tive, 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 un→ der the denomination of proverbs; by which is generally understood, the wisdom of the common people, as exemplified in their daily employments and local circum

stances.

The Spanish proverbs are celebrated for their pith and humour, but they are more characteristic of the age of CERVANTES and GIL 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 people. 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 booklearning, 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, pro bably from an aversion to the aphoristic style: they have doubtless their proverbial phrases, like all other coun tries, 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 sayings of the 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 Italians.

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

Chi é stracco di bonaccie, si mariti.

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

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

"He who has a handsome wife, has her not all to himself."

Donna brutta é mal de stomacco, donna bella mal de teste.

"An ugly woman is a disease of the stomach, a handsome woman of the head.

The following are French :

Que femme croit, et âne 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, though not so numerous as among the Italians, French, and Spaniards 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's 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 entirely 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

b

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 favour! 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 allusion 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 government 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. PROVERBS formed the encyclopedia of former times,