'" "'C.\THEBIBLIOTHECA SACRA.-,-ART,rOLE r.A CHAPTER ON PROVERBS.BY REV. J. I. MOMBERT, D.D., PASSAIC, NEW JERSEY..A GOOD definition is a very precious thing, and the follow-ing of a proverb, one of the best I have met, may appropri-ately introduce the subject. "A. proverb," says Eiselein, " isa sentence coined with the public stamp, current, and of ac-knowledged value among the people," of which we have thisold English metrical forl!l :" The people's voice the voice of God we call,And what are proverbs but the people's voice?Coined first, and current made by public choice,Then sure they must have weight and truth withal." .In brief, a proverb is a household word of the people.Using the term "people " in a very wide sense, a glance atthe sl;lbject of proverbs of ackno-wledged currency among thepeople in different ages, different climes, and different tonguesmay prove an instructive entertainment.A. very old proverb, in familiar use in most modern lan-guages, is the homely phrase, "Hunger is the best ~auce," Iwhich owes its celebrity to a Spartan cook. Dionysius, th~tyrant of Sicily, having heard a certain Spartan dish highlypraised, secured the serVices of a Lacedemonian cook, anddesired him to prepare it. The dish, made after the Spartan1 Hunger ist der beste Koch.-German. n n'est sauce que d'appetit.-Frenclt.Optimum condimentum fames. -Latin.VOL. XXXVIII. No. 152.-0CTOBER, 1881. 75.II594 A CHAPTER ON PROVERBS. [Oct. ~","recipe, was set before the king, who tasted it with tokens of {,"i (..",unmistal{able disgust. TIle cook remarked," King, I am not JrtJsurprised at your feelings, for you ha~e taken the .dish with- ,t#1(

out the Spartan sauce." "And what IS that?" rejoined the tking. " Work, exercise, hunger, and thirst is the delicious ~, '"sauce with which they season their food at Sparta," was the ;cook's reply. But the very form in which we use the prov-Iierb now was employed by Socrates, who said," Hunger is ..

the best sauce, for it makes all food palatable, and costsnothing." A friend, seeing him one day walk rapidly int'.frontofhishouse,askedthephilosopherwhathewasabout."Iprepare,"hesaid,"thesauceformysupper."fTheoriginof"Noshoemakerbeyondhislast,"or"Cob-!bier,sticktoyourshoes,"1isascribedtoApelles,whowas"in' the habit, while exhibiting his pictures to the public, tohide behind them in order to hear the criticisms of the peo- \~pIe. A cobbler's practised eye one day detected a fault inthe shoes of a figure in the painting of the "Trojan Shep-herd," one of his master-pieces. The artist forthwith cor-rected 'the blemish. Elated with vanity, the cobbler nowpassed from the sandal to the leg, and made it the theme of I" 'his censure. Apelles then s\epped forth, and indignantly (bade him stop, in the words of the proverb, " Cobbler, stick {to your last," which is applied to persons that criticise things tof which they understand nothing. Though Pliny narrates 'tthis anecdote of Apelles, Lucian tells it of Phidias; it may tbe true of both, and as the latter flourished one hundred and \fifty years before the former, it proves the great antiquity of \the proverb. ,~It is probably not generally known that the famous pro- ~verbial rule, "Allow no day to pass without a line," 2 for all!who would excel in their calling, is likewise referred toApelles, who throughout his whole life labored to improve ..himself, and never spent a day without practising the art of ,drawing.1 Schuster, bleib' bei deinem Leisten. -Gennan. Cordonnier ne vous melezque de votre pantoufie. -French. Ne sutor ultra crepidem.- Latin. f:2 Nulla dies sine lineA. I.,l.:.,,;

".- "~.-,~ -,"",..-'. ..'""." II -"-C""'...,'"'j1881.] A CHAPTER ON PROVERBS. 595 '.Speaking of cobblers suggests another familiar saying:" None of you knows where the shoe pinches." 1 It is gen-erally used to show that appearances deceive, that each manknows best the secret of his own troubles, or as the Bibleputs. it, ., The heart knoweth his own bitterness." This is avery old proverb; the first authentic use of it occurs in Plu-tarch, who, commenting on the inexplicable repudiation ofPapiria, the mother of Scipio Aemilianus and Fabius Maxi-mus, by her husband, Paulus Aemilius, narrates the follow-ing anecdote: A Roman had obtained a divorce from his.wife, and when his friends remonstrated with him, saying,"Is your wife not virtuous? Is she not fair? Has she notborne you handsome children?" he replied~ showing themhis shoe," Is this not a new shoe? Is it not handsome?Yet none of you knows where it pinches."'2 In this connec.tion I remember several" divorces obtained on the continentof Europe, not for causes mentioned in the Bible or in codesfounded on Christian principles, but for " incompatibility."That cause seems to rest on the authority of Plutarch (see.Paulus Aemilius in his Lives), and has the striking feature, that the benefit of its operation is very expensive, and there-fore only" available to the wealthy. There is a homelyphrase, " What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gan-der "; but there are some sauces that should not be used witheither. .The transition from shoes to leather is natural, and mayserve to introduce the following proverb, thorougly natural-ized in many countries: "Men cut broad thongs from other 'people's leather." 3 The Latin version seems to be the origi-nal. It is applied not only to the wastefulness with whichanother's property is used, but more frequently to the easewith which large-handed generosity is shown at anotheri Man weiss nicht wo der Schuh driickt. -German. On ne Bait pas ou Iesoulier'blesse, -French,2 At nemo vestrum novit qua pedem meum torqueat'13 Aus auderer Leute Leder ist gut Riemen schneiden, -German, Faire dueuir d'autrui large courroie. -French. Ex alieno tergore lata secantur lora. -Latin.

.&_- '.wW':'. --.', ' c.598 A CHAPTER ON PROVERBS. [Oct.A proverbial expression for disgusting one with a thingwas to "Anoint with gall~" and originated in the custom ofmothers to put gall to the nipple when the child was to beweaned.., To see a wolf," in the sense of being struck dumb, hadproverbial currency from the vulgar belief concerning anyone at whom a wolf got the first look, while the " gapingwolf" denoted vain expectation, and "a wolf's wings," likethe English " pigeon's milk," meant things that are not.The good nature of Homer, at once an example and a con-solation to suffering Jerseymen, appears in the seeminglyproverbial adage that ., the blood of man is sweet to thegnat," and~ by way of digression, and in proof of Solomon'ssaying that" there is nothing new under the sun," we mayadd that mosquito-bars 1 were the luxurious appendages ofbeds in ancient Egypt. 'If the' Greeks wished to describe a simpleton or a poltroonthey called' him an Abderite, from Abdera in Thrace, theGotham of antiquity. From \he way in which the words"Gotham" and "Gothamite" are used in New York itwould seem that the real import of the terms is fast sinking 'finto oblivion. To revive their true meaning, it is simplyneedful to state that Gotham lies in the southwest angle of ;,,(Nottinghamshire in England, and is chiefly famed for the'!attempt of its wise men to h~dge in the cuckoo. Accordingto Grose, they still show at Court Hill, in the parish ofGotham, the veritable cuckoo bush, and there exists an 'ancient volume which celebrates the famous doings of the \Solomons of Gotham. ~.A singular illustration of the ubiquity of certain customs ~;is furnished in the Greek phrase " well hit," 2 derived from a fsimple love game which doubtless took its rise in the hoary Iipast. The word "platagon" 3 signifies tbe petal of the .~poppy; lovers were wont to lay it on the left hand or arm,t~ and strike it with the right. If it burst with a loud crash4 ,it was a good omen, and all doubt in the matter removed. la1 KCllJlCII'lfEiOJl. 2 KaA4 371 7raTaj'Eis. 8 ThaTaj'~V. 4 TaTa'YEiv. r\-

If1881.] A CHAPTER ON PROVERBS. 599I have often seen it played in precisely the same form indifferent parts of Germany.lThe old Roman character, the military spirjt of an aggres-sive and .cautious despotism, is graphically portrayed in theLatin of "Forewarned, forearmed," and reaches the climaxof daring ambition in the famous exclamation, "'EitherCa,esar or nothing," 2 or in more familiar idiom: "Either aa man or a mouse." A curious misapplication of the Latin,and direct illustration of the latter part of the lastrnamedEnglish proverb used to be, and possibly still continues tobe, seen on the sign-board of a flash London barber, who notonly tried his own hand at immortalizing himself in this dar-ing motto, but obtained great notoriety for his wonderfulconfusion of vowels and aspirates, having one day irritateda rather bald customer with the remark," Very bad hair,Sir," and being re,quested by the latter in rather expressiveterms to confine himself to the work he had in hand, tried toset things right by the exclamation, "Oh, I meant not theair of your ead, but the hair of the hatmosphere."" There is no unmingled delight," 3 was the Latin form ofthe more poetical English and German vocsions," No rosewithout a thorn"; while "Old birds are not caught withchaff " has the Latin equivalent, " You cannot trap an oldfox." 4 The pithy, '~Wine in, wits out," and the morestately, "What soberness conceals, drunkenness reveals,"ran in Latin more elegantly, " What is in the heart of the30ber is in the mouth of the drunkard." 5 Elegance andstateliness characterize many Latin proverbs, e.g. the follow.ing, which 'alludes to the different garments worn at Romeand is of genuine Roman origin, " I cannot hope for the togawhen I see so mean a garment," 6 signifies " A bad beginning1 See Gothe's Faust, Part i, Garden Scene, where Margaret pursues a similarcourse.s Aut Caesar, aut nullus.8 Nulla est sincera voIuptas.4 Annosa vuIpes non capitur laqueo.6 Quod est in corde sobrii, est in ore ebrii (ct. In vino veritas)..Non possum togam praetextam sperare, quum exordium pullum videam.I600 A CHAPTER ON PROVERBS. [Oct.cannot make a good ending "; the point of contrast being the

toga praetexta, the outer garment with purple borders, wornby the higher magistrates and freeborn children and the ex-ordium pullum, a coarse garmeut of undyed wool used by thelower orders, while the circumstance that exordium denotesalso the begiuning of a thing renders the point still .morepointed. " The pot boils badly" 1 conveyed a similar thoughtin a more homely garb, and intimated that an affair waspoorly progressing, or had a " bad look-out."The tabJe furnishes the following Latin proverbs illustra- .tive of Roman manners. "From eggs to the fruit" 2 denoted"from the beginning to the end," in allusion to the Romanmeals, at which eggs were served first and fruit last. " Thebones for those who are late," 3 from which the French have,with a wider range of application, "Les os sont pour lesabsents," bore upon the case of late comers at a meal, for itwas customary at Rome not to wait for invited guests if thehour fixed for the entertainment had expired, to treat wantof punctuality as an offence, and to assign the leavings to the'laggards. "To raise waves in a ladle " 4 is the Latin origi--nal of two excellent English proverbs," To raise a tempestin a teapot," and "Much ado about nothing." In" Yousing ,the same song " 5 or " Ever the old song" it is not diffi-cult to recognize the familiar saring," To harp on the samestring." Keen sarcasm lurked in the adage, " To strip thenaked of their clothes," 6 in the sense of getting somethingout of one who has nothing, like the English "To draw bloodfrom a stone," the more pithy" skin-flint," and the veryexpressive, but not over .:Jlegant Hibernian " To skin a louse,and send the hide and fat to market." Humor and truthful-ness mark this proverb: "He that cannot hit the donkeystrikes the housil'g," 2 used where persons, unable to find thereal offender, visit his friends or acquaintance with theirhatred.1 Olla male fervet. 2 Ab ovo usque ad mala.8 Tarde venientibus ossa. t Excitare fluctus in simpulo.Ii Cantilenam eandem canis. 6 Vestimenta detrahere nudo.7 Qui asinum non potest, stratum caedit.1881.] A CHAPTER ON PROVERBS. 601A curious instance of an absolute change in the application .of a proverbial phrase is fouLd in the Latin" To be pointedout with the finger," 1 which used to denote " to become dis-tinguished" in a good sense, the person referred to being.pointed out with the finger. Transl~:,ed into French, and of

current use, the same phrase 2 signifies to obtain unenviousnotoriety, to be held up or pointed at in disgrace.Passing from the ancient Romans to the modern occupantsof Italy, who possess a vast treasury of proverbs, not a fewof which reflect the degeneracy which for centuries hasstamped its impress on the people. We may in a generalway characterize them as marked by shrewdness, selfishness, .suspicion, and cowardice, although the nobler impulses ofour nature, tender feelings and the milk of human kindness,couched in beautiful, poetical language, are exhaled by quitea number. As a specimen of the .former may be instancedthe peculiar qualities essential for the successful journeythrough life, as enumerated in this proverb: "To travelsafely through the world a man must have a falcon's eye, anass's ears, an ape's face, a merchant's ~ords, a camel's back,a hog's mouth, and a hart's legs." The thoughtful reader -may picture a state of society in which such a compound ofvillainous accomplishments is. esteemed the necessary outfitfor a prosperous career. '

" A deed done has ,an end " 3 is one of the mischievous sortwhich b~came the signal of the fatal enmities of the Guelphsand Ghibellins. Some further interesting details may befound in D'Israeli's Curiosities of Literature."An old man has the almanac in his body" is the Italianway to describe the ailings of old age; and of an incoherentspeaker the same idiom says that" He gives one knock onthe hoop, another on the barrel."Here are some of their shrewd saws: "Time is a file thatwears and makes no ,noise." " There is never enough .wherenought leaves." "The eyes are the deaf man'a ears."Archbishop Trench gives some of their very worst: "Re-1 Digito monstrari. 2 Be faire montrer au doigt. 8 Cosa fatta capo ha.VOL. XXXVill. No. 152. 76,602 A CHAPTER ON PROVERBS. [Oct. ,venge is a morsel for God"; I and "Revenge of a hUlldred,~years has still its sucking teeth." 2 He also comments on ,this to sh()w that the papacy and Holy Scripture are not 011 "tthe best of terms: "With the gospel one becomes a here-\tic;" 3 which may be compared with this: "Near the church, '\.far from God." 4 On the other hand these which follow are IIisurely worthy Qf all acceptation: "Good preachers give ,~.

: fruits, not flowers." "He distrusts his own faith who oftenswears." "Humility often gains more than pride." "Thepen of the tongue should be dipped in the ink of the heart." \'~, There is honor where there is no shame." "Truth may ,~languish, but can never perish." "Who thinks often of .1death does things worthy of life." 1The sad experience of the people lives in the strong lan-~;guage of these three: "Who knows not how to dissemble "knows not how to reign." "When war begins, hell opens." ",,1"'\1"Who serves at court dies on straw." It is instructive "'r'to add that the same nation which declares that " Peace "would be general if there were neither mine nor thine" 5 .glorifies true friendship in the beautiful saying, " Friends tietheir purses with a spider's thread." 6 To the force of extra- "neous pressure we must prob~bly asc:ibe, " The countenance ~~}open, the thoughts close"; I "A KISS of the mouth often ,,';~touches not the heart." 8 And with this amusing one, warn- I:fing against the dangers of gossip, we take leave of Italy: ~(" .Women and heirs are lost by too much gadding." 9 1The proverbs of Spain are famed for pith, humor, andstateliness, and quite a number marred by very low views of .\woman. Quantitatively they seem to take .the lead, for they .4.,are computed to range between twenty and thirty thousand. V1The high estimate in which tbeyare held by the people is ,expressed by Cervantes through the mouth of his celebrated "1 Vendetta, boccone di Dio. 2 Vendetta di cent' anni ba ancord i lattaiuoli. r8 Con l'evangelo si diventa eretico; or Col Vangelo si pub diventare eretici. f\4 Vicino alIa chiesa, Iontan da Dio. j0 Gran pace savrebe in terra, se non vi fosse il mio, e il tuo. 116 Gli amici legano la borsa con un filo di ragnatelo.7 n viso sciolw, gli pensieri stretti. II Bacio di bocca, spesso cuor non tocca.t Femmine e galline per troppo andar si perdono.Ii1881.] A CHAPTER ON PROVERBS. 603knight, where he tells the squire, " Sancho, I think there isno proverb which is not true, because they are all sentencesdraw? from experience itself, the mother of all sciences."The being all things to all men, not in the apostolic sense,but from want of principle, which often makes one's heartsick, is tersely put in Spanish guise: ".A. friend to everybodyis a friend to nobody"; and admjrable humor marks this

piece of adviee tendered to many in search of callings forwhich they lack the necessary ability: "Be not a baker ifyour head be of butter." 1 The annoyance given by hobby-.riders is well expressed in the quaint petition, " God deliver' me from the man of one book," 2 and those who are apt tocarry jokes too far receive this caution: "Leave a jest whenit pleases you best"; 3 and will do well to ponder Bacon'sremark: "He that hath a satirical vein, as he maketh othersafraid of his wit, so he had need be afraid of others' memory."The disposition sometimes witnessed in dishonest men tomake a show of charity is quaintly put in " Steal a pig, andgive the trotters for God's sake," 4 a.nd the ill reward whichservices rendered to the people often meet is echoed in " Hewho gives to the public gives 'to no one." 5 The dishonestpractices of trade are denounced in" After having cried uptheir wine, they sell us vinegar." 6 In a world where realworth is often unrecognized, and the mere accidents of birth,rank, or wealth as frequently over-estimated, it is pleasant tohear the maxim, "Seek not for a good man's pedjgree." 7The consistency of a good life is praised in "He preacheswell who lives well." 8 .A. long chapter of Spanish historymay be read in the following: "He who would thrive mustfollow the church, the sea, or the king's service " ; 9 and this,1 No seais homers si teneis Is cabezs de msnteca.2 Dios me libre de hombre de un"libro.3 A Is burls, dejarls qus~do mas agrads.4 Hul'tar el pnerco, y dar los pies por Dios.6 Quien hace por com un, hace por ningun.6 Habiendo pregonado vino vender vinagre; or, Pregonar vino, y vendervinagre.7 AI hombre bueno no Ie busques abolengo.8 Bien prediea quien bien vive.U Quien quiere medrar, iglesia, 0 mar, 0 easa real.r~" ~,c,.,604 A CHAPTER ON PROVERBS. [Oct.which is employed to describe a man's useless efforts andunprofitable toil, " To work for the bishop," 1 is by no meanscomplimentary to the Spanish bench. The feelings of the rdiner-out find humorous utterance in " It is a great pleasure ]to eat, and to have nothing to pay" ; 2 an~ many a man has ~.

learned to his cost the disregard of the advice which bids us 11" Sign no paper without reading it, and drink no water with- fl' out looking into it." 3 ,\We have already referred to many ungracious sayings of Ithe Spanish concerning woman. Specimens of the better csort are these: "Advise no man to go to the wars or to 1\marry." "He that marries a widow will often have a dead f: man's head thrown in his dish." '~Beware of a bad woman,and do not trust a good one." "He who marries does well,, but he who marries not does better."Bef~re leaving the Peninsula we. draw fr~m the Portuguese ~~treasury of proverbs the followrng specImens. "A good ;,! table, a ba.a will "4 is applied to improvident extravagance,.followed by the sufferings of the inllocent, and "Michael,; Michael, you keep nobles, alld sell honey" 5 to extravagance., that cannot be honestly accounted for. Grumblers and em- "; plOJ ~rs that are hard to please are, not in over-civil language, r: addressed in "Better have a bad ass than be your own ass."6 -(:. That the popular mind of Portugal entertains no very exalted ~opinion of the medical profession is clear from this couple:" The blunders of physicians are covered by the earth," 7 and"Bleed him, purge him, or, if he die, bury him." 8French proverbs and proverbial phrases are ve"v numer-ous, and in many instances exhibit a striking resemblallce in ~,spirit and diction tQ English ones, mostly, however, with the (national ch~ract.er very distinctly i~pressed, e,.g. the; English .("The receIver IS as bad as the thIef" run..; In the FreIIch "1 Trabajar para el obispo. I Gran plB£er, no escotar y comer. -(8 Ni firmes carta que no leas, ni beb as aqua que no veas. l'4 Boa mCZR, mao testamento. .1\6 Miguel, Mignel, naB ten8 abelbas, e vendes mel '! ",'/ 6 Mais val ruim asno, que ser asno, 7 Os erros dos medicos a terra os cobre.S S:mgrai-o, purgai-o, e se morrer, enterrai-o.'\~"t1881.] A CHAPTER ON PROVERBS. 605idiom, "He that holds the sack is as guilty ~s he who fillsit ; "1 and, the homely phrase, "One shoulder of muttondraws down another," appears in the French, "Eating givesappetite." 2Although the French are proverbially polite and uncom-

monly skilful in the confectionery of words, many of their .speeches do not give us a very exalted idea of the positionthey assign- to the fair sex. Here are some that are sugar-coateG: "Take a woman's first advice, not the second," 3which may be construed as a tribute to their intuitive sagac-

ity, while this which follows may be taken as a complimentto their discretion: " A" good woman has neither ears noreyes." 4 The fondness of. our French sisters for dress andtheir skill in husbanding niggard nature is somewhat bitterly .expressed in "'She looks beautiful by candle-light, but the .day spoils it all," 5 and the exped~nt of paris~n and otherhotel keepers to make their customers liberal 1 their pota- .tions and generous in their expenditure is wit a touch ofmelancholic expression alluded to in "A handsome hostess isbad for the purse," 6 of which we have the more homelyEnglish form, " The fairer the hostess the fouler the reckon-ing." But as decidedly bad and yet illustrative of the socialstatus of women in France we pronounce this: "The henmust not cackle before the cock crows." 7 It seems ratherdisagreeably to emphasize the muscular superiority of thesterner sex; still that is tenderness compared with the cyni-cal "A man cf straw is worth a woman of gold." 8! It is doubtful whether France or Scotland be the originalt' ..home of "Fools make feasts, and wise men eat them." 91 Autant peche celni qui tient Ie sac, que celui qui met dedans.2 L'appetit vient en mangeant.8 Prends Ie premier conseil d'nne femme, et non Ie second. This proverb.almost verbatim, I have found in an old collection of Chinese proverbs..La femme de bien n'a ni youx ni oreilles.6 Elle est belle a la cbandelle, mais Ie jonr gate tout.6 Belle hOtesse est un mal pour la bourse.7 La poule ne doit pas chanter avant Ie coq.B Un homme de paille vaut une femme d'or.9 Les foua font la fete. et les sages la mangent.-, -ii.606 A CHAPTER ON PROVERBS. [Oct. trKelly, who. g.ive~ ~t in his collection, adds ~hat this proverb :f

}was once IllJudlclonsly repeated to a hospItable Scotchmanon the occasion of an entertainment, who resented the im- 'Ipertinence with the stinging reply, "True; but wise men J: i)'mal\:e proverbs, and fools repeat them."1~" There are a large number of proverbial phrases and similesrri: the use and application of which appear to be well under- I'stood, although their origin is very perplexing. The threewhich follow belong to that class. "To return to one's ~wethers;" or ~, sh~ep," 1 applied to the resumption of an in-' ~~terrupted theme, IS a phrase not tra.ceable, so far as I have rbeen ~ble to discover, to a s?urce p.I"ior to the far~e of Pierre,!Patelm, where a merchant, III a Slit brought agarnst a shep-herd for sheep-steal.'ug, repeatedly wandered from the sub-fject by referring to SO'lle cloth of which a lawyer had robbed ' 'f\.him. His discursiveness was very annoying to the judge, ~who at every new departure impatiently exclaimed, " Return tf" to your sheep! "The phrase," He is as malicious as a red ass," 2 at thefirst hearing an incredible and seemingly inexplicable state- .ment of natural history, reveals its meaning and solves the rmystery when we learn that in old French rouge " red" sig- ..lnifies " malicious." ~This peculiar use of the word "red" reminds me of a ~:;similar employment of the word "black" by an ignorantl: class-leader, who in the excitement of an extempore prayer ;offered the petition, " 0 Lord, convert the biggest black here ~present." !"To lie like a tooth-puller," 8, used of prodigious story- '«i;'tellers, will doubtless be repudiated by moder,n dentists, andrespecially by our matchle$s American dentists, as a vile :slander of their ca]ling, yet it originated in the habit of their ""' IFrench predecessors of a!)suring their patients that the~extraction of a tooth (at a time when. the inhalation 9f g~s I;:was unknown) was a painless operatIon. The old race IS ~{1 Revenir i\ ses moutons. 2 II est mechant comme un aue rouge.f8 Mentir comme un arracheur de dents.\.IL- ,,"_."---...,. '" c ",,4~~.."1881.] A CHAPTER ON PROVERBS. 607 \

probably somewhat maligned in the simile, if all they meanttv convey was that it was painless to them; but the apology,though ingenious and charitable, can hardly acquit them of asuppressio veri or a suggestio falsi.An essentially maritime proverb is," To embark withoutbiscuit," 1 used o~ improvident people that rush into ventureswithout attending to the most essential conditions necessaryto their success." Empty barrels make most noise " 2 denotes that ignorantpeople talk most and loudest, which reads in Spanish, " Totalk without thought is to fire without an aim."A very beautiful and truly Christian sentiment is hiddenin this apparently homely garb: "The light that goes beforeis better. than that which follows after"; 3 the good worksdone during a man's life-time light his path to heaven more" effectually than the legacies he may leave in his will. Noris this one inferior in truthfulness:" Misfortune is good forsomething" ; 4 signifying that it is a good man's part to turnhis troubles to profitable account. Far different in ethicalvalue, though illustrative of the selfishness of the race, isthis: " We all have strength enough to bear the woes ofothers." 6The' French call a man who breaks his word a Norman,and say proverbially, ".A. Norman's word is not binding." 6This reproach owes its origin to an old usage of Normandythat contracts, though signed, are not valid until twenty-fourhours after their signatnre, dnring which time it ts lawfulfor either party to retract. In connection with this proverbI have seen the following anecdote: .A. man offered hisprayer, and said," 0 Lord, thou hast promised to help us inour troubles; thou wilt keep' thy promise, for thou art not aNorman."1 S'embarquer sans biscuit.2 Les tonneaux vides sont ceux qui font Ie plus de bruit.s La chandelle qui va devant, vaut mieux que celie qui va derriere.4 A quelque chose malheur est bon.6 Nous avonstous assez de force pour supporter les malheurs d'autrui.0 Un Norman a son dit et son dedit.I.608 A CHAPTER ON PROVERBS. [Oct. I,Much shrewdness marks these, with which we bid adieu to

French proverbs: "After-wit is everybody's wit." 1 "A goldenkey opens all kinds of locks." 2 "Drop by drop fills the rcellar ." 3 "When everybody minds well his own business.the cows are well taken care of." 4. "To-day a king, to-mor- lJrow ~othing." 5. "The longest day must have an end." 6 ~!"A stmgy man IS always poor." 7 ~VThe store of proverbs and proverbial phrases in German is WIinexhaustible. Let the reader judge from the changes rung~on the word "apple." "The apple does not fall far from (\the stem," 8 denoting that like produces like~ that children t1'partake of the nature of their parents. " Red apples also do .'rot," 9 i.e. appearances deceive, things are not what they ,seem. "One bad apple spoils a hundred," 10 to mark the ...finfluence of a bad example. "Apples with wrinkles do not }\rot soon,"]1 to indicate that weakness or delicacy are often ~.preventives of decay. "Sweet apples are apt to be over- ~1:"'" looked by the keeper," 12 to denote the selfishness or dis- ,honesty that reserves the best for its own u~e. " To eat a :sour apple with a smile" 13 is the German for the French"To put a good face on foul play," 14 and the English " To c'swallow a bitter pill." "To look like an apple" 15 describes a iwlhealthy' appearance, and " To sit behind the stove, and roast ~iapples "16 is certainly a graphic picture of an idle, unprofit- ctable life. The first two letters furnish two capital proverbs: if" He that says A should also say B," 17 importing that as we ~t;begin so should we continue a matter, not recede from it if it 1-1 Tout Ie monde est sage apres coup. ~S La clef d'or ouvre toutes sortes de serrures. :i,8 Goutte a. goutte on rempiit Is cave. '!"4 Quand chacun se mele de son metier, les vacbes sont bien garde-ego0 Aujourd'hui roi, demain rien.8 n n'est si grand jour, qui ne vienne a vepre. 7 Homme chiche, jamais riche., 8 Der Apfel mIlt nicht weit yom Stamme. 9 Rothe Aepfel sind auch faul.10 Ein fauler Apfel steckt hundert an.n Ein Apfel der run zeIt, fault nicht bald.IS Es sind BUSse Aepfel die der Huter iibersieht. I13 Zum sauern Apfel ein susses Gesichtchen machen.i.lll 14 Faire bonne mine au mauvais jeu. 15 Wie ein Apfel aussehen.16 Hinterm Of en sitzen und Aepful braten. 17 Wer A sagt, muss auch B sagen. :! !tl{'~,;£

"~..,~ 1881.] A CHAPTER ON PROVERBS. 609 \; involve unforeseen difficulties; and" He knows neither theI A nor the B of a thing," 1 i.e. he has not the least knowledger of it. "To have a board before one's mouth" 2 is said of,.persons who remain silent when they ought to speak, and..To fall with the door into the hotJse" 3 significantly de-,;': scribes want of tact, and clumsiness, especially in communi-/ cations that require caution and judgment. "Large and~ empty, like the Heidleberg tun," 4 is a strictly local proverbiwhich refers to the monster tun shown in the castle of that; city, made in 1751, with a capacity of 4,900 gallons, and isby no means complimentary to the massive dunces to whom, it is applied. "Dr. Luther's shoes do not fit every villageparson "6 is sarcastically said of th.ose preachers who paradevery poor thou~ht in strong language, or attempt flightsbeyond their reach. " Where nothing is found the emperor ,,has lost his right " 6 is used to show the uselessness of press- ).,.~, ing claims against those who lack all means to honor them. 11"[" Who courts the company of the good grows good himself "7 ,iasserts in positive form a scriptural maxim,s and a Greek ,'Iproverb quoted in ~cripture,9 which can~ot be too strongly '.ic~1 urged upon the notIce of all men, but c~Iefly on that of the ; Ii~ young. "Do not spur a free horse "10 IS a golden rule for :"1j, masters, warning them against overtaxing ~illing an? useful 1:'iworkmen. "He that walks backward carrIes water Into the ', devil's kitchen" 11 is a proverb originating in an old popular 1, superstition that walking backward is unlucky, but founded.after all on common sense, for one that walks backward can-not see what is in the way, and therefore is apt to come to~ grief. The saying affirms a still loftier truth when applied1 Er weiss wedel A noch B davon zu sagen.2 Eiu Brett VOl dem Mundhaben. 3 Mit del Thiire in's Haus fallen.4 Gross und leer wie daB Heidelberger Fass,f~ 6 Doctor Luther's Schuhe sind nicht alien Dorfpredigem recht.";k 8 W 0 Nichts ist, hat del Kaiser sein Recht verloren; cr. the Latin: "Ad im.'i 'b'

lbl't"~" poSSI Ie Demo 0 19a ur.t~ T Wer mit gute~ r.,euten umgeht, wird gut. 8 Proverbs xiii. 20.if9 Evil communIcations corrupt good manners.c 10 Ein willig Pferd darf man nicht anspornen.11 Wer hinter sich geht, tragt dem Teufel Wasser in die Kuche.V OL. XXXVIII. No. 152, 77I" "t~c ,;rL "i,fi"!)",610 A CHAPTER ON PROVERBS. [Oct.to the realm of ethics and cultnre. "The master's eye ,i"vmakes the .horses sleek" 1 (fo?nd in Plutarch) .denotes that ~tra matter IS apt to succeed If we look after It ourselves. 'OJ\" Every fool is pleased with his own cap" 2 is applied to per-sons who are unduly elated by their belongings or conceitedwith their merits. "On~ donkey call~ another' long-ears'"or " One donkey calls another' sack-carrier' "8 illustrates thefrequent foible of people detecting. and denouncing in othersthe blemishes and shortcomings which to an equal, if not agreater, exteut belong to themselves.Of the wide range of German proverbial lore the following,sufficiently clear without further comment, will give a fairidea. "To postpone is not to annul." 4 "A broken liukspoils the chain." 6 "Haste does seldom profit." 6, "Onecrow does ~ot pick another's eye." 7 "Build a bridge to itflying foe." 8 "A lenn agreement is better than a fat law-suit." 9 " Straight forward is the nearest road." 10 "Thehigher the tree the heavier the fall." 11 "Sweep first yourown floor." 12 " No reply is a reply." 18 " Praise not the fair-est day before it is night." 14 "Doing right is doing much." 16"Unthanks is the world's reward." 16 "Do right, and fearnaught." 17 "Sell not the skin before you have caught thebear." 18 "If a donkey is too well off he goes to dance onthe ice." 19 The last named proverb is a sarcastic descriptionof those who, discontented with a reasonable prosperity, rush1 Des Herren Augemacht die Pferde fett. 2 Jedem Narren gefli.llt seine Kappe.

.3 Ein Esel heisst den andern Langohr, or Sacktrager.

.Anfgehoben ist nicht aufgeschoben.-i Bricht ein Ring so reisst die gauze Kette. 6 Eile thut selten gut.7 Eine Krihe kratzt der Auderen die angen nicht aus.s Einem iliehenden Feinde muss man eine Briicke bauen..Ein ma",aerer V ergleich ist besser als ein fetter Process.10 Geradezu ist der nichste Weg. "t11 Je grosser der Baum desto schwerer der Fall. i12 Kehre erst vor deiner Thiir. 18 Keine Antwort ist auch eine Antwort. 1!~14 Man muss den schonsten Tag nicht vcr dem Abend loben. ,ji"i;!c"16 Recht g-ethan ist vie! gethan. 16 Undank ist der Welt Lohn. ,~"17 Thne recht, scheue Niemand. !i;,18 Verkaufe das Fell nicht, ehe du den B~ren hast. fF .0-9 Wenn es dem Esel zu wohl wird, geht er auf's Eis tanzen. ~1~;1...~, '"C.c..l..I~,'~:~:,~' 1881.] A CHAPTER ON PROVERBS. 611 \; I into ventures of doubtful issue. " He that comes last makes~ all fast "1 is applied to the selfishness which in unconcern~leaves the ultimate settlement of a difficulty to those thatcome a~ter, a very common occurence in the management ofmunicipal or corporate affairs. The rhymed proverb," Twocats and one mouse, two women in one house, two dogs and,\ one bone, are seldom at one," 2 appears to be peculiar to Ger..;I many.~~ Before we take leave of German proverbs it may be inter-, esting to note as to the curious way in which proverbs gaincurrency, that the composition of proveI:bial phrases, maxims,-sentences, etc., on a vast variety of subjects, engaged for~ many ~ear~ the attention of Gothe, and yet of the thousandsf' found ill hIS works only very few have become household",! words. ,j..;, It is not necessary to say much of English proverbs, as ~~lIi. we m~y SUPPOSf) them to be. familiar to most o~ the reade.rs 11'.of thIS paper. They are very numerous, and In force, WIt, :.,and humor, as well as moral worth, will hold their own j

..; against those of any other nation. Quite a number of them ,11r.'~ we have already considered in the way of comparison and i 1f illustration, but those which follow may serve as samples as .:.[" to range and spirit. And this seems the place to say that i.JI have been guided in my choice of the proverbs given by the (, maxim to select only good ones, and the absence (except in j: the way of censure) of positively immoral, wicked, vulgar, j:I I: coarse, and bad ones in this paper must not be construed as '1, importing their non-existence; they are altogether too boun-If tiful i~ al! t~e collections. that I .have examined! but I did, not thInk It rIght or expedIent to cIrculate base corn.~: Soinething has already been said concerning the great dif-ficulty in tracing proverbs to their origin; the ground isalmost unbroken, and in comparatively only few instances1. may it be done with any degree of certainty. Archbishop'"'1 Der Letzte macht die Thiire zu..~ Zwei Katzen und eine Maus, zwei Weiber in einem Haus, zwei Hunde aneinem Hein, kommen selten iiberein.,i612 A CHAPTER ON PROVERBS. [Oct.Trench, e.g. has no doubt that "Make hay while the sunshines " is truly English, on the ground that it could havebeen born only under such variable skies as those of Eng-land. He qualifies his statement afterwards, but he was, possibly not aware that the German version of this'proverbis couched in the identical words, and it becomes of course a l,1question whether England or Germany be the land of itsbirth} There is certainly the genuine English ring in " Outof sight, out of mind," but it is German for all that,2 as it is , !found in Thomas a Kempis (A.D. 1380-1471), the older ;'" ,\English form being," Seldom seen, soon forgotten,". and I ];doubt the English character of that. ' " Many a slip betweenthe cup and the lip" sounds Saxon enough, but it is a Greek :~4proverb; while" Love me, love my dog " is an importationfrom France, though of Latin origin. "The wish is father J1cto the thought " may be traced back to Aeschylus (B.C. 500), ~J" One swallow does not make a spring" is found in Aristotle .,f((B,C. 350), and "Silence gi:es consent ". in Euripides (B.C, J~:{~

450). The popular expressIon," There IS but a step fromthe sublime to the ridiculous," was a favorite with Napa- ,leon I., but occurs in Longinus (A.D. 250). The Shake- :fspearian phra~e, " Conscience does make cowards of us a~l," ;ia\may be read ill Menander (B.C. 342-291). The translatIon '-from Horace (Ep. i. 18),8 "A word once spoken flies, neverr:'~.'to be recalled," was taken from the same Greek author." Better late than never" was used by Dionysius Halicarn~B~C., 7). "Jack of all trades and master of none '.' is found ':~;t:ill Plato. T~e phrase, " Few men are heroes to theIr valets," -: jthough credIted to Madame de Cornuel and Madame de ~fS~vign~, is found in Montaigne, who might have seen it 't'eitner in Plutarch or Plato. Gothe's view of the p.roverb is ;\1decidedly different from the .common acceptation. He ac- ':counts for the fact by saying that it requires a hero to judge !,a hero, while valet~ as a rule have only the aptitude to judge. j1 Heu macben wiihrend die Sonne scbeint. -German.i~l 2 Aus den Augen, aus dem Sinn. '8 Et semel emissum volat irrevocabile verbum. ' .I 1 "Il!I1 "-~III1881.] A CHAPTER ON PROVERBS. 613valets. "Hope is but the dream of those that wake" isascribed by two Greek authors respectively to Aristotle andPlato. The proverbial quotation from Pope that "Foolsrush in where angels fear to tread," is probably framed onj the Shakespearian model that "Wrens make prey whereeagles dare not perch." "God helps them that help them-selves," a favorite proverb of Franklin, is found in La Fon-, taine, and may be traced up to Sophocles~ "Where igno-rance is bliss 'twere folly to be wise," made current by Gray,seems but a later version of Prior's couplet," From ignorance our comfort flows,The only wretched are the wise."

The proverb, "Hell is paved with good intentions," is as-cribed by Francis de Sales to St. Bernard.Most of those which follow have currency as Englishproverbs, but whether they are Englisp-born must remainmatter of inquiry. -" All's well that ends well." "Almost.and very nigh saves many a lie." "Church work goes onslowly."" Everybody's business is nobody's business.""Faint heart never won a fair lady" (Latin 1). "Featherby feath~r the goose is plucked." "God sends meat, 'and thedevil sends cooks." "Haste makes waste, and waste makeswant, and want makes strife between the good man and hiswife." " Lawyers don't love beggars." "Many a true wordis sPQken in jest.". "No smoke without some fire." "Nofool like an old fool." " Oil and truth will get uppermost atlast." "One half of the world knows not how the otherhalf lives." Of the last we know that it was used as aFrench proverb by Rabelais (A.D. 1495-1550). The genuineEnglish origin of this, at least, is beyond doubt: "Shake abridle over a Yorkshire man's grave, and he'll rise, andsteal a horse." "The atheist has got one point beyond thedevil." "For ill do well, then fear no hell." "If everyone would mend one, all would be mended" (an adaptationfrom the Frenchl). "Speak the truth, and shame the devil.""The best physicians are Dr. Diet, Dr. Quiet, and Dr. Mer-1 800 above p. 608, note 4. ,I614 A CHAPTER ON PROVERBS. [OCt.ryman" (a translation from the Latin 1). "Change ofweather is the discourse of fools," quoted in an old collec-tion on husbandry and weather, is a proverb the wi,sdom andtruth of which do not seem to commend themselves to man-kind in general,. for many people would deem it a greathardship to have that theme of conversation tabooed.Considering the close political relations between Englandand Scotland, the proverbs of the latter country might, in-deed,. be, i.nclud~d among those of. the fo.rmer but for ~ertain IipeculIaritIes whIch stamp them WIth an Impress of theIr own. \fThey are very numerous, and in most instances pointed, humor- .'~ous, and canny. "A. good tale is na the waur to be twice?told," as all may learn by reading some of the inimitablestories in Dean Ramsay's charming book. ,. A gude word isas soon said as an ill one." "A mon is weel 0 wae as hethinks himself sae." "Better keep the de'el out than turn ,(

him out." "Gie ne'er the wolf the wether to keep." "Giea dog an ill name, and he'll soon be hanged." "Great bark-ers are nae biters." "He that cheats me anes, shame fa'him; if he cheats me twice, shame fa' me." "He's worthnae weel that can bide nae woe." "Honesty's nae pride.""A pin a day is a groat a year." "Better spared than illspent." "He that canna mak sport should mar nane.", "Keep something for a sair fit." "Play's gude while it isplay." "Many blame the wife for their ~in thriftless life.""If ~arriages are made in heaven some have few friends

there." And in conclusion this truly characteristic one:" , God send me some mo~ey, for they are little thought ofthat want it,' quoth the Earl of Engleton at prayers."In this connection a few (\aelic proverbs may not be outof place as singularly descriptive of the people and the landof their birth. "A. man may live upon little, but he cannotlive upon nothing at all." "A salmon from the pool, a wandfrom the wood, and a deer from the hills are thefts which noman can be ashamed to own." "One dog is better by an-I " Si tibi defieiant medici tibi fiantHaec tria: mens laeta, requies, moderata dioeta.".,,"":~;{'I,,:ji~);'"'1'r '," ": ;,0 "'""*:'"1881. J A CHAPTER ON PROVERBS. 615 )W~,,;i:~~~ther ~og being "hanged." "The oldes~ man that ev~r };'i'~i(. lIved dIed at last. "You cannot tell a pIebald horse untIl ;'rlyou see him." "Truth has always a fast bottom." " Keep *;~ a thing seven years, and you will find a use for it." , ,jRetracing our steps to the East through northern climes,we pick up in Flanders this one of an obstinate man: " Youmight sooner rob Hercules of his club than convince him" .1,and these in Holland: "Don't cry' herring' till they are inthe net" ; 2 "Time is God's and ours"; 3 "Fools ask whato'clock it is, but wise men know their time." 4 This one 11shows that Holland is not a good field for Latin missionary "*~"

I~j efforts: "The farther from Rome, the nearer to God"; 5 ' ,~lwhile in "Fortune lost, nothing lost; courage lost, much \:\...11j ; lost; honor lost, more ~os~; soul ~ost, all lost," ~ there is a ,f);1 healthy tone of true Ch:IstIan manlmess.. I ~i~(" .From ~enmark we gIve these samples: "A chIld's sorrow :1 'ii'IS short-lIved"; "Make thyself an ass, and every man's sack 'I l{will he on thy shoulders" intimates the imprudence of undue :.iservility; "Give alms that thy children may not ask them" t '!! exalts the blessedness of charity, while " SO give to-day that J." thou shalt be able to give to-morrow" enforces the necessity II~ .t of its judicious exercise. ;~,4 Russia gives us the following: "Better sit with a wise 1:.J{~, man in prison than with a fool in paradise." 7 "Measure ;,i thy cloth ten times: thou canst cut it but once" enforces i,~, the admirable lesson drawn from daily life that haste is full "i of dangers, and reminds us of ~he Latin to ., Hasten with !leisure." 8 And this, "The burden is light on another's~ shoulders," may be compared with a remark made before inconnection with the proverb about dentists, as well as the1 Men ZO:1 eerder den Kolf uyt de handen van Hercules rukken, sIs hem teovertuygen.2 Roept geen baring eer hij in't net is. 3 De tijd is san Goden RaUB.4 De gekken vragen nsar de kJok, maar de wijzen weten hnnLentijd.6 Hoe verder van Rom hoe nader bij God.6 Goed verloren, niet verloren; mood verloren, veel verloren; eer verloren,meer ,-erloren; zicl yerloren, al verloren.7 See above p. 609, notes 7, 8, 9. 8 Festina lente.-I.., ,I ~'.;t616 A CHAPTER ON PROVERBS. [Oct.German phrase," It is all very well for you to say so,)' 1 thereply of one who has just listened to an unsatisfactory pieceof consolation, and importing that it is easier to console andcondole than to remove our neighbor's troubles, that there isa certain amount of hardship we must always endure our-selves. The fol~ ,:,wing is a very beautiful Russian poeticalproverb on death, " Two hands upon the breast, and labor ispast," introduced and nationalized by Miss Mulock :

., Two hands upon the breast,And labor's done;Two pale feet crossed in rest,The race is won."Little acquainted as we still are with the enormous volumeof Asiatic literature in general, arid folk-lore, compreheudingproverbs, in particular, there is little doubt that the tl'Uehome and source of many proverbs must be sought in theOrient. There are some good collections of Eastern prov-erbs, from which, as well as from miscellaneous quarters, Ihave culled the following samples. Beginnin.g here with thefar East, Japan furnishes, "A fog cannot be dispelled with afan," t(J denote that a great enterprise cannot be accom-"';"{' , plished without commensurate means, and its imagery is J,vivid from the fogs which prevail in Japan, and the universal .~..-:custom of the people to carry fans. To the same country or W[to China belongs" :l'here are no fans in hell." The elder ~D'I~raeli; who c~1aracterizes many notions of the Chi~ese as .Ii' ,declde<Uy " archItectural," e-xtends that remark to thIS prov- \erb: "A grave and majestic outside is, as it were, the palace ,of the soul." The same might be said of " Towers are meas- !~1'ured by their shadows, and great m~n by their slanderers.""He conducts an argument with three ears" appears to begenuine. Chinese, and is applied to the maintaining of para-doxes, said to have originated with the philosopher SungTung (B.C. 114), who taught that man had three ears, twowithout and one within. "Happy the man who knows hisgood fortune" is illustrated by the Eastern comment that a1 Du bast gut sprecb 1.4I,...",","! ,1881.J A CHAPTER ON PROVERBS. 617 l!man who rode a mule; and saw a horseman ahead, and ex-, claimed, " How much better is that man's state than mine,"but turning back beheld a number of pedestrians with heavyburdens to carry, and grew content. The naive and ruralpoetry of ,. In a field of melons tie not thy shoe, under a plumtree adjust not thy cap" enjoins not only the proprieties,but furnishes good reasons. " Better a diamond with a flawII than a pebble without one " is chosen by Trench as the text of .

I' a little homily on the character of David.~~ As oriental without a specifically established nationality~tmay be named " The wise man knows the fool, hut the fool.." does not know the wise man." " He who feels it is miserable" once, but twice he who fears it before it come" is the Asiatict form for saying that" borrowing evil" is as unwise as it is' unmanly. "The bread which the wicked secretes [having 1stolen it] turns to dust in his mouth." It is said that Bona- :(icparte emp~o~ed this proverb in a conversation he had. with II., the muphtI III the sepulchral chamber of the pyramId of ~.. .Cheoi1s. "Stretch not thy hand so far that thou canst not :, ' idraw it back without danger." 1/The glow of tropical. imagery ~arks this from Ceylon: 'I" The man that has receIved a beatIng from a firebrand runs :1" away at sight of a firefly" ; whicl. J~ clearly on a par with the .).(1Rabbinical saying, " He that hath been bitten by a serpent is .afraid of a rope," and may be compared with Gothe's maxim, j"A burnt child dreads the fire; an old man that has often jbeen singed dreads to warm himself." The Bengalese prov- 1erp, " He who gives blows is a master, he who gives none isa dog,," strikingly portrays the degraded condition of a peo..p]e smarting under the oppression of Mogul despotism.To describe the ultimate recognition o~ a man's merits, fora time concealed, the Persian proverb prettily says, "A stonethat is fit for the wall is not left in the way." The sternreality of life is expressed in " Of four thilIgs every man hasmore than he knows: of sins, of debts, of years, and of foes."Bitter sarcasm lurks in " '!'he palace of health is the palace ofdeath," for hospitals, called in Persia "palaces of healtll,"V QL. xxxvm No.] 52. 78,618 A CHAPTER ON PROVERBS. [OCt.are quite numerous, but the mollahs that serve them are sogree.rJy and selfish that they refuse to the patients thesmallest comforts or necessaries, and so bring about the ter- .rible charge of the proverb. The statement of a writer inthe Contemporary Review (February, 1879) shows that thereare hospitals in London served by such English mollahs."Alms are the salt of wealth; without them it perisheth" isa proverb that rises to the dignity of a Christian precept (seeLuke xii. 2-:1, etc.), and a melancholy truth is uttered in" The more wealth you leave to your heirs the ~ess they will

regret you."The Turkish collections enumerate these, of which some,at least, seem to be of Arab birth. " Riches in the Indies,wit in Europe, pomp among the Ottomans." "Death is ablack camel that kneels at every man's gate." "Curses, likechickens, come home to roost." "It is not by saying,, honey, honey,' that sweetness enters the mouth." " WhatGod has written on thy heart is sure to come to pass" is un- .:'mistakably Turkish fatalism, while " Friendship is measl.:red I,by the ton, trade by the grain" redounds to the honor {;If the ~i,popular heart. "g, ,The nuinber of Arabic proverbs is very great. Many are ,icynical and sarcastic, but. quite a number resemble in diction .!ir~fand thought the Solomomc proverbs. Of the first class these It-which follow may serve as samples. " Let not your tongue Ifcut your throat" is a decidedly expressive homily on the dan- Wgers of licentious speech. "The barber learns to shave on Ii;" .the orphan's face," or as it runs in another version, " In t}le ~\ ,head of an orphan the surgeon obtaineth knowledge for him- '!\self," is a proverb wh~ch circulates in many languages, and:>teaches the truth tl1at the experience necessary to proficiencyin a trade is often acquired at their expense who allow them-selves to be experimented upon; or, if the second reading be.adopted. that proficiency is obtained not without injury tothe helpless and unprotected. The bitter sneer on woman forwhich the sayings of polygamous races are notorious lurks inthese two: "If all men should become wise the w' .rld wouldi., ..';c..1881.] A CHAPTER ON PROVERBS. 619soon be depopulated," i.e. there would be no marriages; and" Ma riage is like a besieged fortress: those without want toget in, and those within want to get out." An Arab's modeof saying that "Like begets like:" is "A camel kneelethdown in the place of a camel." The cynicism of the childrenof the desert in " The world is a carcase, and tbey who seekit are dogs," loses none of its force when the habits and esti-mate of oriental dogs are taken into account. The thoughtsof a nomadic race and the seclusion of a tent life seem per-ceptible in "The best companion to pass away time is abook." "Sound the depth of a water ere thou plunge into

it." "A ruler without justice is a river without water.""He that ca. not tell good from evil. must be joined withbeasts." The mind of the slave-trader is heard in " Whats~ever is in the hands of a servant belongeth to his master," Iand the tradition of Islam in "Mahomet did not go to Shiras :1lest the women of the country should shut against him the :I!gate of pal'adise," the meaning being that their beauty would ciJcompel him to relax the disabilities of the Koran. ';Of the loftier sort, resembling the matchless collection of 'iJbiblical proverbs, are, " The beginning of wisdom is the fear. ifof God"; "He that honoreth his father prolo~geth his i;:days"; "Robbery taketh away much wealth"; "Be content j."with what God giveth, and thou shalt be rich;" and" Do 'good if you desire others to do good to you."But of all the proverbs of the Orient none can compare innumber and ethical worth with the comparatively uno'" .oiled'mine of the proverbial lore of the Hebrews. The referencehere is not to the proverbs r-.nbodied in the Bible, but tothose in the apocryphal books of the Wisdom of SolomoQandEcclesiasticus, the Pirge Abhoth, the Mishna, and t~e Tal-mud. it would lead us too far to attempt the production ofspecimens beyond two or three, but if we could get all the .proverbs contained in those works collected and arranged ina Corpus Proverbiorum, it would probably excel all existingcollections, and doubtless unlock the secret of the origin of avast number of proverbs which for centuries have circulated-f -620 A CHAPTER ON PROVERBS. [Oct.among the nations of Asia, Europe, and Africa. The fourproverbs which follow are taken at random, but may serveour present purpose: "A nod for the wise, a rod for thefool "; "A camel in Media dances in a little cab," a pro-verbial falsehood to intimate the prodi: ,ious character of apreposterous one; "Do not dwell in a city whose govern?ris a physician"; and "In my own city my name, in astrange city my clothes, procure me respect."In this place I can only make a passing remark on theBook of Proverbs in the Bible, but that remark will not beimpaired by its brevity when I unhesitatingly affirm that itis in every respect superior to all existing collections, sosuperior in fact as to lie almost infinitely beyond the reachof all comparison. It is undoubtedly the best, the purest,the wisest, and most useful treasury of proverbial literature,

and on that account the best directory" of everyone's activelife and social demeanor."Quite a number of proverbs, and some of profane. origin,are found in other portions of the Bible. Three among the old-est are the following: "Even as Nimrod the mighty hunterbefore the Lord" (Gen. x. 9); " Skin for skin; yea, all that ';c.a man hath will he give for his life" (Job ii. 4); "Wicked- }~; .ness proceedeth from the wicked" (1 Sam. xxiv. 13); and ithese three are cited by our Lord: "Physician, heal thyself"I (Luke iv. 23); "Wheresoever the carcase is there -vill the jea '~les be gathered together" (Matt. xxiv. 28); and "It is ;;~..char\. for thee to kick against the pricks" (Acts xxvi. 4). t~.The \ast, though current in Palestine, may be found in '.A(;!ichylus, Euripides, and Pindar.I cannot .conclude this article .without a brief reference to i~good AmerIcan proverbs. Convrnced that there must be agreat number of SlICh, I am sorry that I have not been ableto find man!. Tho\Jgh much has been done by Bartlett and.Schele de Vere with respect to Americanisms, a collection ofgood American proverbb remains a desidei'atum, -I say,proverbs good qualitatively Sl.s to moral worth, of genuineAmerican growth. "Ambition is as hollow as the soul of an.i1\'1"'1" \ , i;..I!;tl ".1881.] A CHAPTER ON PROVERBS. 621 ~~.J echo" I.understand is such.a one. "You p~id too dear for ni~1your ~hIstle," though good III another se.nse~ IS genuin.e Amer.i- Jii~~can; It alludes to t~e st~ry told by BenJamI~ Franklm of hIS )'[11I nephew, who set hIs mmd on the posseSSIon of a common (!y)\lit whistle, which he bought of a boy at four tImes its value. Ail;.As to its application we have Franklin's own account: "The ,1~f~" ambitious who dance attendance on court, ilie miser who i;vll,\ gives this world and the next for gold, the libertine who :rlt" "f", ruins his health for pleasure, the girl who marries a brute :~Ic" ' for m?ney, all pay too much for ~heir whi.stle." .As genu~ne '(,,'~iJ AmerIcan are also named: "BIg feet, lIke a leather shIrt, Y','.*1are more for use thdn for ornament"; Abraham Lincoln's ",,!~1~"""'1cautiol., " Do not swop horses when crossing a stream "; on .(:(,;

Captain Love's authority, "Yankees and weasels ain't often :~i:caught napping," and on that of Mr. Slick, "Nicknames ,,~f'"s~ick to people, and th? most ridiculous are ~he ~ost adhe- ,.4 ! "'j:tSIve" are probably entitled to the same natIonalIty. The, 1 ;following similes are also vouched for as genuine: "As quick .Jas greased lightning"; "As crooked as a Virginia fence " ; ..,~'".As tight as the bark of a tree "; "As proud as a tame tur- i, 'key"; "As useless as whistling psalms to a dead horse." 'If,y All these, and two of the proverbs, I have found in Bartlett; o';r I~ but there must be a great many more. And now, gentle :f,! reader, if the perusal of this paper have, as I fain hope,t, afford.ed thee instruction and .entertainment, and th?u re-o if' member some real good AmerIcan proverbs, pray oblIge by 0 ,t' sending them to the writer.,"r",' f'~'" .",',, ~