Part 4

The Spaniards express this popular belief by a striking figure: "The mother of God appears to fools."[223] The Germans say, "Fortune and women are fond of fools;"[224] and the converse of this holds good likewise, since "Fortune makes a fool of him whom she too much favours" (Latin);[225] and so do women sometimes. When we consider how much what is called success in life depends on getting into one of "the main grooves of human affairs," we can account for the common remark that blockheads thrive better in the world than clever people, and that "Jack gets on by his stupidity" (German).[226] It is all the difference of going by railway and walking over a ploughed field, whether you adopt common courses or set up one for yourself"--which is most likely to be done by people of superior abilities. "You will see * * * * most inferior persons highly placed in the army, in the church, in office, at the bar. They have somehow got upon the line, and have moved on well, with very little original motive powers of their own. Do not let this make you talk as if merit were utterly neglected in these or other professions--only that getting well into the groove will frequently do instead of any great excellence."[227] With this explanation we are prepared to admit that there is some reason in the Spanish adage, "God send you luck, my son, and little wit will serve your turn."[228]

=It is better to be lucky than wise.=

=It is better to be born lucky than rich.=

=Hap and ha'penny is warld's gear eneuch.=--_Scotch._

"The lucky man's bitch litters pigs" (Spanish).[229]

=Happy go lucky.=

=The happy [lucky] man canna be harried.=--_Scotch._

The lucky man cannot be ruined. Seeming disasters will often prove to be signal strokes of good fortune for him. Such a man will have cause to say, "The ox that tossed me threw me upon a good place" (Spanish).[230]

=He is like a cat, he always falls on his feet.=

=Cast ye owre the house riggen, and ye'll fa' on your feet.=--_Scotch._

=Give a man luck, and throw him into the sea.=

"Pitch him into the Nile," say the Arabs, "and he will come up with a fish in his mouth;" and the Germans, "If he threw up a penny on the roof, down would come a dollar to him."[231]

=What is worse than ill luck?=

=An unhappy man's cart is eith to tumble.=--_Scotch._

That is, easily upset. It happens always to some people, as Coleridge said of himself, to have their bread and butter fall on the buttered side. An Irishman of this ill-starred class is commonly supposed to have been the author of the saying,--

=He that is born under a threepenny planet will never be worth a groat.=

=If my father had made me a hatter men would have been born without heads.=

But the thought is not original in our language: an unlucky Arab had long ago declared, "If I were to trade in winding-sheets no one would die." A man of this stamp "Falls on his back and breaks his nose" (French).[232] The Basques say of him, "Maggots breed in his salt-box;" the Provençals, "He would sink a ship freighted with crucifixes;" the Italians, "He would break his neck upon a straw."[233]

=Misfortunes seldom come single.=

=Misfortunes come by forties.=--_Welsh._

=Ill comes upon waur's back.=--_Scotch._

"Fortune is not content with crossing any man once," says Publius Syrus.[234] "After losing, one loses roundly," say the French.[235] The Spaniards have three remarkable proverbs to express the same conviction:--"Whither goest thou, Misfortune? To where there is more."[236] "Whither goest thou, Sorrow? Whither I am wont."[237] "Welcome, Misfortune, if thou comest alone."[238] The Italian equivalents are numerous: _e.g._, "One ill calls another."[239] "One misfortune is the eve of another."[240] "A misfortune and a friar are seldom alone."[241]

=It can't rain but it pours.=

Good fortune, as well as bad, is said to come in floods. "If the wind blows it enters at every crevice" (Arab).

=It is an ill wind that blows nobody good.=

There is a local version of this proverb:--

=It is an ill wind that blows no good to Cornwall.=

On the rock-bound coasts of that shire almost any wind brought gain to the wreckers. We have seen it somewhere alleged that the general proverb grew out of the local one; but this is certainly not the fact, for the former exists in other languages. Its Italian equivalent[242] agrees closely with it in form as well as in spirit. The French say, "Misfortune is good for something;"[243] the Spaniards, "There is no ill but comes for good;"[244] and, "I broke my leg, perhaps for my good."[245]

=Our worst misfortunes are those that never befall us.=

"Never give way to melancholy: nothing encroaches more. I fight vigorously. One great remedy is to take short views of life. Are you happy now? Are you likely to remain so till this evening? or next week? or next month? or next year? Then why destroy present happiness by a distant misery which may never come at all, or you may never live to see? For every substantial grief has twenty shadows, and most of them shadows of your own making."--_Sydney Smith._

=Ye're fleyed [frightened] o' the day ye ne'er saw.=--_Scotch._

=You cry out before you are hurt.=

=Never yowl till you're hit.=--_Ulster._

=Let your trouble tarry till its own day comes.=

=Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.=

In French, "À chaque jour suffit sa peine," words which were frequently in Napoleon's mouth at St. Helena. An Eastern proverb says, "He is miserable once who feels it, but twice who fears it before it comes."

=When bale is highest, boot is nighest.=

"Bale" is obsolete as a substantive, but retains a place in current English as the root of the adjective "baleful." The proverb means that

=When the night's darkest the day's nearest.=

=The darkest hour is that before dawn.=

=When things come to the worst they'll mend.=

They must change, for that is the law of nature, and any change in them must be for the better. Thus, "By dint of going wrong all will come right" (French).[246] "Ill is the eve of well" (Italian);[247] and "It is at the narrowest part of the defile that the valley begins to open" (Persian). "When the tale of bricks is doubled Moses comes" (Hebrew).

=He that's down, down with him.=

Such is the way of the world--"the oppressed oppressing." "Him that falls all the world run over" (German).[248] "He that has ill luck gets ill usage" (Old French).[249] "All bite the bitten dog" (Portuguese).[250] "When a dog is drowning everybody brings him drink" (French).[251]

=Knock a man down, and kick him for falling.=

A sort of treatment like what they call in France "The custom of Lorris: the beaten pay the fine."[252] It was enacted by the charter of Lorris in the Orléanais, conferred by Philip the Fair, that any man claiming to have money due to him from another, but unable to produce proof of the debt, might challenge the alleged debtor to a judicial combat with fists. The beaten combatant had judgment given against him, which always included a fine to the lord of the manor.

=The puir man is aye put to the warst.=--_Scotch._

"The ill-clad to windward" (French).[253]

=The weakest goes to the wall=,

which is the worst place in a crowd and a crush. Also,

=Where the dyke is lowest men go over=.

"Where the dam is lowest the water first runs over" (Dutch).[254] People overrun and oppress those who are least able to resist.

=When the tree falls every man goes with his hatchet.=

"When the tree is down everybody gathers wood" (Latin).[255] "If my beard is burnt, others try to light their pipes at it" (Turkish).

=Where the carcass is, the eagles will be gathered together.=

"'We are, then, irremediably ruined, Mr. Oldbuck?' (The speaker is Miss Wardour, in the 'Antiquary.')

"'Irremediably? I hope not; but the instant demand is very large, and others will doubtless pour in.'

"'Ay, never doubt that, Monkbarns,' said Sir Arthur; 'where the slaughter is, the eagles will be gathered together. I am like a sheep which I have seen fall down a precipice, or drop down from sickness: if you had not seen a single raven or hooded crow for a fortnight before, he will not be on the heather ten minutes before half a dozen will be pecking out his eyes (and he drew his hand over his own), and tearing out his heart-strings before the poor devil has time to die.'"

=Put your finger in the fire and say it was your fortune.=--_Scotch._

Blame yourself only for the consequences of your own folly. Edgar, in _Lear_, says, "This is the excellent foppery of the world! That when we are sick in fortune we make guilty of our disasters, the sun, the moon, and the stars: as if we were villains on necessity; fools by heavenly compulsion; knaves, thieves, and treachers, by spherical predominance; drunkards, liars, and adulterers, by a forced obedience of planetary influence; and all that we are evil in by a divine thrusting on: an admirable evasion!"

FOOTNOTES:

[219] Al mas ruin puerco la mejor bellota.

[220] À un bon chien n'échet jamais un bon os.

[221] Die Rosse fressen den Haber die ihn nicht verdienen.

[222] La farine du diable s'en va moitié en son.

[223] A los bobos se les aparece la madre de Dios.

[224] Glück und Weiber haben die Narren lieb.

[225] Fortuna nimium quem favet stultum facit.

[226] Hans kommt durch seine Dummheit fort.

[227] "Companions of my Solitude."

[228] Ventura te dé Dios, hijo, que poco saber te basta.

[229] A quien Dios quiere bien, la perra le pare lechones.

[230] El buey que me acornó, en buen lugar me echó.

[231] Würf er einen Groschen aufs Dach, fiel ihm ein Thaler herunter.

[232] Il tombe sur le dos, et se casse le nez.

[233] Si romperebbe il collo in un filo de paglia.

[234] Fortuna obesse nulli contenta est semel.

[235] Après perdre, perd-on bien.

[236] Adonde vas, mal? Adonde mas hay.

[237] Ado vas, duelo? Ado suelo.

[238] Bien vengas, mal, si vienes solo.

[239] Un mal chiama l'otro.

[240] Un mal è la vigilia dell' altro.

[241] Un male e un frate di rado soli.

[242] Cattivo è quel vento che a nessuno è prospero.

[243] À quelque chose malheur est bon.

[244] No hay mal que por bien no venga.

[245] Quebreme el pie, quiza por bien.

[246] À force de mal aller tout ira bien.

[247] Il male è la vigilia del bene.

[248] Wer da fällt, über ihm laufen alle Welt.

[249] À qui il meschet, on lui meffaict.

[250] Ao caõ mordido, todos o mordem.

[251] Quand le chien se noye, tout le monde lui porte à boire.

[252] Coutume de Lorrie: les battus payent l'amende.

[253] Les mal vêtus devers le vent.

[254] Waar de dam het langst is, loopt het water het eerst over.

[255] Arbore dejectâ quivis colligit ligna.

FORETHOUGHT. CARE. CAUTION.

=Look before you leap.=

=Don't buy a pig in a poke.=

A poke is a pouch or bag. This word, which is still current in the northern counties of England, corresponds to the French _poche_, as "pocket" does to the diminutive, _pochette_. _Bouge_ and _bougette_ are other forms of the same word; and from these we get "budget," which, curiously enough, has gone back from us to its original owners with a newly-acquired meaning, for the French Minister of Finance presents his annual Budget like our own Chancellor of the Exchequer. The French say, _Acheter chat en poche_: "To buy a cat in a poke," or game bag; and the meaning of that proverb is explained by this other one, "To buy a cat for a hare."[256] So also the Dutch,[257] the Italian,[258] &c. The pig of the English proverb is chosen for the sake of the alliteration at some sacrifice of sense.

=No safe wading in unknown waters.=

Therefore, "Swim on, and trust them not" (French).[259] "Who sees not the bottom, let him not pass the water" (Italian).[260]

=Beware of had I wist.=

="Had I wist," quoth the fool.=

"It is the part of a fool to say, 'I should not have thought it'" (Latin).[261]

=Stretch your arm no farther than your sleeve will reach.=

=Never put out your arm further than you can easily draw it back again.=

Cautious Nicol Jarvie attributes to neglect of this rule the commercial difficulties of his correspondent, Mr. Osbaldistone, "a gude honest gentleman; but I aye said he was ane of them wad make a spune or spoil a horn." Perhaps it is to ridicule the folly of attempting things beyond the reach of our powers that the Germans tell us, "Asses sing badly because they pitch their voices too high."[262]

=Measure twice, cut but once.=

An irrevocable set should be well considered beforehand. Dean Trench quotes this as a Russian proverb, but it is to be found in James Kelly's Scottish collection, and is common to many European languages.

=Second thoughts are best.=

Therefore it is well to "take counsel of one's pillow." "The morning is wiser than the evening" (Russian), sometimes because--in Russia especially--the evening is drunk and the morning is sober, but generally because the night affords time for reflection. "The night brings counsel" (French, Latin, German).[263] "Night is the mother of thoughts" (Italian).[264] "Sleep upon it, and you will take counsel" (Spanish).[265]

=Raise nae mair deils than ye can lay.=--_Scotch._

=Do not rip up old sores.=

"Nor stir up an evil that has been fairly buried" (Latin).[266]

=Don't wake a sleeping dog.=

"When misfortune sleeps let no one wake her" (Spanish).[267]

=To lock the stable door when the steed is stolen.=

"The wise Italians," says Poor Richard [Benjamin Franklin], "make this proverbial remark on our nation--'The English feel, but they do not see;' that is, they are sensible of inconveniences when they are present, but do not take sufficient care to prevent them; their natural courage makes them too little apprehensive of danger, so that they are often surprised by it unprovided with the proper means of security. When it is too late they are sensible of their imprudence. After great fires they provide buckets and engines; after a pestilence they think of keeping clean their streets and common sewers; and when a town has been sacked by their enemies they provide for its defence," &c. Other nations have their share of this after-wisdom, as their proverbs testify: _e.g._, "To cover the well when the child is drowned" (German).[268] "To stop the hole when the mischief is done" (Spanish).[269] "When the head is broken the helmet is put on" (Italian).[270] The Chinese give this good advice: "Dig a well before you are thirsty." Be prepared for contingencies.

=Be bail and pay for it.=

=Afttimes the cautioner pays the debt.=--_Scotch._

"He that becomes responsible pays" (French).[271] "Whoso would know what he is worth let him never be a surety" (Italian).[272]

=In trust is treason.=

"In this world," said Lord Halifax, "men must be saved by their want of faith." "He will never prosper who readily believes" (Latin).[273] "Trust was a good man; Trust not was a better" (Italian).[274]

=He should hae a lang-shafted spune that sups kail wi' the deil.=--_Scotch._

=A fidging [skittish] mare should be weel girthed.=--_Scottish._

A cunning, tricky fellow should be dealt with very cautiously. "A thief does not always thieve, but be always on your guard against him" (Russian).

=Fast bind, fast find.=

Shylock adds, "A proverb never stale to thrifty mind." "Who ties well, unties well" (Spanish).[275] "Better is a turn of the key than a friar's conscience" (Spanish).[276]

=Grin when ye bind, and laugh when ye loose.=--_Scotch._

Tie the knot tightly, grin with the effort of pulling, and when you come to untie it you will smile with satisfaction, finding it has kept all safe.

=Quoth the young cock, "I'll neither meddle nor make."=

He had seen the old cock's neck wrung for taking part with his master, and the hen's for taking part with his dame.

FOOTNOTES:

[256] Acheter le chat pour le lièvre.

[257] Een kat in een zak koopen.

[258] Non comprar gatta in sacco.

[259] Nage toujours, et ne t'y fie pas.

[260] Chi non vede il fondo, non passa l'acqua.

[261] Stulti est dicere non putârim.

[262] Esel singen schlecht, weil sie zu hoch anstimmen.

[263] La nuit porte conseil. In nocte consilium. Guter Rath kommt über Nacht.

[264] La notte è la madre di piensieri.

[265] Dormireis sobre ello, y tomareis acuerdo.

[266] Malum bene conditum ne moveris.

[267] Quando la mala ventura se duerme, nadie la despierte.

[268] Den Brunnen decken so das Kind ertrunken ist.

[269] Recebido ya el daño, atapar el horado.

[270] Rotta la testa, se mette la celata.

[271] Qui répond, paye.

[272] Qui vuol saper quel che il suo sia, non faccia mai malleveria.

[273] Nequaquam recte faciet qui cito credit.

[274] Fidati era un buon uomo. Nontifidare era meglio.

[275] Quien bien ata, bien desata.

[276] Mas val vuelta de clave que conciencia de frate.

PATIENCE. FORTITUDE. PERSEVERANCE.

=Patience and posset drink cure all maladies.=

=Patience is a plaster for all sores.=

We trace this proverb in an exquisite passage from "honest old Decker," as Hazlitt fondly calls him.

"_Duke._ What comfort do you find in being so calm?

_Candido._ That which green wounds receive from sovereign balm. Patience, my lord! why, 'tis the soul of peace; Of all the virtues 'tis nearest kin to heaven: It makes men look gods. The best of men That e'er wore earth about him was a sufferer, A soft, meek, patient, humble, tranquil spirit-- The first true gentleman that ever breathed. The stock of patience, then, cannot be poor; All it desires it has: what award more? It is the greatest enemy to strife That can be, for it doth embrace all wrongs, And so chains up lawyers' and women's tongues. 'Tis the perpetual prisoner's liberty-- His walks and orchards; 'tis the bondslave's freedom, And makes him seem proud of his iron chain, As though he wore it more for state than pain; It is the beggar's music, and thus sings-- Although their bodies beg, their souls are kings. O my dread liege! it is the sap of bliss Bears us aloft, makes men and angels kiss; And last of all, to end a household strife, It is the honey 'gainst a waspish wife."

"Patience, time, and money overcome everything" (Italian).[277] "He who does not tire, tires adversity" (French).[278] "A stout heart breaks ill luck" (Spanish).[279] "The remedy for hard times is to have patience" (Arab).

=Blaw the wind ne'er sae fast, it will lown at the last.=--_Scotch._

=After a storm comes a calm.=

"After rain comes fine weather" (French).[280]

=The longest day will have an end.=

=Time and the hour run through the longest day.=

=Be the day ne'er so long, at last comes even song.=[281]

"The day will be long, but there will be an end to it,"[282] said Damiens of that dreadful day which was to witness his death by tortures which are the eternal disgrace of the French monarchy.

=When one door shuts another opens.=

When baffled in one direction a man of energy will not despair, but will find another way to his object.

=There is more than one yew bow in Chester.=

=A' the keys of the country hang na in ae belt.=--_Scotch._

"There are hills beyond Pentland, and streams beyond Forth; If there's lairds in the lowlands, there's chiefs in the north; There are wild duinewassels three thousand times three, Will cry hoich for the bonnet of Bonny Dundee!"

=It is a sore battle from which none escape.=

One may suffer a great loss, and yet not be totally ruined.

=There's as good fish in the sea as ever was caught.=

A consolatory reflection for those who have missed a good haul. The question is, will they have industry and skill to do better another time? "If I have lost the rings, here are the fingers still," is a stout-hearted saying of the Italians and Spaniards.[283]

=He that weel bides weel betides.=--_Scotch._

He that waits patiently comes off well at last, for "All comes right for him who can wait" (French).[284] "Sit down and dangle your legs, and you will see your revenge" (Italian);[285] that is, time will bring you reparation and satisfaction. "The world is his who has patience" (Italian).[286] "The world belongs to the phlegmatic" (Italian).[287] "Have patience, Cossack; thou wilt come to be hetman" (Russian).

=Set a stout heart to a stae brae [a steep hill side].=--_Scotch._

=Set hard heart against hard hap.=

Go about a difficult business resolutely; confront adversity with fortitude.

"Tu ne cede malis, sed contra audentior ito Quam tua te fortuna sinit."

That you may not be easily discouraged, the French remind you that "One may go far after he is tired."[288]

=He that tholes [endures] overcomes.=--_Scotch._

=The toughest skin holds longest out.=--_Cumberland._

"He conquers who sticks in his saddle" (Italian).[289] "Hard pounding, gentlemen," said Wellington at Waterloo; "but we will see who will pound the longest." "Perseverance kills the game" (Spanish).[290]

=Constant dropping wears the stone.=[291]

=A mouse in time may bite in two a cable.=

"With time and straw medlars ripen" (French).[292] "With time a mulberry leaf becomes satin" (Chinese).

=A rolling stone gathers no moss.=

This is an exact rendering of an ancient Greek adage, which is repeated with little variation in most modern languages. The Italians say, "A tree often transplanted is never loaded with fruit."[293]

=A man may bear till his back breaks.=

=All lay load on the willing horse.=

Patience may be abused. "Through much enduring come things that cannot be endured" (Latin).[294] "Make thyself a sheep, and the wolf is ready" (Russian). "Make yourself an ass, and you'll have every man's sack on your back" (German).[295] "If you let them lay the calf on your back it will not be long before they clap on the cow" (Italian).[296] "Who lets one sit on his shoulders shall presently have him sit on his head" (German).[297] "The horse that pulls at the collar is always getting the whip" (French).[298]

=Daub yourself with honey, and you'll be covered with flies.=

"The gentle ewe is sucked by every lamb" (Italian).[299]

FOOTNOTES:

[277] Pazienza, tempo e denari vincono ogni cosa.

[278] Qui ne se lasse pas lasse l'adversité.

[279] Buen corazon quebranta mala ventura.

[280] Après la pluie vient le beau temps.

[281] Il n'est si long jour qui ne vienne à vêpres. Non vien di che non venga sera.

[282] La journée sera longue, mais elle finira.

[283] Se ben ho perso l'anello, ho pur anche le dite. Si se perdieron los anillos, aqui quedaron los dedillos.

[284] Tout vient à point à qui sait attendre.

[285] Siedi e sgambetta, vedrai la tua vendetta.

[286] Il mondo è di chi ha pazienza.

[287] Il mondo è dei flemmatici.

[288] On va loin après qu'on est las.

[289] Vince chi riman in sella.

[290] Porfia mata la caza.

[291] Gutta cavat lapidem non vi sed sæpe cadendo.

[292] Avec du temps et de la paille les nèfles mûrissent.

[293] Albero spesso traspiantato mai di frutti è caricato.

[294] Patiendo multa veniunt quæ neques pati.--_Publius Syrus._

[295] Wer sich zum Esel macht, dem will jeder seinen Sack auflegen.

[296] Se ti lasci metter in spalla il vitello, quindi a poco ti metteran la vacca.

[297] Wer sich auf der Achsel sitzen lässt, dem sitzt man nachher auf dem Kopf.

[298] On touche toujours sur le cheval qui tire.

[299] Pecora mansueta d'ogni agnello è tettata.

INDUSTRY AND IDLENESS.

=No pains, no gains.=

=No sweat, no sweet.=

=No mill, no meal.=

From the Latin, "Qui vitat molam, vitat farinam." "To stop the hand is the way to stop the mouth" (Chinese).

=He that wad eat the kernel maun crack the nut.=--_Scotch._

=He that gapes till he be fed will gape till he be dead.=

=Naethin is got without pains but dirt and lang nails.=--_Scotch._

"Good luck enters by dint of cuffs" (Spanish).[300] Success in life is only to be won by hard striving.

"The nimble runner courses Fortune down, And then he banquets, for she feeds the brave."

=An idle brain's the deil's smiddy.=--_Scotch._