Proverb Lore Part 4

The "objection" raised by this anonymous disciple of Mrs Grundy is that "it is more proper for a person of your profession to imploy himself in reading of, and commenting on, the Proverbs of Solomon, to know wisdome and instruction, to perceive words of understanding. Whereas you are now busied in what may be pleasant, not profitable, yet what may inform the fleshlie not edifie the inward man." As many proverbs do undoubtedly build up the inner man this judgment is wanting in charity, and as a student ourselves in the subject we are gratified to find that the doctor declines to accept this vote of censure, and is able to make out a good case for himself. His reply is somewhat longer than a quotation permits, and one must give all or none.

In his preface, also, he alludes to "snarling persons" who have deprecated his labours. This preface of his is distinctly interesting.

"All of us," he writes therein, "forget more than we remember, and therefore it hath been my constant Custom to note down and record whatever I thought of myself, or received from Men or Books worth preserving. Amongst other things I wrote out Apothegms, Maxims, Proverbs, acute Expressions, vulgar Sayings, etc., and having at length collected more than ever any Englishman has before me I have ventur'd to send them forth to try their Fortune among the People. In ancient Times, before methodical Learning had got Footing in the Nations and instructive Treatises were written, the Observations that were from Experience were us'd to be gather'd and sum'd up into brief and comprehensive Sentences, which being so contriv'd as to have something remarkable in their Expressions might be easily remember'd and brought into Use on Occasions. They are call'd Adagies or Maxims.

"Also the Men of Business and the common People, that they might in their Affairs and Conversation signify and communicate this Sense and Meaning in short, with Smartness and with Pleasantness fell into customary little Forms of Words and trite Speeches, which are call'd Proverbs and common Sayings. The former of these are from Judgment, and are us'd by Men of Understanding and Seriousness; the other are from Wit, and are accommodate to the Vulgar and Men of Mirth. I conceive it is not needful for me accurately to determine which are to be call'd Adagies and Proverbs; nor nicely to distinguish the one from the other.

All that I here take upon me to do is only to throw together a vast confus'd heap of unsorted Things, old and new, which you may pick over and make use of, According to your Judgment and Pleasure. Many of these are only plain bare Expressions, to be taken literally in their proper Meaning: others have something of the Obscure and Surprize, which, as soon as understood, renders them pretty and notable.

"It is a matter of no small Pains and Diligence (whatever lazy, snarling Persons may think) to pick up so many independent Particulars as I have done, And it is no trifling or useless thing neither: it being what many of the most learned and wisest Men of the World have in all Ages employ'd themselves upon. The Son of Syrac will be held in everlasting Remembrance for his Ecclesiasticus, but, above all, that most glorious of Kings and wisest of Men, Solomon, wrote by Divine Appointment and Inspiration, Proverbs, Precepts and Counsels.

"No man ought to despise, ridicule, or any ways discourage the Diligence and Kindness of those that take Pains to bring home to others without Price those things of Profit and Pleasure. I picked up these Sentences and Sayings at several times, according as they casually occurr'd, and most of them so long ago that I cannot remember the Particulars: and am now (by reason of great Age and ill Sight) utterly unable to review them; otherwise I would have struck out all such as are not fit for the Company, or are indecent to be spoke in the Presence of wise, grave, virtuous, modest, well-bred people." These closing words one can hardly accept. Years before age and failing sight had come these various items had been growing bit by bit, and the striking-out process might well have been going on at the same time as the collecting.

"Our excellent Mr Ray," as a contemporary writer terms him, was another great collector of proverbs, and he, too, made a book of them. The first edition of this work appeared in 1670, and a second in 1678. The first was altogether too gross, so that the second edition gave an opportunity, which was embraced, for some little amendment. This is beyond all doubt the coa.r.s.est set of proverbs that has come under our notice.

Ray was a Master of Arts and a Fellow of the Royal Society. The t.i.tle of his book is as follows:--"A Collection of English Proverbs Digested into a convenient Method for the speedy finding any one upon occasion: with short Annotations. Wherunto are added Local Proverbs with their Explications, old Proverbial Rhythemes, Less known or Exotick Proverbial Sentences and Scottish Proverbs." The second edition was enlarged by the addition of several hundred more English Proverbs, and by an appendix of Hebrew sayings. The annotations of Ray on various proverbs are often very feeble. Thus to the adage, or saw, or whatever it may be, "I would not trust him though he were my brother," he adds to a thing sufficiently tame in itself the comment, "This is only a physiognomical observation." The truth is, our learned author, or compiler, seems to have heaped together all the old "saws," whether wise or not, and all the "modern instances" that came in his way, and to have strung at random the precious gems in company with the worthless beads.

His "convenient method" was the alphabetical one, based on the leading word of the saying. Thus, under A, for example, we get "Adversity makes a man wise, not rich," "There is no Alchemy like saving," "He that is Angry is seldom at ease," "For that thou canst do thyself rely not on Another," "Make a slow Answer to a hasty question," "The best Armour is to keep out of gun-shot."

Robert Codrington added yet another to the pile of proverb lore in his "Collection of many Select and Excellent Proverbs out of Several Languages." These he declared to be "most useful in all Discourses and for the Government of Life." He gives no preface or any kind of introductory matter, but begins at once with number one, and goes straight on till he gets to fourteen hundred and sixty-five. His adage, "You may not lose your friend to keep your jest," is a curious variant on the familiar present-day a.s.sertion that some men would rather lose a friend than a joke. His selection is on the whole a very good one. Such sayings as, "A young man old maketh an old man young," "A drunkard is not master either of his soul or his body," and "Curses prove choke-pears to those that plant them," are thought-compelling, and many such may be encountered.

A book of somewhat different character is the "Parmiologia Anglo-Latina" of William Walker, B.D. The sub-t.i.tle was "English and Latin proverbs and proverbial sentences and sayings matched together in a collection of them made out of Plautus, Petronius, Terentius, Horatius, and other authors." The particular copy that came under our notice bore the date of 1676. He concludes his short preface by the following deprecatory pa.s.sage: "What will be the advantage and benefit hereof to the Commonwealth of learning I leave to others to judge and try, as not willing to show the Sun by the light of a Candle. And so, that I may not set up a great Gate before a little House I commit the Work to You, and You to G.o.d, and rest your humble Drudge, W. W."

As the author has himself raised the question as to the benefit of his book to others, one can only reply that the advantage to the Commonwealth would probably not be very great, since the translation of the old cla.s.sic authors is so exceedingly free that it is practically no translation at all. It gives those who do not know the original writings no adequate idea of them, while the English is of so very colloquial a character that all the dignity of the original is lost, the result being that both the Latin and the English languages suffer in the process.

If we take, for example, "Versutior es quam rota figularis," we find that he cites three so-called equivalents, and none of them at all giving the beautiful image of the original; the first of these being, "You are as inconstant as the wind," the next, "As wavering as the weatherc.o.c.k," and, thirdly, "One knows not where to have you." The "Non habet plus sapientiae quam lapis" of Plautus he renders fairly enough as "He hath no more wit than a stone," but he adds to this, "No more brains than a burbout. He is a very cod's head"; while "As wise as Solomon"

cannot at all be accepted as a rendering of "Plus sapit quam Thales."

The striking "Verba fiunt mortuo" has lost all its dignity when we are invited to accept as a translation, "It is of no purpose to talk to him: he'll not hear you speak: you may as well talk to the wall."

The well-known "Parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus" is thus Anglicised by Walker, "Great boast, little roast; Great cry and little wool, as the fellow said when he sh.o.r.e his hogs"; and the equally familiar "Ad Graecas calendas" is given as, "At Neverma.s.s, when two Sundays come together." The striking "Leporis vitam vivit" loses much when we are invited to accept as an equivalent, "He is afraid of the wagging of a straw." The absurdity of teaching a fish to swim, "Piscem natare doces," is scarcely adequately rendered by, "Tell me it snows."

How pleasant a glimpse of ancient customs we get in the "Stylum invertere." The waxen tablet--the stile at one end sharpened for writing, at the other flattened for erasing--rise before us. But all this is entirely lost when we are invited to accept, in place of the cla.s.sic allusion, "To turn the cat in the pan," "To sing another tune"; and certainly the pith and rhythm of "A minimo ad maximum" suffers woful deterioration in such renderings of it as "Every mother's son of them, tag and rag, all that can lick a dish."

The refining influences that are a.s.sociated with a study of good cla.s.sic writers seem to have rather failed when this ancient schoolmaster came beneath their sway. Such expressions as, "Your brains are addle," "As subtle as a dead pig," "Chip of the old block," "Lean as a rake," "A cankered fellow," "A scurvy crack," scarcely rise to the dignity of his subject. We cannot help wondering how the school prospered in his hands, and what sort of boys he turned out after a year or two under his tuition.

The "Moral Essays on some of the most Curious and Significant English, Scotch, and Foreign Proverbs," of Samuel Palmer,[57:A] "Presbyter of the Church of England," deserves some little notice. The edition before us, we note, is dated 1710. His definition of a proverb strikes one as being an entirely satisfactory one. He tells us that it is "an Instructive Sentence, in which more is generally Design'd than is Express'd, and which has pa.s.s'd into Common Use and Esteem either among the Learned or Vulgar. I take this to be its Genuine Definition, for though the Incomparable Erasmus takes Elegance and Novelty into the Character of a Proverb it seems to be an Error: for a Proverb has not only more Honour and Authority from Antiquity, but a Sentence never comes up to that t.i.tle till it has pa.s.s'd for Sterling some Competent time, and receiv'd its Dignity from the Consent of an Age at least. 'Tisn't in a Single Author's Power to convey this Reputation to any Saying, but the Dignity grows up in the Use of it." This appears excellent common-sense, and the distinction that he draws between the use of a saying by the learned or the vulgar is a very happy one, and one that no other writer appears to regard. A proverb need not, to establish its position, be in use by all cla.s.ses. There are certain sayings from the cla.s.sics or elsewhere that find general acceptance amongst the educated, such as the "Ad calendas Graecas," "A la Tartuffe," "Aut Caesar aut nullus," "Facilis est descensus Averni." These, either in the original tongue or Anglicised, are current, and have a full claim to recognition as proverbial sayings, though four-fifths of the population never heard them; while many homely sayings that come freely to the lips of the carter or the village blacksmith find no welcome or recognition from the professor, the bishop, or the banker, and yet are as truly of proverbial rank.

Our old author goes on to say: "'Tis the Use, not the Critical History or Notion of Proverbs I am concern'd in. To see People throw 'em at each other by way of Jest or Repartee, without feeling their Weight, tasting their Wit, or being better'd by the Reflection, wou'd vex a man of any Spirit, and the Indignation forces him to write somewhat that might Redeem these Fragments of Wisdom from the Contempt and Ill Treatment of the Ignorant. For as they are now us'd they make up more of the Ridiculous Conversation than the Solid and Instructive. To this Abuse some of our Authors of the first Rank have very much contributed: for the Modern Poets and Novelists have put 'em in the Mouths of their lowest Characters. They make Fools and Clowns, little and mean People speak Sentences in Abundance, string 'em like Necklaces and make Sport with 'em, and Ridicule the Remains of our Ancestors. By this Means 'tis esteem'd Pedantry if we find one in the Mouth of a Gentleman, and an Author of Honour and very fine Parts has made the Reciting an Adage or Two the Sign of a c.o.xcomb. Thus they are condemn'd to the Use of the Mob, thrown out of the Minds of our People of Birth, and the Influence of 'em lost in the Manage of Education."

While Palmer was engaged upon his book, a work called "English Proverbs, with Moral Reflections" was published by a writer named d.y.k.es, a poor production enough. "This," said Palmer, "put me on the Thought of Suppressing the whole, not doubting but an Ingenious Gentleman whose Imployment isn't only to teach Hic Haec Hoc, but to Instruct Youth in Learning and Vertue, and convey the Notions of Religion and Good Manners while he is managing the Ferula, wou'd have managed the Proverbs to the best Purpose and without Exception. But upon a View I find my self extreamly disappointed: His Collection is so very short, being but Fifty Two, and most of 'em so Lean, Trite, and Insignificant that the Greatest Excellence of the Work is that he has been so happy as to fill up Four or Five pages upon Nothing. 'Tis not my Design to Note all his Indecencies, but I have scarce seen anything under the Name of Moral more out of Order. Execrable Rant, Curses, and little dirty Language are one Part of the Entertainment, and tho' it might perhaps be tolerable enough to cite Billingsgate when he was speaking of Scolds, yet to introduce the Dialogue of Two Fish Women, with their Curses, Lewd Epithets, and Brutish Reflections is Insufferable: 'tis opening a Sink and spreading the Infection." Palmer therefore saw no cause to discontinue his labours, the work of d.y.k.es not at all trenching on his own ideal of what such a book should be.

Palmer is struck with "the Likeness of many which are in Modern Use to the most Sacred Apophthegms," a similarity which "forces us to show 'em very great Respect, and engages us to think 'em either of the same Original, or else deriv'd from Divine Proverbs by Wise and Pious Men, who have only given 'em a different Turn according to the Language and Genius of the Nation wherein they liv'd."

These essays of Palmer's are each some three or four pages long, the page being that of a quarto book. In some of these he takes a single adage as his theme, but very often he brackets together two of like sense. Thus, one is based on "A Mouse that has but One Hole is soon Catch'd," or, "Don't venture all your Eggs in one Basket." Another is, "Fly the Pleasure that will Bite to Morrow," or, "After Sweet Meat comes Sour Sauce," while yet another is, "Don't throw away Dirty Water till you have got Clean," or, "He that changes his Trade makes Soop in a Basket." One readily sees in each case what the drift of the essay based on the coupled adages must be.

As an example of Palmer's exposition, we will give that based on two adages of like import. "A baited Cat may grow as Fierce as a Lyon," or, "Tread on a Worm and it will Turn." "No Enemy," he tells us, "is so Mean and Impotent but at One Time or Other he becomes sensible of his own Force, knows how to Exert It, feels an Injury, and has a proportionable Resentment: for Nature can't easily be Conquer'd: is very Rarely Forc'd, but will Struggle after all the Discipline either of Power or Principles. This made Solomon say that Oppression makes a Wise Man Mad.

Now this shou'd be consider'd, and a Wise Man ought to foresee how far 'tis fit to press the most contemptible Enemy: for though his Opposition be Wicked or Ridiculous yet it may hit the Pursuer and do him a Mischief. To drive a Coward to the Wall recovers his Spirits, and fear of being shot thro' the Back makes him turn his Face. The certainty of being quite lost by Flight gives a new Turn to the Spirits, and Naturally prompts to a Sudden and Desperate Defence: and tho' this be not true Courage, nor don't act up to the Regularity that Valour is distinguished by: yet it may exceed in Face, and give a Home Thrust. He that is eager in the Pursuit may be struck through by that Hand which trembled till it was reinforced by Necessity. In Armies this is a known Rule. He that Beats a Brave Enemy ought to be glad to be Rid of him. Let him Retreat as quick as He can, provided the Main Victory be secure. In Private Quarrels, Just and Vnjust, this must be heeded: in the One Case to be Implacable is Infamous, and in the other Wicked and Dangerous. In Both, Rashness: and if Pity don't move us to forbear and abate in our Revenge, Caution and Regard to our own Safety Shou'd." A rat, if driven into a corner, will fly at a man.[61:A] And it appears that even in baiting a cat there is a right and a wrong way of going to work. It is said by old sportsmen that the fox enjoys the sport as much as anybody, but there comes a time with baited rats and cats and most other creatures when they tire of that sort of thing, and have a very definite way of indicating the fact to all whom it may concern.

The proverbial utterances of "poor Richard" were once in great vogue.

They were written by Benjamin Franklin under the _nom de plume_ of Richard Saunders. "Poor Richard's Almanack" was issued for twenty-six years, from 1733 to 1758, and with constantly increased acceptance.

These calendars excellently combined entertainment with useful knowledge and terse concentrated wisdom. All available s.p.a.ces that occurred between notable days in the months were filled in with wisdom-chips, some of them of true proverbial rank, and others the offspring of the brains of Dr Franklin.

Franklin was born on January 6th, 1706, at Boston, and there is no doubt that his sterling common-sense and quaint philosophy must have had a considerable influence in moulding the character of the early inhabitants of the United States. These almanacks were largely reprinted in Great Britain and France, and very freely quoted from, so that the area of their influence was very extensive. In the preface to the first of this long series he quaintly gives the reasons that influenced him, poor Richard, to issue it. "I might, in this place," he writes, "attempt to gain thy favour by declaring that I write Almanacks with no other view than that of the publick good, but in this I should not be sincere; and men are now-a-days too wise to be deceived by pretences. The plain truth of the matter is, I am extremely poor, and my wife, good woman is, I tell her, excessive proud; she cannot bear, she says, to sit spinning in her s.h.i.+ft of tow while I do nothing but gaze at the stars, and has threatened more than once to burn all my books if I do not make some profitable use of them for the good of my family."

Next year he writes, "Your kind and charitable a.s.sistance last year in purchasing so large an impression of my almanack has made my circ.u.mstances much more easy in the world, and requires my most grateful acknowledgment. My wife has been enabled to get a pot of her own, and is no longer obliged to borrow one from a neighbour; nor have we ever since been without something to put in it. She has also got a pair of shoes and a nice new petticoat, and for my part I have bought a second-hand coat, that I am not now ashamed to go to town or be seen there. These things have rendered her temper so much more pacifick than it used to be, that I may say I have slept more and more quietly within this last year than in the three foregoing years put together."

There is much excellent wisdom in the sayings that he got together. How full of wise warning the utterance, "There is no little enemy," or this, "There's small revenge in words, but words may be greatly avenged." Or these warnings against covetousness, "If you desire many things many things will seem but a few." "Avarice and happiness never saw each other, how then should they become acquainted?" How quaintly sarcastic are these, "Lawyers, preachers, and tomt.i.ts' eggs, there are more of them hatched than come to perfection." "None preaches better than the ant, and she says nothing." How true again that "Poverty wants some things and luxury many things," and that "No man was glorious who was not first laborious." How valuable the counsel, "Deny self for self's sake," and that "It is less discredit to abridge petty charges than to stoop to petty gettings"; and as a hint as to the value of concentration, "Don't think to hunt two hares with one dog." Others that we marked for quotation are, "Ever since follies have pleased, fools have been able to divert"; "He that can have patience can have what he will"; "Strange that he who lives by s.h.i.+fts can seldom s.h.i.+ft himself,"

and to these many more of equal shrewdness could be added.

We make no claim that this list of ours is complete as a bibliography of proverb-writers. All references to the works of more recent men, Trench and others, are entirely omitted, as they are so easily accessible, that all who care to do so will have no difficulty in consulting them.

Amongst the earlier men's works some are good, and some are good for nothing, but we trust that our readers will feel that this excursus is not without interest, while somewhat may be added to the dignity of our subject when it is seen to how many minds it has been a fascinating study.

FOOTNOTES:

[28:A] "A wise sentence shall be rejected when it cometh out of a fool's mouth; for he will not speak it in due season."--_Ecclesiasticus_ xx.

20.

[28:B] The following ill.u.s.trate the nature of these precepts: "Gold is tried in the fire, and acceptable men in the furnace of adversity."

"Change not a friend for any good." "Of a spark of fire a heap of coals is kindled." "How agree the kettle and the earthen pot together?" "He that can rule his tongue shall live without strife." "As the climbing up a sandy way is to the aged so is a wife full of words." "The furnace trieth the potter's vessels." "Better is the life of a poor man in a mean cottage than delicate fare in another man's house." "He that taketh away his neighbour's living slayeth him." "Every counsellor extolleth counsel." "Bountifulness is as a most fruitful garden."

[29:A] Amongst the various commentators on this book the works of Ewald, Berthean, Hitzig, Elster, Rosenmuller, Hirzel, Stuart, Umbreit, and Noyes may be commended to the reader who would desire detail and a.n.a.lysis.

[35:A] Quick is here used in its original sense of having life. These therefore were lively sayings. In the Apostle's creed the quick and the dead are referred to, and a quick set hedge is one of growing plants as contrasted with a mere fencing or line of palings.

[39:A] "It is a comon sayinge, ware there is no ryceyver there shoulde be no thefe." "A Christian exhortation unto customable swearers," 1575.

[39:B] A more modern utterance shrewdly says, "There is a scarcity of friends.h.i.+p, but none of friends."

[47:A] Somewhat similar proverbs to this are, "If you play with boys you must take boy's play," and if you "play with a fool at home he will play with you abroad."

[49:A] "The messenger (one of those dogs who are not too scornful to eat dirty puddings) caught in his hand the guinea which Hector chucked at his face."--"The Antiquary."

[57:A] Our author must not be confused with a namesake, Charles Palmer, who was Deputy Serjeant of the House of Commons, and who published "A Collection of Select Aphorisms and Maxims extracted from the most Eminent Authors." He gives eighteen hundred and thirteen of these: the copy that came into our hands was dated 1748.

[61:A]

"For a flying foe Discreet and provident conquerors build up A bridge of gold."--Ma.s.sINGER, _The Guardian_.

"Ouuerez tousiours a voz ennemys toutes les portes et chemins et pl.u.s.tost leur faictes ung pont d'argent, affin des les renvoyer."--RABELAIS, _Gargantua_.

See also the Italian proverb--"A nemico che fugge un ponte d'oro." "Le Comte de Pitillan en parlant de la guerre soulouit dire quand ton ennemy voudra fuir, fais luy un port d'or."--Extract from _Les divers propos memorables des n.o.bles et Ill.u.s.tres Hommes_."--Gilles Corrizot. Paris, 1571.

"Press not a falling man too far."--SHAKESPEARE, _King Henry VIII._

CHAPTER III

"The Book of Merry Riddles" -- Introduction of Proverbs in our Literature -- A Surfeit of Proverbs -- "The two Angrie Women of Abington" -- Fuller on the Misuse of Proverbs -- The Sayings of Hendyng -- Proverbs in Works of Chaucer, Lydgate, Spenser, Dryden, Shakespeare, and other Writers -- The "Imitation of Christ" -- Glitter is not necessarily Gold -- The Cup and the Lip -- Comparisons odious -- The Rolling-Stone -- The "Vision of Piers Plowman" -- Guelph and Ghibelline -- Dwellers in Gla.s.s Houses -- A Spade is a Spade -- Chalk and Cheese -- Silence gives Consent -- A Nine Days' Wonder -- The little Pot soon Hot -- Weakest to the Wall -- Proverb-Hunting through our old Literature.