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PROVERBS, &c.

SELECT PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS.

A BLITHE heart makes a blooming visage.—Scotch.
A burthen which one chuses is not felt.

Accusing is proving, where malice and power sit judges.
A crowd is not company.

A thousand probabilities do not make one truth.

A blow from a frying pan, though 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 for none.

A cut purse is a sure trade, for he has ready money when his work is done.

A deed done has an end.-Italian.

This is one instance, among many in Italian history, of the great influence of proverbs in the affairs of that people. The two families of the Amadei and the Uberti, from a dread of the consequences, long suspended the revenge they meditated on the younger Buondelmonte, for the affront he had put upon them in breaking off his match with a young lady of their family, and marrying another. At length, Moscha Lamberti, suddenly rising, exclaimed, in two proverbs, that "Those who considered every thing would never conclude on any thing!" closing with the proverbial saying-cosa fatta capo ha! "a deed done has an end!" This sealed the fatal determination, and was long held in mournful remembrance by the Tuscans, as the cause and beginning of the bloody factions of the Guelphs and the Ghibellins. Dante has immortalized the energetic expression in a scene of the Inferno:

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Then one,

Maim'd of each hand, uplifted in the gloom
The bleeding stumps, that they, with gory spots,
Sullied his face, and cried-" Remember thee
Of Moscha too-I who, alas! exclaim'd,

'The deed once done, there is an end'-that prov'd
A seed of sorrow to the Tuscan race."

Milton, too, adopted this celebrated Italian proverb; when deeply engaged in writing "The Defence of the People," and warned that it might terminate in his blindness, he resolutely concluded his work, exclaiming, although the fatal prognostication had been accomplished, Cosa fatta capo ha !*

A guilty conscience needs no accuser.
All truths must not be told at all times.
Adversity makes a man wise, not rich.

French.-Vent au visage rend un homme sage.
Latin.-Vexatio dat intellectum.

A drowning man will catch at a straw.

Affairs like salt fish ought to be a good while a soaking.
After having cried up their wine, they sell us vinegar.
Spanish.-Haviendo pregonado vino venden vinagre.

A fog cannot be dispelled with a fan.-Japanese.

An instance this, how popular sayings are derived from local objects, or from allusions to peculiar customs. The coast of Japan is subject to fogs, and both sexes from the age of five years carry fans. An honest man has half as much more brains as he needs; á 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.

French.-Ami jusqu' aux autels.

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.

French.-Tout le monde est sage après coup.

* Vide Curiosities of Literature, 2nd Series.

A good tale ill told is marred in the telling.
A good servant makes a good master.-Italian.
A grand eloquence, little conscience.

Italian.-Di grand 'eloquenza picciola coscienza.

This proverb may be true in the degraded soil of Italy, but the names of a Chatham, Burke, Fox, Pitt, and Erskine, render its application doubtful in England.

A good name is better than riches.

A glass of water is sometimes worth a ton of wine, and a penny a pound.-Italian.

A gude word is as soon said as an ill one.-Scotch.

Alexander was below a man when he affected to be a god.
A man is a man, though he have but a hose upon his head.
A good shape is in the shear's mouth.-Scotch.

A good key is necessary to enter into Paradise.-Italian.
All are not thieves that dogs bark at.

All blood is alike ancient.

A merchant's happiness hangs upon chance, winds, and

waves.

A good pay-master is lord of another man's purse.-Italian.
A good companion makes good company.-Spanish.

A gude tale is na the waur to be twice told.-Scotch.
A gift long waited for is sold, not given.

Ital.-Dono molto aspetatto, e venduto, non donatto.

A little wit will serve a fortunate man.

A hundred tailors, a hundred millers, and a hundred weavers, are three hundred thieves.-Spanish.

A handsome hostess is bad for the purse.

Spanish.-Huespeda hermosa mal para la bolsa.

When the mistress of an inn possesses a handsome person and fascinating manners, she captivates her guests; who submit to charges they would not allow in a hostess of inferior attractions. The pastry-cooks and other dealers in the metropolis are well aware how potent beauty is in promoting the trade and commerce of the kingdom!

A handful of common sense is worth a bushel of learning.Spanish.

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A mad bull is not to be tied up with a packthread.

A mad parish must have a mad priest.

A grave and majestic outside is, as it were, the palace of the

soul.

A favourite proverb of the Chinese, which Mr. D'Israeli thinks cha-
racteristic of the genius of the people, who are fond of magnifi-
cent buildings. The same writer remarks, that their notions of
government are "quite architectural." They say "a sove-
reign may be compared to a hall; his officers to the steps that
lead to it; the people to the ground on which it stands."

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 like him.

Apelles was not a master painter the first day.

A man may be strong and yet not mow well.

An 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.

Ital.-Bacio di bocca spesso cuor non tocca.

A fool knows more in his own house than a wise man in another's.

A man with his belly full is no great eater.—Spanish.

A man may talk like a wise man, and yet act like a fool.
All is but lip-wisdom that wants experience.

An emmet may work its heart out, but can never make honey. We cannot have figs from thorns, nor grapes from thistles. If we would succeed in any business we must use means adapted to the end.

A fool may ask more questions in an hour than a wise man can answer in seven years.

A proud eye, an open purse, and a light wife, breeds mischief
to the first, misery to the second, and horns to the third.
A man knows no more to any purpose than he practises.
A place at court is a continual bribe.

A true reformation must begin at the upper end.
Windham used to say, "it was the lower end that was most cor-
rupt, 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 conclusion.

A little pot is soon hot.

Little persons are commonly choleric.

All's well that ends well.

All fellows at foot ball.

That is, there is no distinction of rank when parties mingle promiscuously in vulgar sports. A truth which any one may verify by a visit to the cock-pit in Westminster.

A liar should have a good memory.

All are not Saints that go to the church.-Italian.

All is not gold that glitters.

Ital.-Non é oro tutto quel che luce.

Although we are negroes we are men.
Spanish. Aunque negros, somos gente.
Almost and very nigh saves many a lie.
A miss is as good as a mile.

A man of gladness seldom falls into madness.

It is not the gay, cheerful, and light-hearted that fall into madness, but mostly those of strong and fixed passions. It is by dwelling too much on one idea, that insanity, when not constitutional, is produced. Brooding too long over an imaginary insult or disappointed affection, the mind forms exaggerated conceptions o the injury it has sustained, and hence forms conclusions inconsistent with the common sense of mankind-which is madness. The melancholic, the proud, and the ambitious, are most liable to this dreadful calamity. Travel, society, books, any thing which diverts the mind from the demon which haunts it, before it has obtained too strong hold of the imagination, are the best preventives.

A soldier, fire, and water, soon make room for themselves.Italian.

A man may live upon little, but he cannot live upon nothing at all.-Gaelic.

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