Select Proverbs of All Nations: Illustrated with Notes and Comments. To which is Added a Summary of Ancient Pastimes, Holidays, and Customs; with an Analysis of the Wisdom of the Ancients, and of the Fathers of the Church. The Whole Arranged on a New Plan ...John Wade |
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Page iv
... origin of the Old Sayings . Besides , there are persons so fastidious as to refrain from quoting a proverb in plain English , who would not scruple to use it in the Latin , Italian , French , or Spanish languages . To each proverb is ...
... origin of the Old Sayings . Besides , there are persons so fastidious as to refrain from quoting a proverb in plain English , who would not scruple to use it in the Latin , Italian , French , or Spanish languages . To each proverb is ...
Page ix
... origin , but as the ground - work of human knowledge , and great storehouse of facts and experience . With the exception , however , of Mr. D'Is- RAELI , scarcely a writer of celebrity has deemed the philosophy of proverbs worthy of ...
... origin , but as the ground - work of human knowledge , and great storehouse of facts and experience . With the exception , however , of Mr. D'Is- RAELI , scarcely a writer of celebrity has deemed the philosophy of proverbs worthy of ...
Page 26
... origin of this saying . A cour- tier went to woo a maid ; she was dressing supper with a drop at her nose ; she asked him if he would stay all night , he answered , Just as it falls : meaning , if the drop fell among the meat he would ...
... origin of this saying . A cour- tier went to woo a maid ; she was dressing supper with a drop at her nose ; she asked him if he would stay all night , he answered , Just as it falls : meaning , if the drop fell among the meat he would ...
Page 33
... origin . Old foxes want no tutors . One eye witness is better than ten hearsays . - French . Once an use and ever a custom . - Scotch . One dog is better by another dog being hanged . - Gaelic . One may live and learn . One might as ...
... origin . Old foxes want no tutors . One eye witness is better than ten hearsays . - French . Once an use and ever a custom . - Scotch . One dog is better by another dog being hanged . - Gaelic . One may live and learn . One might as ...
Page 54
... origin from a thief , who , having stolen a fry- ing - pan , was met by the master of the house as he was going out , who asked him his business there ; he answered , " You will know when you go to fry the eggs . " - It is applicable to ...
... origin from a thief , who , having stolen a fry- ing - pan , was met by the master of the house as he was going out , who asked him his business there ; he answered , " You will know when you go to fry the eggs . " - It is applicable to ...
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Common terms and phrases
ancient beauty belly better Boy Bishop bread called church Congleton country of blind Crediton cuckold cuckoo custom D'Israeli dead devil door doth drink enemy England evil fair fire fish folly fool formerly fortune French Ghost give goes hand hang hath heart Hobson's choice honour horns horse husband Ital Italian Julius Cæsar keep king kiss knave knows Ladies of pleasure laughs live London maid man's married means meat mouth nature never observed pastimes person play plough poor Poverty proverb Publius Syrus purse quintain quoth rich Scotch Scotland servants Skimmington Spanish speak Syrus Tenterden thing thou truth Vicar of Bray virtue wear Weeping Cross wife wine wisdom wise witches woman women words worse worth young
Popular passages
Page 157 - The devil was sick, the devil a monk would be ; The devil was well, the devil a monk was he.
Page 190 - By the apostle Paul, shadows to-night Have struck more terror to the soul of Richard, Than can the substance of ten thousand soldiers, Armed in proof, and led by shallow Richmond.
Page 156 - He that by the Plough would thrive, Himself must either hold or drive.
Page 177 - Do smoak all about, The cooks are providing For dinner, no doubt; But those on whose tables No victuals appear, O may they keep Lent All the rest of the year ! With holly and ivy So green and so gay ; We deck up our houses As fresh as the day, With bays and rosemary, And laurel compleat, And every one now Is a king in conceit.
Page 170 - Burning the nuts is a famous charm. They name the lad and lass to each particular nut, as they lay them in the fire, and accordingly as they burn quietly together, or start from beside one another, the course and issue of the courtship will be.
Page 89 - For want of a nail the shoe is lost, for want of a shoe the horse is lost, for want of a horse the rider is lost.
Page 166 - The quintain thus fashioned was placed upon a pivot, and so contrived as to move round with facility. In running at this figure it was necessary for the horseman to direct his lance with great adroitness, and make his stroke upon the forehead between the eyes or upon the nose ; for if he struck wide of those parts...
Page 172 - THE passing bell was anciently rung for two purposes ; one, to bespeak the prayers of all good Christians for a soul just departing; the other, to drive away the evil spirits who stood at the bed's foot and about the house, ready to seize their prey, or at least to molest and terrify the soul in its passage...
Page 159 - Business; but to these we must add Frugality, if we would make our Industry more certainly successful. A Man may, if he knows not how to save as he gets, keep his Nose all his Life to the Grindstone, and die not worth a Groat at last. A fat Kitchen makes a lean Will, as Poor Richard says; and Many Estates are spent in the Getting, Since Women for Tea forsook Spinning and Knitting, And Men for Punch forsook Hewing and Splitting.
Page 159 - And again, Pride is as loud a beggar as Want, and a great deal more saucy. When you have bought one fine thing, you must buy ten more, that your appearance may be all of a piece; but Poor Dick says, It is easier to suppress the first desire, than to satisfy all that follow it.