m 'at. sf* \ : SELECT PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS, WISE SAYINGS AND MAXIMS OF THE ANCIENT FATHERS, AND THE ECONOMY OF HUMAN LIFE, BY AN ANCIENT BRAMIN. DAYTON, 0.: PUBLISHED AND SOLD BY B. P. ELLS. 1854. SI T 9 n f I Jb I u 1 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. PASTIMES, HOLIDAYS. AND CUSTOMS OF OLDIH HMDS. WISE SAYINGS AND MAXIMS OF THE ANCIENT FATHERS. AND THE ECONOMY OF HUMAN LIFE BY AN ANCIENT BRAMIN. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1852, by B . F . ELLS, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Ohio. CONTENTS. Similies and Old Saws . . 5 Proverbial Rhymes . . 7 Health and Diet ... 15 Husbandry and Weather . 16 Familiar Phrases. Similicd. Pro verbial Rhymes, and Old Saws 19 Women, Love, and Wedlock . 27 Select Proverbs . . . 43 Virtue, Religion, and Learning 107 Laws, Government, and Public Affairs . . . i32 Economy, Manners, and Ric-^s 139 Pastimes and Holidays . 171 Customs and Ceremonies . 183 Christmas Customs . . 193 Popular Superstitious . . 197 Ghosts 200 Witches 0" A Sorcerer or Magician . 209 Fairies 210 Second Sight . . . . 211 Omens, Charms, and Diviuations2ll Vulgar Errors ... 219 Legal Eirors .... 221 Errors in Natural History . 222 Pictorial Errors ... 224 Errors of Man . . . 2i5 Historical Errors . Miscellaneous Errors Faff. 226 SELECT SAYINGS AND MAXIMS OF THE ANCIENTS, AND FA- THERS OF THE CHURCH, VIZ. Anger 229 Ancestors .... 229 Manners 20 Eating and Drinking . . 232 Eloquence .... 233 Friendship .... 233 Folly 2.4 Industry 234 Justice 'J;5 Kings and Laws . . . "35 Life and Death . . . 237 Love 228 Riches and Poverty . . 238 Public Officers . . . 2?9 Truth 240 Time ... - . 240 Virtue 241 Wisdom 244 Women 244 Miscellaneous Maxims . 247 ECONOMY OF HUMAN LIFE. Duties that relate to Ma ; consid- ered as an Individual . 266 The Passions .... 278 Consanguinity, or Natural Rela- tions 268 Providence, or the Accidental Difference of Men . . 293 The Social Duties . . . 299 Man Considered in the General 310 2 Man Considered in regard to his Infirmities and their Effects 321 Of the Affections of Man which are hurtful to himself and others . . . . 342 Of the Advantage Man may ac- quire over his fellow-creatures 336 Of Natural Accidents . . 3C2 (See pages 2578.) ADVERTISEMENT. IN making the present Selection of Proverbs, the first object has been to glean the wisest and best in the sayings of all nations ; collecting not merely their ethical maxims, but what- ever is characteristic of national manners, humor and intelli- gence. With respect to arrangement, I have not exactly followed the plan of any of my predecessors, but have endeavored to com- bine the double advantages of alphabet order, with facility for referring to any particular description of proverbs, according to its subject. The authors to whom I have cheifly resorted, are, Ray's English Proverbs, Kelly's Scottish Proverbs, Mackintosh's Gaelic Proverbs, the French and Italian Proverbs of Dubois and Veneroni, Collins' Spanish Proverbs, the Glossary of Arch- deacon Nares, Grose's Provincial Glossary, D 'Israeli's Curi- osities of Literature, Todd's Johnson ; with several minor works, too numerous to mention. It is necessary to bear bear in mind, our's is only a Selection: to have given the entire proverbs of any people, would have far exceeded the limits of the present plan, and consequently I have only gleaned from each nation what seemed worthy of modern refinement. Where a proverb appeared curious or im- portant, the original or parallel proverb in other languages has been retained : this can be attended with little inconvenience to the English reader, and may be interesting to the scholar, and those who wish to be accurately acquainted with the spirit and origin of the Old Sayings. Besides, there are persons so fastidious as to refrain from quoting a proverb in plain English, 3 ADVERTISEMENT. who would not scruple to use it in the Latin, Italian, French, or Spanish language. To each proverb is added the name of the country to which it belongs, when that could be ascertained ; and when no name is affixed, the proverb may be generally concluded to be En- glish. But there is nothing so uncertain as the derivation of proverbs, the same proverb being often found in all nations, and it is impossible to assign its paternity. For this, two reasons may be given. Proverbs are founded on nature ; and as nature and man are generally uniform, it is no wonder that different people, under similar circumstances, have come to similar conclusions. Another reason is, their short and portable form which adapted them for communication from one nation to another. The exposition of Ancient Pastimes, and Customs, AITD OLD SAWS. As busy as a bee. As cold as charitv. As mad as a march hare. As nice as a nun's hen. As plain as a pike-stafl. \.s seasonable as snow in summer. As deep drinks the goose as the gander. As lawless as a town bull. As nimble as a cow in a cage. As true as the dial to the sun. As wary as a blind horse As welcome as water in one s shoes. As a cat loves mustard. 6 FKOVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. As brisk as a bee in a tar pot. As busy as a hen with one chicken. As fall as an egg is of meat. As hungry as a church-mouse. As good beg of a naked man, as a miser As merry as a cricket. As grave as an old gate post. As grey as a grannunvs cat. As white as the driven snow. As the wind blows, you must set your sail. As good water goes by the mill, as drives it. As demure as if butter would not melt in her mouth. As often as thou doest wrong; justice has thee on the score. As wilful as a pig that will neither lead nor drive. As wise as Waltham's calf, that ran nine miles to suck a bull. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. As good eat the devil, as the broth he is boiled in. As lazy as Ludlam's dog, that leaned his heaa against a wall to bark. As love thinks no evil so envy speaks no good PROVERBIAL RIIY7IE3. One God no more, But friends good store. A light purse Is a heavy curse. If not by might, E'en do it by slight. Wide will wear, But narrow will tear. Who dainties love Shall beggars prove. An ague in the spring, Is physic for d king. The father to the bough, The son to the plough. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 1 he head and feet keep warm, The rest will take no harm. First canting, then wooing ; Then dallying, then doing. Many a little makes a mickle. Little strokes fall great oaks. Pay what you owe And what you're worth you'll know. As a man lives, so shall he die ; As a tree falls, so shall it lie. Would you live an angel's days ? Be honest, just, and wise always. Early to bed, and early to rise ; Will make a man healthy, and wealthy, and wise. If you trust before you try, You may repent before you die. When Adam delv'd and Eve span. Where was then the gentleman ? He that buys land, buys many stones; He that buys flesh buys many bones ; He that buys eggs, buys many shells ; But he that buys good ale buys nothing else. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. The higher the plum tree, the riper the plum ; The richer the cobbler, the blacker his thumb. A man of words and not of deeds. Is like a garden full of weeds Women and wine, game and deceit, Make the wealth small, and the wants great Sometimes words hurt more than swords Linen often to water, soon to tatter- He that would please all and himself too, Undertakes what none can do. He that by the plough would thrive, Himself must either hold or drive. An ape's an ape, a varlet's a varlet, Whether they be clad in silk or scarlet The counsels that are given in wine Will do no good to thee, or thine, Who, more than he is worth, doth spend, E'en makes a rope his life to end. Be always as merry as ever you can ; For no one delights in a sorrowful man. Maidens must be mild and meek; Swift to hear, and slow to speak. fKOVEKBS OF ALL NATIONS. The devil was sick, the devil, a monk would be ; The devil was well, the devil a monk was he. It would make a man scratch where it did not itch, To see a man live poor, and then die rich. Who spends more than he should, Hath not to spend when he would. Vessels large may venture more,. But little boats should keep near shore. Fond pride of dress is sure a very curse ; Ere fancy you consult, consult your purse. There are no gains without pains ; And frugal pains result in gains. Plough deep, while sluggards sleep And you will have corn to sell and keep. When a musician has forgot his note, He makes as though a crum stuck in his throat. " The most haste the worst speed," Quoth the tailor to his long thread. The good or ill hope ot a good or ill life, Is the good or ill choice of a good or ill wife When I did well, I heard it never; When I did ill, I heard it ever. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. He who will thrive, must rise at five ; He who has thriven, mav sleep till seven. I never saw an oft-removed tree, Nor yet an oft-removed family, That throve so well as those that settled be. For age and want save while you may; No morning sun lasts a whole day. Get what you can, and what you get hold ; 'Tis the stone that will turn all your lead into gold. He that gives his goods before he be dead, Take up a mallet and knock him in the head : Taken from the history of John Bell, who, having given all his substance to his children, was by them neglected ; after he died there was found a mallet, with this inscription : I, John Bell, leave her a mell, the man to fell, Who gives all to the bairns, and keeps nothing to himself Many estates are spent in the getting, Since, women, for tea, forsook spinning and knitting, And men, for their punch forsook hewing and splitting. Like blood, like goods, and like ages Make the happiest marriages. 18 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS HEALTH AM> DIET. A MAN nas often more trouble to digest meat than to ?et meat. A rich mouthful, a heavy groan. Spanish. Alluding to the gout and other distempers produced by epi- curean living. A good surgeon must have an eagle's eye, a lion's heart, and a lady's hand. Better wait on the cook than the doctor. Scotch. Better lose a supper than have a hundred physi- cians. Spanish . Better half a loaf than no bread. Bitter pills may have blessed effects. Scotcn. Bread at pleasure, drink by measure. French. Children and chickens must be always picking. Eat little at dinner, less at sup'per. sleep aloft, and you will live long. Spanish. Eat weel is drink weel's brother. Scotch. Enough is as good as a feast. Fish must swim thrice nameiy, once in the PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. water, once in the sauce, and a third time in the stomach. Go to bed with the lamb and rise with the lark. God sends meat, and the devil sends cooks God cures and the doctor takes the fee. He who hath good health is young; and he is rich who owes nothing He has a noie under his nose where all his money runs into. He that would live for aye, must eat sage in May. He that wants health wants every thing. Health without money is half a sickness. ltd. Health is better tnan wealth. Hunger is the best sauce. Hunger and cold deliver a man up to the ene- my. Span Hungry dogs will eat dirty pudding It seems wisely provided, that as hunger increases, ana of course requires more food to appease it, the palate becomes proportionately less discriminative. Hence. Juvenal ob- serves, U PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS "Thus much to the kind rural gods we owe Who pity'd suffering mortals long ago; "When on harsh acorns hungrily they fed, Gave 'em nicer palates, better bread." If the doctor cures, the sun sees it, but if he kills, the earth hides it. Scotch If it were not for the stomach the back might wear gold It is a great nleasure to eat, and have nothing to pay. If physic do not work, prepare for the kirk. One hour's sleep before midnight is worth two after. A more wholesome, if not a truer maxim, than that of Erasmus. Often and a little eating makes a man fat. It is on this principle our pugilists are trained for their ren- counters. They eat often and sparingly, and take moderate rest and exercise between each meal. By this simple process, the wind is strengthened, a corkiness and elasticity of mo- tion acquired, and the whole frame invigorated, which ena- bles them to give and take a great deal of hammering, and speedily to recover from their bruises. It is an admirable system for those also, who wish to renovate constitution, weakened by to much indulgence. Plenty makes dainty. Scotch. Physicians rarely take medicine. ItaL PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS 15 Temperance, employment, and a cheerful spirit, are the great preservers of health. That is not always good in the stomach that is sweet in the mouth. The difference between the poor man and the rich is, that the poor walks to get meat for his stomach, the rich man walks to get a stomach for his meat. The full stomach loatheth the honeycomb, but to the hungry every thing is sweet. In the morning to the mountain, in the evening to the fountain The head keep cool and the feet warm, the rest will take no harm. They who would be young when they are old must be old when they are young. The epicure puts his purse into his stomach, and the miser his stomach into his purse. The best physicians are Dr. Diet, Dr. Quiet, and Dr. Merryman. 'Tis good to walk till the blood appears on the cheek, but not the sweat on the brow. Span 16 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. The nearer the bone the sweeter the flesh. We are usually the best men, when in the worst health When bread is wanting, oaten cakes are excel- lent. Span. Wine wears no breeches. French. It usually loosens the tongue and gives the liberty of speech. For this reason, ladies generally withdraw, when the wine comes on the table, not choosing to be present with such au indecent guest. Wine is a turn-coat; first a friend, then an enemy. You have lost your own stomach and found a dog's. You dip your grave with your teeth. HUSBANDRY AND WEATHER. JF tne grass grow in Jamveer, It grows the worse for't all the year. March winds and May sun, make clothes white and maids dun. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 17 April showers bring forth May flowers When April blows his horn, its good both for hay and corn April and May are the key of the whole year. A hot May, a fat churchyard. September blow soft, till the fruit's in the loft. Good October a good blast, To blow the hog acorn and mast. November take flail, let ships no more sail. When the wind is in the west. The weather is at the best. When the wind is in the East, It is good for neither man nor beast. When the wind is in the South, It blows the bait into the fishes' mouth. After a famine in the stall, Comes a famine in the hall. Somersetshire. An evening red, and a morning gray, is a sign of a fair day. The French say, " Le rouge soir, et blanc matin, font rejouir le pelerin." A red evening and a white morning rejoice the pilgrim. A proverb I have never observed to fail. 2 18 PRO VERBS OF ALL NATIONS. As the days lengthen, so the cold strengthens. No weather is ill, if the wind be still. This rule in gardening ne'er forget " To sow dry and set wet." Calm weather in June, sets corn in tune. Corn and horn go together; when corn is cheap cattle are not dear. A cherry year a merry year, A plum year a dumb year. The third of April, Comes in the cuckoo and nightingale Sow wheat in dirt, and rye in dust. Winter never rots in the sky So many mists in March you see, So many frosts in May will be. When the fern is as high as a spoon, You may sleep an hour at noon. 'Till St. James' day be come and gone. You may have hops, or you may have none. If the partridge had but the woodcock's thigh, It would be the best bird that ever did fly PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 19 A snow year, a rich year. Italian. Make the Tine poor, and it will make you rich. Prune off the branches. A field requires three things ; fair weather, good seed, and a good husbandman. Italian. Set trees poor, and they will grow rich; set them rich, and they will grow poor. Remove them always out of a barren, into a more fertile soil; the contrary would be like a man passing from a rich to a poor diet, under which he would soon exhibit a ver" meagre appearance. FA3EFUAR PHRASES, I'III.II> PROVERBIAL R 11 V .! 1>. \> O 01,0 SAWS. HE has given him the bag to hold. A blot in his escutcheon. He's in clover. In easy circumstances. Welch cousin. Welch. A relation far removed ; the Welch are great genealogists, and it is a sorry pedigree among them that does not reach at least to Noah. For want of company, welcome trumpery . 80 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. A good fellow lights his candle at both ends Cream-pot love. Such as young fellows pretend to dairy-maids to get cream and other good things from them. That's the cream of the jest. A clinker. An inhabitant of the Mint or Clink, formerly a place privile- ged from arrests- the receotacle of knaves and sharpers of all sorts. Neither lead nor drive An old ewe dressed lamb fashion. Applied to old women, when they affect the airs and dress of young people. He has given him leg bail. To make a mountain of a mole-hill. To nourish a viper in one's bosom. To look like an owl in an ivy-bush. To find a mare's nest. To catch a Tartar. To come in pudding time. To have the world in a string. PROVERBS OP ALL NATIONS. 21 You'd do well in Lubber land, where they have half a crown a day for sleeping. To pay one in one's own coin.. To run a wild-goose chase. To leave no stone unturned. They are hand and glove. To take the wrong sow by the ear. He has waked up the wrong passenger. The gallows groans for you. An handsome bodied man in the face. The grey mare is the better horse. Touch pot, touch penny. 'Tis sooner said than done. Of all tame beasts, I hate sluts, He looks as angry as if he was vexed. Irish. A Scotch warming pan. A wench. In explanation of this phrase, Ray has the follow- ing note. " The story is well known of the gentleman traveling in Scotland, who, desiring to have his bed warm- ed, the servant maid doffs her clothes, and lays down in it 82 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS . awhile. In Scotland they have neither bellows, warming pan, nor houses of office." EDITION, 1768, p. 65. It is hardly necessary to remark, that the state of things on the other side the Tweed has greatly improved since the time of Ray, and that Scotland is now distinguished for refine- ment and delicacy its capital is even styled the " modern Athens " A Welch ejectment. Welch. A legal process by which an obnoxious tenant is driven out, by taking off the doors, windows, roof, '* '"". " 'VH"-' : '* " ' ''*?*'; ' It's a sad house where the hen crows louder than the cock. Italian. If you can kiss the mistress, never kiss the maid. It is better to marry a quiet fool than a witty scold. If one will not, another will ; so are all maidens married. If thou desirest a wife, choose her on a Saturday rather than on a Sunday. Spanish. That is iu her dishabille. It's hard to wive and thrive both in a year. If the mother had never been in the oven, she would not have looked for her daughter there. Keep the feast till the feast-day. Scotch. Advice for maidens not to part with their virginity till married. 36 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. King Arthur did not violate the refuge of a wo- man. Welch. That is, left her the freedom of her tongue, and would not beat her for speaking ! Kissing goes by favor. Ladies will sooner pardon want of sense than want of manners. Likeness begets love, yet proud men hate one another. Like blood, like goods, and like age, make the happiest marriages. Long-tongued wives go long with bairn. Scotch. Love me little, love me long. Love and lordship like no fellowship. Love may gain all, time destroys all, and death ends all. Italian. Love and pride stock bedlam. Love, knavery, and necessity, make men good orators. Love can neither be bought nor sold ; its onlv price is love. Italian. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 37 Hove is without prudence, and anger without counsel. Italian. " I could not love, I am sure, One who in love were wise." COWLET Love is as warm among cottagers as courtiers. Many a time have I got a wipe with a towei, but never a daub with a dish-clout before. Scotch. The answer of a saucy girl, when teased by an unworthy suitor. More belongs to marriage tnan four bare legs in a bed. Marriage is nonorable, but house-keeping chargeable. ;.,..; \> Many kiss the child for the nurse's sake. Marry your sons when you will, your daughters when you can. Marry your daughters betimes, lest they marry themselves . Spanish. Marry, marry! and who id to manage the house. Spanish. Said of foolish young persons, who talk of marriage before they are capable to undertake the cares and expenses of wedlock. 38 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. Marry in haste and repent at leisure. Man is fire, and woman tow ; the devil comes and sets them in a blaze. Svanish. Maids want notning but husbands, and when they have got them, they want every thing. Many a one for land, takes a fool by the hand. Many blame the wife for their own thriftless- ness. Scotch. My son's my son till he hath got him a wife. My daugher's my daughter all the days of her life. Novelty is always handsome. New amours make us forget the old. Italian. Not so ugiy as to be frightful, nor so beautiful as to kill. Spanish. No woman is ugly when she is drest Observe the face of the wife to know the hus bands character. Spanish. Old women's gold is not ugly. A wipe for those who are on the scent after old dowagers with heavy purses. KO X r KliS O F A LL NATIONS. 39 Paint and patches give offence to the husband, and hopes to the gallant One love drives out another. One year of joy, another of comfort, ana all the rest of content. A marriage wish. She was a neat dame that washed the ass's face. She is neither maid, wite, nor widow. She had rather kiss tnan spin. She that is born a beauty is half married. She that nas an ill husband shows it in ner Iress. Smoke, raining in the house, and a scolding vife will make a man run out of doors. Saith Solomon the wise ' good wife's a good prize.' The fairer the hostess, the fouler the reckoning Since you wrong'd me, you never had a good thought of me. The bitch, that I mean, is not a dog. 40 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. She spins a good web, who brings up her son well. Spanish She is well married who has seen neither moth- er-in-law nor siseter-in-law by her husband.-/S^an. In Spain, they entertertain no great opinion of this class of kindred. Take heed, girl, of the promise of a man, for it will run like a crab. Spanish. That is, backwards. The woman who has a bad husband makes a confidant of her maid. Spanish. The society of ladies is a school of politeness. The rich widow cries with one eye, ana rejoices with the other. Spanish. To a foolish woman, a violin is more pieasmg than a distaff. Italian. \ There is no better looking glass than a true friend. The calmest husbands make the stormiest wives. The cunning wife makes her husband ner a- Dron. Spanish. PRO VE RBS OF ALL NATIONS. 41 The more women look in their glasses, the less they look to their houses ihree women and a goose make a market. Italian. Tell it her once and the devil will tell it to her ten times. Spanish. Tell a woman she is beautiful, and the devil will often put her in mind of it. To preserve a friend three things are required ; to honor him present praise him absent, and as- sist him in his necessities. Italian The mother knows best whetner tne child be like the father. There is many a gooa wife that can't sing and dance wel 1 There is one gooa wife in tne country and ev- ery man thinks he hath her There is no mischief in the world done, but a woman is one. Who feels love in his breast, feels a spur in his limbs . Italian . Women and dogs set men together by the ears. 42 PROVEKBS OF ALL NATIONS. We bachelors grin, but you married men laugh till your hearts ache. When poverty comes in at the door, love flies out at the window. When the good man s irom home, the good wife's table is soon spread. Who has a bad wife, has purgatory for a neigh- bor. Italian Who is a cuckold, and conceals it, carries coals in his bosom. Spanish. Who weas ere he be wise, shall die ere he thrives. Women must nave their wills while tney *ive, because they make none when they die Vho hath a scoicl hath sorrow to his sops. Who thinks a woman nath no merit but ner money, deserves to be made a cuckold. Who more ready to call her neighbor scoid, than the greatest scold in the parish. Ladies of pleasure affect not you, but vour money. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 43 While the tall maid is stooping, the little one hath swept the house. Women laugh when they can, and weep when they will Works and not words are the proof of love You may know a foolish woman by her finer'. SELECT PROVERBS. A BLITHE heart makes a blooming visage. Scotch. A burden which one chooses is not felt. A crowd is not company. A thousand probabilities do not make one truth. A blow from a frying pan, tnough it does not hurt, it sullies. Spanish. A calumny, though known to be such, generally leaves a stain on the reputation. Advice to all, security to none A cut purse is a sure trade, for he has reaay money when his work is done. 44 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. A guilty conscience needs no accuser. All truths must not be told at all times. Adversity makes a man wise, not rich. A drowning man will catch at a straw. An honest man has half as much more brains as he needs; a knave hath not half enough. A friar who asks alms for God's sake, begs for two. Spanish. A fool's tongue is long enough to cut his throat. A friend in court is worth a penny in the purse. A friend to every body is a friend to nobody. Spanish. A friend, as far as conscience allows A great city, a great solitude. A hand-saw is a good thing, but not to shave with. After -wit is every body's wit. A good tale ill told is marred in the telling. A good servant makes a good master. Italian. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS 45 A good name is better than riche A glass of water is sometimes worth a ton of wine, and a penny is worth a pound. Italian. A gude word is as soon said as an ill one. Scotch. A man is a man, though ne has but a hose upon his head. A good shape is in the shear's mouth. Scotch. A good key is necessary to enter Paradise. It. All are not theives that dogs bark at. All blood is alike ancient. A good pay-master is lord of anotner man's p ur s e . Italian . A good companion makes good company. Span. A gude tale is na the waur to be twice told. Scotch. A gift long waited for is sold, not given. A little wit will serve a fortunate man. A mad parish must have a mad Driest. PROVERBS OF ALL KAT1ONS. A handful of common sense is worth a bushel of learning. Spanish. A mad bull is not to be tied up with a pack- thread. A man in distress or despair does as much as ten. All men are not men. Italian A man may say even his prayers out of time. A man is little the better for liking himself, if nobody else likes him Apelles was not a master painter the first day. A man may be strong and yet not mow well. \n inch in a man's nose is much. A hasty man never wants woe. Scotch. A kiss of the mouth often touches not the heart. A man may talk like a wise man, and yet act like a fool. All is but lio- wisdom that wants experience. A fool may ask more questions in an hour than a wise man can answer in seven years. PRO VEKBS OF ALL NATIONS. 47 An emmet may work its heart out, but can never make honey. We cannot have figs from thorns, nor grapes from thisties. If we would succeed in any business \ve must use means adapted to the em' A man knows more to any purpose than he -V place at court is a continual bribe. A true reformation must oegin at the upper end. Windham used to say, "it was the lower end that was most corrupt, and reformation ought to begin there." We cannot decide. A plaister is a small amends for a broken head. A stumble may prevent a fall. A tragical plot may produce a comical conclu- sion. An ill plea should be weel pled. Scotch, A man may buy goid too dear. All's well that ends well A liar should have a good memory A man may live upon little, but he cannot live upon nothing at all. Gaelic. 48 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS All are not saints that go to the church. All is not gold that glitters. Although we are negroes we are men. Almost and very nigh saves many a lie A miss is as gooa as a miie. A man knows nis companion in a long journey and a small inn. Spanish A fool always comes short of his reckoning The half is better than the whole. A Greek proverb, recommending a person to take half rath- er than risk the expenses and uncertainty of a lawsuit to obtain the whole A little pot is soon hot. Little persons are commonly choleric. A man must piough with such oxen as he has. A man is weel o wae as he thinks himself sae. Scotch. A mischievous cur must be tied short. French. A man is a lion in his ain cause. Scotch. We had some proof of this in the conduct of the Reformers,' who in the late years defended their 'ain cause.' There PROTERBS OF ALL NATIONS. is indeed nothing like a man having a " stake in the hedge.' Give a good servant a share in the firm, and he is zealous for his employer ; or a citizen his political rights and he fights valiantly for the commonwealth. There could be no patriotism among the vassals of the feudal system ; they had neither property nor justice ; it was nothing to them who were the rulers of the earth, and they might exclaim, in the words of the Spanish proverb, "Where can the ox go that he must not plough." A merry companion on the road is as good as a nag. Ask a kite for a feather, and she will say she has just enough to fly with. An old naught will never be aught. An old knave is no babe A new oroom sweeps clean An ill workman quarrels with his tools. Apothecaries would not give pills in sugar un- less they were bitter. A pleasure is well paid for which is long ex- pected. Italian. A rolling stone gathers no moss. A sorrowing bairn was never fat. Scotch 4 50 PROVERBS OP ALL NATIONS. A stroke at every tree but without felling any. Gaelic. Ask enough and you may lower the price as you list. Spanish. According to the Latin : OPOKTET IXIQVVM PETAS UT ^EQUUM FERAS ; you must ask what is unjust to obtain "what is just. We presume it is on this principle the Universal Suffrage men frame their demands. They do not mean to have all they ask, but ask a great deal with the view of bating a little. A swine fatted hath eat its own bane. \s ye mak' your bed sae ye maun ly down. Scotch. A wonder lasts but nine days, and then the puppy's eyes are open. A. wild goose never laid a tame egg. Irish. A wilful man should be very wise. Scotch. A white glove often conceals a dirty hand.--/ta/. A word before is worth two behind. Scotch. A word and a stone thrown away do not re- turn. Spanish. Before you make a friend, eat a peck of salt with him. Scotch. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 11 A word to the wise is enough. Beggars must not be choosers Bells call others to church but enter not in themselves. Better the ill known, than tne gude unknown. Scotch. Better be the head of the yeomanry than the tail of the gentry. Men love priority and precedence, had rather govern than be ruled, command than obey, though in an inferior rank and quality. Julius Caesar and John Wesley were agreed on this point, it is better to rule in Hell than to serve in Heaven to be the first man in a village than the second man in Rome. Better come at the latter end of a feast than the beginning of a fray. Better keep the de'el out than turn him out. Scotch. It is easier to keep out a bad inmate than to get rid of him after he 1 has once been admitted. ,It is also used in another sense, implying that it is better toresist our pas- sions at first han after indulgence. Better late than never 52 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. That is better our house should be too small for one great entertainment, than too large all the rest of the year. It is applied to those jolly souls, who, for the sake of one good " blow out," abridge the comforts of the remaining twelve months. Better bend than break. Better a little fire that warms, nor a meikle that burns. Scotch. Better late thrive, as never do well. Scotch. Beware of vinegar made of sweet wine. Ital. Provoke not the rage of a patient man. Bold and shameless men are masters of the world. Be a friend to yourself and others will. Scotch. Better go around than fall into the ditch. Span * Be the same thing that ye wad be ca'd. Scotch. Be patient and you shall have patient children. Better an empty house than ill tenant. Scotch. Be not a baker if vour head be of butter. Spanish. That is, choose a calling adapted to your inclinations and natural abilities. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 33 Better to be alone than in bad company. Gaelic. Between two stools the breech comes to the ground. Better pass a danger once than be always in fear. Italian. Better ride on an ass that carries me than a horse that throws me. Spanish. Biting and scratching got the cat with kitten. Birds of a feather flock together. Blaw the wind never so fast it will lower at last. Scotch. Building is a sweet impoverisning. Our forefathers seemed to consider building a very unprof- itable speculation. They had many proverbs to the same effect : He "who buys a house ready wrought, Has many a pin and nail for uought. The French too say, - 'A house ready made, and a wife to make." The times have altered, if one may judge fronr the present rage for building in the vicinity of London, and in the country. Buy at a market but sell at nome. Spanisn. Beware of a silent dog and still water. 84 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. Beware of enemies reconciled, and meat twice boiled. Spanish. Children dead, and friends afar, farewell. Child's pig but father's bacon. Alluding to the promises which parents sometimes make to their children, and which they fail to perform. Charity begins at home. Children and fools speak the truth. Consider well, who you are, what you do, whence you come, and whither you go. Custom is the plague of wise men, and the idol of fools. The Spaniards say, A good or bad custom, the rogue wishes it to exist." Which shows the influence the knavish part of society conceive established usage to have in their prosperity. Customs, Though they be ne'er so ridiculous, Nay let them be unmanly, yet are followed. SHAKS. Can't I be your friend but I must be your fool too? Call me cousin, but cozen me not. Consider not pleasures as they come, but go. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 55 Count not your chickens before they are hatched. Counsel is to be given by the wise, the remedy by the rich. Credit lost is like a Venice glass broken. Crosses are ladders leading to heaven Day and night, sun and moon, air and light, every one must have, and none can buy. Ding down the nests and the rooks will flee away. Scotch. This proverb was ruthlessly applied in Scotland at the Refor- mation, to the destruction of many noble cathedrals and collegiate churches Diseases are the interests of pleasures. Do on the hill as you would in the hall. Do what you ought, and come what will. Do not make me kiss, and you will not make me sin. Do not say, you cannot be worse. Dogs bark as they are bred. 'Every one to his trade,' quoth the boy to the Bishop. 56 PROVERBS OF ALL RATIONS Eagles fly alone, but sheep flock together. Eggs of an hour, fish of ten, bread of a day, wine of a year, a woman of fifteen, and a friend of thirty. Either a man or a mouse. Empty vessels make the greatest sound. Every man is the architect of his own fortune. Every one's faults are not written in his forehead. Every tub must stand upon its own bottom Every thing hath an end, and a pudding hath two. Every one knows how to find fault Every body's business, is no body's business. Every good scholar is not a good schoolmaster. Every man wishes the water to his ain mill. Scotch. Every man is best known to nimself. Every dog has his day, and every man his hour. Every man has his hobby horse. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS 57 Eternity has no grey hairs Every thing would live. ' Every one to his liking,' as the man said when he kissed his cow. Ever drunk, ever dry Every potter praises his own pot, and more if it be broken. Every man kens best where his own shoe pinches. Scotch. Every tooi can find faults where a great many wise men can't mend Every light is not the sun. Every shoe fits not every foot. Scotch. Every one bastes the fat hog, while the lean one burns. Every man bows to the bush he gets shelter of. Every one praises the bridge tnat laKes him safely over. Fair words and foul play cheat Doth the young and the old. 58 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. Faint heart never won a fair lady, .fair maidens wear no purses. Scotch Spoken when young women offer to pay their club in com- pany; which the Scots will never allow, nor the English either. Fair and softly goes far in a day. Fair words break no Done, but foul words many a one. False folk should have many witnesses. Scotch. Fair in the cradle, foul in the saddle. It is supposed that children the most remarkable for beauty in infancy, are the least so when grown up. Does this arise from improper indulgence to beautiful children, or do the features and complexion alter ; or lastly, do we consider certain traits beautiful in childhood the contrary in maturity ? Faint praise is disparagement. Fetters of gold are still fetters, and silken cords pinch. O liberty ! thou goddess heav'nly bright ! Profuse of bliss, and pregnant with delight, Eternal pleasures in thy presence reign. ADDISON. j.t is said the Scottish hero, Sir William Wallace, had al- ways the following rhyme, in his mouth : PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 59 Dico tibi verum, libertas optima rerum, Nunquam servilli sub nictu vivito fill. Feeling has no fellow. Fine feathers make fine birds. Feed a pig and you'll have a hog. Fie, fie ! horse play is not for gentlemen. Fiddler's fare meat, drink and money. Scotch. Fire and water are good servants but bad masters. First come first served. Forbidden fruit is sweet. Fortune sometimes favors those whom she afterwards destroys. Italian. Forbid a fool a thing and that he'll do. Scotch. Forewarned, fore-armed. For that thou can do thyself rely not on another. For the rose the thorn is often plucked. Force without forecast is little worth. Scotch. Foul water will quench fire. 60 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. For one day of joy we have a thousand ennui. Life, in the opinion of most people, is a very melancholy thing, and I suppose this is the reason why so many resort to violent means to get rid of it, or are wholly careless about the means to prolong existence. King relates, in the " Anecdotes of his Own Times," that he had put the question to many persons, whether they would wish to live their time over again, experiencing exactly the same good and evil, and that he never met with one who replied in the affirmative. A king ot Ar- ragon said, There were only four things in the world worth living for, old wine to drink, old wood to burn, old books to read, and old friends to converse with. Solomon pronounced all these to be vanity but he was no judge For a flying enemy make a silver bridge. Span. An enemy closely pursued may become desperate : despair makes even the timid and cowardly courageous ; a rat, with no means for escape, will often turn upon his assail- ants. By all means then let the vanquished have a free course. Fools haste is no speed. Scotch. Fools tie knots and wise men loose them. -Scotch. Fools make fashions and wise men follow them. Fools and obstinate people make lawyers rich. From nothing, nothing can come. French. Friendship cannot stand all on one side. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. Frost and falsehood has ay foul hinder end. Scotch. Game is cheaper in the market than in the fields. True! but not half so sweet. That which is won by labor and enterprize is valued far above what is bought with money. It is not the game which is prized so much, as the exhilarating exercise the pursuit of it has afforded.' Gentility without ability is worse than plain beggary. Gentility sent to the market will not buy a peck o' meal. Scotch. Gentry by blood is bodily gentry. Get a name to rise early and you may lie all day. Give a new servant bread and eggs, but after a year bread and the cudgel. Spanish. Give ne'er the wolf the wether to keep. Scotch. Give a man luck and throw him into the sea. Give the devil his due. Give a child his will, and a whelp his fill, and neither will thrive. 62 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS Give a dog an'ill name and he'll soon be hang- ed. Scotch. Give him but rope enough and he'll hang him- eelf. Good counsel has no price. Italian Go noither to a wedding nor a christening without invitation. Spanish. Good harvests make men prodigal, bad ones provident. Good riding at two anchors, for if one breaks the other may hold. God sends meat and the de.vil sends cooks. Bacon says, "Cookery spoils "wholesome meats, and renders unwholesome pleasant." I wonder what that renowned knight of the spit, and dripping pan, Dr. Kitchener, thinks of this. Go into the country to hear what news in town. God grant that disputes may arise, that I may live Spanish. A lawyer's prayer for discord amongst his neighbors. Good to begin well, better to end well. God makes, and apparel shapes. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 63 God help the poor, for the rich can help them- selves . Scotch. God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb. French. Great barkers are nae biters. Scotch Great pain and little gain makes a man soon weary. Happy is he whose friends were born before him. Haste makes waste, and waste makes want, and want makes strife between the good man and his wife. He that will not be counseled cannot be helped. He has mickle prayer but little devotion .-Scotch. He dances well to whom fortune pipes. Italian. He that hath no money needeth no purse. He gets a great deal of credit who pays but a small debt. Italian. He that leaves certainty and sticks to chance, when fools pipe he may dance. He that chastiseth one. amendeth many. 04 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. He that hath an ill name is half hanged. He is poor indeed that can promise nothing. He that plants trees, loves others besides him- self He that would know what shall be, must con- sider what hath been. He that is warm, thinks all are so. He who wants content can't find an easy chair. He who loses money, loses much ; he who loses a friend, loses more ; but he who loses his spirits, loses all. Spanish. He that has no fools, knaves, or beggars in his family, was got by a flash of lightening. He who has no bread to spare should not keep a dog. Spanish He hath feathered his nest he may flee when he likes. Scotch. He who rides behind another does not travel when he pleases. Spanish. He who depends on another, dines ill and sups worse. PROVERBS OF A LLN AT IOKS. 65 He is a good orator who convinces himself. He who peeps through a hole may see what will vex him. He that licks honey from thorns paya too dear for it. Hand over head as men took the covenant. Scotch. Alluding to the manner in which the covenant, famous in Scottish history was violently taken by above sixty thousand persons about Edinburgh, in 1638 ; a novel circumstance at that time, though afterwards paralleled by the French in voting by ACCLAMATION. He who doth his own business, defileth not his fingers. He that will steal a pin will steal a better thing He who has but one coat cannot lend it. Spanish. He has fallen out of the frying-pan into the fire. He who commences many things, finishes only a few. Italian. He who despises his own life is master of that of others. "What shall he fear, who doth not fear death." SCHILLER. 5 66 PROVEKBS OF ALL NATIONS He had need have a long s^oon that sups kail with the de'el. Scotch. He that has one sheep in the flock will like all the rest the better for it. Scotch. Spoken when we have a son at a particular school, univer- sity, or society, and we wish the prosperity of these respective bodies on his account. He must needs run whom the devil drives. He had need rise betimes that would please every body. He loses his thanks who promises and delays. He that would hang his dog, first gives out that he is mad. He was scant o' news that tauld his father was hang'd. Scotch He who would have pleasure and pain must begin to scratch himseli. Spanish. He that stavs in the valle^ shall never get over the hill. He would fain fly but wants feathers He goes not out of his wav PROVEKBS OF ALL NATIONS. He who does not kill hogs will not get black puddings. Spanish. It is usual in Spain, when they kill a hog to make black puddings, to present their neighbors with some. The poor man without a hog receives few of these presents. He who follows his own advice must take the consequences. Spanish. Hell and chancery are always ooen. He who serves is not free. He commands enough that obeys a wise man. He who sows brambles must not go barefoot. Spanish. He that will not look before him must look behind him. Gaelic. He that seeks trouble it were a pity he should miss it. Scotch. He that reckons without his host must reckon again. He that cannot pay let him pray He gives twice that gives in a trice. He is an ill guest that never drinks to his host. 88 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. He knows best what good is that has endured evil. He that would live in peace and rest, must hear and see and say the best. He that lies down with dogs must rise up with fleas. Italian. He that waits for dead men's shoes may go long enough barefoot. He that makes himself a sheep shall be eaten by the wolves. He that will have no trouble in this world must not be born into it. He that knows himself best esteems himself least. He that goes a oorrowing goes a sorrowing. H that hath manv irons in the fire, some of them will burn. He that speaks me fair and loves me not, I'll speak him fair and trust him not. He that does you an ill turn will never forgive you. Scotch. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 69 He that fears leaves must not corne into a wood. He who eats the meat, let him pick the bone. Spanish. He has found a last to his shoe. Spanish. That is, he has met with his match. He that wad eat the Kernel maun crack the nut. He that cannot find wnerewith to employ him- self, let him buy a ship or marry a wife. Spanish. He that ill did, never good believed He who thinks he knows the most knows the le as t . Italian. He who at twenty does not understand, at thirty does not know, and at forty is poor, will have a wretched old age. Spanish. He that is ill to himself will be good to nobody. -Scotch. He who deals with a blockhead has need of much brains. Spanish. He who desires to sleep soundly, let him buy the bed of a bankrupt. Spanish. Implying that that description of persons have generally soft and luxurious couches. 70 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. He who is well and seeks ill, if it comes God help him. Spanish. Home is home though it be ever so homely. Hope is a good breakfast but a bad supper. Hopes delayed hang the heart upon tenter hooks. Hope defered makes the heart sick. Honor and ease are seldom bedfellows. Human blood is all of one color. If you trust before you try, you may repent before yon die. If we have not the world's wealth, we have the world's ease. Scotch. Spoken of those who live happily in a mean condition. If wishes would bide beggars would ride. If things were to be done twice, all would be wise. If all the fools wore white caps, we should look like a flock of geese. If a fool have success it ruins him PKOVEKBS OF ALL NATIONS. 71 If wise men play the fool, they do it with a vengeance. If you would have a good servant take neither a kinsman nor a friend. In sleep what difference is there between Solo- mon and a fool. If you want a pretence to whip a dog, it is enough to say he eat up the frying-pan If it can be nae better it is weel it is nae waur. Scotch. If it were not for hope the heart would break. If the riky falls we shall catch larks. French. In ridicule of those who talk of doing many things, if cer- tain other things, cot likely, were to happen. If you cannot bite never show your teeth. Ill weeds grow apace. Ill got, ill spent. If you would wish the dog to follow you, feed him. If you lie upon roses when young, you'll lie upon thorns when old 72 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. If you had had fewer friends, and more enemies, you had been a better man. If young men had wit, and old men strength enough, all might be well If you would have a thing kept secret, never tell it to any one ; and if you would not have a thing known of you, never do it. I weot when I was born, and every day shows why I like na to mak a toil o' a pleasure. Scotch. I love my friends well, but myself better. Ill-will never spoke well. Scotch. Ill doers, ill deemers. Scotch 111 would the fat sow fare on the Drimroses of the wood. Gaelic. I'm no every man's dog that whistles on me. Scotch. In a calm sea every man is a nilot. T 'll not buy a pig in a poke. In giving and taking it is easy mistakinff PROVERBS OF ALL NATIOXS. 73 In a country of blind people, the one-eyed man is a king. Spanish. In the forehead and the eye, the lecture of the mind doth lie. Lat. In a thousand pounds of law there is not an ounce of love. Its a wise child that knows its own father. Homer's Odyssey. It is a miserable sight to see a poor man proud, and a rich man avaricious. Italian. It is too late to complain when the thing is done . Italian . It's time to set when the oven comes to the dough. It is better to do well than to say well. Italian. It is good to fear the worst, the best will save itself. It's an ill horse that will not carry his own provender. It is very hard to snare an egg. It is not the cowl that makes the friar. 74 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. It is easy to take a man's part, but the matter is to maintain it. Gaelic. It is an ill cause the lawyer thinks shame o'. Scotch. It is not easy to straight in the oak the crook that grew in the sapling. Gaelic. Its a foolish sheep that makes the wolf its con- fessor. Italian. Its a base thing to tear a dead lion's beard off. If the parson De from home, be content with the curate. It is good going on foot wnen a man has a norse in his hand. It is not much to give a leg to him who gave you the fowl. Spanish. It is dear bought that is bought with prayers. Italian. It is right to put every thing to its proper use. Gaelic. It's better to be nappy than wise It is a long lane that has no turning. PROVERBS OP ALL NATIONS 75 It is good fishing in troubled waters. It's too late to spare when the bottom is bare. I'ts not good to wake a sleeping lion. It avails little to the unfortunate to be brave. Spanish. Tt is ill angling after the net. It's an ill cause that none dare speak in. Scotch. 1 cannot sell the cow and have the milk. Scotch. It's good to cry yule (Christmas) at other men's cost. It is an ill battle where the devil carries the colors. It is not the burthen, but the over burthen that kills the beast. Spanish. If pride were an art, there would be many teachers. Italian. It is hard to bring out of the flesh what is bred in the bone. Scotch. I was well, would be better, took physic, and here I am. Written on a man's tomb-stone. 78 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. Italy to be born in, France to live in, and Spain to die in. Just as it falls, quoth the wooer to the maid. Scotch. Kelly gives a ludicrous account of the origin of this saying A courtier went to woo a maid; she was dressing supper with a drop at her nose; she asked him if he would stay all night, he answered, Just as it falls: meaning if the drop fell among the meat he would be off; if it fell by, he would stay. Judge not of a ship as she lies on the stocks. Keep yourself from the anger of a great man, from the tumult of a mob, from a man of ill fame, from a widow that lias been thrice married, from a wind that comes in at a hole, and from a recon- ciled enemy. Keep your purse and your mouth close. Keep no more cats than will catch mice. Kindness will creep when it cannot go. Scotch. Lawyer's houses are built on the heads of fools. Lawyer's gowns are lined with the wilfulness of their clients. Let not your tongue cut your throat. Italian PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 77 Learning makes a man fit company for himself. Let them fry in their own grease. Lean liberty is better than fat slavery. Leave a jest when it pleases you best. Span. Let them laugh that win. Give losers leave to speak and -winners leave to laugh, for if you do not they -will take it. Let every man praise the bridge he goes over. Let him not look for me at home, who can meet me in the market-place. Spanish. Jlf-conuucnding persons to keep their domestic establish- ments free from intrusion, especially when they have places set apart for public business. Less of your courtesy, and more of your coin. Like the tailor of Campillo, who worked for nothing and found thread. Spanish. Life without a friend, death without a wit- ness. Spanish. Like the dog in the manger, he will neither do nor let do. Little said is soon mended, and a little gear is soon sDended. Scotch. PROVERBS OF ALL NATlOiW. Little and often fills the purse. Italian. Little strokes fell great oaks. Look before you leap, for snakes among sweet flowers do creep. Lookers on see more than players. Love thine neighbor, but pull not down thine hedge. Make not thy tail broader than thy wings. Keep not too many attendants. Make your affairs Known in the market-place, and one will call them black and another white. Spanish. Make the best of a bad bargain. Make a virtue of necessity. Many soldiers are brave at table, who are cowards in the field. Italian. Many irons in the fire, some may burn.-Scotch. Many masters, quoth the toad to the harrow, when every tooth gave her a blow. Scotch. Many ways to kill a dog and not to hang him. Scotch. ROVEKBS OF ALL NATIONS. 79 Many kiss the hands they wish to see cut off. Many children and little bread is a painful pie asure . Spanish . Many slips between the cup and the lip. This is in Kelly's collection, as a genuine Scotch, though an old Greek proverb ; implying that a project may be spoiled just at the point of consummation. Many hands make light work. Many go out for wool and come home shorn. Spanish. Many talk of Robin Hood that never shot with his bow. Many a true word is sooken in jest. Masters are mostly the greatests servants in the house. % Many a good cow hath a bad calf. Masters grow poor and servants suffer. Span. Many littles make a mickle. Misfortunes seldom come alone. Misunderstanding brings lies to town Most haste, worst speed. 80 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. Mother's darlings make but milk-sop heroes. More fools more fun More words than one to a bargain. Most men cry ' Long live the conqueror.' Much would have more and lost all. Much is wanting where much is desired. Ital. Much coin, much care ; much meat, much malady. My cow gives a good mess of milk, and tnen kicks it over. Nature takes as much pains in the womb for the forming of a beggar, as an emperor. A fine argument for the natural equality of man, which I think is not to he found in the writings of Paine. But though nature has followed the saine process in the manufacture of us all, it does not follow that all her work is equally well TCRXED OUT. There can be no doubt that some of us are naturally endowed with better mem- ories, better judgments, greater reasoning powers, and greater physical strength, than others; and of course, these differences will make differences in our individual fortunes and social condition. I cannot see how the advocates of the natural equality of mankind can get over this distinction. Nae great loss but there is some gane. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 81 Nothing venture, nothing have. Never scald your lips in other folk's broth. Never quit certainty for hope. Scotch. Neither beg of him who has been a beggar, nor serve him who has been a servant. Span. Need makes the old wife trot. No pot so ugly as not to Una a cover. Italian. Nothing so bad as not to be good for something. No smoke without some fire. No condition so low, but may have hopes ; none so high, but may have fears. None is a fool always, every one sometimes. None but great men can do great mischief. Nothing that is violent is permanent. Nobody so like an nonest man as an arrant knave. No jesting with edge tools, or with bell ropes. No longer pipe, no longer dance. No alchemy equal to saving 6 82 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. None of you knows where the shoe pinches. The answer of Paulus JEmilius to the relations of his wife, when they remonstrated with him on his determi- nation to separate himself from her, against whom no fault could be alleged. Nothing so bold as a blind man. No grass grows at tne market-place. A proverb applied to a certain description of females. No fault, but she sets a bonnet much too weel. Scotch. That is the servant, which makes the wife a little jealous, lest her good man should be tempted astray. Novelty always appears handsome. No living man all things can. No rose without a thorn. None can feel the weight of another's burden. Now I have got a ewe ana a lamb, every one cries Welcome, Peter! Of a little take a little. Scotch. Of young men die many ; of old men escape not any. Oil and truth will set uppermost at last. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 83 Of an ill pay-master get what you can, though it be but a straw. Old foxes want no tutors. One eye witness is better than ten hear-says. French. Once a use and ever a custom. One dog is better by another dog being hang- ed. Gaelic. One may live and learn. One might as well be out of the world, as be beloved by nobody in it. One man's meat is another man's poison. One may sooner fall than rise. French. One fool in a house is enough in all conscience. One half of the world kens not how the other half lives. Scotch. One beats the bush and another catcheth the bird. One doth the scath and another hath the scorn One scabbed sheep infects the flock. 84 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. One swallow makes not a spring, nor one woodcock a winter. One year a nurse and seven years the worse. One story is good till another is told. One fool makes many. Scotch. By diverting them from their proper business, as is often observed, in the streets of the metropolis, where, if a person only holds up his finger, a thousand will be instantly withdrawn from their proper avocations to inquire into the canse of it. One foolish act may undo a man, and a timely one make his fortune. Gaelic. One is not so soon healed as hurt One man may better steal a horse than another look over the hedge. One thief makes a hundred suffer. Spanish. Open confession is good for the soul. Scotch. Out of sight, out of mind. Dutch. Opportunity makes the thief. The ITALIANS say, " Ad area aperta il giusto pecca :" Where a chest lies open a righteous man may sin. The SPANIARDS say, " Puerta abierta, al santo tienta :" The open door tempts the saint. A good caution to hus- bands, masters, and housekeepers. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 85 One mad action is not enough to prove a man mad. Patience is a plaister for all sores. Patch by patch is good husbandry, but patch upon patch is plain beggary. Pigs love that lie together Plain dealing is dead, and died without issue. Pleasing ware is half sold Pleasant company alone makes this life toler- able. Spanish. Plenty makes dainty. Plough or not Plough, you must pay your rent. Spanish. Practice makes perfect Praise without profit, puts little in the pocket. Prate is prate, but it is the duck that lays the egg. Praise not the day before night. Pride, perceiving humility honorable, often borrows her cloak. 66 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. Policy goes beyond strength. French. Pride goes before and shame follows after. Pride will have a fall. Pour not water on a drowned mouse. Add not affliction to misery Put not a naked sword in a madman's hand. For they will abuse it to their own and others' harm Put your finger in the fire and say it was your fortune. Scotch. A. bitter sarcasm on those who ascribe the want 01 suc- cess in life to fortune. Dame Fortune ought long since to have gone to oblivion, with the rest of the heathen mythology; her smiles and frowns ought never to be alluded to, except in verse never in prose or conver- sation. What is frequently ascribed to ill-luck, is often nothing more than a want of foresight, prudence, in- dustry, or perseverance: these are the qualities that make men rich, prosperous, and happy. Put off your armor, and then show your courage. Put a coward to his metal, and he'll fight like the devil. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 87 Raise no more spirits than you can conjure down. Remove an old tree and it will wither to death. Remember the reckoning. Riches in the Indies, wit in Europe, pomp among the Ottomans. Turkish. Rome was not built in a day Save a thief from the gallows and he will be the first to cut your throat. Saying and doing are two things. Say well is good, but do well is better. Say nothing of my debts unless you mean to pay them. Sampson was a strong man, yet he could not pay money before he had it. Scorning is catching. Send not for a hatchet to break open an egg with. Seldom seen, soon forgotten. Service is no inheritance. 88 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. Seven hours' sleep make a clown forget his design. Secret joys are like an extinguished candle. Spanish. Solitary joy is the most melancholy thing in the world. If we have any thing to rejoice at, let us rejoice with our friends and acquaintance. When I get a prize in the lottery, or my uncle dies, and leaves me a thousand pounds, "Then I'll sit down: give me some wine; I drink to the general joy of the whole table!" Seek till you find and you will not lose your labor. Serve a great man and you will know wnat sorrow is. Spanish. Set the saddle on the right horse. Set a beggar on horseback and he'll ride to the devil. Shallow waters make most noise. Scotch. Still water runs deep. Sharp stomachs make short graces. Sly knavery is to hard for honest wisdom. Short reckonings make long friends. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 89 Shameless craving must have shameless re- fusing. Since you know every thing, and I know noth- ing, pray tell me what I dreamed this morning Slander always leaves a slur. Throw much dirt and some will stick Small rain lays a great dust. Some are wise and some are otherwise. Some good things I do not love ; a good long mile, good small beer, and a good old woman. Sorrow and an evil life make soon an old wife. Sorrow and ill weather come unsent for. Scotch. Soon hot, soon cold. Soon ripe, soon rotten. Spare to speak and spare to speed. Surgeons must have an eagle's eye, a lion's heart, and a lady's hand. Success makes a fool seem wise. Sudden trust brings sudden repentance. 90 PROVERBS OP ALL NATIONS. Such as the tree is, such is the fruit. Tailors and authors must mind the fashion. Take heed 01 an ox before, an ass behind, and a monk on all sides. Spanish. Take heed you find not that you do not seek. Italian. Take time while time is, for time will away. Scotch. Take time by the forelock. Talk of the war, but do not go to it. Spanish. Tell me with whom thou goest, and I will tell thee what thou doest. That city cannot prosper where an ox is sold for less than a fish. As was the case with ancient Rome at the commence- ment of her decline. It alludes to the state of luxury which usually precedes the downfall of nations. That is well spoken that is well taken. That pilgrim is base that speaks ill of his staff. Spanish. That is but an empty purse that is full of other folks' money. PROVERBS OP ALL NATIONS. 91 That which has its value from fancy is not very valuable. That which covers thee, discovers thee. Intimating that external splendor and "wealth, without merit, only more expose the unworthiness of the pos- sessor. That must be true which all men say. The first pig, but the last whelp of the litter is best. There is no fishing for trout in dry breeches. The chickens are the country's, but the city eats them. The biggest horses are not the best travelers. The cow knows not the value of her tail till he has lost it. The difference is wide that the sheets will not decide. The. frying pan said to the kettle, Avaunt, black brows. The brains of a fox will be of little service if you olav with the paw of a lion. 92 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. The complaints of the present times is the general complaint of all times. The ass that carries wine drinks water. The golden age never was the present age. The eye that sees all things else, sees not itself. The little wimble will let in tae great auger. The wise hand does not all the foolish tongue speaks. The pleasures of the great are the tears of the poor. The fox is very cunning, but he is more cun- ning that catches him. Spanish. The dog wags his tail not for you; but for the bread. The lower mill-stone grinds as well as the upper. The absent party is always faulty. The Italian is wise before he undertakes a thing, the German while he is doing it, and the Frenchman when it is over. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 93 The hog never looks up to him that threshes down the acorns. The worst pig often gets the best pear. The Englishman weeps, the Irishman sleeps, but the Scotchman goes while he gets it The submitting to one wrong brings on anoth- er. Spanish. The more the merrier, the fewer the better cheer. The remedy of to-morrow is too late for the vil of to-day. Spanish. The ox when weariest treads surest. Those that are slow are sure. The mouse that has but one hole is easily taken. The pitcher does not go so often to the water but it comes home broken at last. The devil is good when he is pleased. The fairest rose at last is withered. The proof of the oudding is in the eating. The weakest must go to the wall. 94 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. The whole ocean is made up of single drops. The way to Babylon will never bring you to Jerusalem. The butcher looked for his knife when he had it in his mouth. The dearest child of all is that which is dead. The master's eye makes the horse fat. A fat man riding upon a lean horse, was asked how it came to pass that he was so fat and his horse so lean ? " Because," says he, " I feed myself, but my servant feeds my horse." The last drop makes tne cup run over. The sweetest wine makes the sharpest vinegar. The friar preached against stealing when he had a pudding in his sleeve. The great thieves punish the little ones. The informer is the worst rogue of the two. The least boy always carries the great fiddle. All lay the load upon those that are least able to bear it, or have the least means of defending themselves. The Jews spend at Easter, the Moors at mar- riages, and the Christians in suits of law. ltd. PRO VERBS OF ALL NAT IONS. 95 The higher the standing the lower the fall. The worth of a thing is best known by the want of it. Scotch. The better day, the better deed. The longest day must have a great end. The crow thinks her own bird the fairest. The Ethiopians are said to paint the devil white, and of course, angels black. Every one is partial to his own ; his own art, his own compositions, his children, and country. Self-love is a mote in every one's eye ; and hence we not unfrequently observe, even the modest and perspicacious devour, without suspicion, the most fulsome flattery, when lavished on their own imaginary virtues and perfections. The burnt child dreads the fire. The higher the ape goes the more ne shows his tail. Honor is unseemly for a fool. PROV. xxvi. 1 The oest payment is the peck bottom. Scotch. That is, when you have measured out your grain to re- ceive your payment on the peck that measured it. The usual forms of civility oblige no man The gree*t king must at last go to bed with a shovel. 96 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. The best thing in the world is to live above it. The shortest answer is doing the thing. The mouse is mistress of her own mansion. Gaelic. The man that is happy in all things, is more rare than the Phoenix. Italian. The remedy is worse than the disease. Scotch The wise man knows he knows nothing, the fool thinks he knows all. Italian. The tears of the congregation are the praises of the minister. Italian. The more you stroke pussy's back, the higher she raises her tail. Gaelic. The burden which was thoughtlessly got must be patiently borne. Gaelic. The oldest man that ever lived died at last. Gaelic. Three removes are as bad as a fire. There is more hope of a fool than a man wise in his own conceit. They that hide can find. PROVERBS OP ALL NATIONS. 97 There is no disputing of tastes appetites, and fancies. There is something in it, quoth the fellow, when he drank dishclout and all. There is none so deaf as those tnat will not hear. Italian . There would be no ill language, u it were not ill taken. They whip the cat if the mistress does not spin. Spanish. The innocent often suffer for the negligence and indolence of others. They need much whom nothing will content. They shall have no more of our prayers than we of their pies, quoth the vicar of Layton. They love me for little that hate me for naught. Scotch. There is nothing agrees worse than a proud mind and a beggar's purse. There is no quenching of fire with tow. There could be no great ones, if there were no little ones 7 98 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. There is never enough where nought leaves. Italian. There is no general rule without exceptions. They that sell kids and have no goats, how came they by them! Things unreasonable are never durable. ItaL Though the sun shines, leave not your cloak at home. Three may keep counsel if two be away. Sco. Thistles are a salad, for asses. Scotch, Think much, speak little, and write less. Though old and wise, yet still advise. Thinking is very far from knowing. Though all men were made of one metal, yet were they not all cast in the same mould. Time and tide stay for no man. Three things cost dear : the caresses of a dog, the love of a mistress, and the invasion of a host. To take from a soldier ambition, is to take off his spurs. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 9g Time is a file that wears and makes no noise. To strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. To promise and give nothing, is comfort for a fool. To travel safely through the world, a man must have a falcon's eye, an ass's ears, an ape's face, a merchant's words, a camel's back, a hog's mouth, and a hart's legs. Italian. To throw pearls before swine. To hang every door with May. Italian. An elegant allusion to the universal lover. It is taken from the custom of country people in Italy, who, in the mouth of May, plant u honjjh la-fore the door of their mistress. A similar custom picruilcd in England, as we learn from Slowe. To set the fox to keep the geese. Italian. To lather an ass's head is only wasting soap. To expect and not to come ; to be in bed and not to sleep ; to serve and not to please ; are three things enough to kill a man. Italian. To-day me, to-morrow, thee. To what place can the ox go where ne must not plough? Spanish. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. To borrow on usury brings sudden beggary. Trust not a norse's heel nor a dog's tooth. Trust not the praise of a friend, nor the con- tempt of an enemy. Italian. Two eyes are better than one. French. Two of a trade seldom agree. Two cats and a mouse, two wives in one house, two dogs and a bone, never agree in one. Two things a man should never be angry at :-- what he can help, and what he cannot help. Venture not all in one bottom. Water run by. will not turn a mill. Spanish. Wanton killcn.s may make sober old cats. We must live by the quick, not by the deaa. We are all of Adam's children, but silk makes the difference We think lawyers to be wise men, and they know us to be fools. We are never so happy or unfortunate as we think ourselves. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 101 Weak men and cowards are commonly wily. We are born crying, live complaining, and die disappointed. Well lathered is half shaven. Weigh right, if you sell dear. Welcome death, quoth the rat, when the trap fell down. Was it not for hope the heart would break. Scotch. W T hat is the use of patience if we cannot find it when we want it ? What the eye sees need not to be guessed at. What good can it do an ass to be called a loin? What a dust A have raised, quoth the fly on the wheel. What cannot be cured must be endured. What is gotten over the devil's back is spent under his belly. What a man desires he easily believes. What? keep a dog and bark myself 108 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. What is bought is cheaper than a gift. What your glass tells you, will not be told by counsel. What enjoyment! to have little to eat and keep a servant. Spanish. What is none of my profit shall be none of my peril. Scotch What may be done at any time will be done at no time. Scotch What I cannot do by might I'll do by slight. What is done in the night appears in the day. When the cat is away the mice will play. When the wine is in, the wit is out. When rogues fall out, honest men come by their own. When the shoulder of mutton is going, it is good to take a slice. When the horse is stolen the stable door is shut. The Italians say, "Every ditch is full of your after-wits." When a lacquey comes to hell the devil locks the PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 103 When the barn is full you may thresh before the door. When you have plenty of money, tnere is no need of ob- scurity ; you may live openly, and in society. When every hand fleeceth, the sheep go naked. When you are all agreed upon the time, quoth the Vicar, I'll make it rain. When two friends have a common purse, one sings and the other weeps. When the sun shines, nobody minds him; but when he is eclipsed, all consider him. When good cheer is lacking, our friends will be packing. When a friend asketh, there is no to-mor- row. Spanish. When the fox preaches, beware of your geese. When an ass is among monkeys they all make faces at him. Spanish. When it pleasetn not God, the saint can do little. Spanish. When all men say you are an ass it is time to bray. 104 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. When one will not, two cannot quarrel. Span. When the heart is full of lust the mouth is full of lies. When sorrow is asleep, wake it not. When thy neighbor's house is on fire look to thine own. Where God hath his church the devil will have his chapel Where love fai^s, we spy all faults. Where nothing is, a little doth ease. Where the carcase is, there the ravens will collect together. Gaelic. While there is life there is hope. While the grass grows the steed starves. Who goes to the wars eats ill, drinks worse, and sleeps on the ground. Italian. Who looks not before finds himself behind. Who hunts two hares leaves one and loses the other. Italian. Wishes never can fill a sack. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS 105 With cost, good pottage may be made out of the leg of a stool. Who hath aching teeth hath ill tenants. Who has not a good tongue ought to have good hands. Without pains no gains. Wit once bought is worth twice taught Winter fin-Is out. what summer conceals Without a friend the world is a wilderness. Whoever is the fox's servant must bear up his tail. Gaelic. Wolves may lose their teeth but not their nature. Words are but wind, but seeing is believing. Words from the mouth only die in the ears, but words proceeding from the heart stay there. You cannot make velvet of a sow's ear. You need not get a golden pen to write upon dirt. You cannot make a whistle of a pig's tail. 105 PROVERBS OF ALL. IN Al 1OIS h. You have found a mare's nest, and laugh at the eggs. You have always a ready mouth for a ripe cherry. You come a day after the fair. You cannot have more of the cat than the skin. You cannot fair weel, but you cry roast meat. Scotch. Young men think old men fools, and old men know young men to be so. You cannot catch old birds with chaff. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 107 VIRTUE, RELIGION, AND LEARNING. A CHASTE eye exiles licentious looks. Alms-giving never made any man poor, nor robbery rich, nor prosperity wise. A friend is never known till needed Amicus certus, in re incerta cernitur. Cic. EX ENNIO. An atheist has gotten one point beyond the devil. Argument seldom convinces any one contrary to his inclinations. A madman and a fool are no witnesses. A lie has no legs, but a slander has wings. A liar is a bravo towards God, and a coward towards men. A wise man is a great wonder. A promise against law or duty is void in its own nature An ape may chance to sit amongst the doctors. 108 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. A little wind kindles a great fire, a great one blows it out. A careless watch invites a vigilant foe. A wise man may look like a fool in fool's com- pany. A debauched son of a noble family is a foul stream from a clear fountain. Away goes the devil when he finds the door shut against him. A man that breaks his word bids others be false to him. A man may as well expect to be at ease without wealth, as happy without virtue. An ill style is better than a lewd story A knave discovered is a great fool. As good be hanged for an old sheep as a young lamb. A wicked companion invites us all to hell. A vicious man's son has a good title to vice. An old goat is never the more reverend for his beard. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 109 A good life keeps off wrinkles. A wise man's thoughts walk with biir,, e. fool's without him. A great reputation is a great charge. A fool may chance to put something in a wise man'*) head. A little time may be enough to hatch a great ipai of mischief. A bad man has a blot in his escutcheon. A liar is not to be believed when he speaks the truth. Italian. All happiness is in the mind Happiness is not in a cottage, nor a palace, nor in riches, nor in poverty, nor in wisdom, ncr in ignorance, nor in active nor in passive life, there is evil as well as good in all these. It is certainly in the MIND, but the difficulty is in getting it to dwell there. An old monk has left the following maxims to pass through life comfortably : Never speak ill of your superiors Perform every one's office according to his quality " True happiness is to no spot confin'd, If you preserve a firm and equal mind ; Tis here, 'tis there, 'tis every where." HORACI. A good conscience is the best divinity 110 PROVERBS OF ALL RATIONS. A horse is neither better nor worse for his trappings. An upright judge has more regard to justice than to men. Italian. All fame is dangerous : good brings envy ; bad, shame. A good cause makes a stout heart and a strong arm. A house fill'd with guests is eaten up and ill spoken of. Indiscriminate hospitality, which occasions the ruin of fam- ilies, is seldom praised by those who have shared in it. A man, like a watch, is to be valued for his goings. A wise man gets learning from those whc have none themselves. Eastern. Arrogance is a weed that grows mostly on a dunghill. A hypocrite pays tribute to God that he may impose on men. After praying to God not to lead you into temptation, do not throw yourself into it. A profitable religion never wanted proselytes. P K O VERBS OF ALL NATIONS. Ill An envious man waxeth lean with the fat- ness of his neighbor. A wicked man is his own hell; and his pas- sions and lusts the fiends that torment him. Better untaught than ill taught. Better be alone than in ill company. Scotch. Better late ripe and bear, than early blossom and blast. Better go to heaven in rags, than to hell in embroidery. Bear and forbear is good philosophy. Be a father to virtue, but father-in-law to vice. Better ten guilty escape than one innocent man suffer. Buffoonery and scurrility are the corruption of wit, as knavery is of wisdom. Bought wit is best, but may cost too much. Believe only half of what you hear of a man's wealth and goodness. Spanish. Confession without repentance, friends without faith, prayer without sincerity, are mere loss. 11* PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. Blushing is virtue's color. Cheer up, God is where he was. Common fame is seldom to blame. Constant occupation prevents temptation. -Ital. Courage ought to have eyes as well as arms. Common sense is the growth of all countries. Content is the philosopher's stone, that turns all it touches into gold. " Is happiness your point in view, (I mean the intrinsic and the true,) She nor in camps nor courts resides. Nor in the humble cottage hides ; Yet formed alike in every sphere, Who finds Content, will find her there" GAT. Criminals are punished that others may be amended. Italian. Death has nothing terrible in it but what life has made it so. Dissembled holiness is double iniquity. Do not give a bribe, nor lose your right. Span Do not do evil to get good by it, which never yet happened to any. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 113 Do you know what charity is : forgive if you bear ill will, and pay what you owe. Spanish. Do what thou ought, come what can. French. Drunkenness is nothing else but voluntary madness. Drunkenness is an egg from which all vices are hatched. Drunkenness turns a man out of himself, and leaves a beast in his room. Dying is as natural as living Education begins a gentleman, conversation completes him. Education polishes good natures, and corrects bad ones. Enjoy your little while the fool seeks for more. Spanish. Evil communications corrupt good manners. Every vice fights against nature. Envy shoots at others and wounds herself. Experience without learning does more good than learning without experience. 8 114 PKOVERBS OF ALL HAT1OKS. Experience is the mother of science. Example teaches more than precept. Experience teaches fools, and he is a great one that will not learn by it. Experience keeps a dear school, but fools learn in no other. Faults of ignorance are excusable, only where the ignorance itself is so. Follow not Truth too near the heels, lest she dash out your teeth. Follow the wise few rather than the vulgar many. Italian. Folly is the poverty of the mind. Folly is never long pleased with itself. Forget others' faults by remembering your own. For ill do well, then fear not hell. Fools lade out the water and wise men take the fish. From 'prudence, peace ; from peace, abund- ance. Italian. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 115 Friend's help is not to be bought at a fair. Frost and fraud both end in foul. Government of the will is better than increase of knowledge. Good preachers give fruits and not howers. Italian. Good actions are the best sacrifice. Great minds are easy in prosperity and quiet in adversity. He that is drunk is gone from home. He dies like a beast who nas done no good while he lived. He who nas no shame has no conscience. Sp. He is the best gentleman who is the son of his own deserts. He that has no modesty has all the town for his own. He that shows his passion tells his enemy where he may hit him. He that knows useful things, and not he that knows many things, is the wise man. FKOVKRBS OF ALL NATIONS. He who avoids the temptation avoids the sin. He keeps his road well enough who gets rid of bad company. He that will not be counseled cannot be helped. He who resolves to amend has God on his side. He that kills a man when he is drunk, must be hanged when he is sober. He that swells in prosperity will shrink in .id . AV10.NS. 123 Show me a liar and I will show you a thief. Some are atheists omy in fair weather. Sin is sin, whether it be seen or not. Scandal will rub out like dirt when it is dry. Short pleasure, long lament. Small faults indulged, are little thieves that let i.i greater. Solitude makes us love ourselves ; conversa- f .i'.}j, others. c'.n'-'tude dulls the thought; too much society d.\Bffipfttes it. That which was bitter to endure may be sweet t:; remember. The most penitent ancnorite has now and then a flight of vanity. The best mode of instruction is to practice what we teach. The reward of unlawful pleasure is lawful pain. The XK-ofvJlest truths are the easiest compre- hended. 124 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. The sting of a reproach is the truth of it. The conquered is rarely called wise, or the conqueror rash. The truest jests sound worst in guilty ears. The chamber of sickness is the chapel of de- votion. The best horse needs breaking, and the aptest child needs teaching The gown is tier's that wears it, and the world is his who enjoys it. The devil is a busy bishop in his own diocese. There is a devil in every berry of the grape. Turkish. The mus?>i '.cr. il^ rooming. The retn^y for injuries is not to remember them. I Lilian . The credit thst is got by a lie only lasts ti the truth comes out. The church is out of temper, when charity waxes cold an zeal hot. The drunkard continually assaults his own life. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 125 The best remedy against an ill man is much ground between both. Spanish. The pen of the tongue should be dipped in the ink of the heart. Italian. The poet, of all sorts of artificers, is the fond- est of his work. The first chapter of fools, is to esteem them- selves wise. The longest life is but a rjarcel of moments. The wise man knows the fool, but the fool doth not know the wise man. Eastern The sickness of the body may prove the health of the soul. The cross on the breast and the devil in ac- tions. Spanish. The wicked even hate vice in others. The world would finish were all men learned. The best way to see divine light, is to put out thine own candle. The wrath of brothers is the wrath of dev- ils. Spanish. 126 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. The offender never pardons. Italian. The timid and weak are the most revengeful and implacable. The loquacity of fools is a lecture to the wise. The example of good men is visible philosophy. The fool is busy in every one's business but his own. The follies f vouth are food for repentance in old age. The devil entangles youth with beauty, the miser with gold, the ambitious with power, the learned by false doctrine. The first degree of folly is to think one's self wise; the next to tell others so; the third, to despise all counsel. The devil goes shares in gaming. There are as many serious follies as light ones The greatest learning is to be seen in the greatest plainness. There is no honor where there is no shame The noblest remedies of injuries is oblivion. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS 127 The most lasting monuments are, doubtless, the paper monuments. To read and not to understand, is to pursue and not to take. Italian. Too much fear is an enemy to good delibe- ration. Truth may be blamed, but it can never be shamed. Truth hath always a fast bottom. Gaelic. Truths and roses have thorns about them. Truth may languish but can never perish.-/ta/. To a bad character, good doctrine avails noth- ing. Italian. Unkindness has no remedy at law. Vain glory blossoms, but never bears. Vice is its own punishment, and sometimes its own cure. Vows made in storms are forgotten in calms We have all forgotten more than we remember We talk, but God doth what he pleases. 128 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. Wealth breeds a pleurisy, ambition a fever, lib- erty a vertigo, and poverty is a dead palsy .-Gaelic We may give advice, but we can not give conduct. Well to judge depends on well to hear.- Ital. What the eye sees not, the heart rues not. What maintains one vice would bring up two children. What soberness conceals drunkenness reveals. When you are ingry, remember that you may be calm ; and when you are calm, remember that vou may be angry. Spanish. When honor grew mercenary, money grew honorable. Who thinks to deceive God, deceives himself. Wo to those preacher* who listen not to them- selves. Who is wicked in the country will be wicKed in the town. Who thinks often of death, does things worthy of life. Italian. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. j29 Who teaches often Irani? Lim-rll' Italian. Whore content is, there 1 is a fen-n Who is not used to lie think. 4 even,' <>nc speaks the truth. Italian. Who draws others into ill courses is the devil's agent. Who thinks every day to die can never per- ish. Italian. Worth begets in base minds envy ; in great souls emulation. Who has one foot in a brothel, has the other in the hospital. Italian. Where honor ceases, knowledge decreases Where reason rules, appetite obeys. Who preaches war is the devil's chaplain. Who is bad to his own is bad to himself. lid. When you would be revenged on your enemy, live as you ought, and you have done it to some purpose. Who follow not virtue in youth, can not fly sin in old age. Italian. i: ,0 PROVEKBS OF ALL NATIONS. Worth hath been under-rated ever since wealth was over-valued. Who pardons the bad, injures the good. Ital When you have no observers be afraid of yourself. When a proud man hears another praised, he thinks himself injured. When passion enters at the foregate, wisdom goes out at the postern. Wise men have their mouth in their heart, fools their heart in their mouth. Wisdom without innocence, is knavery ; inno- cence without wisdom, is folly. Wisdom does not always ppeak in Greek and Latin. Wise men learn by others' harm, fools by their own. Wise men care not for what they cannot have. Who ever suffered for not speaking ill of others ? Wicked men, like madmen, have sometimes their lucid intervals. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 131 Where the heart is past hope, the face is pae* shame. Years know more than books. You would do little for God if the devil were dead. Scotch. You make a great purchase when you relieve the necessitous. You plead after sentence is given. You should ask the world's leave before you commend yourself You will never repent of being patient and sober. You may break a colt, but not an old horse. You will never have a friend, if you must have one without failings. Your father's honor to you is but a second hand honor. Youth and white paper take any impression Zeal, without knowledge, is like fire without light 138 ROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. LAWS, GOYERKTIHENT, AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS. A PRINCE wants a million, a beggar but a groat. j\n ass that carries a load is better than a lion fJl^t devours men. An illiterate king is a crowned ass A king is ^ever powerful that has not power on the sea. An ill man 5 n o. "ce is a public calamity. Antiquity can not privilege an error, nor nov- elty prejudice a truth. A deceitful peace is mor* hurtful than an open war. Beggars tear no ebellion, Be you ever so high the iw is aove you. Better a lean peace than ?\ fat victory By wisdom peace, by peace plenty From the anger of a lord, and from a mut] /r V of the people, God deliver us. Spanish. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 133 For sovereign power all laws are broken. Spa*M.. Gooo iawe often proceed from bad manners. Good me;* itre a public good He whose father is alcalde goes to trial with contiJence. He that puts on a public gown, must put uff the private person. He is half a king who has the king's gocf graces . Italian. He who gives to the public gives to no one. Hospitality to the exile, and broken bones to the oppressor. Gaelic. He that serves the public obliges nobody. Ital. He that buys magistracy must sell justice. Human laws reach not thoughts. In settling an island, the first building erected by a Spaniard will be a church ; by a French- man, a fort; by a Dutchman, a warehouse and bv an Englishman, an alehouse. It is the justice's clerk that makes the justice. 134 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. It were better to hear the lark sing, than the mouse cheep. A. border proverb of the Douglases : to express as Sir Walter Scott observes, what Bruce had pointed out, that the woods and hills of their country were the safest bulwarks instead of the fortified places, which the En- glish surpassed their neighbors iu the art of assaulting and defending. King's chaff is worth other men's corn. Span. The perquisites that attend kings are better than the wages of other persons. Kings and bears oft worry their keepers. Kings have long arms, and have many eyes and ears. Italian. Kings have no power over souls Laws catch flies, but let hornets go free. Law makers should not be law breakers. /Sfc'A. Law governs man, and reason the law. Law cannot persuade where it cannot punish. Law is costly, take a part and agree. Scotch. Might overcomes right. Much disorder brings with it much order. PKOVERBS OP ALL NATIONS. 135 Money is an abridgement of human power. Much law but little justice. Where there is much law, there must be much uncertainty* and uncertainty in the Laws must be productive of liti- gation, which itself is a cause of great suffering and injustice to those possessed of little property. Oppression causes rebellion. Of all wars peace ought to be the end. Pax qu&ritur bcllo. Oppression will make a wise man mad.-Scotch. Possession is eleven points of the law, ana they say there are but twelve. Popular opinion is the greatest lie in the world. Peace would be general in the world, if there were neither mine or thine. Rewards and punishments are the basis of good government. Soldiers in peace are like chimnies in summer. Such is the government, such are the people. The soldier is well paid for doing mischief. The king's cheese goes half away in Daring. 130 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. The blood of the soldier makes the glory of the general. The people murder one another, and princes embrace one another. Italian. That war is only just which is necessary. The king may give honor, but thou art to make thyself honorable. The multitude of offenders is their protection. The subject's love is the king's life guard. The fear of war is worse than war itself. The guilty man fears the law, the innocent man fortune. The greater the man, the greater the crime. The more laws, the more offenders. The worst of law is, that one suit breeds twenty. The king may bestow offices, but cannot be- stow gifts to manage them. The treason is loved, but the traitor is hated. Traitors, false friends, and apostates, may all be included under the same anathema. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 137 The mob has many heads, but no brains. The magistrate's son escapes from every thing. Spanish, ''Great men," says Mr. Collins, "too often commit all sorts of. villianies witk impunity." Their power and their will are the measures princes take of right and wrong. The larger states are, the more they are sub- ject to revolutions. Italian. That trial is not fair, where affection is judge. To keep a custom you hammer the anvil still, though you have no iron. War makes thieves and peace hangs them. Italian French . War is death's feast. War brings scars. War, hunting, and love, have a thousand oains for one pleasure. We may see a prince but not search him. Where there are many laws, there are many enormities. 138 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. Where drums beat, laws are silent. Who draws the sword against his prince, must throw away the scabbard. Who knows not how to dissemble, knows not s ones. Spanish. A rascal grown rich has lost all his kindred. A good word for a bad one, is worth much and costs little. Italian. A man without ceremony had need of great merit in its place. All saint without, all devil within Alike every day makes a a clout on Sunday. Scotch. According to your purse govern your mouth PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 141 A rolling stone gathers no moss. As good play for nothing as work for nothing. A fu' purse never lacks friends. Scotch. A covetous man makes a halfpenny of a far- thing, and a liberal man makes a sixpence of it. Always taking out of the meal-tub, and never putting in, soon comes to the bottom. A penny spared is twice got. An artist lives every where. A Greek proverb, used by Nero, when he was reproached with the ardor he gave himself up to the study of music. It answers to the Spanish, "A skilful mechanic makes a good pilgrim." He will in every place find the means to maintain himself; which gives him an advantage over the mere gentleman, who might beg, while the artist could live by his trade. No class is, in fact, more independent, than mechanics. For this reason Rous- seau taught every child should be instructed in a trade ; and the Germans, of ail ranks, formerly were brought ip to some handicraft, so that they might be provided against the vicissitudes of fortune. All men think their enemies ill men. A man in a passion rides a horse that runs away with him. All is fine that is fit. 142 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. A civil denial is better than a rude grant. A man's folly ought to oe his greatest secret. An oek is not felled at one stroke. A servant is known by his master's absence. A shoemaker's wife and a smith's mare are always worst shod. The Spaniards say, "In the smith's house the knife is made of wood ;" implying, that where they have the means and opportunity of procuring the comforts and conveniences of life, they are generally the most wanting. Indeed, it were easy to show, that there are many other good things in the world beside a knife and a horse- shoe, which we do not enjoy, for other reasons than the want of opportunity to procure them. Man is a very foolish and perverse creature, and his actions influenced (Mr. Bentham's theory notwithstanding) by very different considerations than a sober calculation of self-interest. All is soon ready in an orderly house. Anger and haste hinder good counsel. A poor man's debt makes a great noise. All complain of want of memory, but none ol want of judgment. An open countenance, but close though ts.Ital. The advice given by the elegant "Wotton to Milton, prior to the young poet commencing his Italian travels. PRO VE KBS OF ALL NATIONS. 143 A man without money is a bow without an arrow. An empty belly hears nobody. A poor man has not many marks for fortune to shoot at. An old dog cannot alter his way of baming. An idle brain is the devil's workshop. A fool and his money are soon parted. A penny-worth of mirth is worth a pound of sorrow. A young man idle, an old man needy. Ital. At a good bargain pause a while. A little neglect mav breed great mischief. A fat kitchen makes a lean will. Avarice increases with wealth. Italian. A pin a day is a groat a year. Scotch A stitch in time saves nine An affected superiority spoils company. A wager is a fool's argument. 144 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. A true nobleman would prefer rags to patched clothes. Spanish. A thread-bare coat is armor proof against a highwayman. A very good or very bad poet is remarkable ; but a middling one, who can bear? A poor squire ought to have his cup of silver, and his kettle of copper. Spanish. Though they will cost the most at first, they will last the longer, and in the end be the cheapest. An empty purse and a new house make a man wise too late. Italian. An artful fellow is the devil in a doublet. As is the garden such is the gardener. Hebrew. A small leak will sink a great ship. A deluge of words and a drop of sense. A man loses his time that comes early to a bad bargain. A wicked book is the worse because it can not repent. Better eat grey bread in your youth than in your age. Scotch. f-KUVKKBS OK ALL S.'.T.OSS. 145 Bacchus has drowned more men than Neptune. Bashfulness is boyish. Better a clout than the hole out. Scotch. Beauty is potent, but money is omnipotent Burn not your house to fright away the mice. To subdue a trifling evil do not incur a greater. Begging of a courtesy is selling of liberty Better wear out shoes than sheets. Better give a shilling than lend and lose half- a-crown. Better have one plough going than two cradles. Better is the last smile than the first laughter. Business to-morrow. A Greek proverb, applied to a person ruined by h:s own neglect. The fate of an eminent person perpetuated this expression, which he casually employed on the occasion. One of the Theban poiemarchs, in the midst of a convivial party, received despatches relating to a conspiracy: flushed with wine, although pressed by the courier to open them u&rceciialclr, he smiled, and in gaiety laying the letter aad^: the pillow of his couch, observed, "Business t->ic:row'" Plutarch records eUat he fell a victim to tne t^pacy-fsur cours he ha-i lost, and became the su'lio; oi a proverb, wh.'ch was still circulated among t*ru- dence, make a gentleman. Make yourself all honey, and the flies will devour you. Italian. Money makes the man perfect. PROV EKBS OF ALL NATIONS. 159 Many talk like philosophers, and live like fools. Masters should be sometimes blind and some- times de af. Men apt to promise, are apt to forget. Nothing should oe done in haste but gripping of fleas. Scotch. Nature sets every thing for sale to labor. Neither give to all, nor contend with fools. Not to oversee workmen is to leave them your uurse open. None so old that he hopes not for a year of life. Never loose a hog for a halfpenny worth of tar. No sweet without some sweat ; without pains no gains. Never sign, a writing till you have read it, nor drink wine until you have seen it. Spanish. Neither great poverty, nor great riches, will hear riches. Out of debt, out of danger. Overdoing is doing nothing to the purpose. 160 rn u v . K D u r A L I, _> -i i i u A n . One that is perfectly idle is perfectly weary too, and knows not what he would have or do. Of money, wit, and virtue, believe one fourth of what you hear. One barber shaves not so close but another finds work Of little meddling comes great ease. Of saving cometh having. Owe money to be paid at Easter, and Lent will seem short to you One ounce of discretion is worlh a pound of wit. Pay as vou go and keep from small score. Pains to get, care to keep, fear to lose Past labor is pleasant. Poverty is the mother .of all arts. Provide for the "Worst, the best will save itself. Poverty breaks covenants. Poverty makes a man acquainted with strange bed- fellows. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 161 Poverty is no baseness, but it is a branch of knavery. "He whom the dread of want ensnares, With baseness acts, with meanness bears." Poverty is an evil counsellor. Poverty breeds strife. Poverty craves many things, but avarice more Italian. Poverty has no shame. Purposing without performing, is mere fooling. Praise without profit, puts little into the pocket Quality without quantity is little thought of. Scotch. Quarreling dogs come halting nome. Quick landlords make careful tenants. Quiet persons are welcome every where. Quick returns make rich merchants. Scotch. Rise early and you will see ; wake and you will get wealth. Spanish. Riches, like manure, do no good till they are spread. 11 162 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. Riches may at any time be left, but not poverty. Running hares do not need the spur. Italian. See, listen, and be silent, and you will live in p e ac e . Italian Silks and satins put out the kitchen fire, w So much of passion, so much of nothing to the purpose. Speak well of your friend, of your enemy say nothing. Spare to speak spare to speed. Some have been thought brave because they were afraid to run away. Sit in your place and none can make you rise. Spend not where you may save ; spare not where you must spend. Spend and be free, t> make no waste. Speak little and to the purpose, and you will pao 1 * for somebody. Setdi? down in writing is a lasting memory. Some 2 re ver^ busy, and yet do nothing. FKOVKKBS OF ALb NATIONS. 163 Take time while time is, for time will way. Talking pays no toll. Tell not all you know, nor do all you can.-/ta/. That which is well done is twice done. Think of ease but work on. The stone that lies not in your way, need not offend you. The best throw upon the dice is to throw them away. The best of the game is, to do one's business and to talk little of it. The sweat of Adam's brow has streamed down ours ever since. The present fashion is always handsome. The fox's wiles will never enter into the lion's head. The dearer it is, the cheaper it is to me, tor I shall buy the less. The head grey, and no brains yet! The more wit, the less^ courage. 164 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS There are no coxcombs so troublesome, as those that have some wit. The foolish Alchymist sought to make gold of iron, and made iron of gold. Italian. The poor man's wisdom is as useless as a pal- ace in a wilderness. The sluggard's guise loth to bed and loth to rise. The eye of the master doth more than both hands. The poor do penance for the follies of their superiors. Italian. There is a knack of appearing knowing, if we can only be silent. The king of good fellows is appointed for the queen of beggars. The fool wonders, the wise man travels. The horse-shoe that clatters wants a nail.-Span. Applied to those who boast most of their wealth, when in the greatest difficulties. The less wit a man has, the less he knows he wants it. PROVERBS OF ALL NAllOftS. 165 The abuse of riches is worse than the want of them. There are two things men ought to take special care of; their health and their pockets. If either of these be indisposed, God help the sufferer. The Italians say, " Poverty is half a sickness ;" but of the two, I think the health had better be low than the pocket. In sick- ness we need little, but in health our wants are like armed men, and must be satisfied. Bacon says, "Knowl- edge is power," but the wisdom of a poor man goes a very little way, while the loquacity of a rich fool carries every thing before it. Poverty is real slavery bodily and mental. By all means then we ought to get money; not to hoard but to spend to procure enjoyment, liberty independence, and above all, the power of doiug good. To him that wills, ways are seldom wanting. The holidays of joy are the vigils of sorrow. The study of vain things is laborious idleness. They may know the workmen from his work. The true art of making gold, is to have a good estate, and spend little of it. The poor man's budget is full of schemes.--^ The more riches a fool nath, the foolisher he is. The easiest way to dignity is humility. That is a wise delay which makes the road safe. 166 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. Though a coat be ever so fine, which a fool wears, yet it is but a fool's coat. Try your friend with a falsehood, and if he keep it a secret tell him the truth. The more you court a mean man, the statelier he grows. Spanish. To believe a business impossible, is the way t,o make it so. That man is cheaply bought who costs but a salutation. The greatest wealth is contentment with a little. There is more trouble in having nothing to do, than in having much to do. To be proud of an hereditary title is to flaunt in a dead man's clothes. True valor is fire; bullying is smoke. To whom you betray your secret, you give your liberty. Too much familiarity breeds contempt. PLUTARCH observes that, out of three of the best things, three of the worst arise : from truth, hatred ; from famil- iarity, contempt ; from happiness, envy. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. Trouble not your head about the weather, nor the government. Virtue itself without good manners, is laugh- ed at. Venture thy opinion, but not thyself for thy opinion. Unbidden guests know not where to sit down Unexperienced men think all things easy. Use soft words and hard arguments. Wealth makes worship. Wealth is best known by want. Well to work and make a fire, it doth care and skill require. When flatterers meet, the devil goes to dinner. Who spends more than he should, shall not have to spend when he would. We hate delay; yet it makes us wise. We never know the worth of water till the well is dry. wnere necessity pinches, boldness is prudence. 168 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. Wit it is folly, unless a wise man has the keep- ing of it. Witn foxes we must play the fox. When necessity comes in, tnrn modesty out. Wine and youth are fire upon fire. Who more brag than they that have least to do. Worth, without wealth, is a good servant out of place. W T hat the better is the house for the sluggard rising early. Wealth is not his who gets it, but his who enjoys it. When a man is not liked, whatever he does is amiss. Who will not keep a penny shall never have many. Wrinkled purses make wrinkled faces. When a fool has bethought himself, the mar- ket is over. When you have any business with a man, give him title enough. PKOVEKBS OF ALL NATIONS. 169 When you have bought one thing you must buy ten more, so that your appearance may be all of a piece. When either side grows warm with argument, the wisest man gives over first. Weigh right, if you sell dear. Write down the advice of him who loves you, though you like it not at present. W^ould you know the value of money, go and borrow some. Spanish. W T hen you meet with a fool, pretend business to get rid of him. t Who buys has need of a hundred eyes, who sells has enough of one. We are bound to be honest, but not to be rich. When the door is shut the work improves.-^/?. You are less liable to be interrupted, or have your atten- tion withdrawn from your business. What tutor shall we find for a child sixty years old ! When you obey your superiors, you instruct jour inferiors. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. When a man's coat is threadbare, it is easy to pick a hole in it. When a man is unfortunate and reduced in the world, any one may find fault with his conduct. When the horse is stolen, you shut the stable door. When gold speaks, all tongues are silent. /to/. Who has nothing in this world is nothing.-/^//. When your companions get drunk and fight, ake up your hat and wish them good night. You must be content sometimes with rough roads. You may tell an idle fellow if you but see him at dinner. You may offer a bribe without fear of having your throat cut. You have good manners, but never carry them about you. You must cut your coat according to your cloth. Your looking-glass will tell you what none of your friends will. You gazed at the moon and fell in the gutter. PROVERBS OF ALL NAT IONS 171 FASTI 71 1> AND IIOI-YOA V*. 'What is a gentleman without his recreations!" OLD PLAY. IN the Games and Diversions of a people, we may trace the distinguishing features of the na- tional character ; and the rude pastimes of our ancestors are a practical illustration of the cour- ' age and hardiness for which they were celebra- ted. Some of the old sports would be incompa- tible with the refinement of the present day, but others are of a nature less objectionable, and the memory of which is worthy of preservation. Many of the ancient Games and Holidays were rural festivities, commemorative of the return of the seasons, and not only innocent in themselves, but conducive to health and good-fellowship. Of this description were the May-Games, the Harvest-supper, the Feast of Sheep Shearing, Midsummer Eve rejoicings, and the celebration of the New Year: all these may be traced to the earliest times ; indeed they are coeval with socie- ty, and the Feast of the Tabernacle among the Jews, and the ancient honors paid to Ceres, Bac- chus, and Saturn by the heathens, were only an- alogous observances, under a different apella- tion. A revival of some of the old Sports and Pas- times would, probably, be an improvement in na- tional manners ; and the modern attractions of 17? i-ROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. Rouge ct Noir, French hazard, Roulette, "blue ru- in," and muddy porter, be beneficially exchanged for the more healthy recreations of former ages. "Worse practices within doors," as .S to we re- marks, "it is to be feared, have succeeded the more open pastimes of the older time." The recreations of our Saxon ancestors were such as were common among the ancient North- ern nations ; consisting mostly of robust exerci- ses, as hunting, hawking, leaping, running, wrest- ling, and casting of darts. They were also much addicted to gaming; a propensity unfortunately transmitted, unimpaired, to their descendants of the present day. Chess was a favorite game with them, and likewise backgammon, said to have been invented about the tenth century. The Normans introduced the chivalrous games of tournaments and justs. These last became very prevalent as we learn from a satirical poem of the thirteenth century, a verse from which has been thus rendered by STRUTT in his "Snorts and Pastimes." "If wealth, Sir Knight perchance be thine, In tournaments you're bound to shine, Refuse and all the world will swear. You are not worth a rotten pear." When the military enthusiasm which charac- terized the middle ages had subsided, and chiv- PROVERBS OP ALL NATIONS. 173 airy was on the decline, a prodigious change took place in the manners of the people. Violent ex- ercises grew out of fashion with persons of rank, and the example of nobility was followed by other classes. Henry VII. Henry VIII. and James I, endeavored to revive the ancient military exerci- ses, but with only ephemeral success. We learn from Burton, in his "Anatomy of Melancholy," what were the most prevalent sports at the end of the sixteenth century.* Hunting, hawking, running at rings, tilts and tour- naments, horse-races and wild-goose chases, were the pastimes of the gentry ; while the low- er classes recreated themselves at May-Games, Wakes, Whitson Ales ; by ringing of bells ; bow- ling, shooting, wrestling, leaping, pitching the bar, playing with keel pins, coits, tronks, was- ters, foils, foot-ball, balown, and running at the quintain. Speaking of the Londoners, Burton says, 'They take pleasure to see some pageant or sight go by, as at a cornation wedding, and such like solemn niceties ; to see an ambassador or prince received and entertained with masks, *In his dry way, Old Burton says, cards, dice, hawkes and hounds, are rocks upon which men lose themselves when they are improperly handled and beyond their fortunes." Hunting and hawking, he allows, are honest recreations, and fit for some gteat men, but not for every base and inferior person, who, while they maintain their faulkoner, and dogs, and hunting na^s, their wealth runs away with their hounds, and their far- tunes fly away with hawkes.'' 174 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. shows, and fireworks.' The following he con- siders common amusements, both in town and country namely, "bull-baitings, and bear-bait- ings, in which our countrymen and citizens great- ly delight and frequently use ; dancers on ropes, jugglers, comedies, tragedies, artillery gardens, and cock-fighting." The winter recreations con- sisted of cards, dice, tables, shovelboard, chess, the philosopher's game, shuttlecock, billiards, mu- sic, mask, dancing, ule-games, riddles, cross pur- poses, merry tales of knights errant, thieves, witches, fairies, and goblins. In addition to the May-games, morris-dancing, pageants, and processions, which were common throughout the kingdom, the Londoners had pe- culiar privileges of hunting, hawking, and fish- ing; they had also large portions of ground allot- ted to them in the vicinity of the city, for the practice of such pastimes as were not prohibited; and for those, especially, that were conducive to good health. On the holidays, during the sum- mer season, the young men exercised themselves in the fields with leaping, archery, wrestling, play- ing with balls, and practicing with their wasters and bucklers. The city damsels had also thei. recreations, playing upon their timbrels, and da. cing to the music, which they often practiced moonlight. One writer says it was customa. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 175 for the maidens to dance in presence of their mas- ters and mistresses, while one of their compan- ions played the music on a timbrel , and to stim- ulate them, the best dancers were rewarded with a garland ; the price being exposed to public view during the performance. To this custom SPENCER alludes, "The damsels they delight, When they their timbrels smite, And thereunto dance and carol sweet." The London apprentices often amused them- selves with their wasters and bucklers, before the doors of their masters. Hunting, with the Lord Mayor's pack of hounds, was a diversion of the metropolis, as well as sailing, rowing, and fishing on the Thames. Duck-hunting was a favorite recreation in the summer, as we learn from Strype. Having thus given a general view of public amusements from an early period, I shall shortly describe some of the most popular pastimes, ma- ny of which have been either modified or sup- planted by other recreations. First, of the game of HAND-BALL, called by the French, palm play, because the exercise consisted in receiving the ball, and driving it back again with the palm of the hand. Formerly they play- ed with the naked hand, then with a glove, which PROVERBS OF ALT NATIONS. in some instances was lined ; afterwa/ds they bound cords and tendons round tne hands to mak the ball rebound more forcibly ; heiic* tue racket derived its origin. In the reigr; ol' Charles I, palm play was very fashionable in France, being played by the nobility for large sums of money ; when they had lost all they had about them, they would sometimes pledge a part of their dress, rather than give up the game. In England it was a favorite pastime among the youth of both sex- es, and in many parts of the kingdom, they play- ed during the Easter holidays for tansy cakes. It is still played, though under a different name, and probably under a different modification of the game; it is now called FIVES. STOOL-BALL is frequently mentioned by the wri- ters of the last century, but without any descrip- tion of the game. Dr. Johnson describes it as a play, where balls are driven from stool to stool, but does not say in what manner, or to what pur- pose. It seems to have been a game more ap- propriated to the women than to the men, but oc- casionally played by both sexes, as appears from the following song, written by D'Urfey to the play of Don Quixotte: "Down in a vale, on a summer's day, All the lads and lasses met to be merry A match for kisses at stool-ball to play, And for cakes, and ale, and cider, and perry. Chorus. Come all, great, small, short, tall, away to stool ball. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. FOOT-BALL was formerly much in vogue the com >n people, though of late years it h as fallen intx disrepute, and is little practiced. Ma- ny Barm's with the ball require the assistance of a club or; bat, and probably the most ancient is that well known ^ame in the North, under the name of GUFF. It requires much room to play this game properly, therefore it is rarely seen in the vicinity of the metropolis. PALL-M..LL had some resemblance to GofF. The game consisted in striking a round box ball with a mallet, through two high arches of iron, one at each end of the alley ; which he that could do at the fewest blows, or at the number agreed upon, wins. It was a fashionable amusement in the reign of Charles' II. and a well known street, then a walk in St. Jame's Park derived its name from Charles and his courtiers there playing at mall, the denomina- tion mall, being evidently derived from the mallet or wooden hammer used by the players. The noble game of CRICKET has superceded most of the ancient ball games, and this is now so fre- quent a pastime among all ranks, that it does not require illustration. Running at the Q,uintain is a game of great antiquity. The quintain at first was nothing more than the trunk of a tree or post, set up for t\. purpose of tyros in chivalry. In process of 178 PROVERBS OF ALL RATIONS. time, the diversion was improved, and the re- semblance of a human figure, carved in wood, was introduced. To render the appearance of this figure more formidable, it was generally made in the likeness of a Turk or Saracen, armed at all points : bearing a shield upon his left arm, and a sword in his right. The quintain thus fashion- ed was placed upon a pivot, and so constructed as t~> move rouLid with great facility. In running at the figure it was necessary for the horseman to direct his lance with great adroitness, and make his stroke upon the forehead between the eyes, or upon the nose, for if he struck wide of these parts, especially upon the shield, the quintain turned about with velocity, and if he was not ex- ceedingly careful would give him a severe blow on the back with the wooden sabre held in the right hand, which was consi Jered highly disgrace- ful to the performer, while it excited the laughter of the spectators. The exercise of the quintain was practised in London in summer, and in winter, but especially about Christmas. Stowe relates, he had seen the quintain set on Cornhill, where "the attendants of the lords of the merry disports have ran, and made great pastime." Tilting or running at the ring, was evidently a sport derived from the quin- tain. PROVERBS OF ALL NAT IONS 179 Hock-day was once a popular holiday, men- tioned by Mathew Paris and other ancient wri- ters. It was usually kept about Easter, and dis- tinguished by various sportive pastimes, in which the men and women, divided into parties, were accustomed to bind and draw each other with ropes. Hock-day was generally observed, so late as the sixteenth century. Sheep-Shearing and the Harvest-Home were both celebrated in ancient times, with feasting and rustic sports, at the latter the masters and servants used to sit down at the same table, to a plentiful regale, and spend the night in dancing and singing, without distinction. At the present day, excepting a dinner, or more frequently a sup- per, at conclusion of sheep-shearing and harvest, we have little remains of these great rural festiv- ities. The advent of the New Year is still marked by the observance of some old customs ; the old year being considered well ended by copious li- bations, and the new by sending presents, term- ed New- Year gifts, to friends and acquaintances. Young women formerly went about with the fa- mous Wassail bowl; that is, a bowl of. spiced ale on New Year's eve, with some verses which were sung by them in going from door to door. FAIUS were formerly a great kind of market, to 180 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. which people resorted periodically, for the pur- chass of all kinds of necessaries for the ensuing year. One of the chief of them, was that of St. Gile's Hill, near Winchester; it was at first for three days, but afterwards by Henry III. prolong- ed to sixteen days. Its jurisdiction extended seven miles round ; comprehending even South- ampton, then a capital trading town. A toll was levied on all merchandise brought to the fair, the produce of which had been given by the Con- queror to the bishop of Rochester. Fairs were often the anniversary of the dedica- tion of a church, when tradesmen used to sell their wares in the churchyard ; as at Westmin- ster on St. Peter's day ; at London, on St. Barthol- omew's ; at Durham, on St. Cuthbort's day. They have long been on the decline in public es- timation. Southwark fair, May fair, and St. Jame's fair, in the city of Westminster, were sup- pressed at the beginning of the last century ; and if the present hostility of the magistrates contin- ues to these annual assemblages, few will short- ly remain in the villages and hamlets round the metropolis. May-Games are of great antiquity, and were formerly generally celebrated, especially in the metropolis. Stowe says, on May-day, in the morning, the citizens used to walk "into the sweet PROVERBS OF ALL, NAT1OJSS. meadows, and green woods, there to rejoice their spirits with the beauty and savor of sweet flow- ers," and he gives an account of Henry VIII. riding a Maying from Greenwich to Shooter's hill, with Queen Catherine, accompanied with many lords and ladies. He further says, "that every parish, and sometimes two or three parish- es, joining together, had their Mayings, and did fetch in May-poles, with divers warlike shows, with good archers, morris-dancers, and other de- vices for pastime, all the day long ; and, towards evening, they had stage plays and bonfires in the streets. 1 ' It was a custom to elect a lord and la- dy of the May, who presided over the sports. Robin Hood and his merry companions were per- sonified in appropriate dresses, and added much to the pageantry of the May games. He presi- ded as lord of the May, and a female, or a man habited like a female, called the Maid Marian, his faithful mistress, was the lady of the May. The May-pole, in some villages stood a whole year without molestation. The only remains of May- games in the south is Jack-in-the-green, who still parades the streets ; though a very trumpery rep- resentation of the old sports. The Whitsuntide Holidays were celebrated by various pastimes and drolleries, Strutt says, that at Kiddlington, in Oxfordshire, a fat lamb was pro- 182 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. vided ; and the maidens of the town, having their thumbs tied behind them, were permitted to run after it ; and she who, with her mouth, took hold of the lamb, was declared the lady of the Lamb; which being killed and cleaned, but with skin hanging upon it, was carried in procession be- fore the lady and her companions to the green, attended with music, and a morris dance of men, and another of women. The rest of the day was spent in mirth and glee. Country Wakes are the last rural holiday I shall notice : they were generally observed in the northern and southern parts of the kingdom, con- sisting of feasting, dancing on the green, wrest- ling, and cudgel playing. They were originally intended to commemorate the dedication of the parish church, when the people \rent to pray with lighted torches, and returned to feast the remain- der of the night. To these rural pastimes and ancient sports suc- ceeded the less healthy amusements of balancing, tumbling and guggling the tricks performed by bears, monkeys, horses, and dancing dogs. Ast- ley's Amphitheatre and the royal circus exhibited feats of equestrianship. Music began to form a principal ingredient in popular amusements and Vauxhall, Ranelagh, Sadler's Wells, and the Ma- rybonne Gardens, were the chief marts forrecre- PROVERBS OK ALL NATIONS. 183 ation. These, with the great attraction and va- riety of dramatic entertainments, and a more sedulous devotion to cards, dice, and billiards, have continued, to the present day, the prevalent amusements. CUSTOMS AND CEREMONIES. Many of our ancient customs and ceremonies may be traced to the remotest period and the most distant nations ; and few but have had their orig- in prior to the time of the Reformation. I sha!l briefly describe a few of the most remarkable, premising that the facts are chiefly collected from the curious and interesting work of the late Mr. Brand, on "popular Antiquities." On Midsummer-Eve, fires were lighted, round which the old and young amused themselves in various rustic pastimes. In London, in addition to t.hc ooniires, every man's door was shaded with green birch, long fennel, Sain't John's wort, and white lilies ; ornamented with garlands of flow- ers. The citizen's had, also lamps of glass, with oil burning in them all night; and some of them hung out branches of iron, curiously wrought, containing hundreds of lamps lighted at once, which made a very splendid appearance. On these occasions, Stowo says, New Fish-street and Thames-street were peculiarly brilliant. 184 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. It is a ceremony, says Browne, never omitted among the vulgar, to draw lots which they term Valentines on the eve before Valentine-day. The names of a select number of one, with an equal number of the other sex, are put into some vessel ; and, after that, every one draws a name, which for the present is called their Valentine; and is looked upon as a good omen of being man and wife afterwards. Brand says, the custom of choosing Valentines was a sport practised in the houses of the gentry in England, so early as the year 1476. In the north of England, the Monday preceding Shrove-Tuesday, or Pancake Tuesday, is called Collop Monday ; eggs and collops forming a prin- cipal dish at dinner on that day, as pancakes do on the following, from which custom they derive their names. It would seem, that on Collop Mon- day they took their leave of flesh in the papal times, which was formerly prepared to last during the winter by salting, drying, and being hung up. Slices of this kind of meat are, to this day, called collops in the North; whence they are called steaks when cut off fresh, or unsalted flesh. Hollow Eve, called in the North, Nutcrack Night, is the vigil of All-Saints' Day, which is on the first of November; when it is the custom, in the North of England, to dive for apples, or catch PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 185 at them, suspended from a string-, with their mouths only, their hands tied behind their backs. In Scotland, the young women determine the figure and size of their husbands, on Hallow Eve, by drawing cabbages, blindfolded and, like the En- glish, fling nuts into the fire. Burning the nuts answers also the purpose of divination. They name the lad and lass to each particular nut as they put them into the fire ; and accordingly as they burn quietly together, or start from beside each other, the course and issue of the courtship will be. In Ireland, the young women put three nuts upon the bar of the grates naming the nnts after the lovers. If a nut cracks, or jumps, the lover will prove unfaithful ; if it begins to blaze or burn, he has a regard for the person making the trial. If the nuts, mentioned after the girl and her sweetheart, burn together, they will be married. A similar mode of divination by means of a peascod, is described by Gay. "As peascods once I pluck'd, I chanced to see One that was closely fill'd with three times three ; Which when I cropp'd, I safely home convey'd, And o'er the door the spell in secret laid ; The latch moved up, when who should first come in, But in his proper person, Lubberkin!" The election of a Boy Bishop on St. Nicholas' Day is one of the most singular customs of former times. In catherdrals, the Boy Bishop was elected 198 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. from among the children of the choir. After his election, being completely apparelled in the epis- copal vestments, with a mitre and crozier, he bore the title and state of a bishop, and exacted cere- monial obedience from his fellows, who were habited like priests. What is most strange, he took possession of the church, and, except mass, performed all the ceremonies and offices. At Salisbury, the Boy Bishop had the power of dis- posing of such prebends as happened to be vacant in the days of his episcopacy ; and if he died in his high office, the funeral honors of a bishop, with a monument, were granted to him. His office and authority lasted from the 6th to the 28th of December. This ceremony is said to have leen in honor of St. Nicholas, the patron of scholars. Such a show, at the present day, would have been deemed somewhat of a burlesque, or even blasphemous oarody on the Christian religion. The show of the Boy Bishop was abolished by proclamation in 1542, more from its absurdity than impiety. The Montem, at Eton, bears some resemblance to the preceding pageant ; modified, in conformity with the altered feelings of the times, from a reli- gious to a military spectacle. The Montem takes place on Tuesday in Whitsun week, when the Eton Scholars go in military procession, with PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 187 drums and trumpets, to Salt-hill. The scholars of the superior classes dress in the uniform of captain, lieutenant, or other regimental officer; which they obtain from London. The procession begins with marching three times round the school yard ; from thence to Salt-Hill, where one of the scholars, dressed in black with a band, as chap- lain, reads certain prayers; after which a dinner, dressed in the college kitchen, is provided by the captain for his guests at the inn there; the rest getting a dinner for themselves at the other houses of entertainment. The price of the dinner in Huggett's time was iOs. 6d. and 2s. 6d. more ior ?alt-money. The dinner being over, they march back, in the order they came, into the school yard, round which they march three times, when the ceremony is concluded. The motto on the colors is, Pro More et Monte. Every scholar, who is no officer, marches with a long pole, two and two. Before the procession begirs, two of the scholars, called salt-bearers, dressed in white, with a handkerchief of salt in their hands, and attended each with some sturdy young fellow, hired for the occasion, go round the college, and through the town, and from thence up into the high road, offering salt to all, but scarcely leaving it to their choice, whether they will give or not; for money they will have, if 188 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. possible, and that even from servants. The con tributions thus levied are very considerable ; in 1793 they amounted to 1000/., but that was an unusual sum, the average being about 500/. The salt money paid by the king on this occasion is 100 guineas. The custom of offering salt is dif- ferently explained: it is supposed to be an em- blem of learning; and the scholars, in presenting it to passengers, and asking money, engage to become proficient therein. Royal-oak day, as every one knows, commem- orates the escape of Charles the second from his pursuers, after the battle of Worcester. Brand relates, that he remembered a taunting rhyme, with which the boys at Newcastle-upon-Tyne used to insult such persons as they met on that day, who had not oak leaves in their hats : Royal oak, The Whigs to provoke." To this was a retort courteous by others, who contemptuously wore plane-tree leaves, of the same homely diction : " Plane-tree leaves ; The Church-folks are thieves/' The royal oak, at a short distance from Bosco- bel-house, was standing in Dr. Stukely's time (1724,) enclosed with a brick-wall, but almost cut away in the middle by travelers, whose curiosity PROVERBS OF ALL NAT IONS. 189 lead them to see it. Charles, after the Restoration visiting the place, carried away some of the acorns and set them in St. James' Park, and used to water them himself. The Passing Bell was anciently rung for two purposes : one, to bespeak the prayers of all good Christians for a soul just departing ; the other, to fright away the evil spirits who stood at the bed's foot, and about the house, ready to seize their prey ; or, at least, to molest and terrify the soul in its passage ; but by the ringing of that bell they were kept aloof; and the soul, like a hunted hare, gained the start, or had what by sportsmen is called law. Hence, perhaps, exclusive of addi- tional labor, was occasioned the high price de- manded for tolling the greater bell of the church , for that being louder, the evil spirits must go far- ther off, it would likewise procure the deceased a great number of prayers. Mothering Sunday, or Mid- Lent Sunday, is the day on which the people used to visit their mother church, and make their offerings at the high altar. 1 ne only remains of this custom is the practice of going to visit parents on Mid-Lent sunday. "April -with fools and May, with bastards ble*t-" CHURCHILL. A custom says The Spectator, prevail* every where amongst us on the first of April, every body strives to make as many fools as 190 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. can. The wit consists chiefly in sending persons on what are called sleeveless errands, for the History of Eve's Mother for Pigeon's Milk, with similar ridiculous absurdities. The French called the person imposed upon, a Poisson d'Avril, " an April fish," who we term an April fool. In the North of England, persons thus imposed upon are called " April Gowk" Gowk being the word for a cuckoo metaphorically, a fool. In Scotland, they send silly people from place to place, by means of letter, in which is written " On the first day of April, Hunt the Gowk another mile !" Similar fooleries prevail in Portugal, as we learn from Mr. Southey. " On the Sunday and Monday," says he, " preceding Lent, as on the first of April, in England, people are privileged here (Lisbon) to play the fool. It is thought very jocose to pour water on any person who passes, or throw water on his face ; but to do both is the perfection of wit." Mr. Brand has not ascertained the origin of All- FooFs day. It has been stated, it arose from the custom of letting all the insane persons be at large on the first of April, when the boys amused themselves by sending them on ridiculous errands. Maunday Thursday is the Thursday before Easter, and is the Thursday of the poor, from the PROVEKBS OF ALL NATlOAh. 19] French Mcndier, " to beg." It was formerly the custom of the Kings of England to wash the feet of poor men, in number equal to the years of their reign, in imitation of the humility of our Saviour; and give them shoes, stockings, and money. James the Second was the last king who perform- ed this in person. The custom of giving alms is still continued. The Shamrock is said to be worn by the Irish on St. Patrick's Day, in memory of the means resorted to by their patron Saint, to convert them to Christianity. When St. Patrick landed near Wicklow, the natives were ready to stone him for attempting an innovation in the religion of their ancestors. He requested to be heard, and explained to them, that God is an omnipotent spirit, who created heaven and earth, and that the Trinity contained the Unity ; but they were reluctant to give credit to his words. St. Patrick then plucked a treefoil, or three-leaved grass with one stalk, exclaiming, " Is it not as possible for the Father, Son, arid Holy Ghost, to be in one, as for these three leaves to grow upon a single stalk?" Then the Irish were immediately convinced of their error, and were solemnly baptized by St. Patrick. It was a general custom, and is still observed m some parishes, to go round the bounds and 192 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. limits of the parish, on one of the three days be- fore Holy Thursday ; when the minister, accom- panied by his church- wardens and parishioners were wont to deprecate the vengeance of God, beg a blessing upon the fruits of the earth, and preserve the rights and boundaries of the parish. It is supposed to have been derived from the an- cients, in imitation of the feast culled Tcrminalia, which was dedicated to the god Terminus, whom they considered the guardian of fields and land- marks, and the preserver of friendship and peace. In London, these parochial perambulations are still kept up on Holy Thursday; Hooker, author of Ecclesiastical polity, would by no means omit the customary procession ; persuading all, both rich and poor, if they desired the preservation oi love, and their parish rights and liberties, to ac- company him in his perambulation. The custom of electing municipal officers and magistrates at Michaelmas is still observed, as well as the old fare of a roast goose to dinner. Perhaps no reason can be given for this latter custom, but that Michaelmas day was a great festival, and stubble geese at that time were plen- tiful and good. "Geese now in their prime season are, Which if well roasted are good fare." Poor Rabbin's Almanac, 1695 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS 193 Some ascribe the eating of goose at Michael- mas, to the circumstance, that on that day Queen Elizabeth received the news of the defeat of the Spanish Armada, while she was eating a goose; and to commemorate the event, she ever after- wards dined on that day on a goose. But, as Brand observes, this is a strong proof that the custom prevailed at court even in Queen Eliza- beth's time. In Denmark, where the harvest is later, every family has a roasted goose for supper on St. Martin's Eve. CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS. D was always famous among foreigners for the celebration of Christmas, at which season they admitted sports and pastimes, not known in other countries. " At the feast of Christmas," says Stowe, " in the King's court, wherever he chanced to reside, there was appointed a Lord of Misrule, or master of merry disports: the same merry fellow made his appearance at the house of every noble man and person of distinction ; and, among the rest, the lord mayor of London, and the sheriffs had their lords of misrule, ever contending, wi thout quarrel or offence, who should make the i arest 13 194 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. pastime to delight the beholders.'' The society of Lincoln's Inn had an officer chosen at this season, who was honored with the title of King of Christmas iJay, because he presided in the hall on that day, with his marshal and steward to attend him. The marshal, in the absence of the monarch, was permitted to assume his state; and upon New- Year's day he sat as king in the hall, when the master of the revels, during the time of dining, supplied the marshal's place. The custom of going a-begging, called Hag- mena, a few nights before Christmas, singing Christmas carols, and wishing a happy New Year, is still followed in the North of England. They get, in return, apples, nuts, refreshments, and money. Mumming is another Christmas drollery, which consists in men and women changing clothes ; and, so disguised, going from one neigh- bour's house to another, partaking of Christmas cheer. On the night of Christmas Eve, it was formerly the practice to light up candles, of an uncommon size, called Christmas candles, and lay a -log of wood on the fire, called a Yule Clog, to illuminate the house, and turn, as it were, day into night. In the Latin, or Western church, Chistmas was called the Feast of Lights. The forms of the Twelth Day vary in different PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 195 countries, yet all agree in the same end, to do honor to the Eastern Magi, who are supposed to have been of royal dignity. It is in the South of England where the customs of this day are most prevalent. They are thus described by Brand. After tea, a cake is produced and two bowls con- taining the fortunate chances for the different sexes. The host fills up the tickets, and the whole company, except the king and queen are to be ministers of state, and maids of honor, or ladies of the bedchamber. Often the host and hostess, more by design than accident, become king and queen. The twelfth-cake was made formerly of plums, with a bean and pea: who found the former, was king; who got the latter, was queen. The choosing of a king and queen, by a bean in a piece of divided cake, was formerly a common Christmas gambol in both the Universities. Christmas Boxes are derived from a custom of the ancients, of giving New Year's Gifts. In papal times, the priests had their Christmas box, in which were kept the sum they levied on the people for prayers, and granting absolution for sins. Decking houses and churches with evergreens is another custom of pagan origin. The ancient Druids decked their houses with holly and ivy in December, that the sylvan spirits might repair to 196 PROVERBS OF ALL NATION'S. them, and remain unnipped by the frost and cold \vinds till a milder season had renewed the foliage of their favorite abodes. But for a more particular account of Christmas customs and festivities we must refer the reader to Mr. Brand's large work, or to Washington Irving. I shall conclude with a good old Christ- mas carol from Poor Robin's Almanac, for 1G95, and preserved in Brand's Popular Antiquities. A CHRISTMAS SOXG. Now thrice welcome, Christmas, Which brings us good cheer : Minc'd pies and plum pudding, Good ale, and strong beer ; With pig, goose, and capon, The best that may be ; So well doth the weather And our stomachs agree Observe how the chimneys Do all smoke about ; The cooks are providing For dinner, no doubt ; But those on whose table No victuals appear, Oh may they keep Lent All the rest of the year! With holly and ivy. So green and so gay, We deck up our houses, As fresh as the day ; PROVEKKS OF ALL, NATIONS. 197 With bays and rosemary, And laural complete ; And every one now Is a king in conceit. But as for curmudgeons Who will not be free, I wish they may die Ou a three legged tree . POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. IT would occupy a large volume merely to enu- merate the superstitious practices still prevalent in different parts of the country, many of which are observed in the metropolis ; and even well educated persons will call to mind with what avidity in childhood they listened to nursery tales of giants, dwarfs, ghosts, fairies, and witches. The effect of these juvenile impressions are not easily got the better of, and the impressions them- selves rarely, if ever, forgotten. To doubt, in former times, the power of charms, and the veracity of omens and ghost stories, was deemed little less than atheism ; and the terror caused by them, frequently embittered the lives of persons of all ages ; by almost shutting them out of their own houses, and deterring them from eoing abroad after dark. The room in which the 198 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIOXS. head of a family died was for a long time unten- anted; particularly if they died without a will, or were supposed to have entertained any partic- ular religious opinion. If any disconsolate old maiden or love-crossed bachelor happened to de- spatch themselves in their garters, the room where the fatal deed was perpetrated was rendered ever after uninhabitable, and not unfrequently nailed up. If a drunken farmer, says Grose, returning from market, fell from Old Dobbin and broke his neck or a carter, in the same predicament, tum- bled from his cart or wagon, and was killed by it that spot ever after was haunted and impassa- ble : in short, there was scarcely a by-lane or cross-way, but had its ghost, who appeared in the shape of a headless cow or horse ; or, clothed all in white, glared, with baleful eye, over some lonely gate or stile. Ghosts of higher degree rode in coaches, drawn by six headless horses, and driven by a headless coachman and postillion. Almost every manor-house was haunted by some of its former masters or mistresses, where, besides other noises, that of telling money was distinctly heard: and a^ for the church-yards, the number of ghosts that swarmed there according to the village com- putation, equalled the living parishioners, and to pass through them was a far more perilous enter- prise than the storming of Badajos ! PROVERB SOP ALL NATIONS. 190 Terrible and inconvenient as these superstitions might be, they were harmless compared with the dreadful consequences resulting from a belief in Witchcraft which even made its way into our courts of justice; and it is with horror we read of hundreds of innocent persons entitled, by age and infirmities, to protection and indulgence, im- molated, with all the forms of law, at the shrine of universal ignorance ! Artful priests, to advance the interests of their religion, or rather their own emolument, pretended to have power to cast out devils from demoniacs and persons bewitched, and for this purpose suborned worthless people to act the part of persons possessed, and to suffer the evil spirits to be cast out by prayers and sprink- ling with holy water. To perform their parts they counterfeited violent fits and convulsions, on signs given them ; and, in compliance with the popular notions, vomited up crooked nails, pins, needles, coals, and other rubbish, privately conveyed to them. Fortunately, these combinations were at length discovered and exposed; but it is an aston- ishing fact, that in New England there were, at one time, upwards of three hundred persons all imprisoned for witchcraft. Confuted and ridiculed as these opinions have lately been, the seeds of them are still widely dif- fused, and at different times have attempted to 5200 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. spring up, as in the Cock-lane Ghost, the noises at Stockwell, and the Samptbrd Ghost. So re- cently as in the last reign, in the centre of England at Glen in Leicestershire, two old women were actually thrown into the river by the populace, to ascertain, by their sinking or swimming, whether they were witches ! Have we not even at the present day the pretended miracles of Prince Hohenloe, and do we not daily read of the horrid cruelties perpetrated in Ireland, under the pre- tence of casting out evil spirits ? How can we doubt the wide diffusion of popular superstitions, when it is notorious, that men of firstrate educa tion and intellect have been believers therein ! Dr. Johnson was a scrupulous observer of sijrns, omens, and particular days ; Addisou was a half- believer, at least, in ghosts; John Wesley saw or heard ^eral apparitions; and at this very time we have the Poet Lauerate and Sir Walter Scott endeavoring to revive all the ancient phantasma- goria of elves, fairies, witches, giants, and dwarfs not forgetting the philosopher's stone, and the sublime mysteries of Jacob Behmen ! GHOSTS. These are supposed to be the spirits of persons deceased , who are either commissioned to return for some especial errand, such as the discovery of PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 201 a murder; to procure restitution of lands, unjustly withheld from an orphan or widow or, having committed some injustice while living, cannot rest till that is redressed. Sometimes their earthly mission is to inform their heir in what secret place, or private drawer in an old trunk, they had hid- den the title-deeds of the estate ; or where in troublesome times they had buried their money or plate. Some ghosts of murdered persons, whose bodies have been secretly buried, cannot be at ease till their bones have been grubbed up, and deposited in consecrated ground, with all the rites of Christian burial. Ghosts are supposed to be mere aerial beings, that can glide through a stone wall, a key-hole, or even the eye of a tailor's needle. They usu- ally appear about midnight, seldom before it is dark ; though some audacious spirits have appear- ed even by day-light; but of these there are few instance:-:, and those mostly ghosts that have been laid in the Red sea, and whose term of imprison- ment had expired : these, like felons returned from 1 Jot any Bay, are said to return more daring and troublesome than before. Dragging chains is not the fashion of English ghosts ; chains and black vestments being chiefly the habiliments of foreign spirits, seen in the dominions of the Holy Alliance: living or dead, English spirits are free ! One sol- Z02 PROVERBS OF ALL NAT IONS. itary instance occurs of an English ghost dressed in black, in the well-known ballad of William and Margaret : And clay-cold was her lily hand That held her SABLE SHEOUD. This, however, is conjectured to be merely a poetical license, used for the bold contrast the essence of the picturesque of lily to sable. If, during the time of an appariton, there is a lighted candle in the room, it burns deeply blue : this is so universally admitted, that many first- rate philosophers have busied themselves in ac- counting for it, without once doubting the truth of the fact. Dogs have the faculty of seeing spirits, which they evince by whining and creeping close to their masters. Whether pigs who are known to have a peculiar organ of vision for seeing the wind are equally gifted, has not been ascertain- ed. Their coming is usually announced by a variety of loud and dreadful noises, sometimes rattling in the hall like the trundling of bowls or cannon balls, or the shooting of a chaldron of Newcastle coals. At length, the door Hies open, and the spectre stalks slowly up to the bed's foot, and opening the curtain, looks steadfastly at the person in bed, by whom it is seen and no other; a ghost never appearing to more than one person at once. Agreeably to ghostly etiquette a spirit HROVKKBS OF AI,L NATIONS. must never speak first so that the party must begin by demanding, in the name of the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity, who it is, and what is its business, which it may be necessary to re- peat three times ; after which it will, in a low and hollow voice, declare its satisfaction at being spoken to, and desiring the party not to be afraid. It then enters into its narrative, which being com- pleted, it usually vanishes in a flash of light; in which case some ghosts have been so courteous as to desire the party to shut their eyes ; some- times its departure is attended with heavenly music. During the narration, a ghost must not be interrupted; "List! list! list! 0, list! is the injuction of Hamlet's father. Questions respecting their present state, or any of their for- mer acquaintance, are seldom answered ; spirits being most probably restrained by certain rules and regulations, from divulging the secrets of their prison-house. Sometimes ghosts appear and disturb a house, without deigning to give any reason for so doing : with these, the shortest and only way is to exer- cise them ; or, as the vulgar term is, lay them. For this purpose there must be two or three clergy- men, and the ceremony must be performed in Latin ; a language that strikes the most audacious 204 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. ghost with terror. A ghost may be laid for any time less than a hundred years, and in any place or body, full or empty a solid oak the pummel of a saddle a bodkin a barrel of beer, if yeoman or simple gentleman or a pipe of wine, if an esquire, justice, or member of parliament. But of all places, the most common, and what a ghost least likes, is the Red Sea ; it has been related, in many instances,' that ghosts have most earn- estly besought the exercists not to confine them in that abominable place. In cases of murder, a ghost, instead of going to Sir Richard Birnie or some other justice, or to the nearest relation of the person murdered, appears to some poor laborer, who knows none of the parties, draws the curtains of some old nurse, or alms-woman, or merely hovers round the place where the body is deposited. Another feature in their conduct is their .fondness for low company and melancholy places ; they rarely visit persons of fashion and education, or scenes of life and gaiety their favorite associates are children, old women and rustics and old manor houses, ruined castles, church yards, and obscure villages, their placet of resort. It would be presumptuous to scruti- nize the motives of such high personages : they have doubtless, forms and customs peculiar to themselves. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 205 WITCHES. A witch is universally a poor, infirm, superan- nuated old woman; who, being in'great distress, is tempted by a man clothed in a black coat or gown ; sometimes, also, as in Scotland, wearing a bluish band and hand-cuffs a kind of turn-up linen sleeve : the sable gentleman promises, if she will sign a contract to become his, both soul and body, she shall want for nothing, and that he will revenge her upon all her enemies. The agreement being concluded, he gives her some trilling sum of money, from hall a crown down to fourpence, to bind the bargain ; then cutting or pricking her finger, causes her to sign her name, or make a cross as her mark, with her blood, on a piece of parchment; what is the form of these contracts is no where mentioned. In addition this signature, in Scotland the Devil made the witches put one hand to the soul of their foot, and the other to the crown of their head, signifying they were entirely his. In making these bar- gains there is sometimes a great deal of haggling as is instanced in the negotiation between Oliver Cromwell and the Devil, before the battle 01 Worcester, related in Echard's History of Eng- land. Before the devil quits his new recruit, he delivers to her an imp or familiar, and sometimes two or three ; they are of different shapes and 206 KOVEKBSOFALLNAT102VS. forms, some resembling a cat, others a mole, a miller fly, or some other insect or animal: these are to come at her call, to do such mischief as she shail command, and, at stated times of the day, suck her blood, through teats, on different parts of her body. Feeding, suckling, or rewarding these imps was, by law, declared felony. Sometimes a Witch, in company with others of the sister-hood, is carried through the air on brooms or spits, to distant meetings or Sabbaths of Witches ; but for this they must annoint them- selves with a certain magical ointment given them by the Devil. At these meetings they have- feasting, music and dancing; the Devil himself sometimes condescending to play on the great fid- dle, or on the pipe or cittern. When the meeting breaks up, they all have the honour of kissing Sa- tan's posteriors, who, for that ceremony, usually assumes the form of a he-goat, though in Scot- land it was performed when he appeared in the human shape, with a bluish band and ruff. Witches show their spite by causing the object of it to waste away in a long and painful dis- ease, with a sensation of thorns stuck in the flesh: when a less fatal revenge will satisfy them, they make their victims swallow pins, old nails, dirt, and trash of all sorts, invisibly conveyed to them by their imps. Frequently they show their hate PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. by drying cows and killing oxen: for slight offen- ces they prevent butter from coming m the churn, or beer from working. To vex the squire, the parson, or justice, the) r transform themselves in- to the shape of a hare, and lead the hounds and huntsmen a long and fruitless chase There are various tests for discovering a Witch. One, by weighing her against the church Bible, which, if she is guilty, will preponderate: another, by making her say the Lord's Prayer, which no Witch is able to do correctly. A Witch cannot weep more than three tears, and that only out of the left eye: this want of tears was considered, even by some learned judges; as a decisive proof of guilt. Swimming them is the most infallible ordeal: strip them naked and cross bound, the right thumb to th e left toe, and the left thumb to the right toe: thus prepared throw them into a pond or liver, in which, if guilty, they cannot sink: fjr having, by their compact with the devil, renounced the benefit of the water of baptism, that element renounces them, and refuses to re- ceive them into its bosom. On meeting a Witch it is advisable to take, the wall of her in u town or street, and the right hand of her in a lane or field ; and whilst passing her to clench both hands, doubling the thumb be- neath the fingers; this will present her oower 508 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. at that time. It is well to salute a witch with civil words, on meeting her, oefore she speaks: do not receive anything from her, but you may pre- sent her with a few halfpence without injury. Some persons, born under the particular plan- ets, have the power to distinguish Witches, at fir^t sight. One of these gifted individuals named Matthew Hopkins, with John Stern and a wo- man, were, in 1C44 permitted to explore the coun- ties of Essex, Suffolk, and Huntington, with a commission to discover Witches, receiving twen- ty shilings from each town they visited. Many persons were pitched upon by them, and through their means convicted. Till at length some gen- tlemen out of indignation at Hopkin's barbarity, tied him in the manner he had bound others, thumbs and toes together ; in which state putting him in the water, he swam ! this cleared the coun- try. A perusal of the famous statute of James 1., will shew that a belief of most of the facts above recited, was not confined to the populace. By this act, any person convicted of witchcraft, or any of the practices I have mentioned, was sen- tenced to a year's imprisonment and pillory, for the second offence, Death. This memorable spec- imen of the philosophy of the age, w;is not re- pealed till the ninth year of the reign of George I. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 201 A SORCERER OR MAGICIAN. A Sorcerer differs from a Witch in this: a Witch derives all her power from a compact with the Devil ; a Sorcerer commands him and the in- fernal spirits by his skill in powerful charms and invocations; and also soothes and entices them with fumigations, the devils are observed to have delicate nostrils, abominating and flying some kind of stinks ; witness the flight of the evil spirit into the remote parts of Egypt, driven by the smell of a fish's liver, burn by Tobit. They are also found to be peculiarly fond of certain per- fumes ; insomuch that Lily informs us, that one Evans having roused a spirit, at the request of Lord Bothwell and Sir Kenelm Digby, and for- getting a suffumigation, the spirit vexed at the neglect, snatched him from his circle, and carried him from out his house in the Minories, into a field near Battersea ! Sorcerers do not always employ their arts to do mischief; but, on the contrary, frequently exert it to cure diseases inflicted by Witches ; to discov- er thieves ; restore stolen goods ; to foretell future events, and the state of absent friends. They raise spirits, and perform other secrets of their calling by means of the circle : a beryl, a virgin, or a man undefiled with woman : See the u Da> monologia" of James I. 14 210 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. FAIRIES, Are a sort of intermediate beings between men and spirits, having bodies, with the power of ren- dering them invisible, and of passing through all sorts of enclosures. They are remarkably small of stature, with fair complexions, whence they obtained their name. Both male and female are generally clothed in grern ; and frequent groves, and mountains, the sunny side of hills, and green meadows, where they amuse themselves by dan- cing, hand in hand, in a circle, and by moonlight. The traces of their feet are visible next morning on the grass, and are commonly called Fairy Rings or Circles. Fairies have all the passions and wants of men, but are great lovers of cleanliness and propriety; for the observance of which they frequently re- ward servants by dropping money in their shoes : they likewise severely punish sluts and slovens by pinching them black and blue. They often change their weakly and starvling elves or chil- dren, for the more robust offspring of men. But this can only be done before baptism, lor which reason, it is still the custom in the Highlands to watch by the cradle of infants till they are chris- tened. The term C/iangling, now applied to one almost an idiot, attests the current, belief of these mutations. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. Some Fairies dwell in mines, and in Wales nothing is more common than these sul terrane- ous spirits, called knockers, who good-uaturedly point out where there is a rich vein of lead or sil- ver. In Scotland there were a .sort of domestic Fairies, from their sun-burnt complexions called Brownies, these were extremeiy useful, perform- ing all sorts of domestic drudgery. SECOND SIGHT. So called, from being a supplemental faculty added to that of common vision, whereby certain appearances, predictive of future events, present themselves suddenly before persons so gifted, without any desire on their part to see them. Some make this faculty hereditary in certain per- sons. It is a superstition confined to the High- lands of Scotland, the Western Isles, the Isle of Man, and some parts of Ireland. OMENS, CHARMS, AND DIVINATION. A screech-owl, flapping its wings against the windows of a sick person's chamber, or screech- ing at him, protends death. A coal, in the shape of a coffin, flying out of the fire to any particular person, denotes his death is not far off. A collection of tallow rising up against the wick of a candle, is styled a Win- ding sheet and deemed an omen of mortality. 812 PROVERBS OP ALL NATIONS. Any person fasting on Midsummer-Eve, and sitting in the church porch, will at midnight, see the spirits of the persons of the parish who will die that year, come and knock at the church door in the order and succession in which they will die. Any unmarried woman fasting on Midsummer Eve, and at Midnight laying a clean cloth, with bread, cheese, and ale, and sitting down, as if going to eat the street door being left open the person whom she is afterwards to marry, will come into the room and drink to her by bowing, afterwards fill the glass, make another bow and retire. The same important fact may be ascertained another way. At the first appearance of the New Moon, next after New Year's Day though some say any other New Moon is as good go out in the evening, and stand over the spars of a gate or stile, and looking on the moon repeat the follow- ing lines : "All hail to the MOOD ! all hail to thee ! I pr'ythee, good Moon, reveal to me This night who my husband must be." Then go directly to bed, and you will dream of your future husband. A slice of the bride cake, thrice drawn through the wedding ring, and laid under the head of an PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 213 unmarried man or woman, will make them dream of their future wife or husband. To discover a thief, take a sieve and shears ; stick the points of the shears in the wood of the sieve, and let two persons support it, balanced, upright with their two fingers, then read a chap- ter in the Bible, and afterwards ask St. Peter and St. Paul if a certain person, naming all you sus- pect, is the thief. On naming the real thief, the sieve will turn suddenly round. N. B. This re- ceipt may be very useful in Bow street, or the Old Bailey. A ring made of the hinge of a coffin is good for the cramp. A halter, with which a man has been hanged, if tied about the head, will cure the head- ache. Touching a dead body prevents dreaming of it. A stone, with a hole in it, hung at the bed's head, or two stones inside the bed, will prevent the night mare, the former also prevents Witches riding horses, for which purpese it is often tied to the stable key. If a tree of any kind is split and weak, rick- etty, or ruptured children drawn through it; and afterwards the tree is bound together, so will the child acquire strength. This is a very ancient and wide-spread piece of superstition. Creeping through tolmcn, or perforated stones, was a Druid- PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. ical ceremony, and at this day is practiced in the East Indies. Mr. Borlace mentions a stone, in the parish of Modern, having a hole in it, four- teen inches diameter, through which many per- sons have crept for pains in their backs and limbs ; and many children have been drawn for the rickets. In some parts of the North, children are drawn through a hole cut in the groaning cheese on the day they were christened. The wounds of a murdered person will bleed afresh, by sympathy, on the body being touched ever so lightly, in any part by the murderer. When a person's cheek or ear burns, it is a sign that some one is then talking of him or her. If it is on the right side, the discourse is to their advantage ; if on the left, to the contrary. When the right eye itches, the party affected will short- ly cry ; if the left, they will laugh. Abracadabra is a magical word ; and written in a peculiar form, will cure an ague. It is customary for women to offer to sit cross- legged, to procure luck at cards for their friends. Sitting cross-legged, with the fingers interlaced, was anciently deemed a magical posture. It is deemed lucky to be born with a caul or membrane over the face. In France it is prover- bial: ctre ne coijfce, is an expression, signifying that a person is extremely fortunate. It is es- PKOVKKBS OF ALL NATIONS. teemed an infallible preservative against drown- ing, and under that idea, is frequently advertised for sale in the newspapers, and purchased by sea- men. If bought by lawyers, it makes them as eloquent as Demosthenes or Cicero and procures a great deal of practice. It is reckoned a good omen, if the sun shines on a couple coming out of the church after hav- ing been married. It is also esteemed a good sign if it rains whilst a corpse is burying. "Happy is the bride that the sun shines on, Happy is the corpse that the rain rains on." If in a family the youngest daughter should be married before her elder sisters, they must all dance at her wedding without shoes ; this will counteract their ill luck and procure them hus- bands. If in eating you miss your mouth, and the vic- tuals fall, it is very unlucky, and denotes sickness. When a person goes out to transact business, it is lucky to throw an old shoe after him. It is a common practice among the lower class of hucksters, or dealers in fruit or fish, on receiv- ing the price of the first goods sold on that day, which they call hansel, to spit on the money for good luck ; and boxers formerly used to spit in their hands, before they set-to, for luck's sake. Spilling of salt, crossing a knife and fork, or KOVKKBS OF ALL NATIONS. presenting a knife, scissors, or any sharp instru- ment, are all considered unlucky, and to be avoid- ded. Washing hands in the same bason, or with the same water, as another person has washed in, is extremely unlucky, as the parties will infallibly quarrel. Whistling at sea is supposed to cause an in- crease of wind, if not a storm, and, therefore, much disliked by seamen ; though sometimes they themselves practice it when there is a dead calm. The Hand of Glory, is a foreign piece of su- perstition, common in France, Germany and Spain ; and is a charm used by housebreakers and assassins. It is the hand of a hanged man, hol- ding a candle, made of the fat of a hanged man, virgin wax, and sisame of Lapland. It stupifies those to whom it is presented, and renders them motionless, insomuch that they could not stir, any more than if they were dead. A flake of soot, hanging at the bars of the grate, denotes the visit of a stranger. A spark in the candle denotes that the person opposite to it will shortly receive a letter. In setting a hen it is lucky to put an odd num- ber of eggs. All sorts of remedies are directed to be taken, three, seven, or nine times. Sa- t nuVKKBS OP ALL NATIONS. 817 lutes -will consist of an odd number ; a royal sa- lute is thrice seven, or twenty-one guns. Healths are always drank odd. Yet the number thirteen is deemed ominious ; it being held that when thirteen persons are in a room, one of them will die within the year Most persons break the shells of eggs, after they have eaten the meat: it is done to prevent their being used as boats by Witches. A coal flying out of the fire in the shape of a purse, predicts a sudden acquisition of riches. Although the Devil can partly transform him- self into any shape, he cannot change his cloven foot, by which he may be always known under every appearance %*In concluding the article on Popular Super- stitions, one cannot help adverting to the many advantages resulting to society from the discover- ies of science. "If ignorance be bliss," it must be confessed it is a bliss not unalloyed with in- conveniences, from which superior intelligence is exempted. Two great misfortunes of forme n times, were the absence of religious toleration, and the universal ignorance of the causes of natural phenomena : from the former flowed bloody wars, relentless persecutions, massacres, burnings, and torturings, while the latter, if possible, was at- tended with still greater calamities because 218 PROVERBS OF ALL KAT1ONS. more minutely diffused, and filled the minds of in- dividuals of all ranks with indescribable tetrors and apprehensions. If knowledge had only dispelled the single delusion respecting spectral appearances, it would have conferred on mankind incalculable advanta- ges. The dread of these mysterious agents uaunted men at home and abroad by night and by day ; and the fear they had of the burglar or assassin, was infinitely less than that of some ghastly spectre at the lonely hour of midnight. GLOSTER. Oh, Catesby, I have had such horrid dreams! CATESBT. Shadows, my lord! below the soldier's heeding. GLOSTER. Kow, by my this day's hopes, shadows, to night, Have struck more terror to the soul of Richard, Than can the substance of ten thousand soldiers, Arm'd all in proof.' ACT. v. Sc. 5. Such were the fears of one whose ''firm nerves" were not easily shaken. Let us then re- joice that all the trumpery superstition of ghosts, witches, fairies, and omens, have gone to the " tomb of the Capulets;" let us give honour too, to the illustrious names to the Bacons, Lockes, and Newtons, who have contributed to so blessed a consummation. Grown people, at least, are now divested of fear at the sight of an old wo- man; they can pass through a lonely church yard, a ruined tower, over a wild heath; 01 PROVEKBS OF ALL NATIONS. 2 J J> even sleep in an old manor house though the wind whistle ever so shrill without fear of su- pernatural visitations; and have become wi*e e- nough to trace private and public calamities to other causes than .the crossing of knives, the click of an insect, or even the portentous advent of a comet! VULGAR ERRORS. POPULAR superstitions may be ranked among Vulgar Errors, and might have been included un- der that head ; but, for greater distinction, I shall class those mistaken notions which either do now, or did formerly, circulate among the common peo- ple, under a seperate article. The wonderful discoveries of science in the last century have greatly augmented the list of Vulgar Errors, by proving many facts, which even the learned of a former age believed true, entirely unfounded. In the Works of SIR THOMAS BROWNE, published in 1686, there is an inquiry into Common and vulgar errors, in which the writer displays great learning and ingenuity ; yet, so partial is the en- lightenment of the author, that he entertains the popular notion that lights burn blue in the pres- ence of apparitions, and gravely attempts to ex- plain the fact on Dhilosoohical principles ! What 220 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. a host of learned errors have been put to flight almost in the memory of the present age, in the two sciences of chemistry and political economy! It was formerly believed that crystals were only ice or snow strongly congealed ; that the flesh of the peacock never putrefied ; that water was an elementary fluid, and rose in the common pump from the horror Nature had of a vacuum. The truths of political economy are still too much con- tested for us to be able to determine the facts we ought to include among the errors of that science; but I think we may reckon as such all that relate to the bounties and prohibitions of the commercial system, the influence of rent, tithe, and wages on the prices of commodities ; and the effect of tax- ation on public happiness. In politics, too, one might enumerate a long list of errors which were formerly current, but which are now strug- gling for existence such as, that the poor-rate originated in the 43rd of Elizabeth ; that the land- tax and funding system commenced at the Revo- lution in 1688; that MR. Pirr was the author of the sinking fund ; that the miraculous powers of borrowed money and compound interest would liquidate the national debt; and that the French Revolution was caused by the extravagant wri- tings of Rousseau, Helvetius, and a few other theorists. It is not however, intended in this PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 2 21 place to give an account of the "follies of the wise," but of the ignorant, so as to complete the picture of the inteligence and manners of an antecedent state of society. LEGAL ERRORS. The HON. DAINES BARKINGTON, in his Observa- tions on the Statutes, observes, that there is a general vulgar error that it is not lawful to go about with a dark lantern ; all popular errors, he adds, have some foundation, and the regulation in the reign of Edward, that no one should appear in the streets without a light, was probably the oc- casion of this. It is an error that a surgeon or butcher may be challenged as jurors, from the supposed cruelty of their business. It is erroneously supposed to be penal to open a coal-mine, or to kill a crow within five miles of London. This last probably took its rise from a statute of Henry VII. prohibiting the use of a cross-bow. It is an error that the body of a debtor may be taken in execution after his death; which, how- ever, was practiced in Prussia before Frederic the Second abolished it by the Code Frcdcrique. It is an error that the king signs the death war- rant, as it is called, for the execution of a criminal as also, that there is a statute which obliges the 2*2 PROVEKBS OF ALL NATIONS. owners of asses to crop their ears, lest the length of them should frighten the horses they meet on the road. It is a mistaken notion that a woman's marry- ing a man under the gallows will save him from execution. This, probably, arose from the wife having brought an appeal against the murderer of her husband ; who, afterwards repenting the prosecution of her lover, not only forgave the offence, but was willing to marry the appellee. It is a common error that those born at sea be- long to Stepney parish. It is an error too, that when a man desires to marry a woman who is in debt, if he take her from the hands of the minister, clothed only in her chemise, that he will not be liable for her engagements. For a person to disinherit his son, it not neces- sary he should leave him a shilling in his will. Lastly, it is an error that any one may be put into the Crown Office for no cause whatever, or the most trifling injury, ERRORS IN NATURAL HISTORY. The stories that there is but one phoenix in the world, which after many hundred years burns her- self, and from her ashes rises another; that the pelican pierces her breast with her beak, to draw blood for her young; that the cameleon only lives PKOVKKBS -OF ALL NATIONS. upon air ; of the bird of paradise, and of the unicorn, are all fabulous. It is an error, that the scorpion stings itself when surrounded by fire, and that music has power over persons bitten by it ; that the mole has no eyes, nor the elephant knees ; that the hedge-hog is a mischievous animal, particularly that he sucks cows when they are asleep, and causes their teats to be sore. It is said the porcupine shoots out its quills for annoying its enemy, whereas it only sheds them annually, as other feathered animals do. The jackall is commonly called the lion's provider, but it has no connection with the lion. The bite of the spider is not venomous it is found too in Ireland plentifully has no dislike to fixing its web on Irish oak, and has no particular aversion lo a toad. The a?s was vulgarly thought to have had a cross on its back ever since Christ rode on one of those animal?!. It was also believed the haddock had the mark of St. Peter's thumb, ever since St. Peter took the tribute penny out of a fish of that species. It was anciently believed, says Brand, that the Barnacle, a common shell-fish, which is found sticking on the bottom of ships, would, when broken off, become a species of goose. Nor is it 824 PKOVERBS OF ALL, NATIONS. less an error that bears form their cubs by licking them into shape ; or that storks will only live in republics and free states. " T/ie Rose of Jericho," which was feigned to flourish every year about Christmas Eve, is famous in the annals of credulity: but, like the no less celebrated " 'Glastonbury TAorw," is only a monkish imposture. It is commonly believed, and even proverbial, that puppies see in nine days, but the fact is, they do not see till the twelfth or fourteenth. PICTORIAL ERRORS. The common practice of exhibiting St. George killing a dragon, with a king's daughter standing by, is a vulgar error for which there is no author- ity : it is even doubtful whether such a personage ever existed. That the forbidden fruit, mentioned in Genesis, was an apple, is generally believed, confirmed by tradition, perpetuated by writing, verses, and pictures, but without authority. The unbilical cord is known to appertain only to the foetus, and as Adam and Eve never were in that state, Sir Thomas Browne notices the vul- gar error of exhibiting them in pictures with navels. The same writer also remarks, the common PROVEKBS OF ALL NATIONS. 925 practice of picturing Moses with horns on his head, for which there is no authority. ERRORS OX MAX. It was formerly believed, (Browne's Works, folio, p. 66.) that Jews stink naturally ; but this is a prejudice on a par with Mr. Cobbett's notion, that Xegroes do not smell like other men. It is al#o an error, with respect to the latter, that they are not a part of the human race, which Forvargue calls a "Creolian error;" and that they are the descend- ants of Cain, bearing his mark. It is commonly believed, that men float on the ninth day, after submersion in the water; but the time is uncertain, and depends on the habit of body : fat men undergo a chemical change, much sooner than lean men, and consequently float sooner. The analogy does not hold, that men naturally swim like other animals ; the motion of animals in the water is the same as on land ; but men do not swim as they walk. It is more correct that women, \vhen dro\vned, lay prostrate in the water, and men supine; it arises from the differ- ent conformation of the two sexes. That a man has one rib less than a woman is a vulgar error, both men and women have both twenty-four ribs. It was an opinion formerly, that it was condu- cive to a man's health to be drunk once a month. 15 226 PROVERBS OF .ILL JiATlONS. The age of G3 was called the " great climateric," and considered peculiarly dangerous, because it \vas the product of the two odd numbers '/ and 9. That a man weighs more fasting than full ; that he was anciently larger in stature ; that love and lust are the same thing ; that be is better or worse for being of a particular profession ; have been classed by writers among vulgar errors. HISTORICAL ERRORS. Sir Thomas Browne says, it is an error, that Tamerlane the Tartar, was a shepherd ; he was of noble birth. The popular story, that Belisariua was blind, and begged publicly in the streets, is without foundation ; he suffered much from the envy of the court, but contemporary writers do not mention his mendicity nor blindness. The stories of Scsevola, of Curtius, of the Amazons', and of Archimedes burning the ships of Marccllus, are, doubtless, historical lies, or monstrous exag- gerations. It is related that Crassus, the grandfather of Marcus, the wealthy Roman, ne/er Jaughed but once, and that was at an ass eating thistles. That Jesus never laughed, because it is only mentioned he wept; though, as Browne observes, it is hard to conceive how he passed his childhood without mirth. Manv vuljrar errors prevail respecting Gypsies, PROVERBS 8F ALL NATIONS. 227 and counterfeit Moors. They are said to have come originally from Egypt, and their present state to be a judgment of God upon them, for refusing to entertain the Virgin Mary and Jesus, on their flight into Egypt. They existed in Egypt long before this occurrence, where they were con- sidered strangers. They were called Bohemians in France, where they first appeared from Ger- many, and spoke the Sclavonian language. They were at one time countenanced by the Turks ; suffered to keep stews in the suburbs of Constan- tinople, and employed by them as spies among other nations, for which they were banished by the Emperor Charles the fifth. MISCELLANEOUS ERRORS, From the rising of the Dog star, the ancients computed their canicular days ; concerning which there is an opinion, that during those days all physic should be declined, and the cure committed to nature: this season is called the Physician's vacation. It was formerly believed that the tenth wave was more dangerous, and the tenth egg larger, than any other. The ring was formerly worn on the fourth finger of the left hand, from a supposition that a partic- ular nerve in that part communicated with the heart. S98 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. Fovargue includes in his "Catalogue of Vulgar Errors," the notion of Londoners, that they have wit enough to impose on countrymen. "This error," says he, " chiefly proceeds from the out- ward appearance of countrymen, when they ar- rive at the metropolis. They are struck with the grandeur of this place, and on that account keep their heads up in the air, as if they were conlrm- plating some phenomenon in the heavens. TLi-n : their clothes being calculated for strength an-l wear, or spun thick, which gives tln-.m u stul awkward gait, and this is not a little mii, r m< ntcd by the robust labor they undergo. Tlu.- awkward- ness, joined to an absence which the conirinpla- tion of any thing fine is sure to beget, makes high diversion for the Londoners, who are apt to put tricks upon them, and tax them with want of apprehension." The same author also reckons among Vulgar Errors, that the Italian Opera consists of effemi- nate music, that nothing is poetry but what is in rhyme ; that kicking up the heels behind, and twisting round on one leg, is fine skating; that the more amunition is put into a towling-piece, the more execution it will do; and that using hard words and long sentences is a proof of scholarship. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 239 SELECT SAYINGS AND MAXIMS OF Till. ANCIENTS AND FATHERS OF THE CHURCH. ANGER. MILDNESS governs more than anger. Publius Syrus, No man is free who does not command him- self. Pythagoras. He who cannot command himself, it is folly to think to command others. Labcrius. He injures the absent who contends with an angry man. Publius Sy?*us. An angry man is again angry with himself, when he returns to reason. Publius Syrus. Women are sooner angry than men, the sick than the healthy, and old men than young men. Hermes. He best keeps from anger, who remembers that God is always looking upon him. Plato. An angry man opens his mouth and shuts his eyes. Cato. The anger of a good man is the hardest to bear. Publius Syrus. ANCESTORS. What can the virtues of our ancestors profit us, if we do not imitate them ! Great merits ask great rewards, and great an- cestors virtuous issues. 830 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. To be of noble parentage, and not to be en- dowed with noble qualities, is rather a defamation than a glory. MANNERS. Be not too orief in conversation, lest you be not understood ; nor too diffuse, lest you be trouble- some . Protagoras. We must not contradict, but instruct him that contradicts us ; for a madman is not cured by another running mad also. Antislhencs. To a man full of questions make no answer at all. Plato. Such as give ear to slanderers are wor^e than slanderers themselves. Dumilin.n . He conquers twice, who con-jurrs liiw^rlf in victory. Publius Syrus. A word fitly spoken is like ;ipplc? of yol.l in pictures of silver. Solomon. He is well constituted who grirves nut for what he has not, and rejoices for what he \va=. De- mocritus. Impose not a burden on others, which thou canst not bear thyself. Labcrius. A cheerful manner commonly denotes a gentle nature ; whereas, a sour countenance is a mani- fest sign of a fro ward disposition. Anon. Consider pleasures as they depart, not as they come . Aristotle. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 231 Such as are careless of themselves can hardly be mindful of others. TJiales. Sobriety without sullenness is commendable and mirth \vith modesty delectable. Nothing is more hard to honest people, than to be denied the liberty of speaking their minds. What one knows, it is useful sometimes to for- get. Publius Syrus. There are more mockers than well-meaners and more foolish quips than good precepts. In conversation, avoid the extremes of petulance and reserve. Cato. Where the demand is a jest, the fittest answer is a scoff. Archimedes. Aristotle says, when you can have any good thing, take it: and Plato says, if you do not take it you are a great coxcomb. A merry heart doeth good like a medicine ; but a broken spirit dricth the bones. Solomon. They that slander the dead are like envious dogs, that bark and bite at bones. Zeno. Nature has given us two ears, two eyes, and but one tongue : to the end, we should hear and see more than we speak. Socrates. Keep thy tongue, and keep thy friend ; for few words cover much wisdom, and a fool being silent is thought wise. Proud looks lose hearts, but courteous words win them. Fcrdin. 232 PKOVEKBS OF ALL NATIONS. He that knows how to speak, knows also when to be silent. Archimedes. To expose one's self to great danger for trivial advantages, is to fish with a golden hook, where more may be lost than gained. Augustus Caesar. We ought either to be silent, or to speak things that are better than silence. Pithagoras. Deride not the unfortunate. Chilo. EATING AND DRINKING. Wine has drowned more than the sea. Publius Syrus, The belly is an unthankful beast, never requi- ting the pleasure done, but continually craving more than it needs. Crates The wicked man lives to eat and drink, but the good eats and drinks to live. Plutarch The belly is the commanding part of the body- Homer. The first draught a man drinks ought to be for thirst, the second for nourishment, the third for pleasure, and the fourth for madness. Anacharsis. Excess came from Asia to Rome; Ambition came from Rome to all the world. Drunkenness is a bewitching devil, a pleasant poison, and a sweet sin. Augustine. Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith. Solomon. PROVERBS OP ALL NATIONS. 233 ELOQUENCE. Brevity is a great praise of eloquence. Cicero. Orators are the most vehement when they have the weakest cause, as men get on horseback when they cannot walk. Cicero. It is easy to defend the innocent; but who is eloquent enough to defend the guilty ? Publius Syrus. An orator without judgment is a horse without a bridle. Thcophrastus. As the grace of man is in the mind, so the beauty of the rnind is eloquence. Cicero. As a vessel is known by the sound, whether it be cracked or not ; so men are proved, by their speeches, whether they be wise or foolish De- mosthenes. Eloquence is of two kinds ; that of the heart, which is called divine; the other external, and merely the organ of conceit?, thoughts, and soph- istry. Cicero. Unprofitable eloquence is like the cypress, which is great and tall, but bears no fruit. Anon. Poets are born, but orators are made. Anon. FRIENDSHIP. Fridndship is stronger than kindred. Publius Syrus. Reprove thy friend privately ; commend him publicly. Solon. 234 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. It is better to decide a difference between ene- mies than friends; for one of our friends will certainly become an enemy, and one of our enemies a friend. Bias. Go slowly to the entertainment of thy friends, but quickly to their misfortunes. Chtto. It is no small grief to a good nature to try his friends. Ruripides. FOLLY It is much better for a man to conceal his folly and ignorance than to discover the same. There cai^ be no ---;ater folly in man, than by much labo- to increase his goods, and with vain pleasure to lose his soul. Gregory. There is more hope of a fool, than him that is wise in his own conceit. Solomon. It is a great folly in man to muse much on such things as pass his understanding. The heart of a fool is in his mouth, but the mouth of a wise man is in his heart. Sirach. INDUSTRY. Learn some useful art, that you may be inde- pendent of the caprice of fortune. Cato. Idleness is a sepulchre of a living man. Anselm. It is not for a man in authority to sleep a whole night. Homer. t-H O * ALb IHATiOJNS. Flee sloth ; for the indolence of the soul is the decay of the body. Cato. When a man goes out, let him consider what he is to do ; when he returns, what he has done. Clcobulous. The three things most difficult are, to keep a secret, to forget an injury, and to make gocd use of leisure. Chilo. Prosperity engenders sloth. Livy. JUSTICE. Valor would cease to be a virtue, if there were no injustice. Agesilaus. Delay in punishment is no privilege of pardon . Not the pain, but the cause, makes the martyr. Ambrose. It becomes not a law-maker to be a law-break- er. Bias. Four things belong to a judyi 1 : to hoar cour- teously, to answer wisely, to consider soberly, and and to give judgment without partiality. Soc- rates. No man may be both accuser ami judge, Plutarch. The accused i* not guilty till he is convicted. Lactantius KINT.S AM) LAWS. General calamities imply, in kings, general imbe- cility. 236 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. Kings ought to be environed with good will instead of guards. Bias. It is the fault of princes if they are not esteem ed ; as they always have it in their power to pro- cure the love of their subjects. Philip of Mace- don. The king's wrath is as the roaring of a lion but his favor is as the dew on the grass Solo- mon. The prince that is feared of many, must, of ne- cessity, fear many. A king ruleth as ho ought, a tyrant as he lists ; a king to the profit of ail, a tyrant only to please a few. Aristotle. Kings ought to shun the company of the vi- cious, for the evil they cummit in his company is accounted his. Plato. It little profits a prince to bo ruler of many kingdoms, and the slave of many vices. A king ought to take heed to his counsellors, in noting who soothe his lusts, and who intend the public profit. Plutarch. Where the love of the people is assured, the designs of the seditious are thwarted. Bias. A good prince is not the object of fear. Di- ogenes. A prince, ought to be aware not only of his en- emies, but his ilattering friends. Dionysius. FhOVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 237 The public has more interest in the punish ment of an injury, than he who receives it. Ca- to Ike Elder. As ignorant governors bring their country into many inconveniences, so such as are devilishly politic utterly overthrow the state. Anon. Justice ought to be the rule to the will of kings. Antigonus. Laws not executed are of no value, and as well not made as not practiced. To make an empire durable, the magistrates must obey the laws and the people the magis- trates. Solon. Laws are not made for the good. Socrates. Kings ought to be kings in all things. Adrian. Royalty consists not in vain pomp, but in great virtues. Agesilaus. LIFE AND DEATH. An honorable death is better than an inglori- ous life. Socrates. He who fears death has already lost the life he covets. Cato- No man is so old but thinks he may yet live another year. Hicronimus. We should live as though our life would be both long and short. Bias. We had better die at once, than to live con- stantly in fear of death: Dion. 838 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. Life is short, yet sweet. Euripides. LOVE. To love and be wise, is scarcely possible to a Hod. Publius Syrus. A lover's soul lives in the body of his mistress. Plutarch. Love heats the brain, and anger makes a poet. Juvenal. A man has choice to begin love, but not to end it. True love is never idle, but worketh to serve him whom he loveth. Augustine. An incensed lover shuts his eyes, and tells him- self many lies. Publius Syrus. Love is incompatible with fear. Publius Syrus. The approaches of love must be resisted at the first assault, lest they undermine at the second. Pythagoras. Love is a sweet tyrany, because the lover en- dureth his torments willingly. Niphas. Sophocles, being asked what injury he would wish to his enemy, replied "that he might love where he was not loved again." Love teaches music ; though a man be unskill- ful. Anon. RICHES AND POVERTY. Prefer loss to unjust gain. Fortune gives to many too much, but to none enough. Labcrias. PROVERBS OF A I, I. NATIONS. 239 Men would live exceedingly quiet if these two words, mine and thine, were taken away. Anax- agoras. It is a rare miracle for money to lack a mas- ter. Bias . Need teaches things unlawful. Seneca. He who lives after na.t-ure, shall never be poor; after opinion, shall nevf 1 be rich. Praise not the unworthy on account of their wealth. Bias. He is truly rich, who desires nothing; and he is truly poor, who covets all. Solon. Men are neither suddenly rich nor suddenly good. Labcrias. If rich, be not elated ; if poor, be not dejected. Socrates. If thou knowest how to use money, it will be- come thy band-maid ; if not, it will become thy master. Diodorus. He i-; richest who is contented with least ; for content is the wealth of a nation. PUBLIC OFFICERS. M en in authority are eyes in a state, according to whose life every man applieth his manner of Hying. The buyers of offices sell by retail what they bty in gross. The most useful wisdom is when public offi- cers oractise, what philosophers teach. 840 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. Where offices are vendible, there the best moneyed block-head bears the greatest sway. Those who sell offices sell the most sacred things in the world, even justice itself, public pros- perity, the people and the laws TRUTH. Cuetom, though ever so ancient, without truth, is but an old error. Cyprian. If thou speakest what thou wilt, thou shait hear what thou wouldst not. Bias. He who conceals a useful truth, is equally guilty with the propagator of an injurious false- hood. Augustine. Good men are sometimes in greater danger from speaking the truth, than evil men from speak- ing falsely. Plautus. TIME. Nothing is more precious than time, yet noth- ing less valued. Bernard. No grief is so acute but time ameliorates it. Cicero. Things past may be repented, but not recalled. Livy. A philosopher being asked what was the first thing necessary to win the love of a woman, an- swered opportunity. Time is the herald of truth. Cicero. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 241 VIRTUE. It is difficult to persuade mankind that the love of virtue is the love of themselves. Cicero. Some, by admiring other men's virtues, become enemies to their own vices. Bias. The remembrance of a well spent life is sweet. Praise is the hire of virtue. Cicero. In doing what we ought we deserve no praise because it is our duty. Augustine. What you would not have done to yourselves, never do to others. Alexander Saverus. One ought to remember kindnesses received, and forget those we have done. Chile. A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast, but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. Do good to your friend, that he may be more wholly yours ; to your enemy, that he may become }our friend. Cleobulus. Such as have virtue always in their mouths, and neglect it in practice, are like a harp, which emits a sound pleasing to others, while itself is insensible of the music. Diogenes. A good man cares not for the reproofs of evil men . Dcmocritus. Every thing great is not always good, but all good things are great. Demosthenes. Covet nothing over much. Chilo 16 242 PROVERBS OK ALL NATIONS A soul conversant with virtue, resembles a fountain, for it is clear, and gentle, and sweet, and communicative, and rich, and harmless, and innocent. Epictetus. Satan is a subtle angler, and uses great cun- ning in the casting of his net, and searching out the vein of water, where every one is delighted. Basil. In childhood be modest, in youth temperate, in manhood just, in old age prudent. Socrates. He that helps the wicked, hurts the good. Crates. What we have in us of the image of God is the love of truth and justice. Demosthenes. Diversity of religion is the ground of persecu- tion, in show; but it is ambition in effect. The end of a dissolute life is, commonly, a desperate death. Bion. Virtue makcth men on the earth famous, in their graves illustrious, in the heavens immortal. Ckilo. Nothing is profitable which is dishonest. Cicer- ro. He that works wickedness by another, is guilty of the fact committed himself. Bias. A work well begun is half ended. Plato We should never remember the benefits we have conferred, nor forget the favors received. Chflo. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS 243 The eye strays not while under the guidance of reason. Publius Syrus. If you pursue good with labor, the labor passes away and the good remains ; but if you pursue pleasure with evil, the pleasure passes away and the evil remains. Cicero. The judge must be condemned, when he ab- solves the guilty. Publius. Syrus. Every vice has a cloak, and creeps in under the name of virtue. Ingenious shame, once lost, is never regained. Publius Syrus. Trust no secrets to a friend, which, if reported, would bring infamy. Thales. It is a noble satisfaction to be ill spoken of, when we are conscious of doing right. Alexan- der, King of Macedon. We cannot control the tongues of others, but a good life enables us to despise calumnies. D. Cato. The vicious obey their passions, as slaves do their masters. Diogenes. Wicked men cannot be friends, either among tnemselves or with the good. Socrates. Vices that are familiar we pardon, and only new ones reprehend. Publius Syrus. Virtue though momentarily shamed, cannot be extinguished. Publius Syrus. "X-O -WVflU* MJ Ofi) OUt Vt) ~\M JAJIA VUWS, 844 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. Every one should make the case of the injured his own. So/on. The way to make ourselves admired, is to be what we affect to be thought. Socrates. Virtue, and 1 not the laws and ordinance of men, is the rule of a wise man. Antisthenes. No one ever lost his honor, except he who had it not. Publius Syrus. WISDOM. Ignorant men differ from beasts only in their figure . Cleanthcs. It is less pain to learn in youth, than to be ig norant in age. Wisdom provides things necessary, not super- fluous. Solon. A wise man is never less alone than when he is alone . Ambrose. He must be a wise man himself, who is capa- ble of distinguishing one. Diogenes. Wisdom adorns riches, and shadows poverty. Socrates. Learning is an ornament in prosperity, a ref uge in adversity, and the best provision in old age . Aristotle. They who educate children well, are more to be honored, than they who produce them ; for these only gave them life, those the art of living well . Aristotle PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS; 245 It is no shame for a man to learn that he know- eth not, whatever age he may be. Isocrates. To know, and not be able to perform, is doubly un fortun ate . Solon . Alexander the great valued learning so highly, that he used to say, "that he was more indebted to Aristotle for giving him knowledge, than to his father Philip for life." Socrates thanked God for three things: first, that he was born a man and not a woman ; sec- ond, that he was born a Grecian ; and thirdly, that he was a philosopher. He is sufficiently well learned, tnat knows how to do well, and has power enough to refrain from evil. Cicero. Arrogance is the obstructien of wisdom. Bion- One part of knowledge consists in being igno- rant of such things as are not worthy to be known. Crates. Wise men, though all laws were abolished, would lead the same lives. Aristophanes. Knowledge, without education, is but armed injustice. Horace. It is better to be unborn than untaught ; for ignorance is the roof of misfortune. Plato. Wise men are instructed by reason ; men of less understanding by experience ; the most ig- norant by necessity; and beasts by nature. Cicero. 246 PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. Aristippus being asked what he learnt by phil- osophy, replied 'he learnt to live well with all the world.' WOMEN. A wanton eye is a messenger of an unchaste heart. Augustine. A beautiful and chaste woman is the perfect workmanship of God, the true glory of angels, the rare miracle of the earth, and sole wonder of the world. Hermes. As no man can tell where a shoe pincheth better than he that wears it, so no man can tell a wo- man's disposition better than he that hath wedded her. Marcus Aurelius. Beauty in the face of women, and folly in their hearts, be two worms that fret life and waste goods. Women that are chaste when they are trusted, prove wantons when they are unjustly suspected. Trust not a woman when she weepeth, for it is her nature to weep when she wanteth her will. Socrates. Whoso findeth a wife, findeth a good thing. Solomon. Woman either loves or hates ; her affections know no medium. Publius Syrus. It is a blind man's question to ask, why those things are loved which are beautiful. PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 247 Women that puint themselves to seem beauti- ful, do clearly deface the image of their Crea- tor. Ambrose. Never praise a man for being like a woman, nor a woman for resembling a man. Q&daretus. Humble wedlock is better than proud virginity. Augustine. Marriage, with peace, is the world's paradise; with strife, this life's purgatory. A woman without dowry has no liberty to speak. Euripido . The Grecian ladies counted their age from their marriage not their birth. Homer. As a jewel of gold in a hog's snout, so is a fair \vo/n?ni without virtue. Solomon. niiftc:Er.i:,. 359 OF NATURAL ACCIDENTS. Prosperity and Adversity ... 362 364 Death - - : f . '" r J' :; '."- ; '.*' T . '* 365 366 TO THE EAKL OF CHESTERFIELD. My Lord, Pekin, May 12, 1749. IN the last letter which I had the honor of writing to your Lordship, dated Dec. 23, 1748, I think I concluded all I had to say iu. regard to the topography and natural history of this great empire. I purposed, iu this and some succeeding ones, to set down such observations as I have been able to make on the laws, government, religion, and manners of the people. But a remarkable occurrence has happened-lately, which engrosses the conversation of the literati here, and may hereafter perhaps afford matter of speculation to the learned in Europe. As it is of a nature which, I know, will furnish some entertainment to your Lordship, I will endeavor to give you as distinct and par- ticular an account of It as I have been able to obtain. Adjoining to China on the west is the large country of Thibet, called by some Barantola. In a province of this country, named Lasa, resides the Grand Lama, or High Priest of these Idola- ters, who is reverenced and even adored as a god by most of the neighboring nations. The high opinion which is entertain- ed of his sacred character induces prodigious numbers of reli- gious people to resort to Lasa, to pay their homage to him, and to give him presents in order to receive his blessings. His resi- dence is in a most magnificent pagod, or temple, built on the top of the mountain Portala* The foot of this mountain, and even the whole district of Lasa, is inhabited by an incredible number of Lamas of different ranks and oders, several of whom 259 260 TO THE EARL OF CHESTERFIELD. have very grand pagods erected to their honor, in which they receive a kind of inferior worship. The whole country, like Italy, abounds with priests ; and they entirely subsist on the great number of rich presents which are sent them from the ut- most extent of Tartary, from the empire of the Great Mogule and from almost all parts of the East. When the Grand Lama receives the adorations of the people, he is raised on a magnificent altar, and sits cross-legged upon a splendid cushion ; his worshipers prostrate themselves before him, in the humblest and most abject manner; but he returns not the least sign of respect, or ever speaks, even to the greatest Princes ; he only lays his hand upon their heads, and they are fully persuaded that they receive' from thence a full forgiveness of all their sins. They are likewise so extravagant as to imag- ine that he knows all things, even the secrets of the heart ; and his particular disciples, being a select number of about two hun- dred of the most eminent Lamas, have the address to make the people believe he is immortal, and that whenever he appears to die he only changes his place of abode, and animates a new body. The learned in China have long been of opinion that, in the archives of this grand temple, some very ancient books have, for many ages, been concealed : and the present emperor, who is very curious in searching after the writings of antiquity, be- came at length so fully conceived of the probability of this opin- ion, that he determined to try whether any discovery of this sort could be made. To this end, his first care was to' find out a person eminently skilful in the ancient languages and characters. He at length pitched upon one of the Hanslins, or Doctors of the first order, TO THE EAKL OF CHESTERFIELD. 261 whose name was Cao-tsou, a man about fifty years of age, of a grave and noble aspect, of great eloquence, and by au acci- dental friendship with a certain learned Lama, who had resided many years at Pekin, was become entirely master of the lan- guage which the Lamas of Thibet used among themselves. With these qualifications he set forward on his journey ; and to give his commission the greater weight, the Emperor honored him with the title of Colca, or Prime Minister : to which he ad- ded a most magnificent equipage and attendance, with presents for the Grand Lama and other principal Lamas of an immense value ; also a letter written with his own hand, in the following terms : 'TO THE GREAT REPRESENTATIVE OF GOD. ' Most High, most Holy and worthy to be adored ! 'WE the Emperor of China, Sovereign of all the Sovereigns of the earth, iu the person of this our most respected Prime Minister, Cao-tsou, with all reverence and humility, prostrate ourselves beneath thy sacred feet, and implore for ourselves, our friends, and our empire, thy most powerful and gracious benediction. ' Having a strong desire to search into the records of anti- quity, to learn and retrieve the wisdom of the ages that are past ; and being well informed that in the sacred repositories of thy most ancient and venerable hierarchy, there are some valuable books, which, from their antiquity, are become, to the generality even of the learned, almost wholly unintelligible ; in order, as far as in us lies, to prevent their being totally lost, we have thought proper to authorize and employ our most learn- ed and respected prime minster, Cao-tsou, in this our present 262 TO THE EARL OF CHESTERFIELD. embassy to thy sublime Holiness : the business of which is to desire that he may be permitted to read and examine the said writings ; we expecting, from his great and uncommon skill in the ancient languages, that he will be able to interpret what- ever may be found, though of the highest and most obscure an- tiquity. And we have commanded him to throw himself at thy feet, with such testimonies of our respect, as, we trust, will pro- cure him the admittance we desire.' I will not detain your Lordship with any particulars of his journey, though he has published a long account of it, abound- ing with many surprising relations, and which, at may return to England, I may probably translate and publish entire. Let it suffice for the present, that, when he arrived in these sacred territories, the magnificence of his appearance, and the richness of his presents failed not to gain him a ready admission. He had apartments appointed him in the sacred College, and was assisted in his iaquiries by one of the most learned Lamas. He continued there near six months ; during which time he had the satisfaction of finding many valuable pieces of antiquity; from some of which he has made very curious extracts, and has formed such probable conjectures concerning their authors, and the times wherein they were written, as prove him to be a man of great judgment and penetration, as well as extensive reading. But the most ancient piece he has discovered, and which none of the Lamas for many ages had been able to interpret or understand, is a small system of morality, written in the lan- guage and character of the ancient Gymnosophists, or Bramins ; out by what particular person, or in what time, he does not pre- tend to determine. This piece, however he wholly translated, TO THE EARL OF CHESTERFIELD. 263 though, as he himself confesses, with an utter incapacity of reaching, in the Chinese language, the strength and sublimity of the original. The judgments and opinions of the Bonzees and the learned Doctors are very divided concerning it. Those who admire it most highly are very fond of attributing it to Confucius, their own great philosopher, and get over the diffi- culty of its being written in the language and character of the ancient Bramins, by supposing this to be only a translation, and the original work of Confucius is lost. Some will have it to be the institutes of Lao Kmn, another Chinese Philosopher, con- temporary with Confucius, and founder of the sect Tao-see : but these labor under the same difficulty in regard to the lan- guage, with those who attribute it to Confucius. There are others who, from some particular marks and sentiments which they find in it, suppose it to be written by the Bramin Danda- mis, whose celebrated letter to Alexander the Great is recorded by the European writers. With these Cao-tsou himself seems most inclined to agree ; at least so far as to think that it is really the work of some ancient Bramin ; being fully persuaded, from the spirit with which it is written, that it is no translation. One thing, however, occasions some doubt amongst them, and that is the plan of it, which is entirely new to the eastern people, and so unlike any thing they have ever seen, that if it were not for some turns of expression peculiar to the East, and the im- possibility of accounting for its being written in this very an- cient language, many would suppose it to be the work of a Eu- ropean. But whoever was the writer of it, the great noise which it makes in this city, and all over the empire, the eager- ness with which it is read by all kinds of people, and the high encomiums which are given to it by some, at length determin- 264 TO THE EARL OF CHESTERFIELD. ed me to attempt a translation of it into English ; especially as I was persuaded it would be an agreeable present to your Lord- ship. And I was the more easily induced to make the trial, as, very happily for me, you cannot judge how far I have fallen short of the original, or even of the Chinese translation. One thing, however, it may perhaps be necessary to apologize for, at least to give some account of it, and that is the style and manner in which I have translated it. I can assure your Lord- ship that, when I first sat down to the work, I had not the least intention of doing it in this way ; but tke sublime manner of thinking which appeared in the introduction, the great energy of expression, and the shortness of the sentences, naturally led me into this kind of style ; and I hope the having so elegant a pattern to form myself upon as our version of the book of Job, the Psalms, the works of Solomon, and the Prophets, has been of some advantage to my translation. Such as it is, if it affords your Lordship any entertainment, I shall think myself extremely happy ; and my next will resume my account of this people and their empire. THE ECONOMY OF HUMAN LIFE. PART I. INTRODUCTION. Bow down your heads unto the dust, ye inhabi- tants of the earth ! be silent, and receive with reverence instructions from on high. Wheresoever the sun doth shine, wheresoever the the wind doth blow, wheresoever there is an ear to hear, and a mind to conceive, there let the precepts of life be made known, let the maxims of truth be honored and obeyed. All things proceed from God. His power is un- bounded, his wisdom is from eternity, and his goodness endureth forever. He sitteth on his throne in the centre, and the breath of his mouth giveth life to the world. He toucheth the stars with his finger, and they run their course rejoicing. On the wings of the wind he walketh abroad, and performeth his will through all the regions of unlimited space. Order, and grace, and beauty spring from his hand. The voice of wisdom speaketh in all his works, but the human understanding comprehendeth it not. The shadow of knowledge passeth over the mind of 265 266 ECONOMY OP HUMAN LIFE. man as a dream ; he seeth as in the dark, he reasoneth and is often deceived. But the wisdom of God is as the light of Heaven ! he reasoneth not ! his mind is the foundation of truth. Justice and mercy wait before his throne : benevo- lence and love enlighten his countenance for ever. Who is like unto the Lord in glory ? who in power shall contend with the Almighty ? Hath he any equal in wisdom ? Can any in goodness be compared unto him ? He it is, man ! who hath created thee ; thy station on earth is fixed by his appointment ; the powers of thy mind are the gifts of his goodness ; the wonders of thy frame are the work of his hand. Hear then his voice, for it is gracious ; he that obey- eth shall establish his soul in peace. DUTIES THAT RELATE TO MAN CONSIDERED AS AN INDIVIDUAL CHAPTER T. CONSIDERATION. COMMTTNE with thyself, man ! and consider wherefore thou wert made. Contemplate thy powers, thy wants, and thy connex- ions ; so shalt thou discover the duties of life, and be directed in all thy ways. Proceed not to speak' or to act before thou hast weighed thy words, and examined the tendency of every step thou shalt take ; so shall disgrace fly far from thee, ECONOMY OF HUMAN LIFE. 267 and in thy house shall shame be a stranger ; repentance shall not visit thee, nor sorrow dwell upon thy cheek. The thoughtless man bridleth not his tongue ; he speaketh at random, and is entangled in the foolishness of his own words. As one that runneth in haste, and leapeth over a fence, may fall into a pit which he doth not see, so is the man that plungeth suddenly into an action, before he hath considered the consequences thereof. Hearken therefore unto the voice of Consideration ; her words are the words of Wisdom, and her paths shall lead thee to safety and truth. CHAPTER II. MODESTT. WHO art thou, man ! that presumest on thine own wisdom ? or why dost thou vaunt thyself on thine own acquirements ? The first step towards being wise is to know that thou art ignorant ; and if thou wouldest be esteemed in the O judgment of others, cast off the folly of seeming wise in thine own conceit. As a plain garment best adorneth a beautiful woman, so a decent behavior is the greatest ornament of wisdom. The speech of a mosdest man giveth lustre to truth ; and the diffidence of his words excuseth his error. He relieth not on his own wisdom ; he weigheth the counsels of a friend, and receiveth the benefit thereof. He turneth away his ear from his own praise, and 268 ECONOMY u y HUMAN LIFE. bt-lieveth it not; he is the last in discovering his own perfections. Yet as a veil addeth to beauty, so are his virtues set off by the shade which his modesty casteth upon them. But behold the vain man, and observe the arrogant ; he clotheth himself in rich attire, he walketh in the public street, he casteth round his eyes, and courteth observation. He tosseth up his head, and overlooketh the poor ; he treateth his inferiors with insolence ; and his superiors, in return, look down on his pride and folly with laughter. He despiseth the judgment of others; he rclicih on his own opinion, and is confounded. He is puffed up with vanity of his imagination ; his delight is to hear and to speak himself all the day long. He swalloweth with greediness his own praise ; and the flatterer in return eateth him up. CHAPTER III. APPLICATION. SINCE the days that are past are gone forever, and those that are to come may not come to thee, it behov- eth thee, man ! to employ the present time, without regretting the loss of that which is past, or too much depending on that which is to come. This instant is thine ; the next is in the womb of futurity, and thou knowest not what it may bring forth. Whatsoever thou resolvest to do, do it quickly ; defer not till the evening what the morning may accomplish. ECONOMY OF HUMAN LIFE. 269 Idleness is the parent of want and of pain ; but the labor of virtue bringeth forth pleasure. The hand of diligence defeateth want ; prosperity and success are the industrious man's attendants. Who is he that hath acquired wealth, that hath risen to power, that hath clothed himself with honor, that is spoken of in the city with praise, and that standeth before the King in his council ? Even he that hath shut out Idleness from his house, and hath said unto Sloth, Thou art mine enemy. He riseth up early, and lieth down late ; he exerciseth his mind with contemplation, and his body with action, and preserveth the health of both. The slothful man is a burden to himself; his hours hang heavy on his hands, he loitereth about, and knoweth not what he would do. His days pass away like the shadow of a cloud, and he leaveth behind him no mark for remembrance. His body is diseased for want of exercise ; he wishes for action, but hath no power to move. His mind is in darkness, his thoughts are confused ; he longeth for knowledge, but hath no application. He wbuld eat of the almond, but hateth the trouble of breaking th shell. His house is in disorder, his servants are wasteful ano riotous, and he runneth on towards ruin ; he seeth it with his eyes, he heareth it with his ears, he shaketh his head, and wisheth ; but hath no resolution ; till ruin cometh upon him like a whirlwind, and shame and repentance descend with him to the grave. 270 ECONOMY OF HUMAN L I F B . CHAPTER IV. EMULATION. IF thy soul thirsteth for honor, if thy ear hath any pleasure in the voice of praise, raise thyself from the dust whereof thou art made, and exalt thy aim to some- thing that is praiseworthy. The examples of an eminent man are in visions by night ; and delight is to follow them all the day long. He formeth great designs, he rejoiceth in the execu- tion thereof ; and his name goeth forth to the ends of the world. But the heart of the envious man is gall and bitter- ness: his tongue spitteth venom; the success of his neighbor breaketh his rest. He sitteth in his cell repining ; and the good tnat happeneth to another is to him an evil. Hatred and malice feed upon his heart, and there is no rest in him. He feeleth in his own breast no love of goodness; and therefore he believeth his neighbor is like unto himself. He endeavors to depreciate those who excel him, ana putteth an evil interpretation on all their doings. He lieth on the watch and meditates mischief; but the detestation of man pursueth him ; he is crushed as a spider in his own web. The oak that now spreadeth its branches towards the Heavens was once but an acorn in the bowels of the earth. ECONOMY OF HUMAN LIFE. 271 Endeavor to be first in thy calling, whatever it may be, neither let any one go before thee in well doing; nevertheless do not envy the merits of another, but improve thine own talents. Scorn also to depress thy competitor by dishonest or unworthy methods ; strive to raise thyself above him only by excelling him ; so shall thy contest for superi- ority be crowned with honor if not with success. By a virtuous emulation the spirit of man is exalted within him ; he panteth after fame, and rejoiceth as a racer to run his course. He riseth like the palm tree, in spite of oppression ; and, as an eagle in the firmament of heaven, he soareth aloft, and fixeth his eye upon the glories of the sun. CHAPTER V. PRUDENCE. HEAR the words of Prudence; give heed unto hei counsels, and store them in thine heart. Her maxims are universal, and all the virtues lean upon her ; she is the guide and mistress of human life. Put a bridle on thy tongue ; set a guard before tny lips, lest the words of thine own mouth destroy thy peace. Let him that scotfeth at the lame take care that he halt not himself; whosoever speaketh of another's fail- ings with pleasure, shall hear of his own with bitterness of heart. Of much speaking cometh repentance ; but in silence is safety. 7 ECONOMY OF HUMAN LIFE. A talkative man is a nuisance to society, the ear is sick of his babbling; the torrent of his words over- whelmeth conversation. Boast not of thyself, for it shall bring contempt upon thee ; neither deride another, for it is dangerous. A bitter jest is the poison of friendship ; and he who restrains not his tongue shall live in trouble. Furnish thyself with the accommodations proper to thy condition ; yet spend not to the utmost of what thou canst afford, that the providence of thy youth may be a comfort to thy old age. Avarice is the parent of evil deeds ; but frugality is the sure guardian of our virtues. Let thine own business engage thy attention; leave the care of the state to the governors thereof. Let not thy recreations be expensive, lest the pain in purchasing them exceed the pleasure thou hast in their enjoyment. Neither let prosperity put out the eyes of circumspec- tion, nor abundance cut off the hands of frugality ; he that too much indulges in the superfluities of life shall Jive to lament the want of its necessaries. Trust no man before thou hast tried him ; yet mis- trust not without reason it is uncharitable. But when thou has proved a man to be honest, lock mm up in thine heart as a treasure ; regard him as a jewel of inestimable price. Receive not the favors of a mercenary man, or join in friendship with the wicked ; they shall be snares unto thy virtue, and bring grief to thy soul. ECONOMY OF HUMAN LIFE. 273 Use not to-day what to-morrow may want; neither leave that to hazard which foresight may provide for, or care prevent. From the experience of others do thou learn wisdom ; and from their failings correct thine own faults. Yet expect not even from prudence infallible success : for the day knoweth not what the night may bring forth. The fool is not always unfortunate, nor the wise man always successful : yet never had a fool a thorough en- joyment never was a wise man wholly unhappy CHAPTER VI. FORTITUDE. PERILS, and misfortunes, and want, and pain, and injury, are the lot of every man who cometh into the world. It behoveth thee, therefore, early to fortify thy mind with courage and patience ; that thou mayest support with resolution tiiy allotted portion of calamity. As the camel beareth labor, and heat, and hunger, and thirst, through deserts of sand, and fainteth not; so a man of fortitude shall sustain his virtue through perils and distress. A noble spirit disdaineth the malice of Fortune, his greatness of soul is not to be cast down. His happiness dependeth not on her smiles, and therefore with her frowns he shall not be dismayed. As a rock in the sea, he standeth firm, and the dash- inof of the waves disturbeth him not. 18 274 ECONOMY OF HUMAN LIFE. He raiseth his head like a tower on a hill, and the arrows of Fortune drop at his feet. In the instant of danger the courage of his heart sustaineth him, and the steadiness of his mind beareth him out. He meeteth the evils of life as a man that goeth forth into battle, and returneth with victory in his hand. Under the pressure of misfortune, his calmness alle- viates their weight; and by his constancy he shall surmount them. But the dastardly spirit of a timorous man betrayeth him to shame. By shrinking under poverty he stoopeth down to meanness; and by tamely bearing insults, he inviteth injuries. As a reed is shaken with the breath of the air, so the shadow of evil maketh him tremble. In the hour of danger he is embarrassed and con- founded ; in the day of misfortune he sinketh, and des- pair overwhelmeth his soul. CHAPTER VII. CONTENTMENT. FORGET not, man ! that thy station on earth is appointed by the wisdom of the Eternal, who knoweth thy heart, seeth the vanity of all thy wishes, and who often in mercy denieth thy requests. t Yet for all reasonable desires, for all honest endeavors, his benevolence hath established, in the nature of things, a probability of success. ECONOMY OF HUMAN LIFE. 275 The uneasiness thou feelest, the misfortunes thou bewailest, behold the root from whence they spring even thine own folly, even thine own pride, thine own distempered fancy. Murmur not, therefore, at the dispensations of God, but correct thine own heart ; neither say within thyself, 'If I had wealth, power, or leisure, I should be happy;' for know, they all bring to their several possessors their peculiar inconveniences. The poor man seeth not the vexations and anxieties of the rich ; he feeleth not the difficulties and perplexi- ties of power ; neither knowfth he the wearisomeness of leisure ; and therefore it is that he repineth at his own lot. But envy not the appearance of happiness in any man ; for thou knowest no his secret griefs. To be satisfied with a little is the greatest wisdom ; and he who increaseth his riches, increaseth his cares ; but a contented mind is a hidden treasure, and a guard from trouble. Yet if thou sufferest not the blandishments of thy fortune to rob thee of justice, or temperance, or charity, or modesty, even riches themselves shall not make thee unhappy. But hence shalt thou learn that the cup of felicity, pure and unmixed, is by no means a draught for a mortal man. Virtue is the race which God nath set him to run, happiness the goal; which none can arrive at till he hath finished his course, and received his crown in the mansions of eternity, 276 ECONOMY OF HUMAN LIFE. CHAPTER VIII. TEMPERANCE. THE nearest approach thou canst make to happiness on this side the grave is to enjoy from Heaven health, wisdom, and peace of mind. These blessings, if thou possessest and would preserve to old age, avoid the allurements of Voluptuousness, and fly from her temptations. When she spreadeth her delicacies on the board, when her wine sparkleth in the cup, when she smileth upon thee, and persuadeth thee to be joyful and happy; then is the hour of danger, then let reason stand firmly on her guard. For if thou hearkenest unto the words of her adver- sary, thou art deceived and betrayed. The joy which she promises changeth to madness ; and her enjoyments lead on to disease and death. Look round her board, cast thine eyes upon her guests, and observe those who have been allured by her smiles, who have listened to her temptations. Are they not meagre ? are they not sickly ? are they not spiritless ? Their short hours of jollity and riot are followed by tedious days of pain and dejection ; she hath debauch- ed and palled their appetites, that they have now no relish for her nicest dainties. Her votaries are become victims ; the just and natural consequence which God hath ordained, in the constitution of things, for the punishment of those who abuse his gifts. ECONOMY OF HUMAN LIFE. 277 But who is* she that, with graceful steps, and with a lively air, trips over yonder plain ? The rose blusheth on her cheek, the sweetness of the morning breatheth from her lips ; joy, tempered with innocence and modesty, sparkleth from her eyes and, from the cheerfulness of her heart she singeth as she walks. Her name is Health. She is the daughter of Exer- cise and Temperance ; their sons inhabit the mountains that stretch over the northern regions of San Ton Hac. They are brave, active, and lively, and partake of all the beauties and vitues of their sister. Vigor stringeth their nerves ; strength dwelleth in the bones ; and labor is their delight all the day long. The employments of their father excite their appe- tites, and the repasts of their mother refresh them. To combat the passions is their delight ; to conquer evil habits, their glory. Their pleasures are moderate, and therefore they endure ; their repose is short, but sound and undis- terbed. Their blood is pure, their minds are serene ; and the physician findeth not the way to their habitations. But safety dwelleth not with the sons of men, neither is security found within their gates. Behold them exposed to new dangers from without, while a traitor within lurketh to betray them. Their health, their strength, their beauty, and ac- tivity have raised desire in the bosom of lascivious 278 ECONOMY OF HUMAN LIFE. She standeth in her bower, she courtetK their regard, she spreadeth her temptations. Her limbs are soft, her air is delicate, her attire is loose. Wantonness speaketh in her eyes, and on her bosom sit temptations ; she beckoneth them with her ; nger, she wooeth them with her looks : and by the xnoothness of her tongue she endeavoreth to deceive. Ah ! fly from her allurements, stop thine ears to her enchanting words ! if thou meetest the languishing of her eyes, if thou hearest the softness of her voice, if she casteth her arms about thee, she bindeth thee in her chains forever. Shame followeth, and disease, and want, and care, and repentance. Enfeebled by dalliance, with luxury pampered, and softened by sloth, strength shall forsake thy limbs, and health thy constitution ; thy days shall be few, and those inglorious ; thy griefs shall be many, yet meet with no compassion. THE PASSIONS. CHAPTER I. HOPE AND FEAR. THE promises of Hope are sweeter than roses in the 'Hid, and far more flattering to expectation : but the .hreatenings of Fear are a terror to the heart. Nevertheless, let not hope allure, nor fear deter tLec ECONOMY OF HUMAN LIFE. 79 from doing that which is right : so shalt thou be pre- pared to meet all events with an equal mind. The terrors of death are no terrors to the good: restrain thy hand from evil, and thy soul shall have nothing to fear. In all thy undertakings, let a reasonable assurance animate thy endeavors: if thou despairest of success, thou shalt not succeed. Terrify not thy soul with vain fears, neither let thy heart sink within thee from the phantoms of imagination. From fear proceedeth misfortune ; but he that hopeth helpeth himself. As the ostrich, when pursued, hideth his head, but forgetteth his body ; so the fears of a coward expose him to danger. If thou believest a thing impossible, thy despondency shall make it so; but he that persevereth shall over- come all difficulties. A vain hope flattereth the heart of a fool; but he that is wise pursueth it not. In all thy desires let reason go before thee; and fix not thy hopes beyond the bounds of probability ; so shall success attend thy undertakings, and thy heart shall not be vexed with disappointment. CHAPTER II. JOY AND GRIEF. LET not thy mirth be so extravagant as to intoxicate thy mind ; nor thy sorrow so heavy as to depress thy 280 KOONOMY OF HUMAN LIFE. heart. This world affordeth no good so transporting, nor inflicteth any evil so severe, as should raise thee far above, or sink thee much beneath the balance of mod- eration. Lo ! yonder standeth the house Joy ! It is painted on the outside, and looketh gay ; thou mayest know it by the noise of mirth and exultation that issueth from it. The mistress standeth at the door, and calleth aloud to all that pass by ; she singeth, and shouteth, and laugheth without ceasing. She inviteth them to taste the pleasures of life, which, she telleth them, are no where to be found but beneath her roof. But enter not thou into her gate ; neither associate thyself with those that frequent her house. They call themselves the sons of joy they laugh and seem delighted ; but madnes and folly are in all their doings. They are linked with Mischief hand in hand, and their steps lead down to evil ; danger beset them round about, and the pit of destruction yawneth beneath their feet. Look now on the other side, and behold in that vale overshadowed with trees, and hid from the sight of men, the habitation of Sorrow. Her bosom heaveth with sighs, her mouth is filled with lamentation : she deligtheth to dwell on the subject of human misery. She looketh on the common accidents of life, and weepeth ; the weakness and wickedness of man are the theme of her lips. ECONOMY OF HUMAN LIFE. 281 All nature to her teemeth with evil ; every object she seeth is tinged with the gloom of her own mind ; and the voice of complaint saddeneth her dwellings by day and night. Come not near to her cell her breath is contagious ; she will blast the fruits, and wither the flowers that adorn and sweeten the garden of life. In avoiding the house of Joy, let not thy feet betray thee to the borders of this dismal mansion ; but pursue with care the middle path, which shall lead thee, by a gentle ascent, to the bower of Contentment. With her dwelleth Peace with her dwell Safety and Tranquillity. She is cheerful, but not gay ; she is serious, but not grave ; she vieweth the joys and sor- rows of life with steadiness and serenity. From hence, as from an eminence, shalt thoa behold ';e folly and the misery of those who, either led by the aiety of their hearts, take up their abode with the companions of Jolity and riotous Mirth, or infected by gloominess and melancholy, spend all their days in complaining of the woes and calamities of human life. Thox' shalt view them both with pity : and the error of their wavs shall keep thy feet from straying. CHAPTER III ANGER. As the whirlwind in its fury teareth up trees and deformeth the face of Nature, or as an earthquake in its convulsions overturneth cities; so the rage of an 282 ECONOMT OF HUMAN LIFB. angry man throweth mischief around him ; danger and destruction wait on his hand. But consider, and forget not thine own weakness ; so shalt thou pardon the failings of others. Indulge not thyself in the passion of anger: it is whetting a sword to wound thy own breast, or murder thy friend. If thou bearest slight provocations with patience, it shall be imputed unto thee for wisdom ; and if thou wipest them from thy remembrance, thy heart shall feel rest thy mind shall not reproach thee. Seest thou not that the angry man loseth his under- standing? whilst thou art yet in thy senses, let the madness of another be a lesson to thyself. Do nothing in thy passion : why wilt thou put to sea in the violence of a storm ? If it be difficult to rule thine anger, it is wise to prevent it ; avoid therefore all occasions of falling into wrath, or guard thyself against them whenever they occur. A fool is provoked with insolent speeches ; but a wise man laugheth them to scorn. Harbor not revenge in thy breast ; it will torment thy neart, and disorder its best inclinations. Be always more ready to forgive than to return an injury : he that watcheth for an opportunity of revenge Lies in wait against himself, and d-tiweth down mis- chief on his own head. A mild answer to an angry man, like water cast on the fire, abateth his heat ; and from an enemy he shall become thv friend. ECONOMY OF HUMAN LIFE. 283 Consider how few things are worthy of anger, and thou wilt wonder that any but fools should be wroth. In folly or weakness it always beginneth ; but re- member, and be well assured, it seldom concludeth without repentance. On the heels of Folly treadeth Shame ; at the back of Anger standeth Remorse. CHAPTER IV. PITY. As blossoms and flowers are strewed upon the earth by the hand of Spring, as the kindness of Summer produceth in perfection the bounties of Harvest, so the smiles of Pity shed blessings on the children of Misfortune. He who pitieth another recommendeth himself; but he who is without compassion deserveth it not. The butcher relenteth not at the bleating of the lamb ; neither is the heart of the cruel moved with distress. But the tears of the compassionate are sweeter than dewdrops falling from roses on the bosom of the earth. Shut not thine ear, therefore, against the cries of the poor, neither harden thine heart against the calamities of the innocent. When the fatherless call upon thee when the wid- ow's heart is sunk, and she imploreth thy assistance with tears of sorrow Oh ! pity her affliction, and extend hand to those who have none to help them. When thou seest the naked wanderer of the -street 284 ECONOMY OF HUMAN LIFE. shivering with cold, and destitute of habitation, let bounty open thine heart; let the wings of charity shelter him from death, that thine own soul may live. Whilst the poor man groaneth on the bed of sickness, whilst the unfortunate languish in the horrors of a dungeon, or the hoary head of age lifts up a feeble eye to thee for pity Oh ! how canst thou riot in superfluous enjoyments, regardless of their wants, unfeeling of their woes ! CHAPTER V. DESIRE AND LOVE. BEWARE, young man, beware of the allurements of Wantonness ; and let not the harlot tempt thee to her delights. The madness of desire shall defeat its own pursuits ; from the blindness of its rage thou shalt rush upon destruction. Therefore give not up thy heart to her sweet entice- ments ; neither suffer thy soul to be enslaved by her enchanting delusions. The fountain of health, which must supply the stream of pleasure, shall quickly be dried up, and every spring of joy shall be exhausted. In the prime of thy life, old age shall overtake thee ; thy sun shall decline in the morning of thy day. But when virtue and modesty enlighten her charms, the lustre of a beautiful woman is brighter than the stars of Heaven ; and the influence of her power it is in vain to resist. ECONOMY OF HUMAN LIFE. 285 The whiteness of her bosom transcendeth the lily; her smile is more delicious than a garden of roses. The innocence of her eye is like that of the turtle ; simplicity and truth dwell in her heart. The kisses of her mouth are sweeter than honey; the perfumes of Arabia breathe from her lips. Shut not thy bosom to the tenderness of Love ; the purity of its flame shall ennoble thine heart, and soften it to receive the fairest impressions. WOMAN. GIVE ear, fair daughter of Love, to the instructions of Prudence, and let the precepts of Truth sink deep in thine heart ; so shall the charms of thy mind add lustre to thy form ; and thy beauty, like the rose it re- sembleth, shall retain its sweetness when its bloom is withered. In the spring of thy youth, in the moning of thy days, when the eyes of men gaze on thee with deliglit Ah ! hear with caution their alluring words ; guard well thy heart, nor listen to th;'ir soft seducements. Remember, tho\\ art made man's reasonable compan- ion, not the slave of his passion ; the end of thy being is to assist him in the toils of life, to sooth him with thy tenderness, and recompense his care with soft endear- ments. Who is she that winneth the heart of man, that sub- dueth him to love, and reigneth in his bn *st ? Lo ! yonder she walketh in maiden sweetness, with innocence in her mind, and modesty on her cheek. Happy is the Man that hath made her his Wife ; Happy the Child that calleth her Mother. ECONOMY OF HUMAN LIFE. 287 Her hand seeketh employment ; her feet delighteth not in wandering abroad. She is clothed with neatness, she is fed with tempe- rance ; humility and meekness are as a crown of glory circling her head. On her tongue dwelleth music ; the sweetness of honey floweth from her lips. Delicacy is in all her words ; in her answers are mild- ness and truth. Submission and obedience are the lessons of her life ; and peace and happiness are her reward. Before her steps walketh Prudence ; and Virtue at- tendeth at her right hand. Her eyes speak softness and love; but Discretion with a sceptre sitteth on her brow. The tongue of the licentious is dumb in her presence ; the awe of her virtue keepeth him silent. When scandal is busy, and the fame of her neighbor is tossed from tongue to tongue, if charity and good- nature open not her mouth, the finger of silence resteth on her lip. Her breast is the mansion of goodness ; and therefore she suspecteth no evil in others. Happy were the man that should make her his wife ; happy the child that shall call her mother. She presideth in the house, and there is peace ; she commandeth with judgment, and is obeyed. She ariseth in the early morning, she considereth her af- fairs, and appointeth to every one their proper business. The care of her family is her whole delight ; to that 288 ECONOMY OF HUMAN LIFE. alone she applieth her study ; and elegance with fru- gality is seen in her mansion. The prudence of her management is an honor to her husband ; and he heareth her praise with silent delight. She informeth the minds of her children with wisdom ; she fashioneth their manners from the example of her own goodness. The word of her mouth is the law of their youth ; the motion of her eye commandeth their obedience. She speaketh, and her servants fly ; she appointeth, and the thins is done : For the law of love is in their hearts ; her kindness addeth wings to their feet. In prosperity she is not puffed up ; in adversity she healeth the wounds of fortune with patience. The troubles of her husband are alleviated by her counsels, and sweetened by her endearments ; he put- i jth his heart in her bosom, and receiveth comfort. Happy is the man that hath made her his wife ; happy the child that calleth her mother. CONSANGUINITY, OR NATURAL RELATIONS. CHAPTER I. HUSBAND. TAKE unto thyself a wife, and obey the ordinance of God take unto thvself a wife, and become a faithful member of society. ECONOMY OF HUMAN LIFE. 289 But examine with care, and fix not suddenly ; on thy present choice depends the future happiness of thee and thy posterity. If much of her time is destroyed in dress and adorn- ments, if she is enarmoured with her own beauty, and delighted with her own praise, if she laugheth much, and talketh aloud, if her foot abideth not in her father's house, and her eyes with boldness rove on the faces of men ; though her beauty were as the sun in the firma- ment of heaven, turn thine eyes from her charms, turn thy feet from her paths, and suffer not thy soul to be ensnared by the allurements of thy imagination. But when thou findest sensibility of heart joined with softness of manners, and an accomplished mind with a for m agreeable to thy fancy, take her home to thy house ; she is worthy to be thy friend, thy companion in life, the wife of thy bosom. Oh ! cherish her as a blessing sent thee from Heaven ! let the kindness of thy behavior endear thee to her heart. She is the mistress of thy house ; treat her therefore with respect, that thy servants may obey her. Oppose not her inclination without cause ; she is the partner of thy cares make her also (he companion of thy pleasures. Reprove her faults with gentleness ; exact not her obedience with rigor. Trust thy secrets in her breast ; her counsels are sin- cere thou shalt not be decived. Be faithful to her bed, for she is the mother of thy children. 19 290 ECONOMY OF HUMAN LIFE. When pain and sickness assault her, let thy tenderness sooth her affliction ; a look from thee of pity and love shall alleviate her grief, or mitigate her pain, and be of more avail than ten physicians. Consider the delicacy of her sex, the tenderness of her frame ; and be not severe to her weakness, but re- member thine own imperfection. CHAPTER II. FATHER. CONSIDER, thou who art a parent, the importanfe of thy trust : the being thou hast produced, it is thy duty to support. Upon thee also it dependeth, whether the child of thy bosom shall be a blessing or a curse to thyself a useful or a worthless member of the community. Prepare him early with instruction, and season his mind with the maxims of truth. "Watch the bent of his inclination, set him right in his youth, and let no evil habit gain strength with his years. So shall he rise like a cedar on the mountain, his head shall be seen above the trees of the forest. A wicked son is a reproach to his father ; but he that doeth right is an honor to his gray hairs. The soil is thine own, let it not want cultivation ; the seed which thou sowest, that also shalt thou reap. Teach him obedience, and he shall bless thee teach him modesty, and he shall not be ashamed. ECONOMY OF HUMAN LIFE. 291 Teach him gratitude, and he shall receive benefits - teach him charity, and he shall gain love. Teach him temperance, and he shall have health teach him prudence, and fortune shall attend him. Teach him diligence, and his wealth shall increase teach him benevolence, and his mind shall be exalted. Teach him science, and his life shall be useful teach him religion, and his death shall be happy. Teach him justice, and he shall be honored by the world teach him sincerity, and his own heart shall not reproach him. CHAPTER III. CHILDREN. FROM the creatures of God let man learn wisdom, and apply to himself the instruction they give. Go to the desert, my son observe the young stork of the wilderness let him speak to thy heart. He beareth en his wings his aged sire, he lodgeth him in safety, and supplieth him with food. The piety of a child is sweeter than the incense of Persia offered to the sun ; yea, more delicious than odors wafted from a field of Arabian spices by the western gales. Be grateful then to thy father, for he gave thee life ; and to thy mother, for she sustained thee. Hear the words of his mouth, for they are spoken for thy good ; give ear to his admonition, for it proceedeth from love. He hath watched for thy welfare, he hath toiled for 292 ECONOMY OF HUMAN LIFE. thy ease ; do honor therefore to his age, and let not his gray hairs be treated with irreverence. Think on thy helpless infancy, and the forwardness of thy youth, and indulge the infirmities of thy aged parents ; assist and support them in the decline of life. So shall their hoary heads go down to the grave in peace ; and thine own children, in reverence of thy ex- ample, shall repay thy piety with filial love. CHAPTER IV. BROTHERS. YE are the children of one father, provided for by his care, and the breast of one mother hath given you suck. Let the bonds of affection, therefore, unite thee with thy brothers, that peace and happiness my dwell in thy father's house. And, when ye separate in the world, remember the relation that bindeth you to love and unity ; prefer not a stranger before thine own blood. If thy brother is in adversity, assist him ; if thy sis- ter is in trouble, forsake her not. So shall the fortunes of thy father contribute to the support of his whole race, and his care be continued to you all in your love to each other. ECONOMY OF HUMAN LIFE. 293 PROVIDENCE, OR THE ACCIDENTAL DIF- FERENCES OF MEN. CHAPTER I. WISE AND IGNORANT. THE gifts of the understanding are the treasures of God; and he appointeth to every one his portion, in what measure seemeth good unto himself. Hath he endowed thee with wisdom ? hath he enligh- tened thy mind with the knowledge of truth ? commu- nicate it to the ignorant for their instruction ; communi- cate it to the wise for thine own improvement. True wisdom is less presuming than folly ; the wise man doubteth often, and changeth his mind ; the fool is obstinate, and doubteth not ; he knoweth all things, but his own ignorance. The pride of emptiness is an abomination, and to talk much is the foolishness of folly ; nevertheless it is the part of wisdom to bear the impertinence of fools, to hear their absurdities with patience, and pity their weakness. Yet be not puffed up in thine own conceit, neither boast of superior understanding ; the clearest human knowledge is but blindness and folly. The wise man feeleth his imperfections, and is hum- bled ; he laboreth in vain for his own approbation. But the fool peepeth in the shallow stream of his own mind, and is pleased with the pebbles which he sees at the bottom ; he bringeth them up, and sheweth them as perils, and with the applause of his brethren deligtheth himself. 294 TO THE EARL OF CHESTERFIELD. He boasteth of attainments in things of no worth ; but where it is a shame to be ignorant, there he hath no understanding. Even in the paths of wisdom he toileth after folly ; and shame and disappointment are the reward of his labor. But the wise man cultivateth his mind with knowl- edge ; the improvement of arts is his delight ; and their utility to the public crown him with honor. Nevertheless, the attainment of virtue he accounteth as the highest learning ; and the science of happiness is the study of his life. CHATER II. POOK AND RICH. THE man to whom God hath given riches, and a mind to employ them aright, is peculiarly favored and highly distinguished. He looketh on his wealth with pleasure, because it affordeth him the means to do good. He protecteth the poor that are injured ; he suffereth not the mighty to oppress the weak. He seeketh out objects of compassion ; he inquireth into their wants ; he relieveth them with judgment, and without ostentation. He assisteth and rewardeth merit ; he encourageth ingenuity, and liberally promoteth every useful design. He carrieth on great works ; his country is enriched, and the laborer is employed ; he formeth new schemes, and the arts receive improvement. ECONOMY OF HUMAN LIFE. 295 He considereth the superfluities of his table as belong- ing to the poor, and he defraudeth them not. The benevolence of his mind is not checked by his fortune. He rejoiceth therefore in riches, and his joy is blameless. But woe unto him that heapeth up wealth in abun- dance, and rejoiceth alone in the possession thereof. That grindeth the face of the poor, and considereth not the sweat of their brows. He thriveth on oppression without feeling ; the ruin of his brother disturbeth him not. The tears of the orphan he drinketh as milk ; the cries of the widow are music to his ear. His heart is hardened with the love of wealth ; no grief or distress can make impression upon it. But the curse of iniquity pursueth him ; he liveth in continual fear. The anxiety of his mind, and the rapa- cious desires of his own soul, take vengeance upon him, for the calamities he hath brought upon others. ! what are the miseries of poverty, in comparison with the gnawings of this man's heart ! Let the poor man comfort himself, yea, rejoice, for he hath many reasons. He sitteth down to his morsel in peace ; his table is not crowded with flatterers and devourers. He is not embarrassed with dependants, nor teased with the clamors of solicitation. Debarred from the dainties of the rich, he escapeth also their diseases. The bread that he eateth, is it not sweet to his taste ? 296 ECONOMY OF HUMAN LIFE. the water he drinketh, is it not pleasant to his thirst ? yea, far more delicious than the richest draughts of the luxurious. His labor preserveth his health, and procure th him repose to which the downy bed of sloth is a stranger. He limiteth his desires with humility ; and the calm of contentment is sweeter to his soul than the acquaint- ments of wealth and grandeur. Let not the rich therefore presume on his riches, nor the poor despond in his poverty ; for the Providence of God dispenseth happiness to them both ; and the distri- bution thereof is more equally made than the fool can believe. CHAPTER III. MASTERS AND SERVANTS. REPINE not, man ? that thou servest another ; it is the appointment of God, and hath many advantages ; it removeth thee from the cares and solicitudes of life. The honor of a servant is his fidelity; his highest virtues are submission and obedience. Be patient therefore under the reproofs of thy master, and when he rebuketh thee, answer not again; the silence of thy resignation shall not be forgotten. Be studious of his interest ; be dilligent in his affairs, and faithful to the trust which he repeseth in thee. Thy time and thy labor belong unto him ; defraud him not thereof, for he payeth thee for them. And thou who art a master, be just to thy servant, ECONOMY OF HUMAN LIFE. 297 if thou expectest fidelity; be reasonable in thy com- mands, if thou expectest obedience. The spirit of man is in him; severity and rigor, which create fear, cannot command his love. Mix kindness with reproof, and reason with authority; so shall thy admonitions take place in his heart, and his duty shall become his pleasure. He shall serve thee faithfully from gratitude: he shall obey thee cheerfull from love ; and fail not thou in return to give diligence and fidelity their just reward. CHAPTER IV. MAGISTRATES AND SUBJECTS. OH thou, the favorites of heaven ! whom the sons of men, thy equals, have raised to sovereign power, and set as rulers over themselves, consider the ends and importance of your trust, far more than the dignity and height of your station. Thou art clothed in purple; thou art seated on a throne ; the crown of majesty investeth thy temples ; the sceptre of power is placed in thy hand ; but not for thyself were these ensigns given ; not meant for thine own good, but the good of thy kingdom. The glory of a king is the welfare of his people ; his power and dominion rest on the hearts of his subjects. The mind of a great prince is exalted with the grandeur of his situation : he revolveth high things, and searcheth for business worthy of his power. He calleth together the wise men of his kingdom ; 298 ECONOMY OF HUMAN LIFE. he consulteth amongst them with freedom, and heareth the opinions of them all. He looketh among his people with discernment ; he discovereth the abilities of men, and employeth them according to their merits. His magistrates are just, his ministers are wise, and the favorite of his bosom deceiveth him not. He smileth on the arts and they flourish ; the sciences improve beneath the culture of his hand. With the learned and ingenious he delighteth him- self; he kindleth in their breasts emulation, and the glory of his kingdom is exalted by their labors. The spirit of the merchant who extendeth his com- merce, the skill of the farmer who enricheth his lands, the ingenuity of the artist, the improvements of the scholar, all these he honoreth with his favor, or reward- eth with his bounty. He planteth new colonies ; he buildeth strong ships ; he openeth rivers for convenience ; he formeth harbors for safety ; his people abound in riches ; and the strength of his kingdom increaseth. He frameth his statutes with equity and wisdom ; his subjects enjoy the fruits of their labor in security ; and their happiness consists in their observance of the law. He foundeth his judgments on the principles of mercy ; but in the puishment of offenders he is strict and impartial. His ears are open to the complaints of his subjects he restraineth the hand of the oppressors, and delivereth them from their tyranny. ECONOMY OF HUMAN LIFE. 299 His people therefore look up to him as a father with reverence and love ; they consider him as the guardian of all they enjoy. Their affection to him begetteth in his breast a love of the public ; the security of their happiness is the object of his care. No murmurs against him arise in their hearts ; the machinations of his enemies endanger not his state. His subjects are faithful and firm in his cause, they stand his defence as a wall of brass. The army of his enemy flieth before them, as chaff before the wind. Security and peace bless the dwellings of his people, and glory and strength encircle his throne forever. THE SOCIAL DUTIES. CHAPTER I. BENEVOLENCE. WHEN thou considerest thy wants, when thou behold- est thy imperfections, acknowledge his goodness, O man ! who honored thee with reason, endowed thee with speech, and placed thee in society, to receive and confer reciprocal helps and mutual obligations. Thy food, thy clothing, thy convenience of habita- tion ; thy protection from the injuries, thy enjoyment of comforts and the pleasures of life, thou owest to the assistance of others, and couldest not enjoy but in the hands of society. 300 ECONOMY OF HUMAN LIFE. It is thy duty, therefore, to be friendly to mankind, as it is thy interest that men should be friendly to thee. As the rose breatheth sweetness from its own nature, so the heart of a benevolent man produceth good works. He enjoyeth the ease and tranquility of his own breast; and rejoiceth in the happiness and prosperity of his neighbor. He openeth not his ears unto slander : the faults and the failings of men give pain to his heart. His desire is to do good, and he searcheth out the occasions thereof; in removing the oppression of another he relieveth himself. From the largeness of his mind, he comprehended! in his wishes the happiness of all men ; and from the generosity of his heart he endeavoreth to promote it. CHAPTER II JUSTICE. THE peace of society dependeth on justice ; the hap- piness of individuals on the certain enjoyment of all their possessions. Keep the desires of thy heart, therefore, within the bounds of moderation; let the hand of justice lead them aright. Cast not an evil eye on the goods of thy neighbor : let whatever is his property be sacred from thy touch. Let no temptation allure thee, nor any provocation excite thee to lift up thy hand to the hazard of his life. Defame him not in his character : bear no false wit- ness against him. ECONOMY OF HUMAN LIFE. 30 1 Corrupt not his servant to cheat or forsake him ; and the wife of his bosom, Oh, tempt not to sin. It will be a grief to his heart, which thou canst not relieve ; an injury to his life, which no reparation can atone. In thy dealings with men be impartial and just ; and do unto them as thou wouldest they should do unto thee. Be faithful to thy trust, and deceive not the man who relieth upon thee ; be assured it is less evil in the sight of God to steal than to betray. Oppress not the poor, and defraud not of his hire the laboring man. When thou sellest for gain, hear the whispering of conscience, and be satisfied with moderation ; nor from the ignorance of the buyer make advantage to thyself. Pay the debts which thou owest ; for he who gave thee credit relied upon thy honor : aud to withhold from him his due is both mean and unjust. Finally, Oh son of society ! examine thy heart ; call remembrance to thy aid ; and if in any of these things thou findest thou hast transgressed, take sorrow and shame to thyself, and make speedy reparation to the utmost of thy power. CHAPTER III OH AKITT. HAPPY is the man who hath sown in his breast the seeds of benevolence ; the produce thereof shall be charity and love. 302 ECONOMY OF HUMAN LIFE. Erom the fountain of his heart shall rise rivers of goodness, and the streams shall overflow for the benefit of mankind. He assisteth the poor in their trouble ; he rejoiceth in furthering the prosperity of all men. He censureth not his neighbor ; believeth not the tales of envy and malevolence, neither repeateth he their slanders. He forgiveth the injuries of men he wipeth them from his remembrance ; revenge and malice have no place in his heart. For evil he returneth not evil ; he hateth not even his enemies ; but requiteth their injustice "with friendly admonition. The griefs and anxieties of men excite his compas- sion ; he endeavoreth to alleviate the weight of their misfortunes ; and the pleasure of success rewardeth his labor. He calmeth the fury, he healeth the quarrels of angry men ; and preventeth the mischiefs of strife and animosity. He promoteth in his neigborhood peace and good will ; and his name is repeated with praise and bene- dictions. CHAPTER IV. GRATITUDE. As the branches of a tree return their sap to the root from whence it arose ; as a river poureth his streams to the sea, from whence his spring was supplied ; so the ECONOMY OF HUMAN LIFE. 303 heart of a grateful man delighteth in returning a bene- fit received. He acknowledged his obligations with cheerfulness ; he looketh on his benefactor with love and esteem. And if to return it be not in his power he nourisheth, the memory of it in his breast with kindness ; he for- getteth it not all the days of his life. The hand of the generous man is like the clouds of heaven which drop upon the earth fruits, and flowers ; the heart of the ungrateful is like a desert of sand, which swalloweth with greediness the showers that fall, but burieth them in its bosom, and produceth nothing. Envy not thy benefactor, neither strive to conceal the benefit he hath conferred ; for though to oblige is better than to be obliged, though the act of generosity com- mandeth admiration, yet the humility of gratitude toucheth the heart, and is amiable in the sight of both God and man. But receive not a favor from the hand of the proud : to the selfish and avaricious have no obligation ; the vanity of pride shall expose thee to shame ; the greedi- ness of avarice shall never be satisfied. CHAPTER V. SINCERITY. OH ! thou that art enamored with the beauties of Truth, and hast fixed thy heart on the simplicity of her charms, hold fast thy fidelity unto her, and forsake her not: the constancy of thy virtue shall crown thee with honor. 304 ECONOMY OF HUMAN LIFE. The tongue of the sincere is rooted in his heart; hypocrisy and deceit have no place in his words. He blusheth at falsehood, and is confounded ; but in speaking the truth he hath a steady eye. He supporteth as a man the dignity of his character ; to the arts of hypocrisy he scorneth (o stoop. He is consistent with himself; he is never embar- rassed ; he hath courage in truth, but to lie he is afraid. He is far above the meanness of dissimulation ; the words of his mouth are the thoughts of his heart. Yet with prudence and caution he openeth his lips ; he studieth what is right, and speaketh with discretion. He adviseth in friendship, he reproveth with freedom, and whatsoever he promiseth shall surely be performed. But the heart of the hypocrite is hid in his breast. He masketh his words in the semblance of truth, while the business of his life is only to deceive. He laugheth in sorrow, he weepeth in joy, and the words of his mouth have no interpretation. He worketh in the dark as a mole, and fancieth he is safe ; but he blundereth into light, and is exposed to full view, with his dirt on his head. He passeth his days in perpetual constraint; his tongue and his heart are forever at variance. He laboreth for the character of a righteous man, and huggeth himself in the thoughts of his cunning. Oh ! fool, fool ! the pains which thou takest to hide what thou art are more than would make thee what thou wouldest seem ; the children of wisdom shall mock at ECONOMY OP HUMAN LIFE. 305 thy cunning ; and when thy disguise is stripped off, the finger of Derision shall point thee to scorn. RELIGION. THERE is but one God, the author, the creator, the governor of the world, almighty, eternal, and incom- prehensible. The sun is not God, though his noblest image. He enlighteneth the world with his brightness ; his warmth giveth life to the products of the earth ; admire him as the creature, the instrument of God, but worship him not. To the one who is supreme, most wise, and beneficent, and to him alone, belong worship, adoration, thanks- giving, and praise. Who hath stretched forth the heavens with his hand ; who hath described with his finger the courses of the stars. Who setteth bounds to the ocean, which it cannot pass, and saith unto the stormy winds Be still ! Who shaketh the earth, and the nations tremble ; who darteth his lightnings, and the wicked are dismayed. Who calleth forth worlds by the word of his mouth ; who smiteth with his arm, and they sink into nothing. ' Oh, reverence the majesty of the Omnipotent ; and tempt not his anger, lest thou be destroyed !' The Providence of God is over all his works he ruleth and directeth with infinite wisdom. He hath instituted laws for the goverment of the 20 306 ECONOMY OF HUMAN LIFE. world ; he hath wonderfully varied them in all beings ; and each, by his nature, conformeth to his will. In the depth of his mind he revolveth all knowledge ; the secrets of futurity lie open before him. The thoughts of thy heart are naked to his view ; he knoweth thy determinations before they are made. With respect to his prescience, there is nothing con- tingent ; with respect to his providence, there is nothing accidental. Wonderful he is in all his ways ; his counsels are inscrutable ; the manner of his knowledge transcendeth thy conception. ' Pay therefore to his wisdom all honor and venera- tion ; and bow down thyself in humble and submissive obedience to his supreme direction.' The Lord is gracious and beneficent ; he hath created the world in mercy and love. His goodness is conspicuous in all his works ; he is the fountain of excellence, the centre of perfection. The creatures of his hand declare his goodness, and all their enjoyments speak his praise ; he clotheth them with beauty, he supporteth them with food, he preserv- them with pleasure, from generation to generation. If we lift up our eyes to the heavens, his glory shineth forth if we cast them down upon the earth, it is full of his goodness : the hills and the valleys rejoice and sing fields, rivers, and woods resound his praise. But thee, Oh man ! he hath distinguished with pecu- liar favor, and exalted by thy station above all creatures. He hath endowed thee with reason to maintain thy ECONOMY OF HUMAN LIFE. dominion ; he hath fitted thee with language to improve by society ; and exalted thy mind with the powers of meditation, to contemplate and adore his inimitable per- fections. And in the laws he hath ordained as the rule of thy life, so kindly hath he suited thy duty to thy nature, that obedience to his precepts is happiness to thyself. ' Oh praise his goodness with songs of thanksgiving, meditate in silence on the wonders of his love ! let thy heart overflow with gratitude and acknowledg- ment let thelanguage of thy lips speak praise and adoration let the actions of thy life shew thy love to his law.' The Lord is just and righteous, and will judge the earth with equity and truth. Hath he established his laws in goodness and mercy, and shall he not punish the transgressor thereof? Oh think not, bold man, because thy punishment is delayed, that the arm of the Lord is weakened ; neither flatter thyself with hopes that he winketh at thy doings. His eye pierceth the secrets of every heart, and he remembereth them for ever ; he respecteth not the per- sons nor the stations of men. The high and the low, the rich and the poor, the wise and the ignorant, when the soul hath shaken off the cumbrous shackles of this mortal life, shall equally re- ceive, from the sentence of God, a just and everlasting retribution, according to their works. Then shall the wicked tremble and be afraid ; but the heart of the righteous shall rejoice in his judgments. 308 ECONOMY OF HUMAN LIFE, ' Oh fear the Lord, therefore, all the days of thy life ; and walk in the paths which he hath opened before thee. Let Prudence admonish thee let Temperance restrain let Justice guide thy hand Benevolence warm thy heart and gratitude to Heaven inspire thee with devo- tion. These shall give thee happiness in thy present state, and bring thee to the mansions of eternal felicity in the paradise of God.' THIS IS THE TRUE ECOONOMY OF HUMAN LIFE. PART II. TO THE KARL OF CHESTERFIELD. Pekin, January 10, 1749-50. My Lord, NOT a month after I had enclosed to your Lordship the translation I had attempted of the Original System of Mor- ality, so famous in these parts, we were agreeably surprised with a manuscript, of the same size, whose antiquity, char- acters, and other internal marks determined it to be the per- formance of that author, which, at the same time that it shewed us something was wanting to what he had before esteemed a complete system, very happily supplied the deficiency. I could not rest, after the first dipping into it, without undertaking the pleasing task of a translation ; nor when I had finished it, without doing myself the honor of transmitt- ing it to your Lordship. I need not tell your Lordship that the energy of thought, sublimity of style, and many other cir- cumstances, prove it to come from the divine hand that planned the other : the substance of it carries abundantly more proof of it. If I did not flatter myself that the first part had met the honor of your Lordship's approbation, I should not be so earnest in dispatching this after it ; but while I know the value of the work, and know your Lordship's distinguishing genius, it would be ridiculous to affect a doubt about it. I am, My Lord, Yours,