of Stuarts. "There are fagots and fagots,"[392]as Molière says. "It is some way from Peter to Peter" (Spanish).[393]Great is the difference between the terrible lion of the Atlas and the Cape lion, the most currish of enemies; but the distinction is not always borne in mind by the readers of hunting adventures in Africa.The traditional name of lion beguiles the imagination of the unwary. In like manner some people think that

"A book's a book, although there's nothing in it."Every ass thinks himself worthy to stand with the king's horses.

"A book's a book, although there's nothing in it."

Every ass thinks himself worthy to stand with the king's horses.

But asses deceive themselves. "He that is a donkey, and believes himself a deer, finds out his mistake at the leaping of the ditch" (Italian).[394]"Doctor Luther's shoes will not fit every village priest" (German).[395]

Many talk of Robin Hood that never shot in his bow.

Like Justice Shallow, who "talks," says Falstaff, "as familiarly of John of Gaunt as if he had been sworn brother to him; and I'll be sworn he never saw him but once in the tiltyard, and then he burst his head for crowding among the marshal's men." Southey, in his "Omniana," has applied this proverb to that numerous class of literary pretenders who quote and criticise flippantly works known to them only at second-hand. A conspicuous living example of this class is M. Ponsard, who, on the occasion of his reception into the French Academy, discoursed about Shakspeare, and talked of him as "the divineWilliams," by way of evincing his proficiency in the language of the great dramatist whose works he disparaged.

The man on the dyke is always the best hurler.—Munster.

The looker-on is quite sure he could do better than the actual players. In Connaught, which is as renowned for its neck-or-nothing riders as Munster is for its vigorous hurlers, they have this parallel saying,—

The best horseman is always on his feet.

In the same sense the Dutch aver that "The best pilots stand on shore."[396]

In a calm sea every man is a pilot.Every man can tame a shrew but he that hath her.Bachelors' wives and maids' children are always well taught.

In a calm sea every man is a pilot.

Every man can tame a shrew but he that hath her.

Bachelors' wives and maids' children are always well taught.

"He that has no wife chastises her well; he that has no children rears them well" (Italian).[397]

I ask your pardon, coach; I thought you were a wheelbarrow when I stumbled over you.—Irish.

An ironical apology for offence given to overweening vanity or pride.

The pride of the cobbler's dog, that took the wall of a wagon of hay, and was squeezed to death.

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