Proverb Lore Part 16

"Where favor sways the sentence of the law, Where al is fishe that cometh to net."

[188:A]

"Contrary to reason ye stamp and ye stare, Ye fret and ye fume, as mad as a March hare."--_Heywood._

"Thou madde Marche hare."--_Skelton_, 1520.

[188:B] "He that worse may must holde the candle, but my Maister is not so wise as G.o.d might have made him: hee is gone to seeke a Hayre in a Hennes nest, a Needle in a Bottle of Haye, which is as sildome seene as a black Swan."--"Angrie Women of Abington."

CHAPTER VII

The Power of the Tongue -- Speech and Silence -- Knowledge and Wisdom not Interchangeable Terms -- Truth and Untruth -- Travellers' Tales -- Flattery -- Industry and Sloth -- Youth -- Friends, True and False -- Riches and Poverty -- The Ladder to Thrift -- The Influence of Womankind -- The Good Wife -- The Shrew -- The Testimony of Epitaphs -- The Grey Mare -- Home -- Hope -- Forethought -- Excuses -- Good and Ill Fortune -- Retribution -- Detraction -- Pretension -- Self-interest -- Bribery and Corruption -- Custom and Habit -- The General Conduct of Life -- The Weather -- The Moon made of Green Cheese -- Conclusion

Speech, wise or otherwise, and silence, under the same limitations, have supplied the material for countless wisdom-chips, the power of the tongue in what it says and how it says it being recognised as of vital importance, and this has been admitted at every period and under every sky. It has been said that "More have repented speech than silence," and the a.s.sertion has much experience in its favour. Though times arise when prompt speech is needful, and cowardice and a poor expediency prevents the words being uttered, it is, perhaps, more ordinarily the experience that one unavailingly regrets having spoken, and would give much to be able to recall the hasty and inconsiderate utterance.[194:A]

It has been truly said that he knows much who knows when to speak, but that he knows yet more who knows when to be silent, and that the good talker is known by what he says, and also by what he does not say. It has been very happily declared that "Flow of words is not always flow of wisdom," and that "Quality is ever better than quant.i.ty," so that "Words should be delivered not by number but by weight."[195:A] Another very true adage is that "Talking comes by nature, silence by understanding."

The Italians say: "Great eloquence, little conscience," and it is certainly true that "Great talkers fire too fast to take good aim."

Speech has been declared to be the portraiture of the mind, so that as the man talks to us he is quite unconsciously depicting himself. "A close mouth catches no flies" says the old saw, and modest merit that trusts to its deserving is likely enough to be supplanted by the boldly importunate. Many would prefer to let these others do the impudent begging, and would surrender the flies, but keep their self-respect.

Young tells us that

"Thoughts shut up want air, And spoil like bales unopen'd to the sun"--

which is very true; while Shakespeare's advice is no less so:

"Have more than thou showest, Speak less than thou knowest."

A very homely saw declares, "Least said, soonest mended," and certainly "Speaking silence is better than senseless speech"; but the a.s.sumption that the speech is of such a quality that it is best left unsaid is a little severe, and the mental atmosphere in which the less said implied the less to be mended would be, we would fain hope, a very exceptional one. We shall all agree that "Say well is good, but do well is better,"

and in the value of the caution that "In lavishing words one wears out ideas." An old rhyme hath it that "A man of words and not of deeds Is like a garden full of weeds," and a grave old writer advises us on this that "The way of G.o.d's commandments is more in doing than in discourse."[196:A] "Great talkers are ill doers" is another version of the saying.

It has been said, and very justly, that "Silence often expresses more powerfully than speech the verdict and the judgment," and to one who comes beneath its sway it must be more eloquent and more crushing than any audible denunciation that can be repudiated or challenged. It is a very common saying that "Silence gives consent," but one readily sees that this is much too sweeping. Nevertheless, the adage is of venerable antiquity and of wide distribution. We find it quoted by Euripides long before the Christian era. The Romans said, "Qui tacet consentire videtur," while the modern Frenchman believes that "a.s.sez consent qui ne dit pas mot." In Psalm L. v. 21, things are presented on an entirely different footing. "Silence," says Shakespeare, "is the perfectest herald of joy; I were but little happy if I could say how much." The tongue, "the unruly member," has been the subject of countless discourses and essays, and also of warning adages beyond number. The writer of Ecclesiasticus tells us that "The pipe and the psaltery make sweet melody, but a pleasant tongue is above them both," and a French proverb runs that "Douces paroles ne scorchent pas la langue."

Richard Taverner, writing in 1539, tells us that being "demaunded what in a man is the worst thyng and the best, Anacharsis answered--the tonge. Meanyng that the selfe same parte of a manne bryngeth most utilitie yf it be with ryght reason gouverned, and agayne is most perylouse and hurtfull yf otherwyse." This testimony may be accepted as being about the truth; but, as it is much less necessary to commend the good than to denounce the evil, the general set of proverb teaching is strongly in the latter direction. An old Roman proverb runs, "Lingua quo vadis?"--"Tongue, where goest thou?" The hint, to stop a moment and see in what direction we are being taken, the journey and its ending, is an excellent one.

"The first vertue, sone, if thou wilt lere, Is to restreine and kepen wel thy tonge,"[197:A]

writes Chaucer, in the "Manciple's Tale," and he repeats this in "Troilus and Creseide," and refers to this control of the tongue as part of the valuable practice and precept of the wise men of old:

"For which these wise clerkes that ben dede Have euer this prouerbed to us young That the first vertue is to kepe the toung."

Hence, "If you keep your tongue prisoner your body may go free." Another old proverb of similar import is, "Confine your tongue, lest your tongue confine you"; while the Spaniards throw even more force into their version, "Let not the tongue say what the head shall pay for." "Life and death are in the power of the tongue"--self-destruction, or that of others. "A fool's tongue may cut his throat" is a homely English saw, and very much to the point.

A very quaint old MS. in the Harleian collection deals with the faults and failings to which men are liable. Thus, for instance:

"With thy tong thou mayst thyself spylle, And with tong thou mayst haue all thy wylle.

Here and se, and kepe thee stylle,[198:A]

Whatsoever ye thynk avyse ye wele."

This call to reflection terminates each verse. The whole poem is so quaintly refreshing that we cannot forbear quoting, at all events, one more verse--the caution against insobriety; and as this particular evil has, amongst its other bad effects, that of provoking strife, angry discussion, and foul language, we may still feel that it comes within our scope--the influence of the tongue:

"And thow goo vnto the wyne And thow thynk yt good and fyne, Take thy leve whane yt ys tyme, Whatsoever ye thynk avyse ye wele."

An ancient proverb reminds us that "It is good sleeping in a whole skinne," and thereupon Heywood comments and advises: "Let not your tong run at rover, since by stryfe yee may lose and can not winne." To "Teach thy tongue to say, I do not know" is also an excellent discipline. The young, especially, shut themselves off from much valuable knowledge rather than admit their ignorance.[198:B]

In a ma.n.u.script of the fourteenth century we found the following:--

"Wykkyd tunge breket bon, the first Thow the self haue non"--

This is the first reference that we have come across to a proverb commonly encountered in the form of "The tongue breaks bones, though she herself has none."[199:A] It is no doubt based on the pa.s.sage in Ecclesiasticus, declaring that "The stroke of the whip maketh marks in the flesh, but the stroke of the tongue breaketh the bones. Many have fallen by the edge of the sword, but not so many as have fallen by the tongue." The book of Ecclesiasticus is an overflowing treasury of wisdom. What could be wiser counsel, for example, than this?--"If thou hast understanding, answer thy neighbour: if not, lay thy hand upon thy mouth. Honour and shame is in talk, and the tongue of man is his fall.

Be not called a whisperer, and lie not in wait with thy tongue." "Where there is whispering there is lying" says one of our proverbs, and it is in the main true. The honourable and straightforward thing can ordinarily be proclaimed in the ears of all.

The Spaniards declare that "La langua del mal amigo mas corta que el cuchillo"--"The tongue of a false friend is sharper than a knife." "Mors et vita in manibus linguae": it is the arbiter of life and death, and yet it has been necessary to remind men that "It is better to lose a jest than a friend." A quick sense of humour, a talent at repartee, the power of seeing the ridiculous side of things, are dearly bought when their display is at the expense of the feelings of others.[199:B] A happy conceit may be the beginning of an unhappy strife, and it must be remembered that "He who makes others afraid of his wit had need be afraid of their memories"--the sarcastic speech, the little touch of ridicule rankling in the mind of the victim long after the utterer has entirely forgotten them.

We are reminded, too, that "A fool, when he hath spoken, hath done all"; and the Spaniard tells us that "A long tongue betokens a short head"--the braggart tells us much of what he is going to do, but the performance is not at all in proportion.[200:A]

"The price of wisdom is above rubies" we read in one of the most ancient of books, dating some fifteen hundred years before the Christian era; and Baruch, also writing in far-off time, exclaims: "Learn where is wisdom, where is strength, where is understanding, that thou mayst know also where is length of days and life, where is the light of the eyes and peace." The apocryphal books of the Bible include Ecclesiasticus and the Book of Wisdom, and in each of these the praise of wisdom is the dominant theme, as, for example: "Wisdom is glorious, and never fadeth away"; "She is a treasure unto men that never faileth"; "All gold of respect of her is as a little sand, and silver shall be counted as clay before her"; "All wisdom cometh from the Lord, and is with Him for ever"; "The parables of knowledge are in the treasures of wisdom"; "Wisdom exalteth her children, and layeth hold of them that seek her."

We need scarcely stay to point out that in the book of the Proverbs of Solomon wisdom is again exalted in many striking pa.s.sages full of poetry and beauty.

We are all familiar with the adage, "Experientia docet"; but the following, equally true, is less well known--"He that loses anything and gets wisdom by it is a gainer by his loss." Another very happy saying is, that "A wise man has more ballast than sail," and yet another is that "Wisdom is always at home to those who call." It is very true, too, that "By the thoughts of others wise men may correct their own," for a wise man gets learning even from those who have none themselves; and "He is the true sage," says the Persian proverb, "who learns from all the world"--a wide field, but not too wide for profitable service.

We must be careful to bear in mind that knowledge and wisdom are not necessarily interchangeable terms; a man may have a far-reaching knowledge, and be a perfect encyclopaedia of useful and useless facts, and yet be wofully deficient in wisdom. "Learning is but an adjunct to oneself," writes Shakespeare, in "Love's Labour's Lost," a sentence luminous and golden. We see the essential difference perhaps the better if we append to each its opposite--knowledge and ignorance, wisdom and folly.

The fool has supplied material for countless proverbs. Solomon tells us that "A foolish son is the heaviness of his mother"; that "A prating fool shall fall"; that "It is as sport to a fool to do mischief"; that "The fool shall be servant to the wise of heart"; that "He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly"; that "Folly is joy to him that is dest.i.tute of wisdom"; that "He that begetteth a fool doeth it to his sorrow"; that "A fool returneth to his folly"; that "A fool uttereth all his mind"; that "Fools die for want of wisdom"; that "The legs of the lame are not equal, so is a parable in the mouth of fools";[201:A] while the writer of Ecclesiasticus says--"Weep for the dead, for he hath lost the light; and weep for the fool, for he wanteth understanding. Make little weeping for the dead, for he is at rest; but the life of the fool is worse than death. Seven days do men mourn for him that is dead, but for a fool all the days of his life." Many other Biblical references may very readily be found.

In the domain of secular literature and proverb-lore the material at our service is equally lavish in amount and definite in its pity and scorn of these unfortunates. The following may be accepted as samples from the bulk: "Wise men learn more from fools than fools from wise men"; "Folly, as well as wisdom, is justified in its children"; "Little minds, like small beer, are soon soured"; "Wise men make jests, and fools repeat them"; "He is a fool who makes his fist a wedge"; "On the heels of folly shame treads"; "To promise and give nothing is a comfort to a fool"; "A foolish judge pa.s.ses a quick sentence"; "A wise man shines, a fool would outshine"; "Cunning is the fool's subst.i.tute for wisdom"; "The fools wonder, wise men ask"; "A fool and his money are soon parted";[202:A]

"The fool says, Who would have thought it?"; "Folly jumps into the river, and wonders why Fate lets him"; "Wit is folly, unless a wise man has the keeping of it"; "A fool can ask more questions than a wise man can answer, but a wise man cannot ask more questions than a fool is ready to answer"; "A fool shoots without taking aim." These proverbs are severe, but one feels, on full consideration of them, one after another, that there is not one that is exaggerated. They all describe people whom we have all met, and who are still living.

There is some considerable compensation in the fact that "The less wit a man has, the less he knows he wants it." The French say that "Un sot trouve toujours un plus sot qui l'admire"--a fool always finds a bigger fool to admire him--and that, too, must be very comforting.[203:A] As writer and reader alike happily feel beyond any uncomfortable misgiving that these various proverbs refer to quite other folk than themselves, we may pick up a few hints from yet other proverbs as to our dealings with these unfortunate people. One point that we need to remember is that "He who has to deal with a blockhead has need of much brains." It is expedient, too, to remember that "If you play with a fool at home, he will play with you in the street"; and the caution may be given that "A fool demands much, but he is a greater fool that gives it." It is painful to know that "Knaves are in such repute that honest men are counted fools," though to be counted a fool by a knave is, after all, of little moment. We must bear in mind, too, that "No one is so foolish but may give another good counsel sometimes," and the true wisdom is to value good, from whatever quarter it comes.

The value of truth and the meanness of falsehood find due place in our proverb literature. "Truth," we are told, "hath always a fast bottom," a firm anchorage. "Truth hath but one way, but that is the right way."

Esdras tells us that, "As for the truth, it endureth, and is always strong: it liveth and conquereth for evermore." Even in the old cla.s.sic days, before Christianity influenced the lives of men, the beauty of truth was recognised, for Plautus wrote, two hundred years before the coming of Christ, "That man is an upright man who does not repent him that he is upright"; and Seneca declared that "He is most powerful who has himself in his power." It has been beautifully said that "Truth is G.o.d's daughter," and that "It may be blamed, but it may never be shamed."

The following sayings will bear consideration:--"Truth begets trust, and trust truth," "The usefullest truths are the plainest," "He who respects his word will find it respected," "Craft must have clothes, but truth can go naked," "No one ever surfeited of too much honesty," "A straight line is the shortest in morals as in mathematics," "It is always term-time in the court of conscience," "Character is the diamond that scratches every other stone," "Truth is the cement of society,"

"Sell not thy conscience with thy goods," "Smart reproof is better than smooth acquiescence." Truth, then, must necessarily make enemies, for "Honest men never have the love of a rogue," and "Truth is always unpalatable to those who will not relinquish error"--to those who love darkness rather than light.

In the Library of Jesus College, Cambridge, in a ma.n.u.script of the fifteenth century we find the following excellent teaching:

"Of mankynde thou shalt none sle Ne harm with worde, wyll, nor dede; Ne suffir non lorn ne lost to be If thow wele may than help at nede.

Be thou no thef, nor theves fere Ne nothing wyn with trechery; Okur ne symony c.u.m thow not nere, But conciens clere kepe al ay trewely.

Thou shalt in worde be trewe alsso; And fals wytnes thou shalt none bere: Loke thow not lye for frende nor foo Lest thow they saull full gretely dere.

Hows, ne land, ne othir thyng, Thow shalt not covet wrangfully; But kepe ay wele G.o.ddes biddyng And Cristen fayth trow stedfastly."