FOOTNOTES:

FOOTNOTES:[597]I megliori alberi sono i più battuti.[598]On ne jette des pierres qu'à l'arbre chargé de fruits.[599]El golpe de la sarten, aunque no duele, tizna.[600]Calumniare audacter, aliquid adhærebit.[601]El que es enemigo de la novia no dice bien de la boda.[602]Monaco vagabondo non disse mai lode del suo monastero.[603]Le bruit pend l'homme.[604]Quien á su perro quiere matas, rabia le ha de levantar.[605]Ærlig Mand er ei disværre, at en Hund göer ad ham.[606]Latrantem curatne alta Diana canem?[607]E' non si grida mai al lupo, che non sia in paese.[608]Non si dice mai tanto una cosa che non sia qualche cosa.[609]Hörensagen ist halb gelogen. Aver sentito dire è mezza buggia.[610]Odi l'altra parte, e credi poco.[611]No es tan bravo el leon como le pintan.[612]Geschrei macht den Wolf grösser als er ist.[613]Cobra buena fama, y échate á dormir.[614]Buena fama hurto encubre.[615]El buen hombre goza el hurto.[616]Einmal in der Leute Mund, kommt man übel wieder heraus.[617]La buona fama è come il cipresso: una volta tagliato non riverdisce più.

[597]I megliori alberi sono i più battuti.

[598]On ne jette des pierres qu'à l'arbre chargé de fruits.

[599]El golpe de la sarten, aunque no duele, tizna.

[600]Calumniare audacter, aliquid adhærebit.

[601]El que es enemigo de la novia no dice bien de la boda.

[602]Monaco vagabondo non disse mai lode del suo monastero.

[603]Le bruit pend l'homme.

[604]Quien á su perro quiere matas, rabia le ha de levantar.

[605]Ærlig Mand er ei disværre, at en Hund göer ad ham.

[606]Latrantem curatne alta Diana canem?

[607]E' non si grida mai al lupo, che non sia in paese.

[608]Non si dice mai tanto una cosa che non sia qualche cosa.

[609]Hörensagen ist halb gelogen. Aver sentito dire è mezza buggia.

[610]Odi l'altra parte, e credi poco.

[611]No es tan bravo el leon como le pintan.

[612]Geschrei macht den Wolf grösser als er ist.

[613]Cobra buena fama, y échate á dormir.

[614]Buena fama hurto encubre.

[615]El buen hombre goza el hurto.

[616]Einmal in der Leute Mund, kommt man übel wieder heraus.

[617]La buona fama è come il cipresso: una volta tagliato non riverdisce più.

A lie has no legs.

A proverb of eastern origin, meaning that a lie has no stability: wrestle with it, and down it goes. The Italians and Spaniards say, "A lie has short legs;"[618]and in the same sense "A liar is sooner caught than a cripple."[619]He trips up his own heels.

Liars should have good memories.

"Memory in a liar is no more than needs," says Fuller. "For, first, lies are hard to be remembered, because many, whereas truth is but one: secondly, because a lie cursorily told takes little footing and settled fatness in the teller's memory, but prints itself deeper in the hearer's, who takes the greater notice because of the improbability and deformity thereof; and one will remember the sight of a monster longer than the sight of an handsome body. Hence come sit to pass that when the liar hath forgotten himself his auditors put him in mind of the lie, and take him therein."

Fair fall truth and daylight.Speak truth and shame the devil.Truth and honesty keep the crown o' the causey.—Scotch.

Fair fall truth and daylight.

Speak truth and shame the devil.

Truth and honesty keep the crown o' the causey.—Scotch.

They march boldly along the middle of the roadway, which was formerly the place of honour for pedestrians in Scottish towns. "Truth seeks no corners" (Latin).[620]

Truth may be blamed, but shall ne'er be shamed.

"It is mighty, and will prevail" (Latin).[621]"It is God's daughter" (Spanish).[622]"Truth and oil always come to the surface" (Spanish).[623]"It takes a good many shovelfuls of earth to bury the truth" (German).[624]

Plain dealing is a jewel, but they that use it die beggars.

"He that speaks truth must have one foot in the stirrup," say the Turks, who are a people by no means addicted to lying. "People praise truth, but invite lying to be their guest" (Lettish). "My gossips dislike me because I tell them the truth" (Spanish).[625]

Truth has a good face, but ragged clothes.He that follows truth too near the heels will have dirt kicked in his face.Honesty is the best policy.

Truth has a good face, but ragged clothes.

He that follows truth too near the heels will have dirt kicked in his face.

Honesty is the best policy.

Is it Charles Lamb who says that a rogue is a fool with a circumbendibus?

An honest man's word is as good as his bond.

And better than what is called "Connaught security: three in a bond and a book oath."

FOOTNOTES:[618]La mentira tiene cortas las piernas. Le bugie hanno corte le gambe.[619]Si arriva più presto un bugiardo che un zoppo.[620]Veritas non quærit angulos.[621]Magna est veritas et prævalebit.[622]La verdad es hija de Dios.[623]La verdad, como el olio, siempre anda en somo.[624]Zum Begräbniss der Wahrheit gehören viel Schaufeln.[625]Mal me quieren mis comadres, porque les digo las verdades.

[618]La mentira tiene cortas las piernas. Le bugie hanno corte le gambe.

[619]Si arriva più presto un bugiardo che un zoppo.

[620]Veritas non quærit angulos.

[621]Magna est veritas et prævalebit.

[622]La verdad es hija de Dios.

[623]La verdad, como el olio, siempre anda en somo.

[624]Zum Begräbniss der Wahrheit gehören viel Schaufeln.

[625]Mal me quieren mis comadres, porque les digo las verdades.

Speech is silvern, silence is golden.

"Be silent, or say something that is better than silence" (German).[626]"Better silence than ill speech" (Swedish).[627]"Talking comes by nature, silence of understanding" (German).[628]"Who speaks, sows; who keeps silence, reaps" (Italian).[629]

Silence seldom does harm.Least said, soonest mended.

Silence seldom does harm.

Least said, soonest mended.

The principle applies still more forcibly to writing. "Words fly, writing remains" (Latin).[630]A man's spoken words may be unnoticed, or forgotten, or denied; but what he has put down in black and white is tangible evidence against him. Therefore "Think much, say little, write less" (Italian).[631]Give Cardinal Richelieu two lines of any man's writing andhe needed no more to hang him. Fabio Merto, an archbishop of the seventeenth century, has oddly remarked, "It is nowhere mentioned in the Gospels that our Lord wrote more than once, and then it was on the sand, in order that the wind might efface the writing." "Silence was never written down" (Italian);[632]and "A silent man's words are not brought into court" (Danish).[633]"Hear, see, and say nothing, if you wish to live in peace" (Italian).[634]

A fool's tongue is long enough to cut his own throat.

"Let not the tongue say what the head shall pay for" (Spanish).[635]"The sheep that bleats is strangled by the wolf" (Italian).[636]"He that knows nothing knows enough if he knows how to be silent" (Italian).[637]

A fool's bolt is soon shot.

"A foolish judge passes quick sentence" (French).[638]"He who knows little soon sings it out" (Spanish).[639]

When a fool has spoken he has done all.

"It is always the worst wheel that creaks" (French,Italian).[640]The shallowest persons are the most loquacious. "Were fools silent they would pass for wise" (Dutch).[641]

Silence gives consent.

"Silence answers much" (Dutch).[642]

A man may hold his tongue in an ill time.

"Amyclæ was undone by silence" (Latin).[643]The citizens having been often frightened with false news of the enemy's coming, made it penal for any one to report such a thing in future. Hence, when the enemy did come indeed, they were surprised and taken. There is a time to speak as well as to be silent.

Spare to speak and spare to speed.

"If the child does not cry the mother does not understand it" (Russian). "Him that speaks not, God hears not" (Spanish).[644]

FOOTNOTES:[626]Schweig, oder rede etwas das besser ist denn Schweigen.[627]Bättre tyga än illa tala.[628]Reden kommt von Natur, Schweigen von Verstunde.[629]Chi parla, semina; chi tace, raccoglie.[630]Verba volant, scripta manent.[631]Pensa molto, parla poco, scrivi meno.[632]Il tacere non fu mai scritto.[633]Tiende Mands Ord komme ei til Tinge.[634]Odi, vedi, e taci, se vuoi viver in pace.[635]No diga la lengua por do paque la cabeza.[636]Pecora che bela, il lupo la strozza.[637]Assai sa, chi non sa, se tacer sa.[638]De fol juge brève sentence.[639]Quien poco sabe, presto lo reza.[640]C'est toujours la plus mauvaise roue qui crie. E la peggior ruota quella che fa più rumore.[641]Zweegen de dwazen zij waren wijs.[642]Zwijgen antwoordt veel.[643]Amyclas silentium perdidit.[644]A quien no habla, no le oye Dios.

[626]Schweig, oder rede etwas das besser ist denn Schweigen.

[627]Bättre tyga än illa tala.

[628]Reden kommt von Natur, Schweigen von Verstunde.

[629]Chi parla, semina; chi tace, raccoglie.

[630]Verba volant, scripta manent.

[631]Pensa molto, parla poco, scrivi meno.

[632]Il tacere non fu mai scritto.

[633]Tiende Mands Ord komme ei til Tinge.

[634]Odi, vedi, e taci, se vuoi viver in pace.

[635]No diga la lengua por do paque la cabeza.

[636]Pecora che bela, il lupo la strozza.

[637]Assai sa, chi non sa, se tacer sa.

[638]De fol juge brève sentence.

[639]Quien poco sabe, presto lo reza.

[640]C'est toujours la plus mauvaise roue qui crie. E la peggior ruota quella che fa più rumore.

[641]Zweegen de dwazen zij waren wijs.

[642]Zwijgen antwoordt veel.

[643]Amyclas silentium perdidit.

[644]A quien no habla, no le oye Dios.

The greatest barkers bite not sorest.Great barkers are nae biters.—Scotch.

The greatest barkers bite not sorest.

Great barkers are nae biters.—Scotch.

Those who threaten most loudly are not the most to be feared. "Timid dogs bark worse than they bite" (Latin),[645]was a proverb of the Bactrians, as Quintus Curtius informs us. The Turks say, "The dog barks, but the caravan passes." "What matters the barking of the dog that does not bite?" (German);[646]but "Beware of a silent dog and of still water" (Latin).[647]"The silent dog bites first" (German).[648]"A fig for our democrats!" Horace Walpole wrote in 1792. "Barking dogs never bite. The danger in France arose from silent and instantaneous action. They said nothing, and did everything. Ours say everything, and will do nothing."

Threatened folk live long.

"Longer lives he that is threatened than he that ishanged" (Italian).[649]"More are threatened than are stabbed" (Spanish).[650]"Threatened folk, too, eat bread" (Portuguese).[651]"David did not slay Goliath with words" (Icelandic).[652]"No one dies of threats" (Dutch).[653]"Not all threateners fight" (Dutch).[654]"Some threaten who are afraid" (French).[655]"A curse does not knock an eye out unless the fist go with it" (Danish).[656]"The cat's curse hurts the mice less than her bite" (Livonian).

Lang mint, little dint.—Scotch.

That is, a blow long aimed or threatened has little force; or, as the Italians and Spaniards say, "A blow threatened was never well given."[657]

Silence grips the mouse.

"A mewing cat was never a good mouser" (Spanish).[658]"He that threatens warns" (German).[659]"He that threatens wastes his anger" (Portuguese).[660]"Thethreatener loses the opportunity of vengeance" (Spanish).[661]"Threats are arms for the threatened" (Italian).[662]

Fleying [frightening] a bird is no the way to grip it.—Scotch.The way to catch a bird is no to fling your bonnet at her.—Scotch.

Fleying [frightening] a bird is no the way to grip it.—Scotch.

The way to catch a bird is no to fling your bonnet at her.—Scotch.

"Hares are not caught with beat of drum" (French).[663]

Let not your mousetrap smell of blood.Never show your teeth when you can't bite.Brag is a good dog, but Holdfast is a better.A boaster and a liar are cousins german.

Let not your mousetrap smell of blood.

Never show your teeth when you can't bite.

Brag is a good dog, but Holdfast is a better.

A boaster and a liar are cousins german.

"Believe a boaster as you would a liar" (Italian).[664]"Who is the greatest liar? He that talks most of himself" (Chinese).

The greatest talkers are always the least doers.Great boast, small roast.

The greatest talkers are always the least doers.

Great boast, small roast.

"Great vaunters, little doers" (French).[665]"It is not the hen which cackles most that lays most eggs" (Dutch).[666]"A long tongue betokens a short hand" (Spanish).[667]

Saying gangs cheap.—Scotch.Saying and doing are two things.

Saying gangs cheap.—Scotch.

Saying and doing are two things.

"From saying to doing is a long stretch" (French).[668]"Words are female, deeds are male" (Italian).[669]"Words will not do for my aunt, for she does not trust even deeds" (Spanish).[670]

His wind shakes no corn.—Scotch.Harry Chuck ne'er slew a man till he cam nigh him.—Scotch.

His wind shakes no corn.—Scotch.

Harry Chuck ne'er slew a man till he cam nigh him.—Scotch.

Harry Chuck is understood to have been a vapouring fellow of the Ancient Pistol order, one of those who would give "A great stab to a dead Moor" (Spanish).[671]"It is easy to frighten a bull from the window" (Italian).[672]"Many are brave when the enemy flees" (Italian).[673]

It is well said, but who will bell the cat?—Scotch.

"The mice consult together how to take the cat, but they do not agree upon the matter" (Livonian). "Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus, a man remarkable for strength of body and mind, acquired the popular name of Bell-the-Cat upon the following remarkable occasion:—When the Scottish nobility assembled todeliberate on putting the obnoxious favourites of James III. to death, Lord Grey told them the fable of the mice, who resolved that one of their number should put a bell round the neck of the cat, to warn them of its coming; but no one was so hardy as to attempt it. 'I understand the moral,' said Angus; 'I will bell the cat.' He bearded the king to purpose by hanging the favourites over the bridge of Lauder; Cochran, their chief, being elevated higher than the rest."—(Note to Marmion.)

Self-praise is no commendation.Self-praise stinks.Ye live beside ill neebours.—Scotch.Your trumpeter is dead.

Self-praise is no commendation.

Self-praise stinks.

Ye live beside ill neebours.—Scotch.

Your trumpeter is dead.

The last two are taunts addressed to persons who sound their own praises.

A man may love his house weel, and no ride on the riggen o't.—Scotch.

A man does not prove the depth and sincerity of his sentiments by an ostentatious display of them.

Good wine needs no bush.Gude ale needs nae wisp.—Scotch.

Good wine needs no bush.

Gude ale needs nae wisp.—Scotch.

A bunch of twigs, or a wisp of hay or straw hung up at a roadside house, is a sign that drink is sold within. This custom, which still lingers in the cider-making counties of the west of England, and prevails more generally in France, is derived from the Romans, among whom a bunch of ivy, the plant sacred toBacchus, was appropriately used as the sign of a wine-shop. They, too, used to say, "Vendible wine needs no ivy hung up."[674]"Good wine needs no crier" (Spanish).[675]"It sells itself" (Spanish).[676]"Bosky" is one of the innumerable euphemisms for "drunk." Probably the phrase, "he is bosky," originally conveyed an allusion to the symbolical use of the bush, with which all good fellows were familiar in the olden time.

FOOTNOTES:[645]Apud Bactryanos vulgo usurpabant canem timidum vehementius latrare quam mordere.[646]Was schadet das Hundes Bellen der nicht beisst?[647]Cave tibi cane muto et aqua silente.[648]Schweigender Hund beisst am ersten.[649]Vive più il minacciato che l'impiccato.[650]Mas son los amenazados que los acuchillados.[651]Tambem os ameaçados comem paō.[652]Ekks Davith Goliat med ordum drap.[653]Van dreigen sterftmenniet.[654]Alle dreigers vechten niet.[655]Tel menace qui a peur.[656]Bande bider ei Öie ud, uden Næven fölger med.[657]Schiaffo minacciato, mai ben dato.Bofetónamagado, nunca bien dado.[658]Gatomaulladornunca buen caçador.[659]Wer droht, warnt.[660]Quem ameaça, su ira gasta.[661]El amenazador hace perder el lugar de venganza.[662]Le minaccie son arme del minacciato.[663]On ne prend pas le lèvre au tambour.[664]Credi al vantatore come al mentitore.[665]Grands vanteurs, petits faiseurs.[666]Het hoen, dat het meest kakelt, geeft de meeste eijers niet.[667]La lengua luenga es señal de mano corta.[668]Du dire au fait il y a grand trait.[669]Le parole son femmine, e i fatti son maschi.[670]No son palabras para mi tia, que aun de las obras no se fia.[671]A moro muerto gran lanzada.[672]E facile far paura al toro dalla fenestra.[673]Molli son bravi quando l'inimico frigge.[674]Vino vendibili suspensa hedera non est opus.[675]El vino bueno no ha menester pregonero.[676]El buen vino la venta trae consigo.

[645]Apud Bactryanos vulgo usurpabant canem timidum vehementius latrare quam mordere.

[646]Was schadet das Hundes Bellen der nicht beisst?

[647]Cave tibi cane muto et aqua silente.

[648]Schweigender Hund beisst am ersten.

[649]Vive più il minacciato che l'impiccato.

[650]Mas son los amenazados que los acuchillados.

[651]Tambem os ameaçados comem paō.

[652]Ekks Davith Goliat med ordum drap.

[653]Van dreigen sterftmenniet.

[654]Alle dreigers vechten niet.

[655]Tel menace qui a peur.

[656]Bande bider ei Öie ud, uden Næven fölger med.

[657]Schiaffo minacciato, mai ben dato.Bofetónamagado, nunca bien dado.

[658]Gatomaulladornunca buen caçador.

[659]Wer droht, warnt.

[660]Quem ameaça, su ira gasta.

[661]El amenazador hace perder el lugar de venganza.

[662]Le minaccie son arme del minacciato.

[663]On ne prend pas le lèvre au tambour.

[664]Credi al vantatore come al mentitore.

[665]Grands vanteurs, petits faiseurs.

[666]Het hoen, dat het meest kakelt, geeft de meeste eijers niet.

[667]La lengua luenga es señal de mano corta.

[668]Du dire au fait il y a grand trait.

[669]Le parole son femmine, e i fatti son maschi.

[670]No son palabras para mi tia, que aun de las obras no se fia.

[671]A moro muerto gran lanzada.

[672]E facile far paura al toro dalla fenestra.

[673]Molli son bravi quando l'inimico frigge.

[674]Vino vendibili suspensa hedera non est opus.

[675]El vino bueno no ha menester pregonero.

[676]El buen vino la venta trae consigo.

No secrets but between two.

"Where could you have heard that?" said a friend to Grattan. "Why, it is a profound secret." "I heard it," said Grattan, "where secrets are kept—in the street." Napoleon I. used to say, "Secrets travel fast in Paris."[677]

Three may keep counsel if two be away.

We are told in several languages "That the secret of two is God's secret—the secret of three is all the world's;"[678]and the Spaniards hold that "What three know every creature knows."[679]The surest plan is, of course, not to trust to anybody; and this was the plan pursued by Alva and by Q. Metellus Macedonicus, whose maxim, "If my tunic knew my secret I would burn it forthwith," has been turned by the French into a rhyming proverb of their own: "Let the shirt next your skin not know what's within."[680]The Chinesesay, "What is whispered in the ear is often heard a hundred miles off." Truly "Nothing is so burdensome as a secret" (French).[681]The Livonians have this humorous hyperbole, "Confide a secret to a dumb man and it will make him speak." King Midas's barber scraped a hole in the earth, and, lying down, poured into it the tremendous secret that oppressed him; but the earth did not keep it close, for it sprouted up with the growing corn, which proclaimed with articulate rustlings, "King Midas hath the ears of an ass."

Tom Noddy's secret.

Or, "The secret of Polichinelle" (French);[682]that is to say, one which is known to everybody. This is what the Spaniards call "The secret of Anchuelos."[683]The town of that name lies in a gorge between two steep hills, on one of which a shepherd tended his flock, on the other a shepherdess. This pair kept up an amorous converse by bawling from hill to hill, but always with many mutual injunctions of secrecy.

Murder will out.

"And a man's child cannot be hid," adds Lancelot Gobbo. The English proverb is used jocosely, though derived from an awful sense of the fatality, as it were, with which bloody secrets are almost always brought tolight. It seems to us as though the order of nature were inverted when the perpetrator of a murder escapes detection. This faith in Nemesis was expressed in the ancient Greek proverb, "The cranes of Ibycus," of which this is the story. The lyric poet Ibycus was murdered by robbers on his way to Corinth, and with his last breath committed the task of avenging him to a flock of cranes, the only living things in sight besides himself and his murderers. The latter, some time after, sitting in the theatre at Corinth, saw a flock of cranes overhead, and one of them said scoffingly, "Lo, there the avengers of Ibycus!" These words were caught up by some near them, for already the poet's disappearance had excited alarm. The men being questioned betrayed themselves, and were led to their doom, and "The cranes of Ibycus" passed into a proverb. This story may serve to show how

Daylight will peep through a small hole.

"Eggs are close things," say the Chinese, "but the chicks come out at last." "A secret fire is discovered by the smoke" (Catalan).[684]

To let the cat out of the bag.

To betray a secret inadvertently. I cannot tell what is the origin of this phrase. Can it be that it alludes to the practice of selling cats for hares? A fraudulent vendor, while pressing a customer "to buy a cat in abag," (see p.61,) might in an unguarded moment let him see enough to detect the imposition.

When rogues fall out honest men come by their own.

They peach upon each other. "Thieves quarrel, and thefts are discovered" (Spanish).[685]"Gossips fall out, and tell each other truths" (Spanish).[686]"When the cook and the butler fall out we shall know what is become of the butter" (Dutch).

Tell your secret to your servant, and you make him your master.

Juvenal notes the policy of the Greek adventurers in Rome to worm out the secrets of the house, and so make themselves feared. "To whom you tell your secret you surrender your freedom" (Spanish).[687]"Tell your friend your secret, and he will set his foot on your throat" (Spanish).[688]

Walls have ears.

"Hills see, walls hear" (Spanish).[689]"The forest has ears, the field has eyes" (German).[690]

What soberness conceals drunkenness reveals.

"What is in the heart of the sober man is on the tongue of the drunken man" (Latin).[691]"In wine is truth" (Latin).[692]"Wine wears no breeches" (Spanish).[693]

When wine sinks, words swim.[694]When the wine is in the wit is out.

When wine sinks, words swim.[694]

When the wine is in the wit is out.

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