L. Learning is worse lodged in him, than Jove was in a thatched house. Learning is a sceptre to some, a bauble to others. Learn wisdom by the follies of others.-Italian. Let another's shipwreck be your sea-mark. Life is half spent before we know what it is. M. Make the night night, and the day day, and you will live happily. Spanish. Man proposes, but God disposes.-Scotch. Many that are wits in jest are fools in earnest. Mean men admire wealth, great men glory. Men's years and their faults are always more than they are willing to own. Men fear death as children to go into the dark. Mortal man must not keep up immortal anger. More wisdom and less religion.-Italian. Most men employ their first years, so as to make the last miserable. Most things have two handles; and a wise man takes hold of the best. More a man knows and less he believes. Ital.-Chi piu sa, meno crede. N. Nature teaches us to love our friends, religion our enemies. Necessity hath no law. Neither praise nor dispraise thyself, thine actions serve the turn. Never be weary of well-doing. No matter what religion a knave or a fool is of. No religion but can boast of its martyrs. No rogue like the godly rogue. No mother is so wicked but desires to have good children. Italian. Not God above gets all men's love. No tyrant can take from you your knowledge. 0. Obscene words must have a deaf ear. Of two evils the least is to be chosen. Oftentimes, to please fools, wise men err. Old men go to death, but death comes to young men. One ill word asketh another. One ill example spoils many good precepts. Our flatterers are our most dangerous enemies, yet often be in our bosoms. Our virtues would be proud, if our vices whipped them not. P. Parnassus has no gold mines in it. Otway, Butler, Goldsmith, and others of the Old School, certainly did not find any; but some of our modern poets have been more fortunate, and discovered very rich veins there! Passionate men, like fleet hounds, overrun the scent. Patience is a plaister for all sores. Pen and ink are wit's plough. Pleasures, while they flatter, sting to death. Point not at other's spots with a foul finger. Prayer should be the key of the day and the lock of the night. Prevention is better than cure. Pride is as loud a beggar as want, and a great deal more saucy. Q. Quick believers need broad shoulders. Reason governs the wise man, and cudgels the fool. Religion and language we suck in with our milk, Respect and contempt spoil the world.-Italian. French.-Pendant que les chiens s'entregrondent, le loup devore la brebis. Reynard is still Reynard, though he put on a surplice. We have several proverbs to the same purport, as "What is bred in the bone can never be out of the flesh;" "A young saint, an old saint; a young devil, an old devil." They seem to have arisen from the general observance, that age is but a type of youth, that youth is only age in miniature. To a considerable extent this is correct for though education may do much to form our tempers and opinions, we should be mistaken did we think it had power to eradicate the fundamental dispositions of our nature. Mr.Owen thinks otherwise; but the old sayings, which comprise centuries of experience, do not corroborate his principles. Nature may be modified, but not subdued. It will always show itself: like Æsop's damsel turned from a cat into a woman; who sat demurely at table till a mouse happened to cross the room. The story of Socrates is against this reasoning; but many of the ancient philosophers were only remakable for pride and affectation, and any examples from them are of no great authority. Revenge in cold blood is the devil's own act and deed. Roman virtue it was that raised the Roman glory. Rule lust, temper the tongue, and bridle the belly. S. Seamen are the nearest to death and the farthest from God. Seek not to reform every one's dial by your own watch. Self-exaltation is the fool's paradise. Speak the truth and shame the devil. Shew me a liar and I'll shew you a thief. French. La mentir est le premier de tous les maux. Some are atheists only in fair weather. So the miracle be wrought, what matter if the devil didit. Sin is sin, whether it be seen or no. Scandal will rub out like dirt when it is dry. Short pleasure, long lament. Slanderers are the devil's bellows to blow up contention. Solitude makes us love ourselves; conversation, others. T. Take away fuel, take away flame. Remove the tale-bearer and contention ceaseth. That which was bitter to endure may be sweet to remember. The most penitent anchorite has now and then a flight of vanity. The best mode of instruction is to practise what we teach. The usefullest truths are the easiest comprehended. The thief is sorry he is to be hanged, but not that he is a thief. 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 devotion. The evening crowns the day. Italian.-Un bel morire tutta la vita honora. The best horse needs breaking, and the aptest child needs teaching. The gown's her's that wears it, and the world's 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 devil is the perfectest courtier. The Muses love the morning. The nature of things will not be altered by our fancies of them. The remedy for injuries, is not to remember them.-Italian. The credit that is got by a lie only lasts till the truth comes out. The church is out of temper, when charity waxes cold and zeal hot. The drunkard continually assaults his own life. 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 fondest of his work. Mr. D'Israeli thinks this ancient saying implies in the Spaniards a sort of "Whiggish jealousy of the monarchical power," but the more natural interpretation appears to be, that it shows the necessity of controuling our inclinations, as even the enjoyments of a king are limited. The longest life is but a parcel 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 actions.-Spanish. The wicked even hate vice in others. Ital. Il viti altrui dispiace alli stessi vitiosi. The Spaniards say, "A bad mother wishes good children." There cannot be a nobler tribute to virtue than the homage of the wicked, who secretly admire her precepts, though the violence of their passions prevents their adopting them in practice. The world would finish were all men learned. |