Part 8

To be what the Romans called "double-tongued,"[504] or, in French phrase, "To wear a coat of two parishes."[505] Formerly the parishes in France were bound to supply the army with a certain number of pioneers fully equipped. Every parish claimed the right of clothing its man in its own livery, whence it followed that when two parishes jointly furnished only one man, he was dressed in parti-coloured garments, each parish being represented by a moiety which differed from the other in texture and colour.

=To hold with the hare, and hunt with the hounds.=

To be "Jack o' both sides," true to neither. The Romans called this "Sitting on two stools."[506] Liberius Mimus was one of a new batch of senators created by Cæsar. The first day he entered the august assembly, as he was looking about for a seat, Cicero said to him, "I would make room for you were we not so crowded together." This was a sly hit at Cæsar, who had packed the senate with his creatures. Liberius replied, "Ay, you always liked to sit on two stools."

The Arabs say of a double dealer, "He says to the thief, 'Steal;' and to the house-owner, 'Take care of thy goods.'" "He howls with the wolves when he is in the wood, and bleats with the sheep in the field" (Dutch).[507]

=If the devil is vicar, you'll be clerk.=

=If the deil be laird, you'll be tenant.=--_Scotch._

=The deil ne'er sent a wind out of hell but he wad sail with it.=--_Scotch._

=The vicar of Bray will be vicar of Bray still.=

Simon Aleyn, or Allen, held the Vicarage of Bray, in Berkshire, for fifty years, in the reigns of Henry VIII., Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth, and was always of the religion of the sovereign for the time being. First he was a Papist, then a Protestant, afterwards a Papist, and a Protestant again; yet he would by no means admit that he was a turncoat. "No," said he, "I have always stuck to my principle, which is this--to live and die vicar of Bray." His consistency has been celebrated in a song, the burden of which is,--

"For this is law I will maintain-- Unto my dying day, sir, Whatever king in England reign, I'll be the vicar of Bray, sir."

"Such are men, now o' days," says Fuller, "who, though they cannot turn the wind, they turn their mills, and set them so that wheresoever it bloweth, their grist should certainly be grinded."

During the Peninsular war many signboards over shops and hotels in Spanish towns had on one side the arms of France, and on the other those of Spain, which were turned as best suited the interests of their owners and the feelings of the troops which alternately occupied the place.

=It is hard to sit at Rome and fecht wi' the pope.=--_Scotch._

Prudence forbids us to engage in strife with those in whose power we are. Oriental servility goes further than this. Bernier tells us that it was a current proverb in the dominions of the Great Mogul, "If the king saith at noonday, 'It is night,' you are to say, 'Behold the moon and stars!'" The Egyptians say, "When the monkey reigns dance before him." The philosopher desisted from controversy with the Emperor Hadrian, confessing himself unable to cope in argument with the master of thirty legions.

=There's nae gude in speaking ill o' the laird within his ain bounds.=--_Scotch._

On this principle Baillie Nicol Jarvie thinks it well, when passing the Fairies' Hill, to call them, as others do, men of peace, meaning thereby to conciliate their good-will. "Speak not ill of a great enemy," says Selden, "but rather give him good words, that he may use you the better if you chance to fall into his hands. The Spaniard did this when he was dying. His confessor told him (to work him to repentance) how the devil tormented the wicked that went to hell. The Spaniard replying, called the devil 'my lord.' 'I hope my lord the devil is not so cruel.' His confessor reproved him. 'Excuse me,' said the don, 'for calling him so. I know not into what hands I may fall; and if I happen into his, I hope he will use me the better for giving him good words.'"

=It is good to have friends everywhere.=

=It's gude to hae friends baith in heaven and hell.=--_Scotch._

Brantôme relates that Robert de la Mark had a painting executed, in which were represented St. Margaret and the devil, with himself on his knees before them, a candle in each hand, and a scroll issuing from his mouth, containing these words: "If God will not aid me, the devil surely will not fail me." This is quite in the spirit of Virgil's line, "If I cannot bend the celestials to my purpose I will move hell."[508] Others besides De la Mark have thought it prudent "To offer a candle to God and another to the devil" (French);[509] or, "A candle to St. Michael and one to his devil" (French),[510] lest the time might come when the devil under the archangel's feet should get the upper hand. Upon the same principle a discreet person in the early Christian times took care never to pass a prostrate statue of Jupiter without saluting it.

=One must sometimes hold a candle to the devil.=

FOOTNOTES:

[466] Fronti nulla fides. Schein betrugt.

[467] "Maxims of an Old Stager," by Judge Halliburton.

[468] Ogni lucciola non è fuoco.

[469] Adó pensas que hay tocinos, no hay estacas.

[470] Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus.

[471] Debajo de una mala capa hay un buen bebedor.

[472] No lo quiero, no lo quiero, mas echad lo en mi capilla.

[473] Chi biasima vuol comprare.

[474] Altissima flumina minimo sono labuntur.

[475] Il n'y a pire eau que l'eau qui dort.

[476] Le feu le plus couvert est le plus ardent.

[477] Sotto la bianca cenere sta la brace ardente.

[478] "Friends in Council."

[479] Non si tosto si fa un tempio a Dio, che il diavolo ci fabbrica una cappella appresso.

[480] Le diable chante la grande messe.

[481] Detras de la cruz esta el diablo.

[482] Por las haldas del vicario sube el diablo al campanario.

[483] O über die schlaue Sunde, die einen Engel vor jeden Teufel stellt!

[484] Couvrir son diable du plus bel ange.

[485] Le renard prêche aux poules.

[486] Quand le diable dit ses patenôtres, il vent te tromper.

[487] Ante la puerta del rezador nunca eches tu trigo al sol.

[488] Palabras de santo, y uñas de gato.

[489] Buen amigo es el gato, sino que rascuña.

[490] Muchos besan manos que quierian ver cortadas.

[491] Parece que no enturbia el agua.

[492] Rien ne ressemble plus à un honnête homme qu'un fripon.

[493] Non son tutti santi quelli che vanno in chiesa.

[494] Non tutti chi vanno in chiesa fanno orazione.

[495] Ne sont pas tous chasseurs qui sonnent du cor.

[496] Non son soldados todos los que van á la guerra.

[497] Zij zijn niet allen gelijk die met den keizer rijden.

[498]

Ægrotat dæmon, monachus tunc esse volebat; Dæmon convaluit, dæmon ut ante fuit.

[499] Tutti i rei divengono predicatori quando stanno sotto la forca.

[500] Quando el corsario promete misas y cera, con mal anda la galera.

[501] Claudius accusat mœchos.

[502] Il frate predicava che non si dovesse robbare, e egli aveva l'occa nel scapulario.

[503] Haz lo que dice el frayle, y no lo que hace.

[504] Homo bilinguis.

[505] Porter un habit de deux paroisses.

[506] Duabus sellis sedere.

[507] Hij huilt met de wolven waarmede hij en het bosch is, en blaat met de schapen in het veld.

[508] Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo.

[509] Donner une chandelle à Dieu, et une au diable.

[510] Donner une chandelle à Saint Michel, et une à son diable.

OPPORTUNITY.

=What may be done at any time will be done at no time.=

"By the street of By-and-by one arrives at the house of Never" (Spanish).[511]

=Never put off till to-morrow what you can do to-day.=

"One to-day is worth ten to-morrows" (German).[512] "To-day must borrow nothing of to-morrow" (German).[513] "When God says to-day, the devil says to-morrow" (German).[514] Talleyrand used to reverse these maxims: by never doing to-day what he could put off till to-morrow he avoided committing himself prematurely.

=Strike while the iron is hot.=

This proverb is cosmopolitan; but

=Make hay while the sun shines=

is peculiar to England, and, as Trench remarks, could have had its birth only under such variable skies as ours.

=Take the ball at the hop.=

=Take time while time is, for time will away.=

=Time and tide wait for no man.=

"God keep you from 'It is too late'" (Spanish).[515] "A little too late, much too late" (Dutch).[516] "Stay but a while, you lose a mile" (Dutch).[517]

=After a delay comes a let.=

=Delays are dangerous.=

Especially in affairs of love and marriage. Therefore, "When thy daughter's chance comes, wait not her father's coming from the market" (Spanish).[518] Close with the offer on the spot. "When the fool has made up his mind the market has gone by" (Spanish).[519]

=He that will not when he may, When he will he shall have nay.=

"Some refuse roast meat, and afterwards long for the smoke of it" (Italian).[520]

=The nearer the church, the farther from God.=

"Next to the minster, last to mass" (French).[521] "The nearer to Rome, the worse Christian" (Dutch).[522] The buyer of many books will probably read few of them, and somebody has said that he never was afraid of engaging in a controversy with the owner of a large library. Many a Londoner would never see half its lions but for the necessity of showing them to country cousins.

=The shoemaker's wife goes worst shod.=

Where the best wine is made the worst is commonly drunk. Better fish is to be had in Billingsgate than on the seacoast.

FOOTNOTES:

[511] Por la calle de despues se va á la casa de nunca.

[512] Ein Heute ist besser als zehn Morgen.

[513] Heute muss dem Morgen nichts borgen.

[514] Wenn Gott sagt: Heute, sagt der Teufel: Morgen.

[515] Guarde te Dios de hecho es.

[516] Een wenig te laat, veel te laat.

[517] Sta maar een wijl, gij verliest een mijl.

[518] Quando á tu hija le viniere su hado, no aguardes que vienga su padre del mercado.

[519] Quando el necio es acordado, el mercado es ya pasado.

[520] Tal lascia l'arrosto, chi poi ne brama il fumo. Qui refuse, muse.

[521] Près du monstier, à messe le dernier.

[522] Hoe digter bij Rom, hoe slechter Christ.

UNCERTAINTY OF THE FUTURE. HOPE.

=Man proposes, God disposes.=[523]

"There's a divinity that shapes men's ends, Rough hew them how they will."

=He that reckons without his host must reckon again.=

=Don't reckon your chickens before they are hatched.=

Some of the eggs may be addled. Remember the story of Alnaschar.

=Sune enough to cry "chick" when it's out o' the shell.=--_Scotch._

=Gut nae fish till ye get them.=--_Scotch._

"Cry no herring till you have it in the net" (Dutch).[524] "First catch your hare," says Mrs. Glasse, and then you may settle how you will have it cooked. The Greeks and Romans thought it not wise "To sing triumph before the victory."[525] It is a rash bargain "To sell the bird on the bough" (Italian);[526] or "The bearskin before you have caught the bear" (Italian),[527] as Æsop has demonstrated. Finally, "Unlaid eggs are uncertain chickens" (German).[528]

=Praise a fair day at night.=

=It is not good praising a ford till a man be over.=

=Don't halloo till you are out of the wood.=

"Don't cry 'Hey!' till you are over the ditch" (German).[529] "Look to the end" (Latin).[530] "No man can with certainty be called happy before his death," as the Grecian sage told Crœsus. "Call me not olive till you see me gathered" (Spanish)."[531]

=To build castles in the air.=

To let imagination beguile us with visionary prospects. The metaphor is intelligible to everybody, but that in the French equivalent, "To build castles in Spain,"[532] requires explanation. The Abbé Morellet ascribes the origin of this phrase to the general belief in the boundless wealth of Spain after she had become mistress of the mines of Mexico and Peru. This is plausible but wrong, for the "Roman de la Rose," which was published long before the discovery of America, contains this line, _Lors feras chasteaulx en Espagne._ M. Quitard says that the proverb dates from the latter part of the eleventh century, when Henri de Bourgogne crossed the Pyrenees at the head of a great number of knights to win glory and plunder from the Infidels, and received from Alfonso, king of Castile, in reward for his services, the hand of that sovereign's daughter, Theresa, and the county of Lusitania, which, under his son Alfonso Henriquez, became the kingdom of Portugal. The success of these illustrious adventurers excited the emulation of the warlike French nobles, and set every man dreaming of fiefs to be won, and castles to be built in Spain. Similar feelings had been awakened some years before by the conquest of England by William of Normandy, and then the French talked proverbially of "Building castles in Albany,"[533] that is, in Albion. It is worthy of remark that previously to the eleventh century there were hardly any castles built in Christian Spain, or by the Saxons in England. The new adventurers had to build for themselves.

=Don't tell the devil too much of your mind.=

Be not too forward to proclaim your intentions. "Tell your business, and leave the devil alone to do it for you" (Italian).[534] "A wise man," Selden tells us, "should never resolve upon anything--at least, never let the world know his resolution, for if he cannot arrive at that he is ashamed. How many things did the king resolve, in his declaration concerning Scotland, never to do, and yet did them all! A man must do according to accidents and emergencies. Never tell your resolution beforehand, but when the cast is thrown play it as well as you can to win the game you are at. 'Tis but folly to study how to play size ace when you know not whether you shall throw it or no." "Muddy though it be, say not, 'Of this water I will not drink'" (Spanish).[535] "There is no use in saying, 'Such a way I will not go, or such water I will not drink'" (Italian).[536]

=There's many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip.=

"Between the hand and the mouth the soup is often spilt" (French).[537] "Wine poured out is not swallowed" (French).[538] These three proverbs are derived from the same Greek original, the English one being nearest to it in form. A king of Samos tasked his slaves unmercifully in laying out a vineyard, and one of them, exasperated by this ill usage, prophesied that his master would never drink of the wine of that vineyard. Eager to confute this prediction, the king took the first grapes produced by his vines, pressed them into a cup in the slave's presence, and derided him as a false prophet. The slave replied, "Many things happen between the cup and the lip;" and these words became a proverb, for just then a cry was raised that a wild boar had broken into the vineyard, and the king, setting down the untested cup, went to meet the beast, and was killed in the encounter.

=God send you readier meat than running hares.=

=A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.=

=Better a wren in the hand than a crane in the air.=--_Irish_ and _French_.[539]

Cranes were in much request for the table down to the end of the fourteenth century, if not later. "Better a leveret in the kitchen than a wild boar in the forest" (Livonian). "Better is an egg to-day than a pullet to-morrow" (Italian).[540] "One here-it-is is better than two you-shall-have-it's" (French).[541]

=Possession is nine points of the law.=

And there are only ten of them in all. Others reckon possession as eleven points, the whole number being twelve. "Him that is in possession God helps" (Italian).[542] "Possession is as good as title" (French).[543]

=I'll not change a cottage in possession for a kingdom in reversion.=

=Better haud by a hair nor draw by a tether.=--_Scotch._

=He that waits for dead men's shoes may long go barefoot.=

=He gaes lang barefoot that wears dead men's shoon.=--_Scotch._

"He hauls at a long rope who desires another's death" (French).[544] "He who waits for another's trencher eats a cold meal" (Catalan).[545]

=Live, horse, and you'll get grass.=[546]

"Die not, O mine ass, for the spring is coming, and with it clover" (Turkish). Unfortunately, "For the hungry, _wait_ is a hard word" (German);[547] and

=While the grass grows the steed starves.=

=The old horse may die waiting for new grass.=

=Hope holds up the head.=

=Hope is the bread of the unhappy.=

=Were it not for hope the heart would break.=

=He that lives on hope has a slim diet.=

Aubrey relates that Lord Bacon, being in York House garden, looking on fishers as they were throwing their net, asked them what they would take for their draught. They answered so much. His lordship would offer them only so much. They drew up their net, and in it were only two or three little fishes. His lordship then told them it had been better for them to have taken his offer. They replied, they hoped to have had a better draught; but, said his lordship,--

="Hope is a good breakfast, but a bad supper."=

"Hope and expectation are a fool's income" (Danish).[548]

=Hopes deferred hang the heart on tenter hooks.=

"He gives twice who gives quickly" (Latin);[549] and "A prompt refusal has in part the grace of a favour granted" (Latin).[550]

=All is not at hand that helps.=

We cannot foresee whence help may come to us, nor always trace back to their sources the advantages we actually enjoy. "Water comes to the mill from afar" (Portuguese).[551] On the other hand, "Far water does not put out near fire" (Italian);[552] and "Better is a near neighbour than a distant cousin" (Italian).[553] "Friends living far away are no friends" (Greek).[554]

FOOTNOTES:

[523] In French, L'homme propose, Dieu dispose; in German, Man denkt's, Gott lenkt's. The Spanish form is a little different: Los dichos en nos, los hechos en Dios.

[524] Roep geen haring eer hij in't net is.

[525] Ante victoriam canere triumphum.

[526] Vender l'uccello in sù la frasca.

[527] Non vender la pelle dell' orso prima di pigliarlo.

[528] Ungelegte Eier sind ungewisse Hünnlein.

[529] Rufe nicht "Juch!" bis du über den Graben bist.

[530] Respice finem.

[531] No me digas oliva hasta que me veas cogida.

[532] Faire des châteaux en Espagne.

[533] Faire des chasteaulx en Albanie.

[534] Di il fatto tuo, e lascia far al diavolo.

[535] Por turbia que esté, no digas desta agua no bebere.

[536] Non giova a dire per tal via non passerò, ni di tal acqua beverò.

[537] De la main à la bouche se perd souvent la soupe.

[538] Vin versé n'est pas avalé.

[539] Moineau en main vaut mieux que grue qui vole.

[540] E meglio aver oggi un uovo che domani una gallina.

[541] Mieux vaut un tenez que deux vous l'aurez.

[542] A chi è in tenuta, Dio gli aiuta.

[543] Possession vaut titre.

[544] A longue corde tire, qui d'autrui mort désire.

[545] Qui escudella d'altri espera, freda la menja.

[546] In Italian, Caval non morire, che erba da venire.

[547] Dem Hungrigen ist "Harr" ein hart Wort.

[548] Haabe og vente er Giekerente.

[549] Bis dat, qui cito dat.

[550] Pars est beneficii quod petitur si cito neges.--_Publius Syrus._

[551] De lomge vem agoa a o moinho.

[552] Acqua lontana non spegne il fuoco vicino.

[553] Meglio un prossimo vicino che un lontano cugino.

[554] Τηλου ναιοντες φιλοι ουκ εισι φιλοι.

EXPERIENCE.

=Bought wit is best.=

=Wit once bought is worth twice taught.=

=Hang a dog on a crabtree, and he'll never love verjuice.=

=A burnt child dreads the fire.=

Fear is so imaginative that it starts even at the ghost of a remembered danger. "A scalded dog dreads cold water" (French, Italian, Spanish).[555] "A dog which has been beaten with a stick is afraid of its shadow" (Italian).[556] "Whom a serpent has bitten, a lizard alarms" (Italian).[557] "One who has been bitten by a serpent is afraid of a rope" (Hebrew). "The man who has been beaten with a firebrand runs away at the sight of a firefly" (Cingalese). "He that has been wrecked shudders even at still water" (Ovid).[558]

=Experience is the mistress of fools.=

She keeps a dear school, says Poor Richard; but fools will learn in no other, and scarce in that. "An ass does not stumble twice over the same stone" (French).[559] "Unfairly does he blame Neptune who suffers shipwreck a second time" (Publius Syrus).[560]

=He that will not be ruled by the rudder must be ruled by the rock.=--_Cornish._

=Better learn frae your neebor's scathe than frae your ain.=--_Scotch._

Wise men learn by others' harms, fools by their own, like Epimetheus, the Greek personification of after-wit.[561] "Happy he who is made wary by others' perils" (Latin).[562]

=Old birds are not to be caught with chaff.=

"Old crows are hard to catch" (German).[563] "New nets don't catch old birds" (Italian).[564]

=I'm ower auld a cat to draw a strae [straw] afore my nose.=--_Scotch._

That is, I am not to be gulled. A kitten will jump at a straw drawn before her, but a cat that knows the world is not to be fooled in that way.

=Don't tell new lies to old rogues.=

=He that cheats me ance, shame fa' him; if he cheats me twice, shame fa' me.=--_Scotch._

=It is a silly fish that is caught twice with the same bait.=

The French have a humorous equivalent for this proverb, growing out of the following story:--A young rustic told his priest at confession that he had broken down a neighbour's hedge to get at a blackbird's nest. The priest asked if he had taken away the young birds. "No," said he, "they were hardly grown enough. I will let them alone until Saturday evening." No more was said on the subject, but when Saturday evening came, the young fellow found the nest empty, and readily guessed who it was that had forestalled him. The next time he went to confession he had to tell something in which a young girl was partly concerned. "Oh!" said his ghostly father; "how old is she?" "Seventeen." "Good-looking?" "The prettiest girl in the village." "What is her name? Where does she live?" the confessor hastily inquired; and then he got for answer the phrase which has passed into a proverb, "À d'autres, dénicheur de merles!" which may be paraphrased, "Try that upon somebody else, Mr. filcher of blackbirds."

=When an old dog barks look out.=

"An old dog does not bark for nothing" (Italian).[565] "There is no hunting but with old hounds" (French).[566]

=Live and learn.=

=The langer we live the mair ferlies [wonders] we see.=--_Scotch._

=Adversity makes a man wise, not rich.=

"Wind in the face makes a man wise" (French).[567]

=A smooth sea never made a skilful mariner.=

=It is hard to halt before a cripple.=

It is hard to counterfeit lameness successfully in presence of a real cripple. "He who is of the craft can discourse about it." (Italian).[568] "Don't talk Latin before clerks" (French),[569] or "Arabic in the Moor's house" (Spanish).[570]

=The proof of the pudding is in the eating.=

"Do not judge of the ship while it is on the stocks" (Italian).[571]

=War's sweet to them that never tried it.=

FOOTNOTES:

[555] Chat échaudé craint l'eau froide.

[556] Il can battuto dal bastone, ha paura dell' ombra.

[557] Chi della serpe è punto, ha paura della lucertola.

[558] Tranquillas etiam naufragus horret aquas.

[559] Un âne ne trébuche pas deux fois sur la même pierre.

[560] Improbe Neptunum accusat qui iterum naufragium facit.

[561] Ὁϛ ἐπεί κακὸν ἒχε νόησε.

[562] Felix quem faciunt aliena pericula cautum.

[563] Alte Krähen sind schwer zu fangen.

[564] Nuova rete non piglia uccello vecchio.

[565] Cane vecchio non baia indarno.

[566] Il n'est chasse que de vieux chiens.

[567] Vent au visage rend un homme sage.

[568] Chi è dell'arte, può ragionar della.

[569] Il ne faut pas parler latin devant les clercs.

[570] In casa del moro no hablar algarabia.

[571] Non giudicar la nave stando in terra.

CHOICE. DILEMMA. COMPARISON.

=Pick and choose, and take the worst.=

=The lass that has mony wooers aft wales [chooses] the warst.=--_Scotch._