FOOTNOTES:

FOOTNOTES:[444]Le soleil lui-même, n'a-t-il pas des taches?[445]Il n'est si bon charretier qui ne verse.[446]À bon pêcheur échappe anguille.[447]Bon nageur de n'être noyé n'est pas sûre.[448]Erra il prete all' altare.[449]Quien quisiere mula sin tacha, andese á pie.[450]A chi fa male mai mancano scuse.[451]Ein schlechter Schüz der keine Ausrede findet.[452]Vallestero que mal tira, presto tiene la mentira.[453]Bel colpo non ammazzò mai uccello.[454]Ogni scusa è buona, pur che vaglia.[455]Ogni scusa è buona, quando non si vuol far alcuna cosa.[456]Achaques al viernes por no le ayunar.[457]Chi è in difetto, è in sospetto.[458]Chi ha coda di paglia ha sempre paura che gli pigli fuoco.[459]Non recordar il capestro in casa dell' impiccato.[460]Il ne faut pas parler de corde devant un pendu.[461]L'espoir du pendu, que la corde casse.[462]Qui se sent galeux, se gratte.[463]Qui se sent morveux, se mouche.[464]Qui capit, ille facit.[465]Qui s'excuse, s'accuse.

[444]Le soleil lui-même, n'a-t-il pas des taches?

[445]Il n'est si bon charretier qui ne verse.

[446]À bon pêcheur échappe anguille.

[447]Bon nageur de n'être noyé n'est pas sûre.

[448]Erra il prete all' altare.

[449]Quien quisiere mula sin tacha, andese á pie.

[450]A chi fa male mai mancano scuse.

[451]Ein schlechter Schüz der keine Ausrede findet.

[452]Vallestero que mal tira, presto tiene la mentira.

[453]Bel colpo non ammazzò mai uccello.

[454]Ogni scusa è buona, pur che vaglia.

[455]Ogni scusa è buona, quando non si vuol far alcuna cosa.

[456]Achaques al viernes por no le ayunar.

[457]Chi è in difetto, è in sospetto.

[458]Chi ha coda di paglia ha sempre paura che gli pigli fuoco.

[459]Non recordar il capestro in casa dell' impiccato.

[460]Il ne faut pas parler de corde devant un pendu.

[461]L'espoir du pendu, que la corde casse.

[462]Qui se sent galeux, se gratte.

[463]Qui se sent morveux, se mouche.

[464]Qui capit, ille facit.

[465]Qui s'excuse, s'accuse.

Appearances are deceitful.[466]

"Always judge your fellow-passengers to be the opposite of what they strive to appear to be. For instance, a military man is not quarrelsome, for no man doubts his courage; but a snob is. A clergyman is not over-straitlaced, for his piety is not questioned; but a cheat is. A lawyer is not apt to be argumentative; but an actor is. A woman that is all smiles and graces is a vixen at heart: snakes fascinate. A stranger that is obsequious and over-civil without apparent cause is treacherous: cats that purr are apt to bite and scratch. Pride is one thing, assumption is another; the latter must always get the cold shoulder, for whoever shows it is no gentleman: men never affect to be what they are, but what they are not. The only man who really is what he appears to be is—a gentleman."[467]

The Livonians say, "The bald pate talks most of hair;" and, "You may freely give a rope to one who talks about hanging."

All is not gold that glitters.

Yellow iron pyrites is as bright as gold, and has often been mistaken for it. The worthless spangles have even been imported at great cost from California. "Every glowworm is not a fire" (Italian).[468]"Where you think there are flitches of bacon there are not even hooks to hang them on" (Spanish).[469]Many a reputed rich man is insolvent.

Much ado about nothing."Great cry and little wool," as the fellow said when he sheared the pig."Meikle cry and little woo'," as the deil said when he clipped the sow.—Scotch.

Much ado about nothing.

"Great cry and little wool," as the fellow said when he sheared the pig.

"Meikle cry and little woo'," as the deil said when he clipped the sow.—Scotch.

"The mountain is in labour, and will bring forth a mouse" (Latin).[470]

Likely lies in the mire, and unlikely gets over.—Scotch.

Some from whom great things are expected fail miserably, while others of no apparent mark or promise surprise the world by their success.

You must not hang a man by his looks.

He may be one who is

Like a singed cat, better than likely.

"Under a shabby cloak there is a good tippler" (Spanish).[471]

"Care not" would have it.

Affected indifference is often a trick to obtain an object of secret desire. "I don't want it, I don't want it," says the Spanish friar; "but drop it into my hood."[472]"'It is nought, it is nought,' saith the buyer; but when he is gone he vaunteth." The girls of Italy, who know how often this artifice is employed in affairs of love, have a ready retort against sarcastic young gentlemen in the adage, "He that finds fault would fain buy."[473]

He that lacks [disparages] my mare would buy my mare.—Scotch."Sour grapes," said the fox when he could not reach them.Empty vessels give the greatest sound.Shaal [shallow] waters mak the maist din.—Scotch.Smooth waters run deep;or,Still waters are deep.

He that lacks [disparages] my mare would buy my mare.—Scotch.

"Sour grapes," said the fox when he could not reach them.

Empty vessels give the greatest sound.

Shaal [shallow] waters mak the maist din.—Scotch.

Smooth waters run deep;or,

Still waters are deep.

This last proverb, we are told by Quintus Curtius, was current among the Bactrians.[474]The Servians say, "A smooth river washes away its banks;" the French, "There is no worse water than that which sleeps."[475]"The most covered fire is the strongest" (French);[476]and "Under white ashes there is glowing coal" (Italian).[477]

Where God has his church the devil will have his chapel.

So closely does the shadow of godliness—hypocrisy—wait upon the substance. "Very seldom does any good thing arise but there comes an ugly phantom of a caricature of it, which sidles up against the reality, mouths its favourite words as a third-rate actor does a great part, under-mimics its wisdom, overacts its folly, is by half the world taken for it, goes some way to suppress it in its own time, and perhaps lives for it in history."[478]Defoe says,—

"Wherever God erects a house of prayer,The devil always builds a chapel there;And 'twill be found upon examinationThe latter has the largest congregation."

"Wherever God erects a house of prayer,

The devil always builds a chapel there;

And 'twill be found upon examination

The latter has the largest congregation."

The proverb is found in nearly the same form in Italian.[479]The French say, "The devil chants high mass,"[480]which reminds us of another English adage, applied by Antonio to Shylock:—

The devil can quote Scripture for his purpose.

"The devil lurks behind the cross,"[481]say the Spaniards; and, "By the vicar's skirts the devil gets up into the belfry."[482]"O the slyness of sin," exclaimthe Germans, "that puts an angel before every devil!"[483]The same thought is expressed by the Queen of Navarre in her thirteenth novel, where she speaks of "covering one's devil with the fairest angel."[484]

When the fox preaches beware of the geese.

"The fox preaches to the hens" (French).[485]"When the devil says his paternosters he wants to cheat you" (French).[486]"Never spread your wheat in the sun before the canter's door" (Spanish).[487]

A honey tongue, a heart of gall.Mouth of ivy, heart of holly.—Irish.He can say, "My jo," an' think it na.—Scotch.Too much courtesy, too much craft.

A honey tongue, a heart of gall.

Mouth of ivy, heart of holly.—Irish.

He can say, "My jo," an' think it na.—Scotch.

Too much courtesy, too much craft.

"The words of a saint, and the claws of a cat" (Spanish).[488]"The cat is friendly, but scratches" (Spanish).[489]"Many kiss the hands they would fain see chopped off" (Arab and Spanish).[490]

He looks as if butter would not melt in his mouth.

Said of a very demure person, sometimes with this addition, "And yet cheese would not choke him." Of such a person the Spaniards say, "He looks as if he would not muddy the water."[491]"Nothing is more like an honest man than a rogue" (French).[492]

They're no a' saints that get holy water.—Scotch.

"All are not saints who go to church" (Italian).[493]"Not all who go to church say their prayers" (Italian).[494]"All are not hunters who blow the horn" (French).[495]"All are not soldiers who go to the wars" (Spanish).[496]"All are not princes who ride with the emperor" (Dutch).[497]

The chamber of sickness is the chapel of devotion.The devil was sick, the devil a monk would be;The devil grew well, the devil a monk was he![498]

The chamber of sickness is the chapel of devotion.

The devil was sick, the devil a monk would be;

The devil grew well, the devil a monk was he![498]

"All criminals turn preachers when they are under the gallows" (Italian).[499]"The galley is in a bad waywhen the corsair promises masses and candles" (Spanish).[500]

Satan rebukes sin.[501]The friar preached against stealing when he had a pudding in his sleeve.

Satan rebukes sin.[501]

The friar preached against stealing when he had a pudding in his sleeve.

According to the Italian account of the affair the friar had a goose in his scapulary on that occasion.[502]"Do as the friar says, and not as he does" (Spanish).[503]

To carry two faces under one hood.

To be what the Romans called "double-tongued,"[504]or, in French phrase, "To wear a coat of two parishes."[505]Formerly the parishes in France were bound to supply the army with a certain number of pioneers fully equipped. Every parish claimed the right of clothing its man in its own livery, whence it followed that when two parishes jointly furnished only one man, he was dressed in parti-coloured garments, each parish being represented by a moiety which differed from the other in texture and colour.

To hold with the hare, and hunt with the hounds.

To be "Jack o' both sides," true to neither. The Romans called this "Sitting on two stools."[506]Liberius Mimus was one of a new batch of senators created by Cæsar. The first day he entered the august assembly, as he was looking about for a seat, Cicero said to him, "I would make room for you were we not so crowded together." This was a sly hit at Cæsar, who had packed the senate with his creatures. Liberius replied, "Ay, you always liked to sit on two stools."

The Arabs say of a double dealer, "He says to the thief, 'Steal;' and to the house-owner, 'Take care of thy goods.'" "He howls with the wolves when he is in the wood, and bleats with the sheep in the field" (Dutch).[507]

If the devil is vicar, you'll be clerk.If the deil be laird, you'll be tenant.—Scotch.The deil ne'er sent a wind out of hell but he wad sail with it.—Scotch.The vicar of Bray will be vicar of Bray still.

If the devil is vicar, you'll be clerk.

If the deil be laird, you'll be tenant.—Scotch.

The deil ne'er sent a wind out of hell but he wad sail with it.—Scotch.

The vicar of Bray will be vicar of Bray still.

Simon Aleyn, or Allen, held the Vicarage of Bray, in Berkshire, for fifty years, in the reigns of Henry VIII., Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth, and was always of the religion of the sovereign for the time being. First he was a Papist, then a Protestant, afterwards a Papist, and a Protestant again; yet he would by no meansadmit that he was a turncoat. "No," said he, "I have always stuck to my principle, which is this—to live and die vicar of Bray." His consistency has been celebrated in a song, the burden of which is,—

"For this is law I will maintain—Unto my dying day, sir,Whatever king in England reign,I'll be the vicar of Bray, sir."

"For this is law I will maintain—

Unto my dying day, sir,

Whatever king in England reign,

I'll be the vicar of Bray, sir."

"Such are men, now o' days," says Fuller, "who, though they cannot turn the wind, they turn their mills, and set them so that wheresoever it bloweth, their grist should certainly be grinded."

During the Peninsular war many signboards over shops and hotels in Spanish towns had on one side the arms of France, and on the other those of Spain, which were turned as best suited the interests of their owners and the feelings of the troops which alternately occupied the place.

It is hard to sit at Rome and fecht wi' the pope.—Scotch.

Prudence forbids us to engage in strife with those in whose power we are. Oriental servility goes further than this. Bernier tells us that it was a current proverb in the dominions of the Great Mogul, "If the king saith at noonday, 'It is night,' you are to say, 'Behold the moon and stars!'" The Egyptians say, "When the monkey reigns dance before him." The philosopher desisted from controversy with the Emperor Hadrian, confessing himself unable to cope in argument with the master of thirty legions.

There's nae gude in speaking ill o' the laird within his ain bounds.—Scotch.

On this principle Baillie Nicol Jarvie thinks it well, when passing the Fairies' Hill, to call them, as others do, men of peace, meaning thereby to conciliate their good-will. "Speak not ill of a great enemy," says Selden, "but rather give him good words, that he may use you the better if you chance to fall into his hands. The Spaniard did this when he was dying. His confessor told him (to work him to repentance) how the devil tormented the wicked that went to hell. The Spaniard replying, called the devil 'my lord.' 'I hope my lord the devil is not so cruel.' His confessor reproved him. 'Excuse me,' said the don, 'for calling him so. I know not into what hands I may fall; and if I happen into his, I hope he will use me the better for giving him good words.'"

It is good to have friends everywhere.It's gude to hae friends baith in heaven and hell.—Scotch.

It is good to have friends everywhere.

It's gude to hae friends baith in heaven and hell.—Scotch.

Brantôme relates that Robert de la Mark had a painting executed, in which were represented St. Margaret and the devil, with himself on his knees before them, a candle in each hand, and a scroll issuing from his mouth, containing these words: "If God will not aid me, the devil surely will not fail me." This is quite in the spirit of Virgil's line, "If I cannot bend the celestials to my purpose I will move hell."[508]Othersbesides De la Mark have thought it prudent "To offer a candle to God and another to the devil" (French);[509]or, "A candle to St. Michael and one to his devil" (French),[510]lest the time might come when the devil under the archangel's feet should get the upper hand. Upon the same principle a discreet person in the early Christian times took care never to pass a prostrate statue of Jupiter without saluting it.

One must sometimes hold a candle to the devil.

FOOTNOTES:[466]Fronti nulla fides. Schein betrugt.[467]"Maxims of an Old Stager," by Judge Halliburton.[468]Ogni lucciola non è fuoco.[469]Adó pensas que hay tocinos, no hay estacas.[470]Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus.[471]Debajo de una mala capa hay un buen bebedor.[472]No lo quiero, no lo quiero, mas echad lo en mi capilla.[473]Chi biasima vuol comprare.[474]Altissima flumina minimo sono labuntur.[475]Il n'y a pire eau que l'eau qui dort.[476]Le feu le plus couvert est le plus ardent.[477]Sotto la bianca cenere sta la brace ardente.[478]"Friends in Council."[479]Non si tosto si fa un tempio a Dio, che il diavolo ci fabbrica una cappella appresso.[480]Le diable chante la grande messe.[481]Detras de la cruz esta el diablo.[482]Por las haldas del vicario sube el diablo al campanario.[483]O über die schlaue Sunde, die einen Engel vor jeden Teufel stellt![484]Couvrir son diable du plus bel ange.[485]Le renard prêche aux poules.[486]Quand le diable dit ses patenôtres, il vent te tromper.[487]Ante la puerta del rezador nunca eches tu trigo al sol.[488]Palabras de santo, y uñas de gato.[489]Buen amigo es el gato, sino que rascuña.[490]Muchos besan manos que quierian ver cortadas.[491]Parece que no enturbia el agua.[492]Rien ne ressemble plus à un honnête homme qu'un fripon.[493]Non son tutti santi quelli che vanno in chiesa.[494]Non tutti chi vanno in chiesa fanno orazione.[495]Ne sont pas tous chasseurs qui sonnent du cor.[496]Non son soldados todos los que van á la guerra.[497]Zij zijn niet allen gelijk die met den keizer rijden.[498]Ægrotat dæmon, monachus tunc esse volebat;Dæmon convaluit, dæmon ut ante fuit.[499]Tutti i rei divengono predicatori quando stanno sotto la forca.[500]Quando el corsario promete misas y cera, con mal anda la galera.[501]Claudius accusat mœchos.[502]Il frate predicava che non si dovesse robbare, e egli aveva l'occa nel scapulario.[503]Haz lo que dice el frayle, y no lo que hace.[504]Homo bilinguis.[505]Porter un habit de deux paroisses.[506]Duabus sellis sedere.[507]Hij huilt met de wolven waarmede hij en het bosch is, en blaat met de schapen in het veld.[508]Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo.[509]Donner une chandelle à Dieu, et une au diable.[510]Donner une chandelle à Saint Michel, et une à son diable.

[466]Fronti nulla fides. Schein betrugt.

[467]"Maxims of an Old Stager," by Judge Halliburton.

[468]Ogni lucciola non è fuoco.

[469]Adó pensas que hay tocinos, no hay estacas.

[470]Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus.

[471]Debajo de una mala capa hay un buen bebedor.

[472]No lo quiero, no lo quiero, mas echad lo en mi capilla.

[473]Chi biasima vuol comprare.

[474]Altissima flumina minimo sono labuntur.

[475]Il n'y a pire eau que l'eau qui dort.

[476]Le feu le plus couvert est le plus ardent.

[477]Sotto la bianca cenere sta la brace ardente.

[478]"Friends in Council."

[479]Non si tosto si fa un tempio a Dio, che il diavolo ci fabbrica una cappella appresso.

[480]Le diable chante la grande messe.

[481]Detras de la cruz esta el diablo.

[482]Por las haldas del vicario sube el diablo al campanario.

[483]O über die schlaue Sunde, die einen Engel vor jeden Teufel stellt!

[484]Couvrir son diable du plus bel ange.

[485]Le renard prêche aux poules.

[486]Quand le diable dit ses patenôtres, il vent te tromper.

[487]Ante la puerta del rezador nunca eches tu trigo al sol.

[488]Palabras de santo, y uñas de gato.

[489]Buen amigo es el gato, sino que rascuña.

[490]Muchos besan manos que quierian ver cortadas.

[491]Parece que no enturbia el agua.

[492]Rien ne ressemble plus à un honnête homme qu'un fripon.

[493]Non son tutti santi quelli che vanno in chiesa.

[494]Non tutti chi vanno in chiesa fanno orazione.

[495]Ne sont pas tous chasseurs qui sonnent du cor.

[496]Non son soldados todos los que van á la guerra.

[497]Zij zijn niet allen gelijk die met den keizer rijden.

[498]Ægrotat dæmon, monachus tunc esse volebat;Dæmon convaluit, dæmon ut ante fuit.

[498]

Ægrotat dæmon, monachus tunc esse volebat;Dæmon convaluit, dæmon ut ante fuit.

Ægrotat dæmon, monachus tunc esse volebat;

Dæmon convaluit, dæmon ut ante fuit.

[499]Tutti i rei divengono predicatori quando stanno sotto la forca.

[500]Quando el corsario promete misas y cera, con mal anda la galera.

[501]Claudius accusat mœchos.

[502]Il frate predicava che non si dovesse robbare, e egli aveva l'occa nel scapulario.

[503]Haz lo que dice el frayle, y no lo que hace.

[504]Homo bilinguis.

[505]Porter un habit de deux paroisses.

[506]Duabus sellis sedere.

[507]Hij huilt met de wolven waarmede hij en het bosch is, en blaat met de schapen in het veld.

[508]Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo.

[509]Donner une chandelle à Dieu, et une au diable.

[510]Donner une chandelle à Saint Michel, et une à son diable.

What may be done at any time will be done at no time.

"By the street of By-and-by one arrives at the house of Never" (Spanish).[511]

Never put off till to-morrow what you can do to-day.

"One to-day is worth ten to-morrows" (German).[512]"To-day must borrow nothing of to-morrow" (German).[513]"When God says to-day, the devil says to-morrow" (German).[514]Talleyrand used to reverse these maxims: by never doing to-day what he could put off till to-morrow he avoided committing himself prematurely.

Strike while the iron is hot.

This proverb is cosmopolitan; but

Make hay while the sun shines

is peculiar to England, and, as Trench remarks, could have had its birth only under such variable skies as ours.

Take the ball at the hop.Take time while time is, for time will away.Time and tide wait for no man.

Take the ball at the hop.

Take time while time is, for time will away.

Time and tide wait for no man.

"God keep you from 'It is too late'" (Spanish).[515]"A little too late, much too late" (Dutch).[516]"Stay but a while, you lose a mile" (Dutch).[517]

After a delay comes a let.Delays are dangerous.

After a delay comes a let.

Delays are dangerous.

Especially in affairs of love and marriage. Therefore, "When thy daughter's chance comes, wait not her father's coming from the market" (Spanish).[518]Close with the offer on the spot. "When the fool has made up his mind the market has gone by" (Spanish).[519]

He that will not when he may,When he will he shall have nay.

He that will not when he may,

When he will he shall have nay.

"Some refuse roast meat, and afterwards long for the smoke of it" (Italian).[520]

The nearer the church, the farther from God.

"Next to the minster, last to mass" (French).[521]"The nearer to Rome, the worse Christian" (Dutch).[522]The buyer of many books will probably read few of them, and somebody has said that he never was afraid of engaging in a controversy with the owner of a large library. Many a Londoner would never see half its lions but for the necessity of showing them to country cousins.

The shoemaker's wife goes worst shod.

Where the best wine is made the worst is commonly drunk. Better fish is to be had in Billingsgate than on the seacoast.

FOOTNOTES:[511]Por la calle de despues se va á la casa de nunca.[512]Ein Heute ist besser als zehn Morgen.[513]Heute muss dem Morgen nichts borgen.[514]Wenn Gott sagt: Heute, sagt der Teufel: Morgen.[515]Guarde te Dios de hecho es.[516]Een wenig te laat, veel te laat.[517]Sta maar een wijl, gij verliest een mijl.[518]Quando á tu hija le viniere su hado, no aguardes que vienga su padre del mercado.[519]Quando el necio es acordado, el mercado es ya pasado.[520]Tal lascia l'arrosto, chi poi ne brama il fumo. Qui refuse, muse.[521]Près du monstier, à messe le dernier.[522]Hoe digter bij Rom, hoe slechter Christ.

[511]Por la calle de despues se va á la casa de nunca.

[512]Ein Heute ist besser als zehn Morgen.

[513]Heute muss dem Morgen nichts borgen.

[514]Wenn Gott sagt: Heute, sagt der Teufel: Morgen.

[515]Guarde te Dios de hecho es.

[516]Een wenig te laat, veel te laat.

[517]Sta maar een wijl, gij verliest een mijl.

[518]Quando á tu hija le viniere su hado, no aguardes que vienga su padre del mercado.

[519]Quando el necio es acordado, el mercado es ya pasado.

[520]Tal lascia l'arrosto, chi poi ne brama il fumo. Qui refuse, muse.

[521]Près du monstier, à messe le dernier.

[522]Hoe digter bij Rom, hoe slechter Christ.

Man proposes, God disposes.[523]"There's a divinity that shapes men's ends,Rough hew them how they will."He that reckons without his host must reckon again.Don't reckon your chickens before they are hatched.

Man proposes, God disposes.[523]

"There's a divinity that shapes men's ends,

Rough hew them how they will."

He that reckons without his host must reckon again.

Don't reckon your chickens before they are hatched.

Some of the eggs may be addled. Remember the story of Alnaschar.

Sune enough to cry "chick" when it's out o' the shell.—Scotch.Gut nae fish till ye get them.—Scotch.

Sune enough to cry "chick" when it's out o' the shell.—Scotch.

Gut nae fish till ye get them.—Scotch.

"Cry no herring till you have it in the net" (Dutch).[524]"First catch your hare," says Mrs. Glasse, and then you may settle how you will have it cooked. The Greeks and Romans thought it not wise "To sing triumph before the victory."[525]It is a rash bargain "To sell the bird on the bough" (Italian);[526]or "Thebearskin before you have caught the bear" (Italian),[527]as Æsop has demonstrated. Finally, "Unlaid eggs are uncertain chickens" (German).[528]

Praise a fair day at night.It is not good praising a ford till a man be over.Don't halloo till you are out of the wood.

Praise a fair day at night.

It is not good praising a ford till a man be over.

Don't halloo till you are out of the wood.

"Don't cry 'Hey!' till you are over the ditch" (German).[529]"Look to the end" (Latin).[530]"No man can with certainty be called happy before his death," as the Grecian sage told Crœsus. "Call me not olive till you see me gathered" (Spanish)."[531]

To build castles in the air.

To let imagination beguile us with visionary prospects. The metaphor is intelligible to everybody, but that in the French equivalent, "To build castles in Spain,"[532]requires explanation. The Abbé Morellet ascribes the origin of this phrase to the general belief in the boundless wealth of Spain after she had become mistress of the mines of Mexico and Peru. This is plausible but wrong, for the "Roman de la Rose," which was published long before the discovery of America, contains this line,Lors feras chasteaulx en Espagne.M. Quitard saysthat the proverb dates from the latter part of the eleventh century, when Henri de Bourgogne crossed the Pyrenees at the head of a great number of knights to win glory and plunder from the Infidels, and received from Alfonso, king of Castile, in reward for his services, the hand of that sovereign's daughter, Theresa, and the county of Lusitania, which, under his son Alfonso Henriquez, became the kingdom of Portugal. The success of these illustrious adventurers excited the emulation of the warlike French nobles, and set every man dreaming of fiefs to be won, and castles to be built in Spain. Similar feelings had been awakened some years before by the conquest of England by William of Normandy, and then the French talked proverbially of "Building castles in Albany,"[533]that is, in Albion. It is worthy of remark that previously to the eleventh century there were hardly any castles built in Christian Spain, or by the Saxons in England. The new adventurers had to build for themselves.

Don't tell the devil too much of your mind.

Be not too forward to proclaim your intentions. "Tell your business, and leave the devil alone to do it for you" (Italian).[534]"A wise man," Selden tells us, "should never resolve upon anything—at least, never let the world know his resolution, for if he cannot arrive at that he is ashamed. How many things didthe king resolve, in his declaration concerning Scotland, never to do, and yet did them all! A man must do according to accidents and emergencies. Never tell your resolution beforehand, but when the cast is thrown play it as well as you can to win the game you are at. 'Tis but folly to study how to play size ace when you know not whether you shall throw it or no." "Muddy though it be, say not, 'Of this water I will not drink'" (Spanish).[535]"There is no use in saying, 'Such a way I will not go, or such water I will not drink'" (Italian).[536]

There's many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip.

"Between the hand and the mouth the soup is often spilt" (French).[537]"Wine poured out is not swallowed" (French).[538]These three proverbs are derived from the same Greek original, the English one being nearest to it in form. A king of Samos tasked his slaves unmercifully in laying out a vineyard, and one of them, exasperated by this ill usage, prophesied that his master would never drink of the wine of that vineyard. Eager to confute this prediction, the king took the first grapes produced by his vines, pressed them into a cup in the slave's presence, and derided him as a false prophet. The slave replied, "Manythings happen between the cup and the lip;" and these words became a proverb, for just then a cry was raised that a wild boar had broken into the vineyard, and the king, setting down the untested cup, went to meet the beast, and was killed in the encounter.

God send you readier meat than running hares.A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.Better a wren in the hand than a crane in the air.—IrishandFrench.[539]

God send you readier meat than running hares.

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

Better a wren in the hand than a crane in the air.—IrishandFrench.[539]

Cranes were in much request for the table down to the end of the fourteenth century, if not later. "Better a leveret in the kitchen than a wild boar in the forest" (Livonian). "Better is an egg to-day than a pullet to-morrow" (Italian).[540]"One here-it-is is better than two you-shall-have-it's" (French).[541]

Possession is nine points of the law.

And there are only ten of them in all. Others reckon possession as eleven points, the whole number being twelve. "Him that is in possession God helps" (Italian).[542]"Possession is as good as title" (French).[543]

I'll not change a cottage in possession for a kingdom in reversion.Better haud by a hair nor draw by a tether.—Scotch.He that waits for dead men's shoes may long go barefoot.He gaes lang barefoot that wears dead men's shoon.—Scotch.

I'll not change a cottage in possession for a kingdom in reversion.

Better haud by a hair nor draw by a tether.—Scotch.

He that waits for dead men's shoes may long go barefoot.

He gaes lang barefoot that wears dead men's shoon.—Scotch.

"He hauls at a long rope who desires another's death" (French).[544]"He who waits for another's trencher eats a cold meal" (Catalan).[545]

Live, horse, and you'll get grass.[546]

"Die not, O mine ass, for the spring is coming, and with it clover" (Turkish). Unfortunately, "For the hungry,waitis a hard word" (German);[547]and

While the grass grows the steed starves.The old horse may die waiting for new grass.Hope holds up the head.Hope is the bread of the unhappy.Were it not for hope the heart would break.He that lives on hope has a slim diet.

While the grass grows the steed starves.

The old horse may die waiting for new grass.

Hope holds up the head.

Hope is the bread of the unhappy.

Were it not for hope the heart would break.

He that lives on hope has a slim diet.

Aubrey relates that Lord Bacon, being in York House garden, looking on fishers as they were throwing their net, asked them what they would take for their draught. They answered so much. His lordship would offer them only so much. They drew up their net, and in it were only two or three little fishes. His lordship then told them it had been better for them to have taken his offer. They replied, they hoped to have had a better draught; but, said his lordship,—

"Hope is a good breakfast, but a bad supper."

"Hope and expectation are a fool's income" (Danish).[548]

Hopes deferred hang the heart on tenter hooks.

"He gives twice who gives quickly" (Latin);[549]and "A prompt refusal has in part the grace of a favour granted" (Latin).[550]

All is not at hand that helps.

We cannot foresee whence help may come to us, nor always trace back to their sources the advantages we actually enjoy. "Water comes to the mill from afar" (Portuguese).[551]On the other hand, "Far water does not put out near fire" (Italian);[552]and "Better is a near neighbour than a distant cousin" (Italian).[553]"Friends living far away are no friends" (Greek).[554]

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