43 
than to bear it,” “As you salute so you will be saluted,” and 
all the proverbs of calculated self-interest seem to be disarmed 
by the Italian saying, “For an honest man half his wits is 
enough, the whole is too little for a knave ” ; and from that 
land comes the beautiful word, “ The comforter’s head never 
aches.” 
The Spanish language is said to teem with proverbial 
expressions characterised by “ grave thoughtfulness, a stately 
humour, and a spirit of chivalry and freedom.” But subtle 
irony arid wit lurk in such sayings as these : “ The ass knows 
in whose face he brays,” “ The travelled man hath leave to 
lie,” “ Would’st thou know the value of money ? Go, borrow 
some.” A lovely ideal of friendship, however, gleams through 
this : “ When a friend asketh thee, there is no to-morrow.” 
Common sense and homely humour are the monopolies of 
no people and the following Spanish proverb, “ He who would 
catch fish must not mind getting wet,” “ Tet him not sow 
brambles who walks barefoot,” “ Never speak of a rope in 
the house of a man who was hanged,” and the famous saying, 
“ The succours of Spain are ever too late,” have a humour 
and point apparent under all skies. 
A great source of interest in proverbial lore is the diversity 
of figures under which kindred thoughts are clothed by different 
nations. “ Firs to Norway ” say the Dutch ; “ Water to 
the sea ” the German ; “ Blades to Damascus” the Asiatic ; 
“ Coals to Newcastle ” the Englishman. We say “ The pot 
calls the kettle black ” ; the Italian adds the disdainful touch, 
“ Keep off or you’ll smutch me.” The German, with more 
vigour and directness says “ One ass calls another ‘ Long- 
ears.’ ” Barbed satire against religious ingratitude finds a 
place in all languages. “ The river past the saint forgotten,” 
was a favourite word in early England. “ The lost cow for 
God,” says the Spaniard still, but the masterpiece is the 
couplet of Rabelais : “ The devil was sick, the devil a monk 
would be. The devil grew well, the devil a monk was he.” 
That proverbs should be transmitted, it was essential that 
they should be easily remembered. So, many wordy maxims 
have been shaken down by the popular tongue into rhymed 
sentences that stick like burrs. In such sentences as “ Store 
is no sore,” “ No pains no gains,” “ Safe bind safe find,” we 
hear the accents of immemorial village wisdom. But the 
great bulk of proverbs survive not so much by the tinkle of 
their sound as the vigour of their sense. The proverbs Shakes- 
peare uses are an instance in point. They are summaries of 
sterling wisdom, terse, axiomatic expressions verified by 
men’s experience. 
