great mass of aphoristic literature. It is a treasure constantly accumulating; as the world grows older, the proverbial avalanche augments in bulk, till at length it will comprise a brief abstract of the wisdom of all ages, from the beginning to the end of time. To describe proverbs as only the remains of an "ancient philosophy," is much too hmited; they are the fruits of all philosophy, ancient and modern: what was formerly a bright thought, or apposite allusion, consecrated to the learned, becomes, in process of time, the common property of the people. We thus see the generation of proverbs, and how the wisdom of poets and philosophers becomes the every-day wisdom of the populace, divested only of the redundancy of the original. Our own age will, doubtless, contribute to the general stock, leaving behind an aphoristic deposite, characteristic of the manners and genius of the times, and requiring the aid of future parœmiographers to collect and elucidate.

In this view of the subject, proverbial literature becomes a most interesting subject of inquiry, not only from the antiquity of its origin, but as the ground-work of human knowledge, and great storehouse of facts and experience. With the exception, however, of Mr. D'ISRAELI Scarcely a writer of celebrity has deemed the philosophy of proverbs worthy of investigation. Men of letters have been more intent on cultivating the barren field of "points and particles."---of words and sounds---the mere instruments of thought; while the thoughts themselves, clothed in the most ancient costume, have been comparatively neglected. I will endeavour in some degree, to supply this omission.

The first point of view in which the OLD SAYINGS are interesting, is from the light they throw on the history of nations. From the proverbs of a people, we may learn the chief peculiarities in their moral and physical state---not only their "wit, spirit, and intelligence," as Lord Bacon observes, but their customs, domestic avocations, and natural scenery. How easy it is, for example, to collect the condition of the ancient Gael from their short sayings and apothegms-that they were a melancholic people, simple, superstitious--and living enveloped in mountains and mist. Scotland is, in like manner, embodied in her popular sayings. The Scottish proverbs exceed those of any nation, in number, point, humour and shrewdness They are figurative, rustic, and predatory; often gross and indelicate in their allusions to diet and domestic habits; yet they strongly indicate the local peculiarities of the country, and the thrift and keenness for which the inhabitants have been celebrated. The proverbs of Italy are of an opposite character. They are literal, more of the nature of maxims; full of subtle reflections on government and public affairs, the infidelities of women and

princes, the rapacity of priests, and the tedium and deceitfulness of artificial life. In short, they are the maxims of courts, society and refinement, and scarcely come under the denomination of proverbs; by which is generally understood, the wisdom of the common people, as exemplified in their daily employments and local circumstances.

The Spanish proverbs are celebrated for their pith an humour, but they are more characteristic of the age of CERVANTES and ĞIL BLAS than of the modern Spaniards. They too are severe on the gallantries of women, but replete with humour and good nature-and, like those of Italy, teem with jokes on the "fat monks,"-with a sprinkling of satire on kings and governments, of which, formerly, the Spaniards entertained a lively jealousy.

England contains a rich mine of proverbial lore, in which, I fancy, we may trace the genius of the peopie. We are a mixed race, and our character partakes of the compound nature of our descent-its excellence consisting not in one predominant quality, but in the union of several. We have not the rich humour and glowing imagination of the Spaniards, the insidious refinements of the Italians, the selfish prudence of the Scotch, nor the delicacy and gaiety of the French, but we have a sprinkling of all these. What particularly distinguishes our proverbs, is their sterling good sense: which itself is a constellation of moral and intellectual excellence.There is too in them abundant wit and pleasantry, but their chief value is as a Manual of Life-the art of living wisely, happily, and prosperously. In this, I think them unrivalled. One thing is to be remarked of them-namely, that they are truly the mother wit of the country all our collections of Old Sayings are comparatively of ancient date, they are the sayings of the people before they had received any polish from education or book-learning, and of course are of native growth. The same cannot be said of the French and Italian, nor, I believe of any European nation. Between the French and English proverbs there is great resemblance in spirit and idiom, not, however, without those characteristic differences which always discriminate the two nationsJOHN BULL delivering himself in his broad substantial humour and MONSIEUR in more delicate phraseology. The following parallel illustrates this distinction.

John Bull.-One shoulder of mutton draws down another. Monsieur.-L'appetit vient en mangeant..

The Germans are not remarkable for their proverbs, probably from an aversion to the aphoristic style they have doubtless their proverbial phrases, like all other countries, but I have not seen any regular collection of them. The Russians have a few, some of which have found their way

into Ray's Collection. In the aphorisms of the East, with the exception of a few Arabic maxims, which have merit, there are no traces of superior intellect or observation.Like the inhabitants of warm climates, generally, they are effeminate and pointless; consisting chiefly of moral precepts, drawn rather from the imagination than real life and human nature.

In the proverbs of all countries the fair sex have sustained a singular injustice; and what renders it more remarkable is, that the nations most celebrated for gallantry have been the greatest offenders,---since it is in the popular say ings of Italians, French, and Spaniards, that women are most bitterly reviled, and the constant theme of suspicion, scorn and insult. I will cite a few examples, some of which have not appeared in the Collection, for I was loth to preserve memorials so disgraceful to mankind. The following are from the Italian

Dul mare nasce il sale, e dalla donna nasce molte male. "Salt from the sea, and ills from women."

Chi e stracco di bonaccie, si mariti.

"Who is weary of a quiet life, get himself a wife."

Chi ha una bella moglie, ella non e tutto sua.

He who has a handsome wife, has her not all to himself." Donna Brutta e mal stommacco, donna bella mal de teste. "An ugly woman is a disease of the stomach, a handsome women of the head."

The following are French:

Que femme croit, et ane mene, son corps ne sera jamais sans

peine,

"Who trusts a woman, and leads an ass, will never be without sorrow.'

Un homme de paille vaut une femme d'or.

"A man of straw is worth a woman of gold."

The Spaniards say,

"Beware of a bad woman and do not trust a good one." "He who marries does well; but he who marries not does better."

Did those nations, so famous for chivalry, seek by these quips and crackers to retaliate behind the backs of the fair sex for adulation to their faces? England is proverbially the "Paradise of Women;" and it was formerly observed that, if a bridge were made over the narrow seas, all the women in Europe would emigrate to this female Elysium Yet there are a few ungallant expressions in our language, tho not so numerous as among the Italians, French, and Span

iards nearly one-fourth of the continental proverbs include some insinuation against the happiness of the conjugal state, the veracity and constancy of women. Our worst offences in this way are the following:

"Commend a married life, but keep thyself a bachelor." "The death of wives and the loss of sheep make men rich." "A dead wife is the best goods in a man's house."

One would fain hope this is not the wisdom of experience, but the consequence of the unfortunate situation of females; affording a further illustration of the history of society from popular sayings. The precepts and maxims of the ancients breathed a similar spirit of hostility to females; arising, doubtless, from similar causes---the degraded and restricted state in which they lived. Women have, in all ages and countries---excepting in one instance, resting on no great authority---been subservient to the men, and entiroly at the mercy of the "lords of the creation." They have fared accordingly, for it requires little experience to learn that little justice is observed towards those, who have no share in administering justice to themselves. Politicians have long since discovered that laws, made by irresponsible persons, are always in favour of the law-makers---and it is from this principle, women have suffered in the making of proverbs.They have clearly been made by the men-and they have made them-very ungallantly it must be admitted-all in their own favor! Were we to make a collection of all the fine things, said and sung in favour of the ladies of the present day, it would present a singular contrast to the effusions of the age of chivalry!-it would show too, a prodigious alteration in society-in the feelings of men relative to women,and how vastly their condition had improved by the diffusion of knowledge and civilization!

Another feature, in the ancient constitution of society, may be traced in popular adages, in the few allusions to government. The people were formerly of much less political importance than at present, and matters of state were remote from their condition and attainments. Mr. D'ISRAELI, indeed, fancies he can detect a little " Whiggism," in the Spanish proverbs, but I must confess I have met with few of that description: those which have any allusion to public affairs, relate chiefly to the tyranny of the Inquisition, the oppression of ecclesiastics, and the corrupt administration of justice. The proverbs of Italy are of a different tendency; but these, as before remarked, are more the proverbs of courtiers, than of the people, and contain profound observations on legislation and jurisprudence. But in the familiar sayings of no nation, is there any glimpse of those principles of governmeat and popular rights, the developement of which, last century, convulsed Europe.

We are amply compensated for this desideratum by the light thrown on ancient manners and acquirements. PROVRRBS formed the encyclopedia of former times, comprising all the existing observations on human nature, natural phenomena, and local history. Men acquired wisdom, not from books, but oral communications. All the apparatus of the modern system of education-Horn books, Reading Made Easy, and Pleasing Instructors, were unknown. Children did not learn their alphabet, nor their catechism; but an adult system prevailed, in which grown persons were taught the arts of life-the mysteries of good house-keeping, of economy, longevity, husbandry, and meteorology, in some traditionary maxim, handed down from generation to generation, time out of mind.

The effect seems to have been much the same as under the modern system of instruction and human conduct, influenced by similar motives. exhibited similar peculiarities. There are, indeed, certain truths constantly operating in the world, as unchangeable as the principles of nature. Time and space have no effect upon them. They are alike palpable in all ages-are the same now as they were at the beginning, and will be unto the end of time. These universal and intuitve perceptions are comprised in the PROVERBS OF NATIONS; which we find, among every people, to inculcate similar notions of justice, the moral duties of love and friendship. The progress of knowledge, local situation, and institutions may refine and modify them; but, substantially they are the same truths,-whether circulated in familiar aphorisms among the people, or delivered from the universi ty chair, disguised in the subtleties of a Hume or Reid, or the more popular disquisitions of a Paley, Johnson, or Addison.

By the operation of some absurd impression, PROVERBS have for a long time been kept in the back ground in fashionable society. LORD CHESTERFIELD said, a man of fashion has never recourse to proverbs and vulgar aphorisms;" and they appear to have withered away under the ban of his anathema." But it is yielding too much to a name, to proscribe the most valuable intellectual treasure that has been transmitted by former ages, to the dictum of a courtier. Men of fashion, in the days of Elizabeth, James, and Charles, had recourse to proverbs and aphorisms; and in the splendid court of Louis XIV. the illustration of popular adages formed the subject of dramatic entertainments. So far then, as fashion can confer authority, we are justified, from the ex- . ample of these periods, in their use: but it may be demonstrated, that no other species of knowledge has such a momentous influence on the affairs of life---on the conduct of individuals and the history of nations. I will cite a few exam