[[ii]]

FAMILIAR QUOTATIONS:

A COLLECTION OF

PASSAGES, PHRASES, AND PROVERBS

TRACED TO THEIR SOURCES IN

ANCIENT AND MODERN LITERATURE

By JOHN BARTLETT.

"I have gathered a posie of other men's flowers, and nothing but the
thread that binds them is mine own."

NINTH EDITION.

BOSTON:
LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY.
1905.

[[iii]]

Copyright, 1875, 1882, 1891, 1903,
By John Bartlett.

University Press:
John Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U.S.A.

[[iv]]

THIS EDITION
IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED TO
THE MEMORY OF THE LATE ASSISTANT EDITOR,

REZIN A. WIGHT.

[[v]]

PREFACE.

"Out of the old fieldes cometh al this new corne fro yere to yere,"

And out of the fresh woodes cometh al these new flowres here.

The small thin volume, the first to bear the title of this collection, after passing through eight editions, each enlarged, now culminates in its ninth,—and with it, closes its tentative life.

This extract from the Preface of the fourth edition is applicable to the present one:—

"It is not easy to determine in all cases the degree of familiarity that may belong to phrases and sentences which present themselves for admission; for what is familiar to one class of readers may be quite new to another. Many maxims of the most famous writers of our language, and numberless curious and happy turns from orators and poets, have knocked at the door, and it was hard to deny them. But to admit these simply on their own merits, without assurance that the general reader would readily recognize them as old friends, was aside from the purpose of this collection. Still, it has been thought better to incur the risk of erring on the side of fulness."

With the many additions to the English writers, the present edition contains selections from the French, and from the wit and wisdom of the ancients. A few passages have been admitted without a claim to familiarity, but solely on the ground of coincidence of thought.

[[vi]]I am under great obligations to M. H. Morgan, Ph. D., of Harvard University, for the translation of Marcus Aurelius, and for the translation and selections from the Greek tragic writers. I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. Daniel W. Wilder, of Kansas, for the quotations from Pilpay, with contributions from Diogenes Laertius, Montaigne, Burton, and Pope's Homer; to Dr. William J. Rolfe for quotations from Robert Browning; to Mr. James W. McIntyre for quotations from Coleridge, Shelley, Keats, Mrs. Browning, Robert Browning, and Tennyson. And I have incurred other obligations to friends for here a little and there a little.

It gives me pleasure to acknowledge the great assistance I have received from Mr. A. W. Stevens, the accomplished reader of the University Press, as this work was passing through the press.

In withdrawing from this very agreeable pursuit, I beg to offer my sincere thanks to all who have assisted me either in the way of suggestions or by contributions; and especially to those lovers of this subsidiary literature for their kind appreciation of former editions.

Accepted by scholars as an authoritative book of reference, it has grown with its growth in public estimation with each reissue. Of the last two editions forty thousand copies were printed, apart from the English reprints. The present enlargement of text equals three hundred and fifty pages of the previous edition, and the index is increased with upwards of ten thousand lines.

Cambridge, March, 1891.

[[vii]]

INDEX OF AUTHORS.

[[xv]]

ANONYMOUS BOOKS CITED.

[[1]]

FAMILIAR QUOTATIONS.

GEOFFREY CHAUCER.  1328-1400.

(From the text of Tyrwhitt.)

Whanne that April with his shoures sote

The droughte of March hath perced to the rote.

Canterbury Tales. Prologue. Line 1.

And smale foules maken melodie,

That slepen alle night with open eye,

So priketh hem nature in hir corages;

Than longen folk to gon on pilgrimages.

Canterbury Tales. Prologue. Line 9.

And of his port as meke as is a mayde.

Canterbury Tales. Prologue. Line 69.

He was a veray parfit gentil knight.

Canterbury Tales. Prologue. Line 72.

He coude songes make, and wel endite.

Canterbury Tales. Prologue. Line 95.

Ful wel she sange the service devine,

Entuned in hire nose ful swetely;

And Frenche she spake ful fayre and fetisly,

After the scole of Stratford atte bowe,

For Frenche of Paris was to hire unknowe.

Canterbury Tales. Prologue. Line 122.

A Clerk ther was of Oxenforde also.

Canterbury Tales. Prologue. Line 287.

For him was lever han at his beddes hed

A twenty bokes, clothed in black or red,

Of Aristotle, and his philosophie,

Than robes riche, or fidel, or sautrie.

But all be that he was a philosophre,

Yet hadde he but litel gold in cofre.

Canterbury Tales. Prologue. Line 295.

[[2]]

And gladly wolde he lerne, and gladly teche.

Canterbury Tales. Prologue. Line 310.

Nowher so besy a man as he ther n' as,

And yet he semed besier than he was.

Canterbury Tales. Prologue. Line 323.

His studie was but litel on the Bible.

Canterbury Tales. Prologue. Line 440.

For gold in phisike is a cordial;

Therefore he loved gold in special.

Canterbury Tales. Prologue. Line 445.

Wide was his parish, and houses fer asonder.

Canterbury Tales. Prologue. Line 493.

This noble ensample to his shepe he yaf,—

That first he wrought, and afterwards he taught.

Canterbury Tales. Prologue. Line 498.

But Cristes lore, and his apostles twelve,

He taught; but first he folwed it himselve.

Canterbury Tales. Prologue. Line 529.

And yet he had a thomb of gold parde.[2:1]

Canterbury Tales. Prologue. Line 565.

Who so shall telle a tale after a man,

He moste reherse, as neighe as ever he can,

Everich word, if it be in his charge,

All speke he never so rudely and so large;

Or elles he moste tellen his tale untrewe,

Or feinen thinges, or finden wordes newe.

Canterbury Tales. Prologue. Line 733.

For May wol have no slogardie a-night.

The seson priketh every gentil herte,

And maketh him out of his slepe to sterte.

Canterbury Tales. The Knightes Tale. Line 1044.

That field hath eyen, and the wood hath ears.[2:2]

Canterbury Tales. The Knightes Tale. Line 1524.

Up rose the sonne, and up rose Emelie.

Canterbury Tales. The Knightes Tale. Line 2275.

[[3]]

Min be the travaille, and thin be the glorie.

Canterbury Tales. The Knightes Tale. Line 2408.

To maken vertue of necessite.[3:1]

Canterbury Tales. The Knightes Tale. Line 3044.

And brought of mighty ale a large quart.

Canterbury Tales. The Milleres Tale. Line 3497.

Ther n' is no werkman whatever he be,

That may both werken wel and hastily.[3:2]

This wol be done at leisure parfitly.[3:3]

Canterbury Tales. The Marchantes Tale. Line 585.

Yet in our ashen cold is fire yreken.[3:4]

Canterbury Tales. The Reves Prologue. Line 3880.

The gretest clerkes ben not the wisest men.

Canterbury Tales. The Reves Tale. Line 4051.

So was hire joly whistle wel ywette.

Canterbury Tales. The Reves Tale. Line 4153.

In his owen grese I made him frie.[3:5]

Canterbury Tales. The Reves Tale. Line 6069.

And for to see, and eek for to be seie.[3:6]

Canterbury Tales. The Wif of Bathes Prologue. Line 6134.

[[4]]

I hold a mouses wit not worth a leke,

That hath but on hole for to sterten to.[4:1]

Canterbury Tales. The Wif of Bathes Prologue. Line 6154.

Loke who that is most vertuous alway,

Prive and apert, and most entendeth ay

To do the gentil dedes that he can,

And take him for the gretest gentilman.

Canterbury Tales. The Wif of Bathes Tale. Line 6695.

That he is gentil that doth gentil dedis.[4:2]

Canterbury Tales. The Wif of Bathes Tale. Line 6752.

This flour of wifly patience.

Canterbury Tales. The Clerkes Tale. Part v. Line 8797.

They demen gladly to the badder end.

Canterbury Tales. The Squieres Tale. Line 10538.

Therefore behoveth him a ful long spone,

That shall eat with a fend.[4:3]

Canterbury Tales. The Squieres Tale. Line 10916.

Fie on possession,

But if a man be vertuous withal.

Canterbury Tales. The Frankeleines Prologue. Line 10998.

Truth is the highest thing that man may keep.

Canterbury Tales. The Frankeleines Tale. Line 11789.

Full wise is he that can himselven knowe.[4:4]

Canterbury Tales. The Monkes Tale. Line 1449.

[[5]]

Mordre wol out, that see we day by day.[5:1]

Canterbury Tales. The Nonnes Preestes Tale. Line 15058.

But all thing which that shineth as the gold

Ne is no gold, as I have herd it told.[5:2]

Canterbury Tales. The Chanones Yemannes Tale. Line 16430.

The firste vertue, sone, if thou wilt lere,

Is to restreine and kepen wel thy tonge.

Canterbury Tales. The Manciples Tale. Line 17281.

The proverbe saith that many a smale maketh a grate.[5:3]

Canterbury Tales. Persones Tale.

Of harmes two the lesse is for to cheese.[5:4]

Troilus and Creseide. Book ii. Line 470.

Right as an aspen lefe she gan to quake.

Troilus and Creseide. Book ii. Line 1201.

For of fortunes sharpe adversite,

The worst kind of infortune is this,—

A man that hath been in prosperite,

And it remember whan it passed is.

Troilus and Creseide. Book iii. Line 1625.

[[6]]

He helde about him alway, out of drede,

A world of folke.

Troilus and Creseide. Book iii. Line 1721.

One eare it heard, at the other out it went.[6:1]

Troilus and Creseide. Book iv. Line 435.

Eke wonder last but nine deies never in toun.[6:2]

Troilus and Creseide. Book iv. Line 525.

I am right sorry for your heavinesse.

Troilus and Creseide. Book v. Line 146.

Go, little booke! go, my little tragedie!

Troilus and Creseide. Book v. Line 1798.

Your duty is, as ferre as I can gesse.

The Court of Love. Line 178.

The lyfe so short, the craft so long to lerne,[6:3]

Th' assay so hard, so sharpe the conquering.

The Assembly of Fowles. Line 1.

For out of the old fieldes, as men saithe,

Cometh al this new corne fro yere to yere;

And out of old bookes, in good faithe,

Cometh al this new science that men lere.

The Assembly of Fowles. Line 22.

Nature, the vicar of the Almightie Lord.

The Assembly of Fowles. Line 379.

O little booke, thou art so unconning,

How darst thou put thy-self in prees for drede?

The Flower and the Leaf. Line 59.

Of all the floures in the mede,

Than love I most these floures white and rede,

Soch that men callen daisies in our toun.

Prologue of the Legend of Good Women. Line 41.

That well by reason men it call may

The daisie, or els the eye of the day,

The emprise, and floure of floures all.

Prologue of the Legend of Good Women. Line 183.

For iii may keep a counsel if twain be away.[6:4]

The Ten Commandments of Love.

Footnotes

[2:1] In allusion to the proverb, "Every honest miller has a golden thumb."

[2:2] Fieldes have eies and woodes have eares.—Heywood: Proverbes, part ii. chap. v.

Wode has erys, felde has sigt.—King Edward and the Shepard, MS. Circa 1300.

Walls have ears.—Hazlitt: English Proverbs, etc. (ed. 1869) p. 446.

[3:1] Also in Troilus and Cresseide, line 1587.

To make a virtue of necessity.—Shakespeare: Two Gentlemen of Verona, act iv. sc. 2. Matthew Henry: Comm. on Ps. xxxvii. Dryden: Palamon and Arcite.

In the additions of Hadrianus Julius to the Adages of Erasmus, he remarks, under the head of Necessitatem edere, that a very familiar proverb was current among his countrymen,—"Necessitatem in virtutem commutare" (To make necessity a virtue).

Laudem virtutis necessitati damus (We give to necessity the praise of virtue).—Quintilian: Inst. Orat. i. 8. 14.

[3:2] Haste makes waste.—Heywood: Proverbs, part i. chap. ii.

Nothing can be done at once hastily and prudently.—Publius Syrus: Maxim 357.

[3:3] Ease and speed in doing a thing do not give the work lasting solidity or exactness of beauty.—Plutarch: Life of Pericles.

[3:4] E'en in our ashes live their wonted fires.—Gray: Elegy, Stanza 23.

[3:5] Frieth in her own grease.—Heywood: Proverbs, part i. chap. xi.

[3:6] To see and to be seen.—Ben Jonson: Epithalamion, st. iii. line 4. Goldsmith: Citizen of the World, letter 71.

Spectatum veniunt, veniunt spectentur ut ipsæ (They come to see; they come that they themselves may be seen).—Ovid: The Art of Love, i. 99.

[4:1] Consider the little mouse, how sagacious an animal it is which never entrusts his life to one hole only.—Plautus: Truculentus, act iv. sc. 4.

The mouse that always trusts to one poor hole

Can never be a mouse of any soul.

Pope: Paraphrase of the Prologue, line 298.

[4:2] Handsome is that handsome does.—Goldsmith: Vicar of Wakefield, chap. i.

[4:3] Hee must have a long spoon, shall eat with the devill.—Heywood: Proverbes, part ii. chap. v.

He must have a long spoon that must eat with the devil.—Shakespeare: Comedy of Errors, act iv. sc. 3.

[4:4] Thales was asked what was very difficult; he said, "To know one's self."—Diogenes Laertius: Thales, ix.

Know then thyself, presume not God to scan;

The proper study of mankind is man.

Pope: Epistle ii. line 1.

[5:1]

Murder, though it have no tongue, will speak

With most miraculous organ.

Shakespeare: Hamlet, act ii. sc. 2.

[5:2] Tyrwhitt says this is taken from the Parabolae of Alanus de Insulis, who died in 1294,—Non teneas aurum totum quod splendet ut aurum (Do not hold everything as gold which shines like gold).

All is not golde that outward shewith bright.—Lydgate: On the Mutability of Human Affairs.

Gold all is not that doth golden seem.—Spenser: Faerie Queene, book ii. canto viii. st. 14.

All that glisters is not gold.—Shakespeare: Merchant of Venice, act ii. sc. 7. Googe: Eglogs, etc., 1563. Herbert: Jacula Prudentum.

All is not gold that glisteneth.—Middleton: A Fair Quarrel, verse 1.

All, as they say, that glitters is not gold.—Dryden: The Hind and the Panther.

Que tout n'est pas or c'on voit luire (Everything is not gold that one sees shining).—Li Diz de freire Denise Cordelier, circa 1300.

[5:3] Many small make a great.—Heywood: Proverbes. part i. chap. xi.

[5:4] Of two evils the less is always to be chosen.—Thomas à Kempis: Imitation of Christ, book ii. chap. xii. Hooker: Polity, book v. chap. lxxxi.

Of two evils I have chose the least.—Prior: Imitation of Horace.

E duobus malis minimum eligendum (Of two evils, the least should be chosen).—Erasmus: Adages. Cicero: De Officiis, iii. 1.

[6:1] Went in at the tone eare and out at the tother.—Heywood: Proverbes, part ii. chap. ix.

[6:2] This wonder lasted nine daies.—Heywood: Proverbes, part ii. chap. i.

[6:3] Ars longa, vita brevis (Art is long: life is brief).—Hippocrates: Aphorism i.

[6:4] Three may keepe counsayle, if two be away.—Heywood: Proverbes, part ii. chap. v.

[[7]]

THOMAS À KEMPIS.  1380-1471.

Man proposes, but God disposes.[7:1]

Imitation of Christ. Book i. Chap. 19.

And when he is out of sight, quickly also is he out of mind.[7:2]

Imitation of Christ. Book i. Chap. 23.

Of two evils, the less is always to be chosen.[7:3]

Imitation of Christ. Book iii. Chap. 12.

Footnotes

[7:1] This expression is of much greater antiquity. It appears in the Chronicle of Battel Abbey, p. 27 (Lower's translation), and in The Vision of Piers Ploughman, line 13994. ed. 1550.

A man's heart deviseth his way; but the Lord directeth his steps.—Proverbs xvi. 9.

[7:2] Out of syght, out of mynd.—Googe: Eglogs. 1563.

And out of mind as soon as out of sight.

Lord Brooke: Sonnet lvi.

Fer from eze, fer from herte,

Quoth Hendyng.

Hendyng: Proverbs, MSS. Circa 1320.

I do perceive that the old proverbis be not alwaies trew, for I do finde that the absence of my Nath. doth breede in me the more continuall remembrance of him.—Anne Lady Bacon to Jane Lady Cornwallis, 1613.

On page 19 of The Private Correspondence of Lady Cornwallis, Sir Nathaniel Bacon speaks of the owlde proverbe, "Out of sighte, out of mynde."

[7:3] See Chaucer, page [5].

JOHN FORTESCUE.  Circa 1395-1485.

Moche Crye and no Wull.[7:4]

De Laudibus Leg. Angliæ. Chap. x.

Comparisons are odious.[7:5]

De Laudibus Leg. Angliæ. Chap. xix.

Footnotes

[7:4] All cry and no wool.—Butler: Hudibras, part i. canto i. line 852.

[7:5] Cervantes: Don Quixote (Lockhart's ed.), part ii. chap. i. Lyly: Euphues, 1580. Marlowe: Lust's Dominion, act iii. sc. 4. Burton: Anatomy of Melancholy, part iii. sec. 3. Thomas Heywood: A Woman killed with Kindness (first ed. in 1607), act i. sc. 1. Donne: Elegy, viii. Herbert: Jacula Prudentum. Grange: Golden Aphrodite.

Comparisons are odorous.—Shakespeare: Much Ado about Nothing, act iii. sc. 5.

[[8]]

JOHN SKELTON.  Circa 1460-1529.

There is nothynge that more dyspleaseth God,

Than from theyr children to spare the rod.[8:1]

Magnyfycence. Line 1954.

He ruleth all the roste.[8:2]

Why Come ye not to Courte. Line 198.

In the spight of his teeth.[8:3]

Colyn Cloute. Line 939.

He knew what is what.[8:4]

Colyn Cloute. Line 1106.

By hoke ne by croke.[8:5]

Colyn Cloute. Line 1240.

The wolfe from the dore.

Colyn Cloute. Line 1531.

Old proverbe says,

That byrd ys not honest

That fyleth hys owne nest.[8:6]

Poems against Garnesche.

Footnotes

[8:1] He that spareth the rod hateth his son.—Proverbs xiii. 24.

They spare the rod and spoyl the child.—Ralph Venning: Mysteries and Revelations (second ed.), p. 5. 1649.

Spare the rod and spoil the child.—Butler: Hudibras, pt. ii. c. i. l. 843.

[8:2] Rule the rost.—Heywood: Proverbes, part i. chap. v.

Her that ruled the rost.—Thomas Heywood: History of Women.

Rules the roast.—Jonson, Chapman, Marston: Eastward Ho, act ii. sc. 1. Shakespeare: 2 Henry VI. act i. sc. 1.

[8:3] In spite of my teeth.—Middleton: A Trick to catch the Old One, act i. sc. 2. Fielding: Eurydice Hissed.

[8:4] He knew what 's what.—Butler: Hudibras, part i. canto i. line 149.

[8:5] In hope her to attain by hook or crook.—Spenser: Faerie Queene, book iii. canto i. st. 17.

[8:6] It is a foule byrd that fyleth his owne nest.—Heywood: Proverbes, part ii. chap. v.

JOHN HEYWOOD.[8:7]  Circa 1565.

The loss of wealth is loss of dirt,

As sages in all times assert;

The happy man 's without a shirt.

Be Merry Friends.

[[9]]

Let the world slide,[9:1] let the world go;

A fig for care, and a fig for woe!

If I can't pay, why I can owe,

And death makes equal the high and low.

Be Merry Friends.

All a green willow, willow,

All a green willow is my garland.

The Green Willow.

Haste maketh waste.

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. ii.

Beware of, Had I wist.[9:2]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. ii.

Good to be merie and wise.[9:3]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. ii.

Beaten with his owne rod.[9:4]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. ii.

Look ere ye leape.[9:5]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. ii.

He that will not when he may,

When he would he shall have nay.[9:6]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. iii.

The fat is in the fire.[9:7]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. iii.

[[10]]

When the sunne shineth, make hay.

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. iii.

When the iron is hot, strike.[10:1]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. iii.

The tide tarrieth no man.[10:2]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. iii.

Than catch and hold while I may, fast binde, fast finde.[10:3]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. iii.

And while I at length debate and beate the bush,

There shall steppe in other men and catch the burdes.[10:4]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. iii.

While betweene two stooles my taile goe to the ground.[10:5]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. iii.

So many heads so many wits.[10:6]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. iii.

Wedding is destiny,

And hanging likewise.[10:7]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. iii.

[[11]]

Happy man, happy dole.[11:1]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. iii.

God never sends th' mouth but he sendeth meat.

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. iv.

Like will to like.

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. iv.

A hard beginning maketh a good ending.

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. iv.

When the skie falth we shall have Larkes.[11:2]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. iv.

More frayd then hurt.

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. iv.

Feare may force a man to cast beyond the moone.[11:3]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. iv.

Nothing is impossible to a willing hart.

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. iv.

The wise man sayth, store is no sore.

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. v.

Let the world wagge,[11:4] and take mine ease in myne Inne.[11:5]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. v.

Rule the rost.[11:6]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. v.

Hold their noses to grinstone.[11:7]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. v.

Better to give then to take.[11:8]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. v.

When all candles bee out, all cats be gray.

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. v.

No man ought to looke a given horse in the mouth.[11:9]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. v.

[[12]]

I perfectly feele even at my fingers end.[12:1]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. vi.

A sleveless errand.[12:2]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. vii.

We both be at our wittes end.[12:3]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. viii.

Reckeners without their host must recken twice.

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. viii.

A day after the faire.[12:4]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. viii.

Cut my cote after my cloth.[12:5]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. viii.

The neer to the church, the further from God.[12:6]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. ix.

Now for good lucke, cast an old shooe after me.

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. ix.

Better is to bow then breake.[12:7]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. ix.

It hurteth not the toung to give faire words.[12:8]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. ix.

Two heads are better then one.

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. ix.

A short horse is soone currid.[12:9]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. x.

To tell tales out of schoole.

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. x.

To hold with the hare and run with the hound.[12:10]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. x.

[[13]]

She is nether fish nor flesh, nor good red herring.[13:1]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. x.

All is well that endes well.[13:2]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. x.

Of a good beginning cometh a good end.[13:3]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. x.

Shee had seene far in a milstone.[13:4]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. x.

Better late than never.[13:5]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. x.

When the steede is stolne, shut the stable durre.[13:6]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. x.

Pryde will have a fall;

For pryde goeth before and shame commeth after.[13:7]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. x.

She looketh as butter would not melt in her mouth.[13:8]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. x.

The still sowe eats up all the draffe.[13:9]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. x.

Ill weede growth fast.[13:10]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. x.

[[14]]

It is a deere collop

That is cut out of th' owne flesh.[14:1]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. x.

Beggars should be no choosers.[14:2]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. x.

Every cocke is proud on his owne dunghill.[14:3]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. xi.

The rolling stone never gathereth mosse.[14:4]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. xi.

To robbe Peter and pay Poule.[14:5]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. xi.

A man may well bring a horse to the water,

But he cannot make him drinke without he will.

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. xi.

Men say, kinde will creepe where it may not goe.[14:6]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. xi.

The cat would eate fish, and would not wet her feete.[14:7]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. xi.

While the grasse groweth the horse starveth.[14:8]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. xi.

[[15]]

Better one byrde in hand than ten in the wood.[15:1]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. xi.

Rome was not built in one day.

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. xi.

Yee have many strings to your bowe.[15:2]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. xi.

Many small make a great.[15:3]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. xi.

Children learne to creepe ere they can learne to goe.

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. xi.

Better is halfe a lofe than no bread.

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. xi.

Nought venter nought have.[15:4]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. xi.

Children and fooles cannot lye.[15:5]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. xi.

Set all at sixe and seven.[15:6]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. xi.

All is fish that comth to net.[15:7]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. xi.

Who is worse shod than the shoemaker's wife?[15:8]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. xi.

One good turne asketh another.

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. xi.

By hooke or crooke.[15:9]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. xi.

[[16]]

She frieth in her owne grease.[16:1]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. xi.

Who waite for dead men shall goe long barefoote.

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. xi.

I pray thee let me and my fellow have

A haire of the dog that bit us last night.[16:2]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. xi.

But in deede,

A friend is never knowne till a man have neede.

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. xi.

This wonder (as wonders last) lasted nine daies.[16:3]

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. i.

New brome swepth cleene.[16:4]

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. i.

All thing is the woorse for the wearing.

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. i.

Burnt child fire dredth.[16:5]

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. ii.

All is not Gospell that thou doest speake.[16:6]

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. ii.

Love me litle, love me long.[16:7]

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. ii.

A fooles bolt is soone shot.[16:8]

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. iii.

A woman hath nine lives like a cat.[16:9]

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. iv.

A peny for your thought.[16:10]

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. iv.

[[17]]

You stand in your owne light.

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. iv.

Though chaunge be no robbry.

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. iv.

Might have gone further and have fared worse.

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. iv.

The grey mare is the better horse.[17:1]

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. iv.

Three may keepe counsayle, if two be away.[17:2]

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. v.

Small pitchers have wyde eares.[17:3]

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. v.

Many hands make light warke.

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. v.

The greatest Clerkes be not the wisest men.[17:4]

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. v.

Out of Gods blessing into the warme Sunne.[17:5]

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. v.

There is no fire without some smoke.[17:6]

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. v.

One swallow maketh not summer.[17:7]

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. v.

Fieldes have eies and woods have eares.[17:8]

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. v.

A cat may looke on a King.

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. v.

[[18]]

It is a foule byrd that fyleth his owne nest.[18:1]

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. v.

Have yee him on the hip.[18:2]

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. v.

Hee must have a long spoone, shall eat with the devill.[18:3]

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. v.

It had need to bee

A wylie mouse that should breed in the cats eare.[18:4]

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. v.

Leape out of the frying pan into the fyre.[18:5]

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. v.

Time trieth troth in every doubt.[18:6]

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. v.

Mad as a march hare.[18:7]

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. v.

Much water goeth by the mill

That the miller knoweth not of.[18:8]

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. v.

He must needes goe whom the devill doth drive.[18:9]

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. vii.

Set the cart before the horse.[18:10]

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. vii.

[[19]]

The moe the merrier.[19:1]

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. vii.

To th' end of a shot and beginning of a fray.[19:2]

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. vii.

It is better to be

An old man's derling than a yong man's werling.

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. vii.

Be the day never so long,

Evermore at last they ring to evensong.[19:3]

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. vii.

The moone is made of a greene cheese.[19:4]

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. vii.

I know on which side my bread is buttred.

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. vii.

It will not out of the flesh that is bred in the bone.[19:5]

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. viii.

Who is so deafe or so blinde as is hee

That wilfully will neither heare nor see?[19:6]

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. ix.

The wrong sow by th' eare.[19:7]

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. ix.

Went in at the tone eare and out at the tother.[19:8]

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. ix.

Love me, love my dog.[19:9]

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. ix.

[[20]]

An ill winde that bloweth no man to good.[20:1]

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. ix.

For when I gave you an inch, you tooke an ell.[20:2]

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. ix.

Would yee both eat your cake and have your cake?[20:3]

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. ix.

Every man for himselfe and God for us all.[20:4]

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. ix.

Though he love not to buy the pig in the poke.[20:5]

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. ix.

This hitteth the naile on the hed.[20:6]

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. xi.

Enough is as good as a feast.[20:7]

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. xi.

Footnotes

[8:7] The Proverbes of John Heywood is the earliest collection of English colloquial sayings. It was first printed in 1546. The title of the edition of 1562 is, John Heywoodes Woorkes. A Dialogue conteyning the number of the effectuall proverbes in the English tounge, compact in a matter concernynge two maner of Maryages, etc. The selection here given is from the edition of 1874 (a reprint of 1598), edited by Julian Sharman.

[9:1] Let the world slide.—Towneley Mysteries, p. 101 (1420). Shakespeare: Taming of the Shrew, induc. 1. Beaumont and Fletcher: Wit without Money, act v. sc. 2.

[9:2] A common exclamation of regret occurring in Spenser, Harrington, and the older writers. An earlier instance of the phrase occurs in the Towneley Mysteries.

[9:3] 'T is good to be merry and wise.—Jonson, Chapman, Marston: Eastward Ho, act i. sc. 1. Burns: Here 's a health to them that 's awa'.

[9:4]

don fust

C'on kint souvent est-on batu.

(By his own stick the prudent one is often beaten.)

Roman du Renart, circa 1300.

[9:5] Look ere thou leap.—In Tottel's Miscellany, 1557; and in Tusser's Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry. Of Wiving and Thriving. 1573.

Thou shouldst have looked before thou hadst leapt.—Jonson, Chapman, Marston: Eastward Ho, act v. sc. 1.

Look before you ere you leap.—Butler: Hudibras, pt. ii. c. ii. l. 502.

[9:6]

He that will not when he may,

When he will he shall have nay.

Burton: Anatomy of Melancholy, pt. iii. sec. 2, mem. 5, subs. 5.

He that wold not when he might,

He shall not when he wolda.

The Baffled Knight. Percy: Reliques.

[9:7] All the fatt 's in the fire.—Marston: What You Will. 1607.

[10:1] You should hammer your iron when it is glowing hot.—Publius Syrus: Maxim 262.

Strike whilst the iron is hot.—Rabelais: book ii. chap. xxxi. Webster: Westward Hoe. Tom A'Lincolne. Farquhar: The Beaux' Stratagem, iv. 1.

[10:2]

Hoist up saile while gale doth last,

Tide and wind stay no man's pleasure.

Robert Southwell: St. Peter's Complaint. 1595.

Nae man can tether time or tide.—Burns: Tam O' Shanter.

[10:3]

Fast bind, fast find;

A proverb never stale in thrifty mind.

Shakespeare: Merchant of Venice, act ii. sc. 5.

Also in Jests of Scogin. 1565.

[10:4] It is this proverb which Henry V. is reported to have uttered at the siege of Orleans. "Shall I beat the bush and another take the bird?" said King Henry.

[10:5] Entre deux arcouns chet cul à terre (Between two stools one sits on the ground).—Les Proverbes del Vilain, MS. Bodleian. Circa 1303.

S'asseoir entre deux selles le cul à terre (One falls to the ground in trying to sit on two stools).—Rabelais: book i. chap. ii.

[10:6] As many men, so many minds.—Terence: Phormio, ii. 3.

As the saying is, So many heades, so many wittes.—Queen Elizabeth: Godly Meditacyon of the Christian Sowle. 1548.

So many men so many mindes.—Gascoigne: Glass of Government.

[10:7] Hanging and wiving go by destiny.—The Schole-hous for Women. 1541. Shakespeare: Merchant of Venice, act 2. sc. 9.

Marriage and hanging go by destiny; matches are made in heaven.—Burton: Anatomy of Melancholy, part iii. sec. 2, mem. 5, subs. 5.

[11:1] Happy man be his dole—Shakespeare: Merry Wives, act iii. sc. 4; Winter's Tale, act i. sc. 2. Butler: Hudibras, part i. canto iii. line 168.

[11:2] Si les nues tomboyent esperoyt prendre les alouettes (If the skies fall, one may hope to catch larks).—Rabelais: book i. chap. xi.

[11:3] To cast beyond the moon, is a phrase in frequent use by the old writers. Lyly: Euphues, p. 78. Thomas Heywood: A Woman Killed with Kindness.

[11:4] Let the world slide.—Shakespeare: Taming of the Shrew, ind. 1; and, Let the world slip, ind. 2.

[11:5] Shall I not take mine ease in mine inn?—Shakespeare: 1 Henry IV. act iii. sc. 2.

[11:6] See Skelton, page [8]. Shakespeare: 2 Henry VI. act i. sc. 1. Thomas Heywood: History of Women.

[11:7] Hold their noses to the grindstone.—Middleton: Blurt, Master-Constable, act iii. sc. 3.

[11:8] It is more blessed to give than to receive.—John xx. 35.

[11:9] This proverb occurs in Rabelais, book i. chap. xi.; in Vulgaria Stambrigi, circa 1510; in Butler, part i. canto i. line 490. Archbishop Trench says this proverb is certainly as old as Jerome of the fourth century, who, when some found fault with certain writings of his, replied that they were free-will offerings, and that it did not behove to look a gift horse in the mouth.

[12:1] Rabelais: book iv. chap. liv. At my fingers' ends.—Shakespeare: Twelfth Night, act i. sc. 3.

[12:2] The origin of the word "sleveless," in the sense of unprofitable, has defied the most careful research. It is frequently found allied to other substantives. Bishop Hall speaks of the "sleveless tale of transubstantiation," and Milton writes of a "sleveless reason." Chaucer uses it in the Testament of Love.—Sharman.

[12:3] At their wit's end.—Psalm cvii. 27.

[12:4] Thomas Heywood: If you know not me, etc., 1605. Tarlton: Jests, 1611.

[12:5] A relic of the Sumptuary Laws. One of the earliest instances occurs, 1530, in the interlude of Godly Queene Hester.

[12:6] Qui est près de l'église est souvent loin de Dieu (He who is near the Church is often far from God).—Les Proverbes Communs. Circa 1500.

[12:7]

Rather to bowe than breke is profitable;

Humylite is a thing commendable.

The Morale Proverbs of Cristyne; translated from the French (1390) by Earl Rivers, and printed by Caxton in 1478.

[12:8] Fair words never hurt the tongue.—Jonson, Chapman, Marston: Eastward Ho, act iv. sc. 1.

[12:9] Fletcher: Valentinian, act ii. sc. 1.

[12:10] Humphrey Robert: Complaint for Reformation, 1572. Lyly: Euphues, 1579 (Arber's reprint), p. 107.

[13:1] Neither fish nor flesh, nor good red herring.—Sir H. Sheres: Satyr on the Sea Officers. Tom Brown: Æneus Sylvius's Letter. Dryden: Epilogue to the Duke of Guise.

[13:2] Si finis bonus est, totum bonum erit (If the end be well, all will be well).—Gestæ Romanorum. Tale lxvii.

[13:3]

Who that well his warke beginneth,

The rather a good ende he winneth.

Gower: Confessio Amantis.

[13:4] Lyly: Euphues (Arber's reprint), p. 288.

[13:5] Tusser: Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, An Habitation Enforced. Bunyan: Pilgrim's Progress. Mathew Henry: Commentaries, Matthew xxi. Murphy: The School for Guardians.

Potius sero quam nunquam (Rather late than never).—Livy: iv. ii. 11.

[13:6] Quant le cheval est emblé dounke ferme fols l'estable (When the horse has been stolen, the fool shuts the stable).—Les Proverbes del Vilain.

[13:7] Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.—Proverbs xvi. 18.

Pryde goeth before, and shame cometh behynde.—Treatise of a Gallant. Circa 1510.

[13:8] She looks as if butter would not melt in her mouth.—Swift: Polite Conversation.

[13:9] 'T is old, but true, still swine eat all the draff.—Shakespeare: Merry Wives of Windsor, act iv. sc. 2.

[13:10] Ewyl weed ys sone y-growe.—MS. Harleian, circa 1490.

An ill weed grows apace.—Chapman: An Humorous Day's Mirth.

Great weeds do grow apace.—Shakespeare: Richard III. act ii. sc. 4. Beaumont and Fletcher: The Coxcomb, act iv. sc. 4.

[14:1] God knows thou art a collop of my flesh.—Shakespeare: 1 Henry VI. act v. sc. 4.

[14:2] Beggars must be no choosers.—Beaumont and Fletcher: The Scornful Lady, act v. sc. 3.

[14:3] Þet coc is kene on his owne mixenne.—Þe Ancren Riwle. Circa 1250.

[14:4] The stone that is rolling can gather no moss.—Tusser: Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry.

A rolling stone gathers no moss.—Publius Syrus: Maxim 524. Gosson: Ephemerides of Phialo. Marston: The Fawn.

Pierre volage ne queult mousse (A rolling stone gathers no moss).—De l'hermite qui se désespéra pour le larron que ala en paradis avant que lui, 13th century.

[14:5] To rob Peter and pay Paul is said to have derived its origin when, in the reign of Edward VI., the lands of St. Peter at Westminster were appropriated to raise money for the repair of St. Paul's in London.

[14:6]

You know that love

Will creep in service when it cannot go.

Shakespeare: Two Gentlemen of Verona, act iv. sc. 2.

[14:7] Shakespeare alludes to this proverb in Macbeth:—

Letting I dare not wait upon I would,

Like the poor cat i' the adage.

Cat lufat visch, ac he nele his feth wete.—MS. Trinity College, Cambridge, circa 1250.

[14:8] Whylst grass doth grow, oft sterves the seely steede.—Whetstone: Promos and Cassandra. 1578.

While the grass grows—

The proverb is something musty.

Shakespeare: Hamlet, act iii. sc. 4.

[15:1] An earlier instance occurs in Heywood, in his "Dialogue on Wit and Folly," circa 1530.

[15:2] Two strings to his bow.—Hooker: Polity, book v. chap. lxxx. Chapman: D'Ambois, act ii. sc. 3. Butler: Hudibras, part iii. canto i. line 1. Churchill: The Ghost, book iv. Fielding: Love in Several Masques, sc. 13.

[15:3] See Chaucer, page [5].

[15:4] Naught venture naught have.—Tusser: Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry. October Abstract.

[15:5] 'T is an old saw, Children and fooles speake true.—Lyly: Endymion.

[15:6] Set all on sex and seven.—Chaucer: Troilus and Cresseide, book iv. line 623; also Towneley Mysteries.

At six and seven.—Shakespeare: Richard II. act ii. sc. 2.

[15:7] All 's fish they get that cometh to net.—Tusser: Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry. February Abstract.

Where all is fish that cometh to net.—Gascoigne: Steele Glas. 1575.

[15:8] Him that makes shoes go barefoot himself.—Burton: Anatomy of Melancholy. Democritus to the Reader.

[15:9] This phrase derives its origin from the custom of certain manors where tenants are authorized to take fire-bote by hook or by crook; that is, so much of the underwood as many be cut with a crook, and so much of the loose timber as may be collected from the boughs by means of a hook. One of the earliest citations of this proverb occurs in John Wycliffe's Controversial Tracts, circa 1370.—See Skelton, page [8]. Rabelais: book v. chap. xiii. Du Bartas: The Map of Man. Spenser: Faerie Queene, book iii. canto i. st. 17. Beaumont and Fletcher: Women Pleased, act. i. sc. 3.

[16:1] See Chaucer, page [3].

[16:2] In old receipt books we find it invariably advised that an inebriate should drink sparingly in the morning some of the same liquor which he had drunk to excess over-night.

[16:3] See Chaucer, page [6].

[16:4] Ah, well I wot that a new broome sweepeth cleane—Lyly: Euphues (Arber's reprint), p. 89.

[16:5]

Brend child fur dredth,

Quoth Hendyng.

Proverbs of Hendyng. MSS.

A burnt child dreadeth the fire.—Lyly: Euphues (Arber's reprint), p. 319.

[16:6] You do not speak gospel.—Rabelais: book i. chap. xiii.

[16:7] Marlowe: Jew of Malta, act iv. sc. 6. Bacon: Formularies.

[16:8] Sottes bolt is sone shote.—Proverbs of Hendyng. MSS.

[16:9] It has been the Providence of Nature to give this creature nine lives instead of one.—Pilpay: The Greedy and Ambitious Cat, fable iii. b. c.

[16:10] Lyly: Euphues (Arber's reprint), p. 80.

[17:1] Pryde and Abuse of Women. 1550. The Marriage of True Wit and Science. Butler: Hudibras, part ii. canto i. line 698. Fielding: The Grub Street Opera, act ii. sc. 4. Prior: Epilogue to Lucius.

Lord Macaulay (History of England, vol. i. chap. iii.) thinks that this proverb originated in the preference generally given to the gray mares of Flanders over the finest coach-horses of England. Macaulay, however, is writing of the latter half of the seventeenth century, while the proverb was used a century earlier.

[17:2] See Chaucer, page [6].

Two may keep counsel when the third 's away.—Shakespeare: Titus Andronicus, act iv. sc. 2.

[17:3] Pitchers have ears.—Shakespeare: Richard III. act ii. sc. 4.

[17:4] See Chaucer, page [3].

[17:5] Thou shalt come out of a warme sunne into Gods blessing.—Lyly: Euphues.

Thou out of Heaven's benediction comest

To the warm sun.

Shakespeare: Lear, act ii. sc. 2.

[17:6] Ther can no great smoke arise, but there must be some fire.—Lyly: Euphues (Arber's reprint), p. 153.

[17:7] One swallowe prouveth not that summer is neare.—Northbrooke: Treatise against Dancing. 1577.

[17:8] See Chaucer, page [2].

[18:1] See Skelton, page [8].

[18:2] I have thee on the hip.—Shakespeare: Merchant of Venice, act iv. sc. 1; Othello, act ii. sc. 7.

[18:3] See Chaucer, page [4].

[18:4]

A hardy mouse that is bold to breede

In cattis eeris.

Order of Foles. MS. circa 1450.

[18:5] The same in Don Quixote (Lockhart's ed.), part i. book iii. chap. iv. Bunyan: Pilgrim's Progress. Fletcher: The Wild-Goose Chase, act iv. sc. 3.

[18:6] Time trieth truth.—Tottel's Miscellany, reprint 1867, p. 221.

Time tries the troth in everything.—Tusser: Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry. Author's Epistle, chap. i.

[18:7] I saye, thou madde March hare.—Skelton: Replycation against certayne yong scolers.

[18:8]

More water glideth by the mill

Than wots the miller of.

Shakespeare: Titus Andronicus, act ii. sc. 7.

[18:9] An earlier instance of this proverb occurs in Heywood's Johan the Husbande. 1533.

He must needs go whom the devil drives.—Shakespeare: All's Well that Ends Well, act i. sc. 3. Cervantes: Don Quixote, part i. book iv. chap. iv. Gosson: Ephemerides of Phialo. Peele: Edward I.

[18:10] Others set carts before the horses.—Rabelais: book v. chap. xxii.

[19:1] Gascoigne: Roses, 1575. Title of a Book of Epigrams, 1608. Beaumont and Fletcher: The Scornful Lady, act i. sc. 1; The Sea Voyage, act i. sc. 2.

[19:2] To the latter end of a fray and the beginning of a feast.—Shakespeare: 2 Henry IV. act iv. sc. 2.

[19:3]

Be the day short or never so long,

At length it ringeth to even song.

Quoted at the Stake by George Tankerfield (1555).

Fox: Book of Martyrs, chap. vii. p. 346.

[19:4] Jack Jugler, p. 46. Rabelais: book i. chap. xi. Blackloch: Hatchet of Heresies, 1565. Butler: Hudibras, part ii. canto iii. line 263.

[19:5] What is bred in the bone will never come out of the flesh.—Pilpay: The Two Fishermen, fable xiv.

It will never out of the flesh that 's bred in the bone.—Jonson: Every Man in his Humour, act i. sc. 1.

[19:6] None so deaf as those that will not hear.—Mathew Henry: Commentaries. Psalm lviii.

[19:7] He has the wrong sow by the ear.—Jonson: Every Man in his Humour, act ii. sc. 1.

[19:8] See Chaucer, page [6].

[19:9] Chapman: Widow's Tears, 1612.

A proverb in the time of Saint Bernard was, Qui me amat, amet et canem meum (Who loves me will love my dog also).—Sermo Primus.

THOMAS TUSSER.  Circa 1515-1580.

God sendeth and giveth both mouth and the meat.[20:8]

Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry.

Except wind stands as never it stood,

It is an ill wind turns none to good.

Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry. A Description of the Properties of Wind.

At Christmas play and make good cheer,

For Christmas comes but once a year.

Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry. The Farmer's Daily Diet.

[[21]]

Such, mistress, such Nan,

Such master, such man.[21:1]

Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry. April's Abstract.

Who goeth a borrowing

Goeth a sorrowing.

Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry. June's Abstract.

'T is merry in hall

Where beards wag all.[21:2]

Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry. August's Abstract.

Naught venture naught have.[21:3]

Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry. October's Abstract.

Dry sun, dry wind;

Safe bind, safe find.[21:4]

Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry. Washing.

Footnotes

[20:1]

Falstaff. What wind blew you hither, Pistol?

Pistol. Not the ill wind which blows no man to good.

Shakespeare: 2 Henry IV. act v. sc. 3.

[20:2] Give an inch, he 'll take an ell.—Webster: Sir Thomas Wyatt.

[20:3] Wouldst thou both eat thy cake and have it?—Herbert: The Size.

[20:4] Every man for himself, his own ends, the devil for all.—Burton: Anatomy of Melancholy, part iii. sec. i. mem. iii.

[20:5] For buying or selling of pig in a poke.—Tusser: Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry. September Abstract.

[20:6] You have there hit the nail on the head.—Rabelais: bk. iii. ch. xxxi.

[20:7] Dives and Pauper, 1493. Gascoigne: Poesies, 1575. Pope: Horace, book i. Ep. vii. line 24. Fielding: Covent Garden Tragedy, act v. sc. 1. Bickerstaff: Love in a Village, act iii. sc. 1.

[20:8] God sends meat, and the Devil sends cooks.—John Taylor: Works, vol. ii. p. 85 (1630). Ray: Proverbs. Garrick: Epigram on Goldsmith's Retaliation.

[21:1] On the authority of M. Cimber, of the Bibliothèque Royale, we owe this proverb to Chevalier Bayard: "Tel maître, tel valet."

[21:2]

Merry swithe it is in halle,

When the beards waveth alle.

Life of Alexander, 1312.

This has been wrongly attributed to Adam Davie. There the line runs,—

Swithe mury hit is in halle,

When burdes waiven alle.

[21:3] See Heywood, page [15].

[21:4] See Heywood, page [10]. Shakespeare: Merchant of Venice, act ii. sc. 5.

RICHARD EDWARDS.  Circa 1523-1566.

The fallyng out of faithfull frends is the renuyng of loue.[21:5]

The Paradise of Dainty Devices.

Footnotes

[21:5] The anger of lovers renews the strength of love.—Publius Syrus: Maxim 24.

Let the falling out of friends be a renewing of affection.—Lyly: Euphues.

The falling out of lovers is the renewing of love.—Burton: Anatomy of Melancholy, part iii. sec. 2.

Amantium iræ amoris integratiost (The quarrels of lovers are the renewal of love).—Terence: Andria, act iii. sc. 5.

[[22]]

EDWARD DYER.  Circa 1540-1607.

My mind to me a kingdom is;

Such present joys therein I find,

That it excels all other bliss

That earth affords or grows by kind:

Though much I want which most would have,

Yet still my mind forbids to crave.

MS. Rawl. 85, p. 17.[22:1]

Some have too much, yet still do crave;

I little have, and seek no more:

They are but poor, though much they have,

And I am rich with little store:

They poor, I rich; they beg, I give;

They lack, I have; they pine, I live.

MS. Rawl. 85, p. 17.

Footnotes

[22:1] There is a very similar but anonymous copy in the British Museum. Additional MS. 15225, p. 85. And there is an imitation in J. Sylvester's Works, p. 651.—Hannah: Courtly Poets.

My mind to me a kingdom is;

Such perfect joy therein I find,

As far exceeds all earthly bliss

That God and Nature hath assigned.

Though much I want that most would have,

Yet still my mind forbids to crave.

Byrd: Psalmes, Sonnets, etc. 1588.

My mind to me an empire is,

While grace affordeth health.

Robert Southwell (1560-1595): Loo Home.

Mens regnum bona possidet (A good mind possesses a kingdom).—Seneca: Thyestes, ii. 380.

BISHOP STILL (JOHN).  1543-1607.

I cannot eat but little meat,

My stomach is not good;

But sure I think that I can drink

With him that wears a hood.

Gammer Gurton's Needle.[22:2] Act ii.

[[23]]

Back and side go bare, go bare,

Both foot and hand go cold;

But, belly, God send thee good ale enough,

Whether it be new or old.

Gammer Gurton's Needle. Act ii.

Footnotes

[22:2] Stated by Dyce to be from a MS. of older date than Gammer Gurton's Needle. See Skelton's Works (Dyce's ed.), vol. i. pp. vii-x, note.

THOMAS STERNHOLD.  Circa 1549.

The Lord descended from above

And bow'd the heavens high;

And underneath his feet he cast

The darkness of the sky.

On cherubs and on cherubims

Full royally he rode;

And on the wings of all the winds

Came flying all abroad.

A Metrical Version of Psalm civ.

MATHEW ROYDON.  Circa 1586.

A sweet attractive kinde of grace,

A full assurance given by lookes,

Continuall comfort in a face

The lineaments of Gospell bookes.

An Elegie; or Friend's Passion for his Astrophill.[23:1]

Was never eie did see that face,

Was never eare did heare that tong,

Was never minde did minde his grace,

That ever thought the travell long;

But eies and eares and ev'ry thought

Were with his sweete perfections caught.

An Elegie; or Friend's Passion for his Astrophill.

Footnotes

[23:1] This piece (ascribed to Spenser) was printed in The Phœnix' Nest, 4to, 1593, where it is anonymous. Todd has shown that it was written by Mathew Roydon.

[[24]]

SIR EDWARD COKE.  1549-1634.

The gladsome light of jurisprudence.

First Institute.

Reason is the life of the law; nay, the common law itself is nothing else but reason. . . . The law, which is perfection of reason.[24:1]

First Institute.

For a man's house is his castle, et domus sua cuique tutissimum refugium.[24:2]

Third Institute. Page 162.

The house of every one is to him as his castle and fortress, as well for his defence against injury and violence as for his repose.

Semayne's Case, 5 Rep. 91.

They (corporations) cannot commit treason, nor be outlawed nor excommunicate, for they have no souls.

Case of Sutton's Hospital, 10 Rep. 32.

Magna Charta is such a fellow that he will have no sovereign.

Debate in the Commons, May 17, 1628.

Six hours in sleep, in law's grave study six,

Four spend in prayer, the rest on Nature fix.[24:3]

Translation of lines quoted by Coke.

Footnotes

[24:1] Let us consider the reason of the case. For nothing is law that is not reason.—Sir John Powell: Coggs vs. Bernard, 2 Ld. Raym. Rep. p. 911.

[24:2] Pandects, lib. ii. tit. iv. De in Jus vocando.

[24:3]

Seven hours to law, to soothing slumber seven;

Ten to the world allot, and all to heaven.

Sir William Jones.

GEORGE PEELE.  1552-1598.

His golden locks time hath to silver turned;

O time too swift! Oh swiftness never ceasing!

His youth 'gainst time and age hath ever spurned,

But spurned in vain; youth waneth by encreasing.

Sonnet. Polyhymnia.

[[25]]

His helmet now shall make a hive for bees,

And lovers' songs be turned to holy psalms;

A man-at-arms must now serve on his knees,

And feed on prayers, which are old age's alms.

Sonnet. Polyhymnia.

My merry, merry, merry roundelay

Concludes with Cupid's curse:

They that do change old love for new,

Pray gods, they change for worse!

Cupid's Curse.

SIR WALTER RALEIGH.  1552-1618.

If all the world and love were young,

And truth in every shepherd's tongue,

These pretty pleasures might me move

To live with thee, and be thy love.

The Nymph's Reply to the Passionate Shepherd.

Fain would I, but I dare not; I dare, and yet I may not;

I may, although I care not, for pleasure when I play not.

Fain Would I.

Passions are likened best to floods and streams:

The shallow murmur, but the deep are dumb.[25:1]

The Silent Lover.

Silence in love bewrays more woe

Than words, though ne'er so witty:

A beggar that is dumb, you know,

May challenge double pity.

The Silent Lover.

Go, Soul, the body's guest,

Upon a thankless arrant:

Fear not to touch the best,

The truth shall be thy warrant:

Go, since I needs must die,

And give the world the lie.

The Lie.

[[26]]

Methought I saw the grave where Laura lay.[26:1]

Verses to Edmund Spenser.

Cowards [may] fear to die; but courage stout,

Rather than live in snuff, will be put out.

On the snuff of a candle the night before he died.—Raleigh's Remains, p. 258, ed. 1661.

Even such is time, that takes in trust

Our youth, our joys, our all we have,

And pays us but with age and dust;

Who in the dark and silent grave,

When we have wandered all our ways,

Shuts up the story of our days.

But from this earth, this grave, this dust,

My God shall raise me up, I trust!

Written the night before his death.—Found in his Bible in the Gate-house at Westminster.