Proverb Lore Part 3

"But since all thing is the worse of the wearing Decay of cleene sweeping folke had in fearing."

In the year 1586 appeared the first edition of Camden's Britannia. The book was a very popular one, and repeatedly issued. The author acc.u.mulated a vast store of information, more than he found himself able to utilise in his book, the result being yet another book, the "Remaines." This, like the first, was received with much favour. The t.i.tle was "Remaines concerning Britaine; but especially England and the Inhabitants thereof, their Languages, Names, Surnames, Allusions, Anagrams, Armories, Monies, Impresses, Apparell, Artillarie, Wise Speeches, Prouerbs, Posies, Epitaphs." William Camden was Clarenceaux, King of Armes, surnamed "the Learned" by some of his contemporaries, and his heraldic and archaeological tastes are clearly seen in his choice of subjects when dealing with so vast a theme as the thousand and one interests that divers Englishmen would look for in such a book; the sportsman, the botanist, the merchant, for example, each having their special interests quite outside those that seemed to Camden so specially characteristic and essential to a right comprehension of England.

The book is a very interesting one, and full of valuable matter, but it is with one section alone, that on proverbs, that we now deal. His reason for their insertion is as follows:--"Where as proverbs are concise, witty, and wise Speeches grounded upon long experience, containing for the most part good caveats, and therefore profitable and delightfull: I thought it not unfit to set down here, alphabetically, some of the selectest and most usuall amongst us, as being worthy to have place amongst the wise Speeches." In the book they immediately succeed these wise speeches.

We give a selection from these proverbs, held to be worthy of such commendation. "An ynche in a miss is as good as an ell." "Looke not to hie least a chip fall in thine eie." "It is euill waking of a sleeping dogge." "Many stumble at a strawe and leape over a blocke." "Of little medling commeth great ease." "Poore and proud, fy, fy." "Saue a thiefe fro the gallowes and heele cut your throat." "So long goes the pot to the water that at length it comes home broken." "Tread a worme on the taile and it must turne againe." "Where be no receauers there be no theeues."[39:A] "When the skye falleth we shall have larkes."

Though the exigencies of s.p.a.ce prevent anything like individual comment, we trust that our readers will not hurry through these as a mere list to be got through. Each is excellent, and well worthy of quiet thinking over; while a second theme of interest may, we think, often be discovered in the recognition of proverbs well known to us in a somewhat different wording, as, for instance, Camden's version--"A man may well bring a horse to the water, but he cannot make him drinke without he will," and "An inche in a misse is as good as an ell,"--proverbs in common use still, but given here with a certain quaintness of variation that has a charm.

Other happy utterances in the Camden collection are: "A friend is not so soon gotten as lost."[39:B] "A leg of a lark is better than the body of a kyte." "A man far from good is near to harm." "A man may buy golde too deare." "One piece of a kid is worth two of a cat." "It is a proud horse that will not bear his own provender." "As good sit still as rise up and fall." "Blind men should judge no colours." "He that will have a hare for breakfast must hunt overnight." "It is hard to teach an old dog tricks." "It is not good to have an oare in every man's boat." "One ill weede marreth a whole pot of pottage." This latter is in an especial degree, in its literal wording, a proverb of the past, though its inner significance will hold good till the end of time. It clearly refers to a time when the herbs of the field were utilised, and vegetable gardens did not supply the needful requisites for the table. In these present days well-ordered ranks of beans, onions, lettuce, and other crops are to hand, and a mistake is scarcely possible, but in these earlier days, when the wild growths of the hedgerow were utilised, one can readily see that a little ignorance in the gathering might contribute an ingredient that would mar all--a touch of hemlock, for instance, in lieu of parsley.

It is strikingly true, too, that as on the one hand a soft answer turneth away wrath, so, on the contrary, "one ill worde asketh another,"

and probably does not ask in vain. It is equally true in one's experience of life that not uncommonly "One beateth the bush and another catcheth the birds." The necessity of caution in permitting innovations is well brought out in, "Once a use then ever a custom"; and the fact that there is more skill in even the simplest art than the onlooker quite realises is very effectively brought out in, "There is craft in daubing." The motto of the Order of the Garter has prepared us for "Shame take him that shame thinketh." Other happy renderings in the collection under consideration are, "Such an one hath a good wit if a wise man had the keeping of it." "No penny, no paternoster." "The beggar may sing before the thiefe," for, having no property to lose, the highwayman or the burglar have no terrors for him. "Three may keepe counsell if two be away." "Who medleth in all things may go shoe the gostlings." We have by no means exhausted the list. The only one amongst the whole collection that appears unworthy of a place is "Struggle not against the streame." This appears to point to a cowardly surrender, a floating easily down when a stout resistance should be made. A policy of "Do as the others do; ask no questions; raise no difficulties; make no protest; keep quiet, or shout with the majority; we are no worse than other people." We cannot recall the name of any man or woman whose life shines bright in history whose principles were built up exactly on these lines.

John Davies, a native of Hereford, in the year 1611 or thereabouts wrote a book which he called the "Scourge of Folly." The work is now a scarce one, and the world is no great loser in consequence. He was a versifier at once prolific and drearily dull. The first edition we have not seen, but that of 1620 is ent.i.tled, "The Scourge of Folly, consisting of satyricall Epigrams and others in honour of many n.o.ble Persons and worthy Friends, together with a pleasant (though discordant) Descant upon most English Proverbs and others." The epigrams are, most of them, of a most offensive character. The references to the names of the persons satirised carry now no meaning, but at the time they were written they must have been of the most grossly personal character.

"Against Formias brauery and unceessant prating," "against Cleophus, the Time observer," "against faint-hearted bragging Bomelio," "against wordy Cla.s.sus," are examples of the headings, and the lines that in each case are appended are grossly insolent. There are two hundred and ninety-two of these scoundrelisms. His proverbs are four hundred and nineteen in number, and he adds to each a rhyming comment of his own. They are mostly very feeble, and many of them much too gross for quotation.

"Fast binde, fast finde, but Rufus, bound as fast As bonds could do, to pay a debt he ought, Stole quite away, ere quite the day was past, And nowhere can be found, though he be sought."

He lengthens and shortens the proverbs as rhythmical exigencies call for, and his great idea throughout seems to be to show that these old proverbs were quite absurd and valueless, and that John Davies was the real fount of wisdom.

We append a few of these couplets, the first line being a proverb and the second the comment of Davies upon it. Anything more feeble and pointless than the latter could scarcely be imagined.

"A Mouse may in time bite in two a cable-- That may she at once if she be able."

"No more can we have of the fox but his skin; Yes, Bones to make dice, which now is no sin."

"Three may keep counsell if two be away, And so may all three if nothing they say."

"A dead Bee will make no Hony, But from dead Bees it's had for money."

"Ill newes are commonly true, Not if a lyer made them new."

"The Cat would eat fish but for wetting her feete, To eat ere she wash is fowle and unsweete."

"Throw no Guift at the Giver againe; Yes: if he give me a blow Ile thanke him with twaine."

"A scabb'd Sheepe will marre a whole flocke, Faith, then the Shepherd's a Knave or a Block."

"Who is worse Shood than the Shoomaker's wife?

Faith, Geese, that never wore Shoes in their life."

About this time also was published a book called "The Crossing of Proverbs." The copy before us as we write is, we see, dated 1616. It is on the same lines as the preceding book, except that it is not in rhymes. "It is far to the bottom of the sea," says the old proverb. "Not so," says the author, "'tis but a stone's cast." We will spare our readers any further extracts. To give several extracts from the "Scourge of Folly" and then to merely add that "The Crossing of Proverbs" is just such another book, will give a quite sufficient measure of justice to both.

In the year 1625 the "Apothegms new and old" of Lord Bacon made their appearance. The study was a favourite one with him, and he often in his writings and discourses made a very judicious use of the material he had collected. He affirms that "Apothegms are not only for delight and ornament but for business also and civil use," for "they are, according to Cicero, mucrones verborum, pointed speeches." He also calls them Salinas, salt pits from whence one can draw the salt of discourse. "By their sharp edge they penetrate the knots of business, and serve to be interlaced in continued speech or recited upon occasion by themselves."

He regrets greatly that Caesar's book was lost. "I imagine these apothegms were collected with judgment and care; for as his history, and those few letters of his which we have and those apothegms which were his own excel all others so I suppose would his collection of them have done. As for those which are collected by other writers either I have no taste in such matters, or else their choice has not been happy."

Elsewhere he declares that the modern writers on the subject "draw much of the dregs."

With all possible respect to the erudition of Bacon we find his book a somewhat heavy one, the subject appearing to call for a lightness and delicacy of touch that he would very possibly have considered beneath the dignity of literature. If we turn, for instance, to his comments on friendship, we are referred to verse 14 of Psalm xxvii. We read, "He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, it shall be counted a curse to him," and this calls forth the following comment: "Moderate and seasonable praises uttered upon occasion, conduce much to men's fame and fortune; but praises immoderate, noisy, and importunately poured out, profit nothing: nay rather, do a good deal of hurt. First, they manifestly betray themselves to proceed either from excess of love and kindness, or that they are designed and affected, so that they may rather ingratiate themselves with the person commended by false encomiums rather than set him off by just and deserved eulogisms.

Secondly, sparing and modest praises commonly invite such as are present to add something of their own to the commendation; on the contrary, profuse and immoderate ones detract and take away something. Thirdly, which is the princ.i.p.al point, too much magnifying a man stirs up envy; since all immoderate praises seem to tend to the reproach of others, who are no less deserving." This is quite Baconian, almost Johnsonian, in its weighty precision and formal enunciation, but a thousand proverbs thus handed over to the commentator would be a ponderous tome that few would dare to open, and the _esprit_ and quaintness of these familiar utterances would be utterly lost, buried, in such a flow of exposition.

In the year 1640 was published a volume ent.i.tled, "Outlandish Proverbs."

The name of the author was not given, "selected by Mr G. H." being all the information vouchsafed. As these proverbs were those in common use, the t.i.tle strikes one as being particularly inappropriate. The collection was a somewhat meagre one. All gross sayings were omitted, or softened down. That anything objectionable should be left out seems to our present ideas so entirely a matter of course that the mention of the fact appears uncalled for, nevertheless this omission differentiated the labours of Mr G. H. from much that had gone before. The softening down process is perhaps not quite so justifiable. A proverb, like a hymn, should not be edited. All that seems fair and justifiable is to accept it as it stands or else refuse it admission.

Some considerable time after the appearance of this book on "Outlandish Proverbs" a second edition appeared, but this time the t.i.tle was "Jacula Prudentum, or outlandish proverbs, sentences, etc.," and the authorship was no longer veiled by mere letters but stands revealed--"selected by Mr George Herbert, Late Orator of the University of Cambridge." This second issue contains a great many more proverbs than the first, and the t.i.tle, Jacula Prudentum, "javelins of the wise," indicates the value placed by Herbert upon these popular sayings.

The mystery of the anonymous publication, like that of the Waverley novels, and other cognate cases, excited some little public interest, one writer of the day advances we see the somewhat startling thesis, "It is not a thing that, hastily regarded, one would have expected from Herbert, hence the genuineness is the more probable!" This is a very sweeping and far-reaching argument, that because a thing appears well-nigh impossible there is much to be said in favour of its probability. It seems so unlikely that Bala lake will ever flood out Westminster that all prudent persons resident there will at once provide themselves with life-belts.

A well-known proverb warns us against letting the cat out of the bag, and this seems to have been just what Herbert very nearly did, another book of his, of more devotional type, "A priest to the Temple,"

supplying to critical eyes a clue. In it he says that "the Country Parson doth bear in mind in the morning the outlandish proverb that prayers and provender never hinder a journey." Also in one of his letters that he wrote to his brother he added, "Take this rule, and it is an outlandish one, which I commend to you now as being a father, 'The best bred child hath the best portion.'" The introduction of the t.i.tle of the book and the liking for the use of proverbs were held strong proofs in favour of his being the Mr G. H. who was being sought for. As we are told that nothing succeeds like success, we are invited to admire the sapience of the mystery-hunter, but there really seems no reason why, the t.i.tle of the book being in men's minds, some other person might not have thus referred to it and introduced into his book or letters proverbs that this book had brought before him and that had attracted his notice.

Most of the proverbs in the Jacula Prudentum are admirably chosen, and as many of them are now pa.s.sing away from the minds of men we make no apology for quoting freely from the book.

The re-appearance of old proverbs in a slightly altered setting than that we are now familiar with, is a point of interest in these old collections that we have already referred to, but each author we consult gives us anew this pleasure. How refreshing, for instance, is Herbert's version, "Whose house is of gla.s.se must not throw stones at another," or this, "You may bring a horse to the river, but he will drinke when and what he pleaseth," or this, yet again, "A feather in hand is better than a bird in the ayre." A proverb that is often used at the present time amongst us in its French dress is found here as "It is a poore sport that's not worth the candle."

How true and how pithily put are these, "He that studies his content wants it." "Not a long day but a good heart rids worke." "Hearken to Reason and shee will bee heard." "He that staies does the businesse."

"Prosperity lets go the bridle." "Still fisheth he that catches one."

"Give a clowne your finger and he will take your hand."[47:A] And this one like unto it, "Let an ill man lie in the strawe, and he looks to bee thy heire." "The back-dore robs the house." "One sword keeps another in the sheath." An excellent motto this last. The Peace Society may have its uses, but there is no doubt that this side the millennium efficient army corps and magnificent navies supply yet more cogent arguments. "Si vis pacem pare bellum."

How sound again the teaching, "He is not poor that hath little, but he that desireth much." "G.o.d provides for him that trusteth." "A cheerful look makes a dish a feast." "Sometimes the best gain is to lose." "He that sows trusts in G.o.d." "Divine ashes are better than earthlie meale."

How excellent the prudence that gives value to the following: "Send a wise man on an errand and say nothing unto him." "Although it rain cast not away thy watering-pot." "Who hath no more breade than nede must not keepe a dog." "The best remedy against an ill man is much ground between." "Love your neighbour, yet pull not down your hedge." "Send not a catt for lard." It is well, too, to remember that "Courtesie on one side only lasts not long," that a commensurate price has to be paid for everything, and so "a lion's skin is never cheape," that one's position must be frankly accepted and its duties adequately met, for "he that serves must serve," that gentle measures will often succeed better than rough ones, for "he that will take the bird must not skare it." It is at once a comfort and a warning that "none is a foole alwaies, everyone sometimes," and that the crafty at last over-reach themselves and in the end Nemesis awaits them. "At length the fox is brought to the furrier," and the farmyard knows him no more.

What an excellent lesson against jumping to conclusions is seen in this, "Stay till the lame messenger come, if you will know the truth of the thing," against concluding too hastily that the work we are engaged upon is finished, for "One flower does not make a garland."

The evil wrought by the tongue is a constant and perennial theme of the moralist, and the makers of proverbs are in complete accord, "The tongue talks at the head's cost." "More have repented speech than silence."

Those who suffer at the hands, or rather the tongues, of others may learn how effectually to avenge themselves, for "Pardon and pleasantnesse are great revengers of slanders," and the experiment is one that is well worth trial. In any case, "Neither prayse nor disprayse thyself: thy actions serve the turne." "The effect speakes, the tongue need not." How full of wisdom is this final cl.u.s.ter of pearls, this sheaf of javelins: "A gift much expected is paid, not given." "Pleasing ware is half sould." "The hole calls the thief"--a warning against putting temptation in the way and thereby causing a brother to offend.

The man who has gone far on the path of reformation is not safe so long as any relic of the past yet clings round his heart, for "The horse that draws after him his halter has not altogether escaped." "Whither shall the oxe goe where he shall not labour?" How can one hope to evade the responsibilities of his position? The proverb is an interesting reminder of the custom once common enough, and which we ourselves have seen in Suss.e.x and Wiltshire, on the heavy down-lands, of ploughing with a yoke of oxen. There is quaint humour in this, "The chicken is the countrey's, but the citie eateth it." "If the old dog barke he gives counsell." "A married man turns his staffe into a stake," his wandering days are over.

A not unpleasant cynicism gives point to the a.s.sertion that "Nothing dries sooner than a teare," while it is equally one's experience of life that "When the tree is fallen all goe with their hatchet," and that "Men speak of the fair as things went with them there." It is a rather touching a.s.sertion that "The reasons of the poor weigh not," and it is too true. Their poverty makes the poor despised and their words unheeded by many who, richer in this world's goods, treat with contempt the struggling and the unsuccessful. Poverty is not a crime: it may be a badge of shame if the result of vice, or it may be a badge of honour where a man has scorned to stoop to shuffling dishonesties that may have enriched some who presume to despise him.

In 1659 James Howell issued a series of proverbs, and some of these were incorporated in Randle Cotgrave's dictionary in the following year. This latter has been deemed "that most amusing of all dictionary makers." He quotes many French proverbs, and then gives English adages that more or less match them. Thus under faim he gives "A la faim il n'y a point de mauvais pain," which, he explains, means that "To him who is hungry any bread seems good"--not quite a sufficiently literal translation, we should have thought, for a dictionary-maker--and adds, "We say hungrie dogs love durtie pudding."[49:A] Howell's proverbs were, as a whole, not very judiciously selected, and he had the presumption and bad taste to spin out of his own imagination a series of what he called "New Sayings which may serve for Proverbs for posterity." These were very poor, and posterity has declined to have anything to do with them.

In this same year, 1659, a small volume of adages, compiled by N. R.

(Nathaniel Richards), appeared.

They are all in English, but are mostly of foreign origin, and are of no great interest or value.

A much more notable book is the "Gnomologia: Adagies and proverbs; wise sentences and witty sayings, ancient and modern, foreign and British, collected by Thomas Fuller, M.D." As the compiler gives over six thousand proverbs, we may regard the book as a fairly adequate one. He gives in it no indication of the sources from whence the adages are derived, adds no explanatory notes, and works on no system. This is equivalent to writing a natural history and leading off with panther and earwig. It is, as a matter of fact, very difficult to cla.s.sify a collection of such disconnected units as proverbs. If we attempt to do it by countries we may soon find that it is in most cases quite impossible to guess where the adage originated, and the general borrowing that has been going on for centuries makes anything like a local claim to exclusive possession impossible. It would be quite easy to write out a list of fifty proverbs, ill.u.s.trating them exclusively by pa.s.sages from Cervantes and other Spanish writers, and, on the strength of this, claiming them as Spanish, but it would be equally easy afterwards for Dane, Russian, and German, Englishman, Italian, and Greek to come and each claim so many of these items that the speedy outcome would be an almost absolute disappearance from our list of anything purely Iberian.

There is a good deal to be said in favour of the alphabetical arrangement, but only on condition that the leading word of the adage be taken. It is a mere absurdity to take the first word. How can we reasonably put under letter A, "A rolling stone gathers no moss"? It may be objected that we are putting an extreme case, but extreme cases have to be considered as much as any others. In one book before us we find that the old author in scores of instances produces results as grotesquely inadequate. Under the letter D, for instance, we find, "Do not spur a willing horse," though surely everyone, with the exception of the compiler of the list, would at once realise that the pith of the adage does not in any way rest in "do." We may at once see this if we take the proverb in another of its popular forms, "Spur not a willing horse."

The cla.s.sification of these old saws according to their subject, such as friendship, pride, industry, and the like, is sometimes adopted, and it has many advantages; but we very soon find that we come to something that declines to be thus pigeon-holed. If we take the Russian proverb, for instance, "The burden is light on the shoulders of another," how shall we cla.s.sify it? It will clearly not come under "friendship," and it is equally not at home in the section on "industry." While some adages decline to fit into any section, others we find might with almost equal appropriateness find a home under three or four headings.

Fuller defines a proverb as "much matter decocted into a few words," and a very good definition it is. He declares that "six essentials are necessary for the compleating of a perfect Proverb. Namely that it be--

1. Short } { 1. Oration 2. Playne } Otherwise it is not { 2. Riddle 3. Common } a proverb at all { 3. Secret 4. Figurative } but a { 4. Sentence 5. Antient } { 5. Upstart 6. True } { 6. Libel."

As he was evidently a little nervous that some persons might think the subject a little beneath the dignity of Dr Fuller, he allows an imaginary objector to have his fling, and then proceeds to demolish him.