Proverb Lore Part 22

It is popularly held that "When the wind is in the east 'tis good for neither man nor beast," and a quaint Spanish proverb advises, "Ask no favour during the Solano." This Solano is a wind that blows over from Africa, and is exceedingly hot and dry. It is also known as the sirocco.

The moral clearly is that when people are in a state of irritation it is not advisable to lay one's needs before them, the time being inopportune.

Many of our weather proverbs are very naturally a.s.sociated with various saints' days. Thus we get "St Martin's Summer" and "All Saints' Summer"

in reference to the bright clear weather that we occasionally get in the late autumn, All Saints' Day being on the first, and St Martin's Day on the eleventh of November. Allusions to both will be found in Shakespeare; thus, in "I. Henry VI."--"Expect St Martin's Summer, halcyon days." The eighteenth of October was in like manner called "St Luke's little Summer." Another old adage was, "If the day of St Paul be clear, then shall betide a happy year"; this day, the festival of the conversion of the saint, was in the calendar ascribed to January the 25th.

Another well-known belief is summed up in the old rhyme: "St Swithin's day if it do rain, for forty days it will remain." This date is July 15th, and it may not be generally known that, taking the year round, July is often a very rainy month. The Saint was Bishop of Winchester, and when he died, in the year 862, he desired to rest where the sweet rain of heaven might fall. His desire was respected, but later on the monks thought it beneath his and their dignity that he should be laid to rest in the graveyard, and so they proposed to re-inter the body in the choir, but when the day came the rain was so terrific that they had to postpone matters till the next day. This, however, was no better, nor was the next, or next, till at length, after forty such postponements, it dawned upon them that their late bishop felt a strong objection to the removal of his remains, and they at last had the sense to decide to let him rest in peace as he had desired, whereupon the sun burst forth, and it is to be hoped that they all lived happy ever after.

The subject of our book has a scope so all-embracing, a wisdom so piquant, an utterance so quaint, a wit so trenchant, a body of material so vast, an antiquity so remarkable that not a volume but a library would be needed to do it justice.

He who would desire to discourse wisely, comprehensively, on the proverbs of all times and of all countries has before him a task too great for fulfilment, if not too vast for ambition, and what to select from the sheer necessity of its inclusion, what to discard since the impossibility of completeness might be our plea in forgiveness of its absence, has been a problem constantly before us. Where there are many men there are many minds, and we shall be, doubtless, blamed alike by some for what they find, and, no less, for what they fail to find. Could our readers see, as we now see before us on reaching this our last page, the great bulk of material that we have acc.u.mulated, and that remains unused, they would realise the better the vastness of the field--the ever-recurring problem and responsibility of selection.

The subject has been, from the first page to the last, one of abounding interest to us, and we would fain hope that we have succeeded in imbuing our readers with something of the pleasure that we have ourselves derived from a study in itself so full of charm.

FOOTNOTES:

[194:A] The Portuguese warn us that great talkers make many mistakes, in the adage, "Quem muito falla muito erra."

[195:A] "They have spent theyr tyme lesse fruitfully heretofore in ouer runnyng a mult.i.tude of wordes with small consideracion or weyghing of them."--FISHER, _A G.o.dlye Treatise_.

[196:A] "There are perilous times at hande by reason of some that vnder pretence of G.o.dlynesse turne true G.o.dlynesse vp side down, and so prate boastynglye of themselues as thoughe the Christian religion consisted in wordes and not rather in purenesse of herte."--_Udall._

[197:A] "The tunge is but a litel membre, and reiseth greet thingis. Lo hou litel fier breuneth a ful greet word: and our tunge is fier, the unyversitie of wickidnesse."--_St James._ Translation of Wiclif.

[198:A] In the "Parlament of Byrdes," written somewhere about 1550, the chough, or Cornish crow, is thus admonished, in very similar strains to the above:

"Thou Cornysshe, quod the Hauke, by thy wil Say well, and holde thee styll."

[198:B] The following wisdom-chips may be commended to these unfortunates: "Affectation of wisdom often prevents our being wise"; "The man who knows most knows his own ignorance"; "Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much: wisdom is humble that he knows no more."

[199:A]

"Thou hast hearde of many a man, Tongue breaketh bone and it selfe hath none."

--The "Parlament of Byrdes," _c._ 1550.

[199:B] "Raise not the credit of your wit at the expense of your judgment."

[200:A] "Beaucoup de bruit, peu de fruit," as the expressive French jingle has it.

[201:A] "By a fole in the prouerbes is pryncypally vnderstande him that in folowynge his awne councell defendeth infydelyte and the vnknowing of G.o.d for trueth and hyghe wysdome."--_Matthew._

[202:A]

"A foole and his monie be soone at debate Which after with sorrow repents him too late."

--TUSSER'S _Husbandrie_, 1580.

[203:A] "No creature smarts so little as a fool."--_Pope._

[206:A]

"A fault denied is twice committed, And, oftentimes, excusing of a fault Doth make the fault the worse for the excuse."--_Shakespeare._

[207:A] And again in another pa.s.sage--

"O that men's ears should be To counsel deaf, but not to flattery."

[208:A] In France they say, "Il est bien avance qui a bien commence." In both English and French versions there is a certain ring that helps the memory.

[209:A] "Industrie is a qualitie procedying of Wytte and Experience by whyche a man perceyveth quickely, inuenteth freshely, and counsayleth spedily: wherfore they that be called industrious do most craftely and depely vnderstand in al affayres what is expedient, and by what meanes or wayes they may sonest exployte them. Those thingis in whome other men trauayle these lightley and with facilitie spedeth, and findeth new wayes and meanes to bring to effecte that he deseyreth."--_Sir Thomas Elyot._

[212:A] "To dread no eye, and to fear no tongue is the great and blessed prerogative of the innocent life"; "Man is a thinking being, whether he will or not--all he can do, then, is to turn his thoughts aright."

[217:A] Similar wise counsel is found in the warning that "A jest driven too far brings home hate," and that "Jeerers must be content to taste of their own broth."

[219:A]

"Myne ease is builded all on trust, And yet mistrust breedes myne anoye."--_Gascoigne._

[219:B] "I love everything that is old--old friends, old times, old manners, old books."--"She Stoops to Conquer."

"What find you better or more honourable than age? Take the pre-eminence of it in everything: in an old friend, in old wine, in an old pedigree."--"The Antiquary."

[221:A] "Geflickte Freundschaft wird selten wieder ganz," say the Germans--patched up friends.h.i.+p seldom becomes whole again.

[222:A] Tusser writes of such:

"His promise to pay is as slipprie as ice, His credit much like the cast of the dice, His knowledge and skill is in prating too much, His companie shunned, and so be all such.

His friends.h.i.+p is counterfeit, seldome to trust."

[225:A] "The book sayeth that no wight retourneth safely into the grace of his olde enemie, and Ysope sayth, ne troste not to hem, to which thou hast some time hed werre or enmitee, ne telle hem not thy counseil."--CHAUCER, _The Tale of Melibeus_.

[229:A] "To become rich is a good thing, but to make all rich about you is better."--_V. Hugo._

[229:B]

"They call'd thee rich, I deem'd thee poor, Since, if thou dar'dst not use thy store, But sav'd it only for thy heirs, The treasure was not thine, but theirs."

"The prodigal robs his heir; the miser himself."

[229:C] "Bountifulness is as a most fruitful garden, and mercifulness endureth for ever." "Of great riches there is no real use, except it be in distribution, the rest is but conceit."

"Who shuts his hand hath lost his gold, Who opens it, hath it twice told."

[230:A] "If lyberalyte be well and duely employed it acquireth pepetuelle honour to the gyuer, and moche frute and syngular commoditie thereby encreaseth."--_Elyot._