FOOTNOTES:

FOOTNOTES:[677]Les confidences vont vite à Paris.[678]Secret de deux, secret de Dieu; secret de trois, secret de tous.[679]Lo que saben tres, sabe toda res.[680]Que ta chemise ne sache ta guise.[681]Rien ne pèse tant qu'un secret.[682]Le secret de Polichinelle.[683]El secreto de Anchuelos.[684]For secreto, lo fumo lo descovre.[685]Pelean los ladrones, y descubriense los hurtos.[686]Riñen las comadres, y duense las verdades.[687]A quien dices tu puridad, á ese das tu libertad.[688]Di á tu amigo tu secreto, y tenerte ha el pie en el pescuezo.[689]Montes veen, paredes oyen.[690]Der Wald hat Ohren, das Feld hat Augen.[691]Quod est in corde sobrii est in ore ebrii.[692]In vino veritas.[693]El vino anda sin calças.[694]This is in Herodotus: Ὄινου κατίοντοϛ ἔπιπλεουσιν ἐπῆ.

[677]Les confidences vont vite à Paris.

[678]Secret de deux, secret de Dieu; secret de trois, secret de tous.

[679]Lo que saben tres, sabe toda res.

[680]Que ta chemise ne sache ta guise.

[681]Rien ne pèse tant qu'un secret.

[682]Le secret de Polichinelle.

[683]El secreto de Anchuelos.

[684]For secreto, lo fumo lo descovre.

[685]Pelean los ladrones, y descubriense los hurtos.

[686]Riñen las comadres, y duense las verdades.

[687]A quien dices tu puridad, á ese das tu libertad.

[688]Di á tu amigo tu secreto, y tenerte ha el pie en el pescuezo.

[689]Montes veen, paredes oyen.

[690]Der Wald hat Ohren, das Feld hat Augen.

[691]Quod est in corde sobrii est in ore ebrii.

[692]In vino veritas.

[693]El vino anda sin calças.

[694]This is in Herodotus: Ὄινου κατίοντοϛ ἔπιπλεουσιν ἐπῆ.

He that is born to be hanged will never be drowned.The water will ne'er waur the woodie.—Scotch.

He that is born to be hanged will never be drowned.

The water will ne'er waur the woodie.—Scotch.

That is, the water will never defraud the gallows of its due. Gonzago, inThe Tempest, says of the boatswain, "I have great comfort from this fellow; methinks he hath no drowning mark upon him; his complexion is perfect gallows. Stand fast, good fate, to his hanging! Make the rope of his destiny our cable, for our own doth little advantage. If he be not born to be hanged our case is miserable."

The Danes say, "He that is to be hanged will never be drowned, unless the water goes over the gallows."[695]Such punctilious accuracy in fixing the limits of the proposition considerably enhances its grim humour. There is a fine touch of ghastly horror in its Dutch equivalent, "What belongs to the raven does not drown."[696]The platform on which criminals were executed and gibbeted was called, in the picturesque language of the middle ages, the "ravenstone." "Hethat is to die by the gallows may dance on the river" (Italian).[697]

"He'll be hang'd yet,Though every drop of water swear against it,And gape at wid'st to glut him."

"He'll be hang'd yet,

Though every drop of water swear against it,

And gape at wid'st to glut him."

Give a thief rope enough and he'll hang himself.Every fox must pay his own skin to the flayer.Air day or late day, the tod's [fox's] hide finds aye the flaying knife.—Scotch.

Give a thief rope enough and he'll hang himself.

Every fox must pay his own skin to the flayer.

Air day or late day, the tod's [fox's] hide finds aye the flaying knife.—Scotch.

In spite of all his cunning the rogue will soon or late come to a bad end. "Foxes find themselves at last at the furrier's" (French).[698]"No mad dog runs seven years" (Dutch).[699]

Hanging goes by hap.

If a man is hanged it is a sign that he was pre-destined to that end. "The gallows was made for the unlucky" (Spanish).[700]It is not always a man's fault so much as his misfortune that he dies of a hempen fever. As Captain Macheath sings,—

"Since laws were made for every degree,To curb vice in others as well as in me,I wonder we ha'n't better companyUpon Tyburn tree."

"Since laws were made for every degree,

To curb vice in others as well as in me,

I wonder we ha'n't better company

Upon Tyburn tree."

But "Money does not get hanged" (German).[701]It sits on the judgment-seat, and sends poor rogues to the hulks or to Jack Ketch. As it was in the days of Diogenes the cynic, so it is now: "Great thieves hang petty thieves" (French);[702]and, whilst "Petty thieves are hanged, people take off their hats to great ones" (German).[703]

First hang and draw,Then hear the cause by Lidford law.

First hang and draw,

Then hear the cause by Lidford law.

Ray informs us that "Lidford is a little and poor but ancient corporation in Devonshire, with very large privileges, where a Court of Stannaries was formerly kept." The same sort of expeditious justice was practised in Scotland and in Spain, as testified by proverbs of both countries. At Peralvillo the Holy Brotherhood used to execute in this manner robbers taken in the fact, or "red-hand," as the Scotch forcibly expressed it. Hence the Spanish saying, "Peralvillo justice: after the man is hanged try him."[704]The Scotch equivalent for this figures with dramatic effect in that scene ofThe Fair Maid of PerthwhereBlack Douglas has just discovered the murder of the Prince of Rothsay, and exclaims,—

"'Away with the murderers! hang them over the battlements!'

"'But, my lord, some trial may be fitting,' answered Balveny.

"'To what purpose?' answered Douglas. 'I have taken them red-hand; my authority will stretch to instant execution. Yet stay: have we not some Jedwood men in our troop?'

"'Plenty of Turnbulls, Rutherfords, Ainslies, and so forth,' said Balveny.

"'Call me an inquest of these together; they are all good men and true, save a little shifting for their living. Do you see to the execution of these felons, while I hold a court in the great hall, and we'll try whether the jury or the provost-martial shall do their work first: we will have

Jedwood justice—hang in haste, and try at leisure.'"He that invented the "maiden" first hanselled it.—Scotch.

Jedwood justice—hang in haste, and try at leisure.'"

He that invented the "maiden" first hanselled it.—Scotch.

This was the Regent Morton, who was the first man beheaded by an instrument of his own invention, called the "maiden." His enemies thought it was

"SportTo see the engineer hoist by his own petard;"

"Sport

To see the engineer hoist by his own petard;"

and even those who pitied him felt that "no law wasjuster than that the artificers of death should perish by their own art."[705]

If he has no gear to tine, he has shins to pine.—Scotch.

That is, if he has not wealth to lose, or means to pay a fine, he must be clapped in the stocks or in fetters. "He that has no money must pay with his skin" (German).[706]"Where there is no money there is no forgiveness of sins" (German).[707]

FOOTNOTES:[695]Han drukner ikke som henge skal, uden Vandet gaaer over Galgen.[696]Wat den raven toebehoort verdrinkt niet.[697]Chi ha da morir di forca, può ballar sul fiume.[698]Enfin les renards se trouvent chez le pelletier.[699]Er liep geen dolle hond zeven jaar.[700]Para los desdichados se hizo la horca.[701]Geld wird nicht gehenkt.[702]Les grands voleurs font pendre les petits.[703]Kleine Diebe henkt man, vor grossen zieht man den Hut ab.[704]La justicia de Peralvillo, que ahorcado el hombre le hace la perquisa.[705]Nec lex est justior ullaQuam necis artifices arte perire sua.[706]Wer kein Geld hat, mussmit der Haut bezahlen.[707]Wo kein Geld ist, da ist auch keine Vergebung der Sünden.

[695]Han drukner ikke som henge skal, uden Vandet gaaer over Galgen.

[696]Wat den raven toebehoort verdrinkt niet.

[697]Chi ha da morir di forca, può ballar sul fiume.

[698]Enfin les renards se trouvent chez le pelletier.

[699]Er liep geen dolle hond zeven jaar.

[700]Para los desdichados se hizo la horca.

[701]Geld wird nicht gehenkt.

[702]Les grands voleurs font pendre les petits.

[703]Kleine Diebe henkt man, vor grossen zieht man den Hut ab.

[704]La justicia de Peralvillo, que ahorcado el hombre le hace la perquisa.

[705]Nec lex est justior ullaQuam necis artifices arte perire sua.

[705]

Nec lex est justior ullaQuam necis artifices arte perire sua.

Nec lex est justior ulla

Quam necis artifices arte perire sua.

[706]Wer kein Geld hat, mussmit der Haut bezahlen.

[707]Wo kein Geld ist, da ist auch keine Vergebung der Sünden.

Happy is the son whose father went to the devil.

On the other hand, the Portuguese say, "Alas for the son whose father goes to heaven!"[708]the presumption being that a man does not go that way whilst amassing great wealth; for "He that is afraid of the devil does not grow rich" (Italian).[709]"To do so one has only to turn one's back on God" (French).[710]Audley, a noted lawyer and usurer in the reigns of James I. and Charles I., was asked what might be the value of his newly-obtained office in the Court of Wards. He replied, "It may be worth some thousands of pounds to him who after his death would instantly go to heaven; twice as much to him who would go to purgatory; and nobody knows how much to him who would adventure to go to hell." Audley's biographer hints that he did adventure that way forthe four hundred thousand pounds he left behind him at his departure. "The river does not become swollen with clear water" (Italian).[711]According to a Latin proverb, quoted with approval by St. Jerome, "A rich man is either a rogue or a rogue's heir."[712]"To be rich one must have a relation at home with the devil" (Italian).[713]"Gold goes to the Moor;"i. e., to the man without a conscience (Portuguese).[714]

"The poets feign," says Bacon, "that when Plutus, which is riches, is sent from Jupiter, he limps and goes slowly; but when he is sent from Pluto he runs and is swift of foot; meaning that riches gotten by good means and just labour pace slowly, but when they come by the death of others (as by the course of inheritance, testaments, and the like), they come tumbling upon a man. But it might be applied likewise to Pluto, taking him for the devil; for when riches come from the devil (as by fraud and oppression and unjust means) they come upon speed. The ways to enrich are many, and most of them foul."

"He that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent" (Proverbs xxviii. 22). "Who would be rich in a year gets hanged in half a year" (Spanish).[715]

Plenty makes dainty.[716]As the sow fills the draught sours.Hunger is the best sauce.

Plenty makes dainty.[716]

As the sow fills the draught sours.

Hunger is the best sauce.

"Hunger makes raw beans sweet" (German). "Hunger is the best cook" (German). "The full stomach loatheth the honeycomb, but to the hungry every bitter thing is sweet" (Proverbs). "Brackish water is sweet in a dry land" (Portuguese).[717]

A hungry horse makes a clean manger.Hungry dogs will eat dirty puddings.A hungry man sees far.

A hungry horse makes a clean manger.

Hungry dogs will eat dirty puddings.

A hungry man sees far.

"A hungry man discovers more than a hundred lawyers" (Spanish).[718]Want sharpens industry and invention. "He thinks of everything who wants bread" (French).[719]"A poor man is all schemes" (Spanish).[720]

"Lorgitor artium, ingeniique magisterVenter."

"Lorgitor artium, ingeniique magister

Venter."

"Poverty and hunger have many learned disciples" (German).[721]"Poverty is the sixth sense."[722]"It is cunning: it catches even a fox" (German).[723]

Need makes the old wife trot.[724]Need makes the naked man run.Need makes the naked quean spin.

Need makes the old wife trot.[724]

Need makes the naked man run.

Need makes the naked quean spin.

"Hunger sets the dog a-hunting" (Italian).[725]"Hunger drives the wolf out of the wood" (Italian).[726]

Hunger will break through stone walls.

"A hungry dog fears not the stick" (Italian);[727]whereas "The full-fed sheep is frightened at her own tail" (Spanish).[728]

Poverty parteth good fellowship.

An old Scotch song says:—

"When I hae saxpence under my thumb,Then I get credit in ilka town;But when I hae naethin they bid me gang by:Hech! poverty parts gude company."

"When I hae saxpence under my thumb,

Then I get credit in ilka town;

But when I hae naethin they bid me gang by:

Hech! poverty parts gude company."

Poverty is no crime.

Some say it is worse. "Poverty is no vice, but it is a sort of leprosy" (French).[729]

FOOTNOTES:[708]Guay do filho que o pai vai a paraiso.[709]Chi ha paura del diavolo non fa roba.[710]Il ne faut que tourner le dos à Dieu pour devenir riche.[711]Il fiume non s'ingrossa d'acqua chiara.[712]Dives aut iniquus aut iniqui hæres.[713]Por esser riceo bisogna avere un parente a casa al diavolo.[714]Vaise o ouro ao mouro.[715]Quien en un año quiere ser rico, al medio le ahorcan.[716]Abondance engendre fâcherie.[717]Agoa salobra na terra seca he doce.[718]Mas descubre un hambriento que cien letrados.[719]De tout s'avise à qui pain faut.[720]Hombre pobre todo es trazas.[721]Armuth und Hunger haben viel gelehrte Jünger.[722]Armuth ist der sechste Sinn.[723]Armuth ist listig, sie fängt auch einen Fuchs.[724]The same in Italian, Bisogna fa trottar la vecchia; and in French, Besoin fait vieille trotter.[725]Fa forame il can per fame.[726]La fame caccia il lupo fuor del bosco.[727]Can affamato non ha paura del bastone.[728]Carnero harto de su rabo se espanta.[729]Pauvreté n'est pas vice, mais c'est une espèce de laiderie.

[708]Guay do filho que o pai vai a paraiso.

[709]Chi ha paura del diavolo non fa roba.

[710]Il ne faut que tourner le dos à Dieu pour devenir riche.

[711]Il fiume non s'ingrossa d'acqua chiara.

[712]Dives aut iniquus aut iniqui hæres.

[713]Por esser riceo bisogna avere un parente a casa al diavolo.

[714]Vaise o ouro ao mouro.

[715]Quien en un año quiere ser rico, al medio le ahorcan.

[716]Abondance engendre fâcherie.

[717]Agoa salobra na terra seca he doce.

[718]Mas descubre un hambriento que cien letrados.

[719]De tout s'avise à qui pain faut.

[720]Hombre pobre todo es trazas.

[721]Armuth und Hunger haben viel gelehrte Jünger.

[722]Armuth ist der sechste Sinn.

[723]Armuth ist listig, sie fängt auch einen Fuchs.

[724]The same in Italian, Bisogna fa trottar la vecchia; and in French, Besoin fait vieille trotter.

[725]Fa forame il can per fame.

[726]La fame caccia il lupo fuor del bosco.

[727]Can affamato non ha paura del bastone.

[728]Carnero harto de su rabo se espanta.

[729]Pauvreté n'est pas vice, mais c'est une espèce de laiderie.

A good beginning makes a good ending.Well begun is half done.

A good beginning makes a good ending.

Well begun is half done.

Tersely translated from the Latin,Dimidium facti qui bene cœpit habet. "A beard lathered is half shaved," say the Spaniards.[730]In an article on the "Philosophy of Proverbs" the author of the "Curiosities of Literature" gives an example from the Italian, which he deems of peculiar interest, "for it is perpetuated by Dante, and is connected with the character of Milton." Besides these distinctions it has a third (not surmised by Disraeli), as a linguistic curiosity; for though it consists of but four words, and those among the commonest in the language, its literal meaning is undetermined, and diametrically opposite interpretations have been given of it even by native authorities.Cosa fatta capo hais the proverb in question, which some understand as signifying, "A deed done has an end;" or, as the Scotch say, "A thing done is no to do." It is thus rendered by Torriano in 1666; whilst Giusti, in 1853, explains it as meaning, "A deed done has abeginning;" or, in other words, if you would accomplish anything, you must not content yourself with pondering over it for ever, but must proceed to action. Such another instance of divided opinion respecting the import of four familiar words in a simply-constructed sentence is probably not to be found in the history of modern languages.

This proverb is the "bad word" to which tradition ascribes the origin of the civil wars that long desolated Tuscany. When Buondelmonte broke his engagement with a lady of the Amadei family, and married another, the kinsmen of the injured lady assembled to consider how they should deal with the offender. They inclined to pass sentence of death upon him; but their fear of the evils that might ensue from that decision long held them in suspense. At last Mosca Lamberti cried out that "those who talk of many things effect nothing," quoting, says Macchiavelli, "that trite and common adage,Cosa fatta capo ha." This decided the question. Buondelmonte was murdered; and the deed immediately involved Florence in those miserable conflicts of Guelphs and Ghibellines, from which she had stood aloof until then. The "bad word" uttered by Mosca has been immortalised by Dante (Inferno, xxviii.), and variously rendered by his English translators. Cary presents the passage thus:—

"Then oneMaim'd of each hand uplifted in the gloomThe bleeding stumps, that they with gory spotsSullied his face, and cried, 'Remember theeOf Mosca too—I who, alas! exclaim'd,The deed once done, there is an end—that provedA seed of sorrow to the Tuscan race.'"

"Then one

Maim'd of each hand uplifted in the gloom

The bleeding stumps, that they with gory spots

Sullied his face, and cried, 'Remember thee

Of Mosca too—I who, alas! exclaim'd,

The deed once done, there is an end—that proved

A seed of sorrow to the Tuscan race.'"

Wright's version is,—

"Then one deprived of both his hands, who stoodLifting the bleeding stumps amid the dimDense air, so that his face was stain'd with blood,Cried, 'In thy mind let Mosca bear a place,Who said, alas! Deed done is well begun—Words fraught with evil to the Tuscan race.'"

"Then one deprived of both his hands, who stood

Lifting the bleeding stumps amid the dim

Dense air, so that his face was stain'd with blood,

Cried, 'In thy mind let Mosca bear a place,

Who said, alas! Deed done is well begun—

Words fraught with evil to the Tuscan race.'"

Disraeli adopts Cary's interpretation of the proverb, and does not seem to suspect that it can have any other. Milton appears to have used it in the same sense. "When deeply engaged," says Disraeli, "in writing 'The Defence of the People,' and warned that it might terminate in his blindness, he resolutely concluded his work, exclaiming with great magnanimity, although the fatal prognostication had been accomplished,Cosa fatta capo ha!Did this proverb also influence his decision on that great national event, when the most honest-minded fluctuated between doubts and fears?"

The first blow is half the battle.

It is as good as two according to the Italians.

Thehardest step is over the threshold.

"The first step is all the difficulty" (French).[731]It is well known that after St. Denis was decapitated hepicked up his head, and walked a league with it in his hand to the spot where his church was afterwards erected. Recounting this miracle one day in a private circle, Cardinal de Polignac laid great stress on the length of the way traversed in that manner by the martyred saint; whereupon Madame du Deffaut remarked that this was not the most surprising part of the miracle, for in such cases "the first step was all the difficulty."

Everything has a beginning.A child must creep ere it can go.

Everything has a beginning.

A child must creep ere it can go.

"Every beginning is feeble" (Latin).[732]"'Every beginning is hard,' as the thief said when he began by stealing an anvil" (German).[733]

Rome was not built in a day.

FOOTNOTES:[730]Barba remojada, medio rapada.[731]Ce n'est que le premier pas qui coûte.[732]Omne principium est debile.[733]Aller Anfang ist schwer, sprach der Dieb, und stahl zuerst einen Ambos.

[730]Barba remojada, medio rapada.

[731]Ce n'est que le premier pas qui coûte.

[732]Omne principium est debile.

[733]Aller Anfang ist schwer, sprach der Dieb, und stahl zuerst einen Ambos.

The office shows the man.'Tis the place shows the man.

The office shows the man.

'Tis the place shows the man.

It tries his capacity, and shows what stuff he is made of. But it also forms the man; it teaches him (German)[734]if he has the faculty to be taught, so that it may be said with some truth, "To whom God gives an office he gives understanding also" (German).[735]"A great place strangely qualifies," saith Selden. "John Read was groom of the chamber to my lord of Kent. Attorney-General Roy being dead, some were saying, how would the king do for a fit man? 'Why, any man,' says John Read, 'may execute the place.' 'I warrant,' says my lord, 'thou thinkest thou understand'st enough to perform it.' 'Yes,' quoth John; 'let the king make me attorney, and I would fain see that man that durst tell me there's anything I understand not.'" The proverb at the head of this paragraph is literally translated from a Greek maxim, attributed by Sophocles to Solon, and to Bias by Aristotle.

He is a poor cook that cannot lick his own fingers.

And "He is a bad manager of honey" who does not help himself in the same way (French).[736]The rule applies to all who have the fingering of good things, whether in a public or a private capacity. "He who manages other people's wealth does not go supperless to bed" (Italian).[737]"All offices are greasy" (Dutch).[738]Something sticks to them. Wheels are greased to make them run smoothly, and in some countries it is found that what the Dutch call smear money may be applied to official palms with advantage to the operator. The French call thisGraisser la patte à quelqu'un. "'Hast thou no money? then turn placeman,' said the court fool to his sovereign'" (German).[739]King James, we are told by L'Estrange, was once complaining of the leanness of his hunting horse. Archie, his fool, standing by, said to him, "If that be all, take no care; I'll teach your Majesty a way to raise his flesh presently; and if he be not as fat as ever he can wallow, you shall ride me." "I prithee, fool, how?" said the king. "Why, do but make him a bishop, and I'll warrant you," says Archie.

A good deal of surreptitious finger-licking and fattening would be prevented if this truth were clearly understood, that "Office without pay [or with inadequate pay] makes thieves" (German).[740]"He cannot keep a good course who serves without reward" (Italian).[741]

A man gets little thanks for losing his own.

An excuse for taking the perquisites of office, however extortionate they may be.

It is the clerk that makes the justice.

The magistrate would often be wrong in his law if he were not kept right by the clerk. "The blood of the soldier makes the captain great" (Italian).[742]

For faut o' wise men fules sit on binks [benches].—Scotch.

"For want of good men they made my father alcalde" (Spanish).[743]We do not always see the right man in the right place.

Never deal with the man when you can deal with the master.

"It is better to have to do with God than with his saints"[744]is a French proverb, which Voltaire has fittedwith a droll story. A king of Spain, he tells us, had promised to bestow relief upon the people of the country round Burgos, who had been ruined by war. They flocked to the palace, but the doorkeepers would not let them in except on condition of having part of what they should get. Having consented to this, the countrymen entered the royal hall, where their leader knelt at the monarch's feet and said, "I beseech your Royal Highness to command that every man of us here shall receive a hundred lashes." "An odd petition truly!" said the king. "Why do you ask for such a thing?" "Because," said the peasant, "your people insist on having the half of whatever you give us."

M. Quitard believes that the saints referred to in the French proverb are the "frost" or "vintage saints,"[745]so called because their festivals, which occur in April, are noted in the popular calendar as days on which frost is injurious to the young green crops and to vines. The husbandmen, whose fields and vineyards were injured by the inclemency of the weather, used to hold these saints responsible for the damage they ought to have prevented, and the reproaches addressed to them might very naturally take the form perpetuated in the proverb. This is the more probable as it is recorded in the ecclesiastical annals of Cahors and Rhodez that the angry agriculturists were in the habit of flogging the images of the frost saints, defacing their pictures,and otherwise maltreating them. Rabelais asserts, with mock gravity, that, in order to put an end to these scandalous irregularities, a bishop of Auxerre proposed to transfer the festivals of the frost saints to the dog days, and make the month of August change place with April.

A king's cheese goes half away in parings.

His revenues are half eaten up before they enter his coffers. Before Sully took the French finances in hand such was the system of plunder established by the farmers of the revenue, that the state realised only one-fifth of the gross amount of taxes imposed on the subjects; the other four-fifths were consumed by the financiers. Under such a wasteful system as this, or one in any degree like it, one might well say that

Kings' chaff is worth other men's corn.

The perquisites belonging to the king's service are better than the wages earned elsewhere.

The clerk wishes the priest to have a fat dish.—Gaelic.

FOOTNOTES:[734]Das Amt lehrt den Mann.[735]Wein Gott ein Amt giebt, dem giebt er auch Verstand.[736]Celui gouverne bien mal le miel, qui n'en taste et ses doigts n'en lesche.[737]Chi maneggia quel degli altri, non va a letto senza cena.[738]Alle amten zijn smeerig.[739]Hast du kein Geld? so wird ein Amtmann, sagte jeuer Hofnarr zu seinen Fürsten.[740]Amt ohne Sold macht Diebe.[741]Buona via non può tenereQuel chi serve senz' avere.[742]Il sangue dei soldati fa grande il capitano.[743]Por falta de hombres buenos, á mi padre hicieron alcalde.[744]Il vaut mieux avoir affaire à Dieu qu'à ses saints.[745]Saints gélifs, saints vendangeurs.

[734]Das Amt lehrt den Mann.

[735]Wein Gott ein Amt giebt, dem giebt er auch Verstand.

[736]Celui gouverne bien mal le miel, qui n'en taste et ses doigts n'en lesche.

[737]Chi maneggia quel degli altri, non va a letto senza cena.

[738]Alle amten zijn smeerig.

[739]Hast du kein Geld? so wird ein Amtmann, sagte jeuer Hofnarr zu seinen Fürsten.

[740]Amt ohne Sold macht Diebe.

[741]Buona via non può tenereQuel chi serve senz' avere.

[741]

Buona via non può tenereQuel chi serve senz' avere.

Buona via non può tenere

Quel chi serve senz' avere.

[742]Il sangue dei soldati fa grande il capitano.

[743]Por falta de hombres buenos, á mi padre hicieron alcalde.

[744]Il vaut mieux avoir affaire à Dieu qu'à ses saints.

[745]Saints gélifs, saints vendangeurs.

Law-makers should not be law-breakers.

Parliament has made it penal to pollute the air of towns with smoke, and theBuildercomplains that more smoke issues from parliament's own chimneys than from any six factories in London.

Abundance of law breaks no law.

It is safer to exceed than to fall short of what the law requires.

In a thousand pounds of law there is not an ounce of love.A pennyweight of love is worth a pound weight of law.

In a thousand pounds of law there is not an ounce of love.

A pennyweight of love is worth a pound weight of law.

So much more cogent is the one than the other.

Laws were made for rogues.

"For the upright there are no laws" (German).[746]They are designed to control those to whom it may be said,—

Ye wad do little for God if the deil were dead.—Scotch.

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