Imatges de pàgina
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significance from the light they reflect on each other. At the same time, a source of lively interest is opened for the reader, who is thus enabled to observe the manifold diversities of form which the same thought assumes, as expressed in different times and by many distinct races of men; to trace the unity in variety which pervades the oldest and most universal monuments of opinion and sentiment among mankind; and to verify for himself the truth of Lord Bacon's wellknown remark, that "the genius, wit, and spirit of a nation are discovered in its proverbs."

Touching as they do upon so wide a range of human concerns, proverbs are necessarily associated with written literature. Sometimes they are created by it; much oftener they are woven into its texture. Personal anecdotes turn upon them in many instances; and not unfrequently they have figured in national history, or have helped to preserve the memory of events, manners, usages, and ideas, some of which have left little other record of their existence. From the wealth of illustration thus inviting my hand, I have sought to gather whatever might elucidate and enliven my subject without overlaying it. In this way I hope to have overcome the general objection alleged by Isaac Disraeli against collections of proverbs, on the ground of their "unreadableness." It is true, as he says, that "taking in succession a multitude of insulated proverbs, their slippery nature resists all hope of retaining one in a hundred;" but this remark, I venture to believe, does not apply to the present collection, in which proverbs are not insulated, but presented in orderly, coherent groups, and accompanied with appropriate accessories, so as to fit them for being considered with some continuity of thought.

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PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS.

WOMEN, LOVE, MARRIAGE, ETC.

What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

This is an Englishwoman's proverb. The Italian sisterhood complain that "In men every mortal sin is venial; in women every venial sin is mortal."1 These are almost the only proverbs relating to women in which justice is done to them, all the rest being manifestly the work of the unfair sex.

If a woman were as little as she is good,

A peascod would make her a gown and a hood.

The

This is Ray's version of an Italian slander. Germans say, "Every woman would rather be hand

1 A gli uomini ogni peccato mortale è veniale, alle donne ogni veniale è mortale.

2 Se la donna fosse piccola come è buona, la minima foglia la farebbe una veste e una corona.

B

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some than good;"1 and that, indeed" There are only two good women in the world: one of them is dead, and the other is not to be found." The French, in spite of their pretended gallantry, have the coarseness to declare that A man of straw is worth a woman of gold; "3 and even the Spaniard, who sometimes speaks words of stately courtesy towards the female sex, advises 66 you to Beware of a bad woman, and put no trust in a good one.

"The crab of the wood is sauce very good

For the crab of the sea;

But the wood of the crab is sauce for a drab,
That will not her husband obey."

A spaniel, a woman, and a walnut tree,
The more they're beaten the better they be.

There is Latin authority for this barbarous distich.' The Italians say, "Women, asses, and nuts require rough hands." Much wiser is the Scotch adage,

Ye may ding the deil into a wife, but ye'll ne'er ding him out o' her.

1 Jedes Weib will lieber schön als fromm sein.

2 Es giebt nur zwei gute Weiber auf der Welt: die Eine ist gestorben, die Andere nicht zu finden.

3 Un homme de paille vaut une femme d'or.

* De la mala muger te guarda, y de la buena no fies nada. 5 Nux, asinus, mulier simili sunt lege ligata,

Hæc tria nil recte faciunt si verbera cessant.

• Donne, asini, e noci voglion le mani atroci.

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