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A Compleat Collection of English Proverbs
A Compleat Collection of English Proverbs
OF
ENGLISH PROVERBS ;
ALSO,
OF THB
J^^AV M A
Fellow of tbe Royal Society, ami Author of the Historia Plantarain, aud
Wisdom of God in the Works of CreaUon, fte.
^ "olUction of mottifi,
lEnsUief]^
NOT GJbNUKALL'V I'sKD
WITH AN ACCOUNT OF
LONDON :
1817.
PNl
PREFACE.
nes, and try what they conld call to mind themselves that were
itsgi-eatest
latitude, and according to my own drfinil ion of a proverb,
and object that I might as well have admitted all Ihc idioms of the
A 2
IV "
f PREFA^
any.
Now whereas I nnderstand proverbs admitted
thai in the
some
given my reason in the note upon it; and yet now upon better
coiiRiUeration I could wish tha't. it also were obliterated. For 1
cannot think all use of slovenly and dirty words to be such a lation
vio-
of
modesty, as to exact tlie discarding all proverbs of which
loathing in our stomachs, the words that signify them are apt to
those actions and parts of the body by which the^ are expelled,
and therefore the mention of them is uncivil .and contrary to
** WO tn% REArDER'.
J. RAY.
TO THE READER.
any part of the sacred writingsin whioh they are not to be fonmL
Their usefulness equal to their dignity,as they coo-
is at least
dace to the understandingof philosophy,of which they are the
"ary remains, and are adapted effectually to persuade; for what
Decembers, 176T,
-I .
I'ROVERBIAL
SENTENCES.
A
Antiquity is not always a mark of verity.
Better to go about than to tall into the ditch. Hispan,
The absent party is still i'aulty. "
B
Be not a baker if your head be of butter. Hispan.
The baUance distinguishes not between gold apd lead.
There's no great bmnquet but some ikre ut
B
d PROVERBIAL SENTENCES.
Beauty is no inheritance.
The ieffger
is never out of his way.
The ft^^ermay sinji^before the tldeC No more than the
sieve. Hispan^
That which doth blossom in the spring will bring forth
fruit in the autumn.
He that blotps in the dnst fills his eyes.
The body is the socket of the soul.
flatter.
He that con"ersetk not with men knoweth nothing.
Cam in good is hay, in ill years straw is com.
years
Com is cleanwd with the vrind, and the soul with cha5t-
ning.
He covers me with his wings, and bites ne with his bill.
A covetout man is like a dog in a wheel that roasteth
meat for others.
" 2 '
4 PROVERBIAL SENTENCES.
Hispan,
One fool mnkes an hundred. [the market
If yon piay with a fool at home, he'll play with you in
Better a haiefoot than no foot at all.
G
Who would be a gentleman let him storin a town.
It's not the gay coat makes the gentleman^
He giveth twice that gives in a trice.
Qui cito dat ins dat.
Dono molto
aitpettatoe venduio jum donato, liah
A gift long waited for is sold and not given.
Giving is dead now-a-days, and restoring very sick.
Who gives thee a capon give him the leg and the wing.
Hisp,
To give and keep there is need of wit.
A man of gladness seldom falls into madness.
Who hath glass-windows of his own must take heed how
he throws stones at his house. "
"
eiergie. Gall.
One never loseth by doing good turns.
Good and quickly seldom meet
Goodi are tbdrs enjoy them.
who Ital.
"rossiptand frogs they drink and talk.
The greatest strokes make not the best music.
There could be no great ones if there were no little.
He that in me dark finds that he would not.
fropes
Man^ tiimgs grow in the g^den that were never there.
Hupon.
The grounsd speaks not save what it heard of the hinges.
H
Thb wise hand doth not all the foolish tongue speaketh.
Hoppy 18 he who knows his follies in his youth.
The kard gives no more than he that hath nothing.
Things kardh attained are long retained. [night
He who would have a hare for breakfi^t must hunt over
thistles.
'Til safe riding in a good haven,
Tlie first point of hawking is hold fast
The gentle hawk mans herself.
When the head akes all the body is the worse.
Dum labo^
caput iiffestai omnia membra molestat.
One isliot so soon healed as hurt.
What the heart tbinketh the tongue speaketh.
Who spitsagainst heaven it falls in his face. Hispan,
HeUia full of good meanings and wishes.
The
^h-way is never about
Look Sighand fall into a cow-turd.
Lend thy horse for a long journey, llion mayejit have him
retam with his skin.
All things are soon prepared in r woll-onlrrrd houfe.
The foot on the cradle and hand on the distal), is the
I
"
one.
both. Hispan,
Industry is fortune's right hand, and fmgality h^r left.
your friends.
A knottifpiece of timber roust have smooth wedgos.
Many do kiss the hands they wish to sec cut off. Hispan,
shall be choked with tiio
He that cats the ki?ig^s
goose
feathers.
I.
He that labours and thrives spins fcold.
The lame gocth as far as the staggerer.
I'he last suitor wins the maid.
of love,
In a llionsntid p("und of /"rtrthere's not sin ounce
10 PROVERBIAL SENTENCES.
M
A nmid that giveth yieldeth. Ital,
A meid that laughs is half taken.
A mtdd oft seen, a gown oft worn,
Are disesteein'd, and held in scorn,
M^nmers make often fortanes. fsure.
When rmmy strike on an anvil they must strike by mca-
19 PROVERBIAL SENTENCES.
o
The offendernever pardons. ItaL [lastcthnot.
llie off-springot^ them that are very old or very young
It's ill healing an old sore. [him. Hispan.
He wrongs not an old man who steals his supper from
If the old dog barks, he gives counsel.
Canvecchio nonhaiaindarno, ItaJ.
Old friends and old wine are best. GaU, And old gold.
Old men, when they scorn young, make much of death.
young women.
world. Ital.
He who hath but one bog noiakes liipi -latyand lie who
hath but one son makes him a fopl. ItaL
One shrewd turn asks another.
One slumber Invites another.
All feet tread not in one shoe.
If every one would mend one^ all would be amended*
One and none is all one. Hispan.
There came nothing oui of the sadk but what wa3 iffit.
It's a rank coojrtesy wh^en a man is ipfnotsA
":"^ tfaanks
for his own.
PROVERBIAL SENTENCES. 13
daughter. Gau.
He promiseth like a merchant and pays like a man of war.
c
14 PROVERBIAL SENTENCES.
R
It's possible for a ram to kill a butcher.
The rath sower never borrows of the late.
A man without reason is a beast in season. \Hispan.
Take heed of eneniies reconciled, and of meat twice boil'd.
A good recorder sets all in order.
Remove an old tree and it will wither to death.
When all is consum'd, repentance comes too late.
He may freely receive courtesies that knows how to r"-
9"ftethem.
God help the rick, the poor can beg.
Riches are but the baggage'of fortune.
When ridhes increase the body decreasetb. For tnost
S
It*s a bad sack will abide no clouting. \ltaL
When it pleaseth not God, the sain^ can do little. Jlispf
StUman and sermon have their season in Lent. GalL
A scepter is thing, ladle another. Alia
one a res sceptrum,
alia plectrum. [worth.
You for schooling than your learning is
pay more your
Who robs a scholar robs twenty men. For commonly he
borrows a cloak of a sword of another, a pair of boots
one,
of a third, a hat of a fourth, ^c.
Who hath a soM hath sorrow to his sops.
Being on sea the
sail,being on the land settle.
A man must ""// his ware after the rates of the market.
He who jgerves well needs not be afraid to aKk his waj^es.
,
u
No cut to unMndness,
Utiknovm unki8s*d.
Unminded unmonM.
Under water, famine ; under bread. Ital.
snow,
Valour that parlies is near yielding^
Valour can do little without discretion.
Vis consilii expers mole ruit sua, Etparvi sunt forts arma
nisi sit consiKvm domi.
Tliat's not good language that all understand not.
Where men are weU used, they'll frequent there.
late dinner.
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.
War i" daath's feast.
IVho preacheth war is the devil's chaplain.
War makes thieves, and peace hangs them. Galh, It.
WoTy hunting, and law, are as full of trouble as pleasure,
lie that makes a good war makes a good peace.
He is wise enough that can keep himself u'arm.
hoc a
me"is mMts caweri, mimiLS etiam admonerU Quandocunque
aitini ntorborumt olterMtrum (Fehrem tertianam out quartanamj
patM pravtetioris atatis homhtibus accidisse vidi, atqus purgationem
etiam amissam ; eerto pradicere patuipericulosum aUquem wiorbum
You eat and eat, but you do not drink to fill you.
That inocb diioking takes off the edge of the appetite to meat, we see by
experience in great drinkers, who for the most part do (aa we say) bat pioi^le
at tlieir meat and eat Utttle. Hippocrates observed of old, that \iu,op
3"ty)l^C"
AVec ; a good hearty dranght takes away banger after long fast-
ing
sooner by far than eating woald do. The reason whereof I conceive U^
because that "add hnmour, which by Teilicating the membranes of the *"to"
ing and extinguishing the natnral heat. A, little oyl nonriahes the flame,
bat a great deal poorcd on at ouce may crown and quench it. A man may
that by litMe and little,which if laid on bis back at once he would
carry
sink ander. Hence old men, who in this respect idso, I mean by reason of
the decay of their spirits and natnral heat, do again become children, are
wom^ oat. And as a great excess of any quality or external violence doth
suddenly destroy the body, so a lesser excess doth weaken and partially
destroy It,by roidering it less lasting.
They who would be, young when they are old must be
old when they are young.
When the fern is as high as a spoon
You may sleep an hour at noon.
The cnstom of sleeping after dinner in the nmrner- time is now grown
general in Italy and other hot countries, so that from one to three m four of
th" dnek io the afternoon yon shall scarce see any one stirring aboat the
Bnt it may be this advice wai intended for a" English (to whoaa king this
book was dedicated) rather than the Italiani or other inhabitants ofhot coon,
waking after dinner. The best way for ns in colder climates is altogether
to absuin from sleep ; bat if we must needs sleep (as the Italian physicians
advise) dtber to take a nod sitting in a chair, or if we lie down strip off our
dodies as at night, and into bed, as the present dnk^ of Toscany himself
go
practises and advises his subjects to do, bot by no means lie down opon a
fn the sammer, notwithstanding the grass mnst be more hearty, the Jaice of it
being better concocted by the heat of the son in sammer time. I conceive
the reason to be, becanse the cattle drink water abandanHy by reason of their
Post qt^/w stabis vel passus mitle meahis. I know no reason for
the itiifcwprt,nnless one eats a greater dinner than sapper. For when the
pMuA% taXL it is not good to exercise- immediately, but to sit still a while ;
"#""*' ttiw "*i^." "*prrls*
^nm^ Mymm. ""*"
."^""s"yV C^vcn, vi%\ ^""""^" draws
Ike Ipaat ovtwira to the exterior parts, and 'w^ Waving the stomach and
bowds cold, hinders eoncoction : for I believe that as well the stomach as the
exterior parts are hottest after exercise : and that those, who exercise uoif,
concoct most and require most meat. So that exercise immediately after
meat is hnrtftol rather, upon aeooont of
precipitating concoction, or tnming
tlie meat oat of the stomach too soon.*'^As for the reason they give for stand*
io|for walldng after meals, viz. becanse the meat by that means is depressed
to the bottom of the stomach where the natural heat is most vigorous, it Is
very frivolous, Iwth because the stomach is a wide vessel, and so the bottom
of it cannot be empty, but what falls into it mnst needs fall down to the tom
bot-
: and because most certainly the Oomach concocts worst when it is in a
sawing vrith a hand saw and the like. Some turn this saying into a droll thus.
havfasg Irat little practice will have leisare enough to "tlend your Irasiness,
an4 dcdriag thereby to recommend himself and get more, will be very diU*
If you would live ever, you must wash milk from your liver.
Vin Mir laict c'eBt sonbait, Laict mr vin c'est venln. Call. This is aa
Idle old lawe, for which I can see no reason but rather for the contrary.
- night
He that would live for ay roust eat sage in May.
That sage was by oar ancestors esteemed a very wholesome herb, and
much oondndng to longevity, appears by that verse in Schola SaUmitana^
and should advise all persons not to go to bed with tb^ stomacba
fail of wine, beer, or ether liqoor. Por (" tte iavwiiMf ^ X-^t^^ft
any
vWcrvc8" nuuung ean b^ nfirm "-i"*iw"M tv tne brnn ; of which be gives a
moit rational and true account, which take in his words. Citm enknproj^
ter frocUfem corpcris situm urina A renUnu secreta non itti/aeiU
4 prampth uti citm erecti sumus in vesicam per uteres delabatur*.
cS$nqtte
vceica cervix ex proclivi siiu urina pondere non adeb gr"
yfienda spatium vix detur inde fiS ut proptur impediium per renes
continues the motion of all terrestrial animals, when he la farthest off, that
Is about midnight, the spiritsof themselves are aptest to rest and compose,
so that the middle of the night must needs be the most proper time to sleep
in, especially if we consider the great expense of spirits in the day time,
Irtirtly
by this heat of the afternoon, and partly by labour, and the cons|ant
exercise of all the senses : wherefore, then, to wake is to put the spiritsin
motion, when tliere are fewest of them, aiul they naturaUyitfost sluggish and
uufit for IL
AE1.0NGING TO HEALTH, "C. 23
dinM"a. That \", if a man goes to lied huofpry ; otherwise, he that eats a
dinner
pleiitiftil may well afford to go to bied sopperless. unless he hath
two hoors at least after supper. For (as the old physicians tell us) though
the second and third concoctions be best performed in sleep; yet the first ia
rather disturbed and perverted. If it be objected, that labouring people do
work after dinner, yet who more healthful than they? J answer that the
ease It dilliercBt; for though, by such practice they do turn their meat out of
their stomachs before fttll and perfect concoction, and so multiply crude hn-
monrs, yet they work and sweat them out again, which students and tary
seden-
"
Oace in th" witter, a second time in the sauce, and a third time In wine
in the stomach* Poisson, gorret ic cocldn vie en I'eau, 6c raort en vin.
Gall, Fish and young swine live in water and die in wine.
Drink wine and have the goat, and drink no wine and
have the gout too.
.
With this sajing, intemperate persons that have or fear the gout, rage
encou-
.
healthy, wealthy, and wise. [never.
Wash your hands often, your feet seldom, and head
your
Eat at pleasure, drink by measure.
Tliis is a French proverb. Pain tant qu'i dure, vin a mesure, ind
they themselveA observe it. For no people eat more bread, nor indeed have
better to eat : and for wfaie, the most of them drink it well diluted, and
never to any excess that I could observe. The Italians have this saif-
ing Uketeise, Pan mentre dura ma vin k misnra.
The best physicians are, Dr. Diet, Dr. Quiet, and Dr.
Merryman. '
vini pars inferior admixtione fads non modo turbuUnta, sed 4 sm"
pore deterior est, pars verb summa aeris vlciniH corrumpitur, J^,
following.
^
i^vantage s it not only preaerres the eom from the bittemeai of the frost
and cold, bat oirichcs the ground by reason of the nitrons salt iHdeh it is
avppoied to contain. I have observed the Alpa and other hii^h moanlaini
covered all the vHnlfrwith snow, soon afleff it is melted to become IQce a
the suiie'' feiiSf^ which grow in lo#er granndf ; and Ibat these ia#wj
mowlahM nibid greater variety of tptdes tlum ^a coantries.
'
May, come she early or come slie late, shell make, tlie
cow to quake.
^fay seldom passes without a brant of cold weather. Some will have it
When tiie wind's in the cast, it's neither good for man
nor beast.
The east- wind with ns is commonly very sharp, became It comes off tl"
Greek poets witness; as Ovid, Madidls natut evolat alls, and speaking
of the soath, Metamorp, l. he saidi, Contraria telius nubibus as*'
aiSpriyeyiTris*
P/i/iy saith. In totum venti omnes d Septentrione sic-
cUnres qudm d meridie, iib, 3. cap, 4T. For Judtea in AHa the Scrip,
tare gives testimony; Prov, xxv. 23. The norih-uind drives awajf
rain. WIterefore, by the rule of eohtraries, the sonth wind mast bring it.
The reason of this with the ingenions philosopher Des Cartes I conceive
to be, becanse those countries which lie nnder and near to the coarse of the
nknltitnde of vaponra taito the air, which being krpt in constant agitation by
the same heat tlut raised them, require a great space to perform their tions
mo-
in, and new slill ascending they must needs be cast off* part to the south,
and part to the nordi pf (he son's coarse ; so that were there no whids, the
parts of the earth towards the north and sooth poles would be most full of
doods and vapoors. Nqw the nortb*wind blowing keeps \"ck those va-
pours, and causes clear weather in these northen parts : bat the sooth-wind
brings store of them along. with it, which by the cold of the air are here
condensed into clouds, and Ml ))own in rain. Which account is ctuh
turum cum sUu : AiMsler Afriete serenus, AquUo nubilus, Tho rea*
son is,because Africa being nnder or near the course of the sun, the soiMlK
wind carries away the vapours there ascending ; but th^ north"wiod detains
them, and so paruy by compressing, partly by cooling theqi, causa them to
condense aqd descend In showers.
-
28 PROVERBIAL OBSERVAflOKS^
than the remaining internal beat of the earth, for as long aa the exlcmal ia
lesser than the internal (that is,so long ai the son hath not force enough to
produce as great a heat in the earth as was remaining from the last annuner)
ao long the internal most needs decreaae. The like reason there ia why die
hottest time of the day is not jnst at noon, bat about two of the clock ia
the afternoon, and the hottest time of the year not jnst at the smnnicr solstice,
bnt about a month after, because 'till then, the external heat of the son is
greater than the heat produced In die earth. So if yoa put a piece of irea
into a very hot fire it will not suddenly be lieated so liotaa tlie fire can nMlw
it ; "nd though you abate your fire, before It be thoroughly heated, yet wilt
it grow hotter and hotter, tiU it comes to that degree of heat which the fire
it is in can give it.
Le rooge soir dc blanc matin Font rejonir le pelerin. GnU* Sera roam
When the clouds are npon the hiUs, theyll come down
by the mills.
David and Chad sow pease good or bad*
That iSyabout the beginning of Marck.
prick*d, I
Bccaase the grass seldom springs well before the oak begins to pat forth,
as might have been observed the last year.
seldom cheap.
and fluid' : and once in winter in very cold weather, when it is toe hard and
difficult to spread.
meaning that the showers are governed by the planets,which being erratick
in their own motions, cause such uncertain wandering of clouds and falls of
rain. Or it rains by planets, that is,the falls of showers are as uncertain as
delivered me.
eemiog apple and pear-trees, oak and hawthorn qaiokt ; tbo' he It of Mr.
.
Betdfs opinion, that It's best to remove fraiurees in the "pring, rather tbaft
the Fhttosoph. Transact
winter. N. Tl.
later,that they may have time to take root before the deep frosts.
LiOve is blind.
Lovei^ live by love, as larks by leeks.
Thw is I conceive in derision of sach expressions as fiving by love. LarVs
these two tlw itch. L'amour, la tonsse " la galle ne se peavent celer. Gqll,
Amor la rogna " la toosse non si ponno nascondere. Ital, Others add stink.
Ay be as
merry as be can.
For love nc^er deliglitsin a sorrowful man.
Wedlock is a padlock.
Age and wedlock bring a man to his night-cap.
Wedding md Ul winteoog, tame both man attd beaetb
3^ PRaVERBJAL OBSERVATIONS
Marriages are made in heaven. Nozze Sf magistrato dab-
deh e destina, Ital.
Marry in haste and repent at leisure.
It'sgood to marry late or never. [you can^
he is buried.
Who weds e're he be wise, shall die e'i"e he thrive.
Ifs hard to wive and thrive both in a year.
Better be half hang'd than illwed. [he goes to bed..
He that would an old wife wed, must eat an apple before
WUch by reason of it'k flatat)encyis apt to elcite lost*
But he that woes a widow must woe her day and night
He that woes a maid must feign,lie,and flatter :
Bat he that woes a widow, must down with his breeches
and at her :
This proverb being somewhat immodest, I riioold not have inserted, bat
that I met with it in a little book, entitled,The Quakers Spiritual Court
Proclaimed, written
by Natkanael Smith, Student in Physick : wherein,
the aothoc |neBti9iitit.as"eooB8eLgiven bim by one Milkiah Bedfprd, an.
)
REFEHRINO TO LOVE, 8C"!i. $S
emineiK 6"aker la London, wbo woald htve had- kim to b"m muvM ft
rich widow, in whoM hoote, in caie ha conJd gol btr" tfait NmUum^t^
Smith bad proroiied HUkiah a chamber gfatii. The wh"i|c narrative If
Thia reaion they give that wolad not hare women learn lanfHigei,
asinutf muHer
JViia;, legeUgata. sitnih sunt
Haetriafiilrect^faeiuntsiverheraceesami^, '
warling. Jmaster.
A grunting horse, and a groaning wife seldom lail their
In time comes she whom God sends. [thieves.
He that marries a widow and three children, marries four
Two daughters and a back door are three err^^t thieves.
A black manVi a jewel in a fair woman's eye.
Fair und sluttish (or foolish) black and proud,
Long and lazy, little ajid loud.
Beaate Sc folic vont sonvent de compagnic. Gali, Beaity and fbllyd"
often "0 hand in hand, are often matched together.
When the good man's from home the good wife's table
is soon spreads
36 AN ALPHABET OF
been said, that if a bridge were made oyer the narrow seas, aU the women
iaJTuro^e woeld oome over Uther. Yet ia it worth the noting, thai thongh
in no country of the world the men are so fond of, so roach governed by,
to wedded to their wives, yet hath no langoage so many proverhkl isvec-
He speaks bear-garden.
That is,saeh rude aad nncivil, or sordid and dirty laD^aage, u the rabbW
that frequent those sports are wont to nse.
,
Have among
you bUnd harpers. --
\pri/iiaTa^"yrfp.
NobUity U nothing bat ancient riches: and
It melts like butter in a sow*s tail ; or, works like sope, ^c.
I have a bone m my arm.
them, that they are unwilling to do, or that is not good for them.
c
Every cake hath its make, but a scrape-cake hath two.
Every wench hath her sweet-4ieartyand the dirtiest commonly the most :
To a cow's thumb.
Crack m" that nut, quoth Bumsted,
To rock the cradle iu one's spectacles.
Cream-pot love.
Such as young fellows pretend to dairy*maids, to get cream and other
good things of them.
Christian's name. i
JOCULATORY PROVB^RBS. ^9
eomc take it to be the male pimpernel : besides which there is another herb,
sj called, whl^restmbles mallows, and is mnch eaten by the Egyptians.
upon leaving his driuk behind him in an ale house, at the news of a
A good dai/will not mend him, nor a bad day impair him.
ril make him da?ice without a pipe.
u e. I'll do him an injury, uul be shall not kiit"w bdw.
E 2
40 AN ALPHABET OF
E
I'll warrant you for an at Easter.
egg
G
The way to be
gone is not to stay here.
Good goose do not bite. ^
It's a sorry will not baste herself.
goose
I care no more for it than a goose-turd for the Thames,
Let him set up shop on GooaidfCs sands.
This ia piece of wit being aeqoivoqae in the word
a coontry ; there an
lie hath swore desperately, vix- to that which there ta a great prcanmp-
lion is false : swallowed a false oath.
H
His hair grows through his hood.
He is very his hood is full of holes.
poor,
JOCULATORY PROVERBS. 41
of beggars*
I
I AM not the and
first, shall not be the last.
To be Jach in an office.
An inch an hour, a foot a day.
A basket ^'itfft'c^,justice, a good
a jill forenoon justice.
He'll Ao justiceright or wrong.
K
There I caught a hune in a purse net. \hiscvp.
Knock under the board. He must do so that wiU not drink
As good a knave I know, as a knave I know not.
An horsQ-hiss, A rude kiss,Me to heat 0fiU*steetk out.
L
Hjs house stands on my lady'sground^
E 3
hi" AN ALPHABET OF
A long lane and a fair wind, and always thy heels here
Lasses are lads leavings. Chesh, [away.
In tb" east part of England, whsre they use the word tnothther ftHr k
fn'rl,they have a fond old sawe of this natare, viz. wenches are tinkers
bitcheSf girles are pedlers trulls^ and modhdhers are honest men*
daughters.
Thou'lt lie all manner of colours but blue, and that is gone
The best dog leap the stile first, i. e. Let the worthiest
44 AN ALPHABET OF
ThU Ifl8p""keu-
of bucks who lean after ^
grow rutting time, and may be
applied to men- i
R
Some rain some rest, A harvest-proverb.
The dirt-bird (or dirt-owl)sings,we shall have rain.
When melancholy persons are very merry, it is observed, that there
pensive, meaning, they will get a wife with a good portion, tliat shall pay
for It.
good speed.
s
*Tis sooner saidiAknn done.
School-boysare the reasonablcst people in the world/ they
care not how little they have for tlieir money.
A Scot on Scot's bank.
llie Scotch ordinary, u e. The house of office.
That goes against the shins. Le, It*s to my prejudice,I
do it not willingly.
He knows not whether his shoe goes awry.
Sigh not but send, he*ll come if he be unhang*d.
Sirrah your dogs, sirrah not me, for I was born before yoa
Of all tame beasts I hate sluts. [could see.
He*s nothing but skin and bones.
To spina fair thread.
Spitm his mouth and make him a mastiff.
No roan cryM fish.
stinking
Stretchine yawning Icadeth
and to bed"
To stumble at the truckle-bed.
To mistake the cliamber-maid's bed for his wife's.
T
His tail will catch the chin-cough.
Spoken of one that sits on the ground.
A tall man of his hands, he will not let a beast rest in bis
He's Tom Telltroth. [pocket
'i\vo slipsfor a tester.
The tears of the tankard.
l^'our farthings and a thimble make a tailor's pocket jingle,
U 0 throw snot about, i, e, to weep.
/ "If
46 AN ALPHABET^ "C,
Turnspitsare dry.
W
Look on the wall, and it will not bite you.
spoken in Jeer to soch as are bitten with mastard.
deriring to have his bed warmed, the servant-maid doffi her clothes, and
Jays herself down in it awhile. In Scotland they have neither bellow*^
warming-pans, nor houses of office.
'
^
PROVERBIAL SAYINGS. 47
Y
of him.
Hb has made a i^ounffer brother
The brother liath the more wit.
younger
The younger brother is the ancienter gentleman.
Old and tough, young and tender.
48 PROVERBIAL PHRASES.
A Lier,
A great Lie.
A Bankrupt.
He's all to pieces. He has shit in the
plum-bag. /He's
blown He has shut i^ his shop-windows. He dares
up.
not shew his head. He hath swallowed a spider. He
hath shewed them a fair pair of heels. He is marched
A Wencher,
A Wkwe.
A covetous Person,
baker by his bow legs. Take all and pay Uie baker. He
drives a subtle tHade.
A
Long absent soon forgotten.
Parallel to Ch" are. Out of sight "mt of mind, and SsUom seen toon
^K dot
^0^.01 "l"l\oi.Friend! dwelling ato off are no friends. And
tainly affliciiun and adversity makes men better, Fexatio dot tnteUectum,
come la simia, chi pin va in alto pin moitra il colo. ItaL Tbe ItaUaas T
find draw this proverb to a different sense, to ugnify one, who Um nnorehe
speaks the more sport he makes, and the more ridiculons be renders hianelC
and was, I suppose, brought over to us by some merchants that traded tbert*
aonae at table, expecting to be carved to, and often invited to eat, and !""
fusing what yon offer them, "c. The Italians say almost in tke sam" wmOti
A tavola non bisogna haver vergogna. And the French. Qui a bamta
de manger a honte de vivre. Jle that's ashamed la eat is ashamed to Ut""
t
It sevnis the word aver in Scottish sigoiftes a ooU, a# appears also by diat
other proverb. An inch of a nag is worth a span of an aver: in Mw
horse, and seems to be all one with the Latin "/"mefif mot.
B
That whidi is good for the lack is bad for the head.
Omnis commoditas sua fert incommoda secura.
to say, When things are come to tlie wojrst they'llmend* Cum duplieantur
liitcres venit Moses.
^
s^ ^
INTIRE SENTENCES. bZ
wdfm, and shew their good honse-wifery. We speak this in excuse of the
OlKlaQ,gad abroad a littletoo much, or that is blamed for not giving the
entertainment that te expected,or not behaving herself as other matrons de.
She hath nothing to work
upon at home, she is disconsolate, and therefore
"aeketfi to divert herself abroad : she is inclined to be virtuous, bat discom-
posed
Sell not the bear's skin before you have caught him..
Kon vender la pelledel orso inanzi che sia preso. Ital,
Where there are iiidastrions persoos, there ii wealth, tot the hand of tk"
^oinvidet.fl^^^^^^
ICCJiC/^U/ AWCU
'
A good hegiimmg makes a gooa ending.
De bon coinniencenient bonne fin. Gall. " de boune vie bonne fin. A
Venter non habet aures. Ventre affame n' a point d'oreilles. GtM"
Discourse to or call upon hnngry persons, tbeyll not mind yon, or lekw
their meat to attend. Or, as Erasmus^ Ubi de pastu agiturt non "rfb
tenduntur honestte ratUmes. Nothing makes the vulgar more nntraotMi^
itree, and seditious, than scarcity and hunger. Nescit plebes j^uaa H-
mere. There is some reason the belly should have no ears, because word"
win not fill it.
INTIKE SENTENCES- 55
lacking. Cotgr,
pvpose, as
'Ai"" KoKoioq irpog KoXotov il^"VBi, Semper Gra,
cuius assidet Oraculo. T^mJ iikvrirriyi 0/Xoc, fivpfiaKi
^k fivpfia^,Theocrit. Cicada cicada chara, formica formica.
'lieSluI roy 8flOU"y "yu deoc w'c Tbv OfXOlOV. Homer. Odysi.
". Semper similemducitDeus adsimUem,'^OflOiOV h^oi^ ijtlXoy^
JS^mMe gaudet "mUi* kOfAoiovofioltt e^/crat. SimUe appetU
simile, vmde 8c*0/LLOl6Trig
T^e (^t\6rriroc
firiTTjp, Likeness is the
teotber of k"ve. JSqwMs aqualem deiectttt.. Young men delight in the
company of young, old men of old,learned men of learned,Mricked of wicked,
good fellows of drunkards, "c. Tully in Cat, maj. Pares cum paribus
Cut est in vetere proverbiejfacilUmk congregantur.
He's in great want of a bird that will give a groat for
anowL
One bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
" meglio aver hoggi on uovo che dimani una gallina4Jtal, Better have
an egg to day, than a hen to-morrow. Mienx vant nn tenes que doiz vons
tmmmmmuwMtii
tfaiaLiritefravcrliiastlUiiiinuMogtlloilsifdl.
lU^tmfmUiemuiUeniknmik"ii"miim9$t$m$Hmsnm. M^sr
eompedts qvasftcU ip9c gestet. Amoiu
56 PROVERBS THAT ARE
the meaning of it is, that a biaclc woman may bear a fair duld.
kind, where tlionghthe father had jadgment to be hanged, yet .there follow*
ed no forfeitore of his estate, bat hit son might (a happy man according
to Ilorace^A description) paterna mre bobu* exercere s"i*" lho"|^
there be tliat expound this proverb tku. The father to the boigh, i. e. to
bis sports of hawking and hunting,and the son to the plow, i. e. to a poor
hnsband*man's condition.
sar. Ital.
A haw long bent at last waxcth weak.
L'arco si rompe le sta troppo teso. /^o/. Arcus ninds intensus rutn-
pitur. ThUp are not to be strained beyond their tonus and strength.
This jmay be applied both to the body and the mind : too much labour and
stody weakens and impairs both the one and the other.
Otia corpus alunt, animus quoque pascitur illis ;
Infmodicus contra carpit utrumque labor.
JSraj^U
a good dog, but that he hath lost his tail. [bite.
JBra^s a good dog if he be well set on -,
but he dare not
Much hran and little meal.,
Beware of hreed,CIiesL t. e, an illbreed.
That thafs bred in the bone will never out of the flesh.
Cbi nM per nalKra in alia fossa dura. Itai. That which ctHnes natt-
nJSf cootinact till death. The Latins and Greeks have many proverbial
lijriagf
to this porpotc, as Lupus pUum mutat no" mentem. The wolT
suajr change Ua hair (forwolves and horses grow gray with age) bat mot
hii dlspodtion.
Naturam expellasfurcA licet usque recurret, IIorat"
Speak not iU of him who hath done you a courtesy, or whom yon have
made use of to your benefit ; or do commonly make use of.
Bridges
were made for wise men to walk over, and fools
A hrtoe will enter without knocking. [toride ovcr"
A hroken sack will hold no corn.
This is a fVench proverb engUshed, Un sac perce ne pent tenlr le
grain: thoagh I am not Ignorant that there are many common both to
f'rastce and England, and some that mn thro"|^ moat Uusgnagea. SaCCO
rotto DOB tlaa migUo. Ital, Millet being one of the laait of (raiM.
"
"
" V V
.
* "
^ "
*"
* 1
/
58^ PROVEBBS THAT ABK
are
ita^^v Se re viiirtOQ^vw, Heslod, p^y^^v ^^ te
vifiriOQ^yvht,
Homer. Piseator Utus saper ; itmck by the scorpion
fish whose esteemed Can' scottate da
or pastinaca, pricklesare venomons.
cold water.
Carets no cure.
A pound of care will not pay an ounce of debt.
Cento carre di pensieri non pageranno un' oncia di debito. Itat. i. """
An hundred cart-load of thooglits
will not pay an ounce of debt.
occor in the anciaiit GfweA tad LtitlH poata to this p"rfoae" aa" Omm$i
stbi nuliiks """e mmhmt futim mltgri, Tereut. Andr. Fr"ximus jnm
.
Chmrre-fcik^
are never paid.
That is,give them what yon will they are never contented.
the Diach proverb hath it thus. Too are not expect tmth firom any
to
Imt ehtldren,persons dnink or mad. Jn vino Veritas, w" know* laUm
it fols sont Divins. GdlL
jtyu. "
INTIRB S"NT"NC"8. 6l
cerned either for what it put, or for what it to eomt. Neither the r"iBem"
brance of tlw one, nor fear of the other troubles them, bat only the lenae of
present pain : nothing sticks apon them. They lay notliing to heart. Hence
it hath been said, Nihil scire tut vUa JtteundUsima, to which that of
jEcclesiastes gives some coontenaace : lie that encreateth knowledge
encreaseth sorrow.
Children suck the moiher when they are young, and the
fatlier when they are old.
So we have the chink well bear VB^hthe stink.
IjHcri boniu Qif^lli6"tiwaveual. This was
est odor ex the Em-
re peror
capellaappreaso. Ital,
the sin of their sool : and U's easier to part with one's goods than one's sins.
apt to b^;et pride, and consequently folly in them, amd envy in others,
which mnst needs precipitate
them. Sudden ebanges to "zinordinary good
or bad fortune, are apt to turn men's braini. A eadtr ira chi Iropp^ alto
sale* ital,
G
icfX^til,
/2^^t*^'. 'PcJ" - ^vj.
much needing or well deserving, fiocca trinciata mosca non ci entra. /tol*
vant. Gall. He is a fool that spends more than his receipts. Sumptus
censum nh superet, Flaut. Foen. Messe tenus propria vive, Pers.
The French say, Chien sur son ftimire est hardi. A dog is stout on his own
dunghill.
Let him that is cold blow the coal.
In the coldest ^ini there is hot fire.
Co/c? of complexion good of condition.
A ragged coh may make a good horse.
An unhappy boy may make a good man. It is used sometimes to signify,
that cliildren,
which seem less handsome when young, do afterwards grow
into sliapeand comeliness : as on the contrary we say. Fair in the cradle,and
foul in the saddle : and the Scots, A kindly aver will never make a |ood
iiorie.
INTIRE SENTENCES. 63
Uc*s an illcook that cannot lick his own finfccrs.
C"luy goaverne Men nihl le miel qai n' en taste " lesdoiisttn' en Icche.
tialL He is an ill keeper of honey who tastes it not.
nmtton he liad in his month, let it drop in and lost it" Chi tutto abbraccia
nnlia stringa. ItaL
A cough will stick longer by a horse than half a peck of
Good counsel never comes too late. [oats.
For if good, it mast snit the time when it is given.
Sincere and true^earted persons are least given to compliment and cere-
mony.
It's suspicioushe hath some design upon me who courts and flatters
me. Chi te fa ^in carezza che non vuole, U ingannato t'ha,o ingannar te
"aole. Jtal. He tJiatmakes more of you than you desire or expect, either
be hath cozen'd you or intends to do it.
prince, left ns Edward the secohd : Eduard the black prinee BiehwHt
tlje second ; Henry the fifth,a valiant and sucpesiftil king, Henrp fbt
sixth, a very unfortunate prince, though otherwise a good man. And
yet there want in history instances
not to the contrary, as, among the
French, Charles Martell, Pipin and Charlemain in continaai worn*
Great and good are not always the same thing,though onr langvafe oAfi
makes them synonymous terms, as when we call a great way a good wqr,
and a great deal a good deal, "c. in which, and the like phrases, good i%"
nifies somewhat less than great, v^iz.of a middle size or indifferent. Botms
also, in Latin, is sometimes used in the same sense, as in that of Ptrtimt^
Sat. %. Bona pars procerum, Les grands boenfs ne font pas les grtadft
joumees. Gall, The greatest oxen rid not most work.
'
Shameless cravingmust have, "c. v, in S.
You must learn to creep before you go.
Soon crooks the tree that would
good g'antire/ be.
A -gambrel is a crooked piece of wood on which butchers hang ap tha
sarcasset of beasts by tba Itgi^from the Italian word gamba, slgnityii^^
a
INTIRE SENTENCES. 65
1"g. Parallel to thii is that other proverb. It early pricks that will be ""
earth, bnt are laid upon men for some ju"t reason. Divines truly say, that,
No cross no iorown.
it's ill killing a crow with an empty sling.
The crow thinks her own bird fairest.
Asinus asinOf sus sui pulcker, 4; suum cuique pulchrutn. So the
Ethiopians are said to paint the Devil white. "very one is partial to, ^nd'
weir conceited of his own art, his own compositions, his own children, his
own coantry, "c. SelMove is a mote in every one's eye ; it influences,
biMses, and blinds the judgments even of the most modest and cious.
perspica-
Hence it is (as Aristotle well observes) that men for the most part
love to be flattered. Rhetor* 2. " A tons oiseauz lent nids sont beaux.
Gall, "very bird likes its own nest. A ogni groUa paion' belli i suoi
groliatinl. Ital.
Cunning is no burden.
It is part of Bia6*s goods, it will not hinder " man^% flightwhen the mies
ene-
are at hand.
D
He that will not be ruled by his own dame, must be nilcd
by his step-dame.
He dances well to whom Fortune pipes.
Assai ben balla a chi Fortuna suona. Ital. The French have a pro.
verb. Mieux vaut ane once de fortune qui nne livre de Better is
sagesse.
an oonce of good fortune than a pound of good forecast.
When
you take
jou go to dmeey take heed whom by the
If s as good to be in the dark as without light [hand.
Jone's as good as lady in the dar\ v. iiil.
my
One may see day at a little hole. '
tliat gives away bis goods, before death, prepares himself to saflfer.
^f"2uu;^^
^^i^iyyurrnfiUn^^ 4^^- ^7. ^- 4 )
Every dog hath his day, and every man lus hour.
All the dogs follow the salt bitch.
Love me and love my dog,
Qni aime Jean alme son chien. Gall. Spesse volte si ba rispettoal cane
per il padrone.
He that would hang his dog gives out first that he*^s mad.
He that is aboot to do any thing disingenaons, unworthy, or of evil fame,,
first bethinlts himself of some plaasible pretence.
ungratefol person loses his cost. For if a dog break loose he presently gets
him home to his former master, leaving the cord he was tied with.
StMa.
Hungry will
"{og"# eat dirtypuddings.
J^fuHus rarb ttomachus vulgaria temnit*
oecaitoa will serve mens tarns. A petite achoison Ic loop prcud le moaton.
Standing water* are apt to corrupt and patrify : weapons laid op nod
disused do contract rust, nay the very air, if not agitnted and brolcen with the
wind, is thought to be nnhealthfui and pestilential,especially in this onr na.
* *" ,
hi Tfis
vifl"l"ovTOQ yXdnrriQ^eglrS fie^vovrog,Plutarch,
irzpi d^oXco-v/ac- Erasmus cites to this parpose a sentence ovt
E
Earh up and never the nearer.
tiiemselvea.
INTIRB SENTENCES. 71
All ehu [or helps] as the geni-wren said, when she piss'd
in the sea.
more apt to boast than those who have least real worth ; least whereof justly
to boast. The deepest streams flow with least noise.
oar wSa, it is its over^raoistness, which inclines as to the scarry and con-
aomptions; diseases the one scarce known, the other hot rare in hotter
coontries.
beguiles.
For stiles Essex may well vie with any coonty of England, it being
wholly divided into small doses, and not one common field that 1 know of
in the whole country. Length of miles I know not what reason Kent hath
to pretend to, for generally speaking, the farther from London the longer
the miles ; but for cunning in the law and wrangling, Norfolk men are
Justly noted.
Ecehange is no robbery.
A bad excuse is better than none at alL
Emerience is the mistress of fools.
Etperientia stultorum magistro' WUe men learn bjr ottim
fooli by their own, like Spimetheus, OQ "Wel Kaicoy Ive vdfltru
What the eye sees not the heart mes not
Le coear ne veat donloir qae ce 1' oeil
pent veoir. GaiL
ne Tberwfore
it is not good to peep andpry into every corner, to be too inqolriliTe faMo
what oar seryant* or relations do or say, lest we create owsdtea inncic"
lary trouble.
He that hath but one eye sees the better for it.
Better than he would do witi^oat
it : a ridicoions saying.
F
A GOOD face,"c. v. band.
FaiiU heart ne'er fair lady.
y^ won
p^BUtn, Ja cooard n' aara belle amie. GaU* For, Auientes fortuna
juvai*
Fair featliens make fair fowls.
Fair
clothes, ornaments, and dresses set off persons, and make them
Fair in the
cradle,and foul in the saddle.
Kfair face is half a portion.
Praise a/atr day at night
Or
else you may repent, for many tiroes clear mornings turn to cloudy
evenings. La vita 11 fine e'l di loda la sera. The end commends the Ufe,
and the eveniagthe day.
The/atre"e silk is soonest stained.
This may be applied to women. The haudaomeit women are aoontst
]NTIA" SENTENCES* 73^
corrupted, t^^ipaiile
ihtgrare mm t"n|it"fU It amv tlw fe^ ipgHfdlajqyl
Miares, wUch are uMMt euKtf drawn away by rtH eooipaBy.
There's/a/"A"MN/in fellowship.
Common/fiine's seldom to bhime.
A general report la rarely without tome froml ^Kq smoke witboat
Huiod.
meal, and eat good pait, wlthont report or tnuapet^ MaiC 'Oc
Siyj/wvTeg
fruojrfj irlvwi, Tb^ that arc lUnqrdridiiiieiitJIy.Si
earvus taeuUstt kdberei
VtoftMidMdisf
Mrlv^^thevar.
At good to be out of the world as out of 4^ /i^jIfMm.
Al drops fitllfrom fat flesh.
FtU sorrow is better than l"ui sonpow.
BaHMT have a rich haabawl and " VfVMiid 4llb *" " ^iNT baikMd and
a lerrowftri life with him, ipotHn to.aaaomfB " mt0 i" .mmnf a rieb
"an,llw4ghillcoBditkNi^
JUttte kiwwa i^M m wJwt ^]|im."mf HHMOa.
The/"(A"r to the
boncpb* 4v. ". id #.
Whero BojSwft ii4lMi" VMdi^^ao p"Mk
74 PROVERBS THAT ARE
Ifs ill
fishing before the not. One would rather think
Fresh fish and new come guests smelly by that tliey ai"
'
4hree days old. '
^,
L* hoste " le poinon passe troia jonrs pnent GaU, Piteii^neqnsm
est nisi recens. Plant* OrdjUiary friends are welpome at first,bntwa a*0b
All^#Ais notvenisool
1 r
Many kinsfolk,
%Vffiimd$,
One's kindred are not always to be acconated oaa^l friend^ Ihoogh to (Mr
INTIRE SKNTENCEP^ 77.
than a brother.
farandi.
re ptraetA venkndum.
imdding.
the English,
Boit ont oreilles," champs oeillets. GaU, Some hear and see him
whom be hearetb and seeth not; for fields have eyes, and woods have ears,
ye wot. Heywood,
G.
H 3
78 PROVEUBS THAT AUE
You may g-ope loaf ^fmrngh, eVe a brivd filltitf ymil- iiMcMV.
H* thtti i^^A miMk he be fed, wdl may be |pap"r tntil 6e
be dead.
Celt foUe de beer centre nn four. Gaik
INTIRE SENTENCES. 79
Not God above gets all meng love.
*OvS" yap 6 Ze^c "^ i^ irAvrd^ ^v^Pei 8t" "r"y(btv,
Tke9gn.
God knows Well which are the best pilgrims.
What God will,no frost can kill. [thoudoest.
TqII me with whpm thoa gout, and 111 tell thee what
La Alia compagnia ^ qaella che mena haoaiioi i la farca. JtaL
H
Hackney mistress backney maid.
'Oirola 4 ^eerTroivarolae rot ^fpcwrarv/^fc.
dc. Efist^
Att, S. Qualis hera tales pedUsequm, Et, rkc dBWOivaQ al
Kijvec fxiflkt^tvai*
CatuUt dominam imitantur. Fideas aute*%
sapientUe, Mieax vant ane once de fortane qn* nne Hbre de safeiMw
Gali, Ad oance* of good fortnne U better tbaa a poand of wisdom.
INtlRE SENTENCES. 8l
hMCe "n cbemiiwoC, en beaa cfaeinio we foarvoye soaveoU Gall, lie that
walks too hastilyoften stumbleajn plain way. Qui nimis jpr^peri mintis
.
kMt" when yon come down than when
you went up.
Nothing must done kiutilybut be killingof fleas.
Hagt^fclimbflrt,jre.v. climbert.
A haHjf (or angrt) man never wanti woe. v. A.
JStuhfpeople will never make geod midwivet,
HaH^ gamesters oversee.
Np Mwff tt" hang trtie teen.
If s good to have a hitUn before the ddor.
High ny\njt /btt^ are fit for princels.
Make hay while the sun shines.
A great hedd and a little wit
This is oiUy for the cMneh sake l"eeoBe a |roiverK for eertatnlythe {reater,
(Iw more brains; and the more brains, the mor" wk, if rightlyeonfornied.
Better be the head of a pike than the tail of sturgeon.
Better be the head of a dog than the tail of a libn.
M^io ^ fsser capo di lacertola che coda di dragonre. Hal,
proverbs have all the same sense, vte. Men love ptiortHf ami pr^eedetfey,
had rather govern than be raled^ command tbaa obey, lead than be led|
tboDgh in an inferior rank and quality.
bnsy you are "ifd stir ya" kMp, the le'.ifytfs gtili.
8d PROVERPS THAT ARE
Chascan juue an Kny dcspouille. GulL Ihey that are once down ihali
badi BO heart let him have heels. So we see, nature hath provided timori
oas ereatures, as deers, hares, and rabbets, with good heels, to save Acm*
fielves by flight.
fivery tub mast ttaod ifwa Ua owa bottooit Jbvery mu mMt gktt la*.
coming, made a taw that no man shoald bring or tell any such news. upon
Where-
it happened, that, when the enemies did come indeed, they were sar*
f
The best hiru needs breakings and the aptest oliud
'
Where the Aorje lies down, there some hair will be fonpd.
Fuller's Worth.
The horse that's next the mill, ^c. v. mill.
A ""ll'dh"tse will not endure the comb.
Touch a g^rd horse, ^c. v. gall'd.
II tignosa non ama il pettine. Ital, Jamab tigoenx af aim^ \t pigat.
QaU, " CheTal r"^gneuz n' a cure qa' on 1* cftriUe* G\M,
Non k icappato chi itraadna U cittna dJMio. /tel, II a* esi pw ddiap "
own.
Tua res a^ur paries dkm proximus ardet.
ridge. '
ABMnmylwri|ij|fc^MyyaydwTitii|Myin,ti|*
"r bt liMliiUjrfend aad iadd|ant to Ikcm.
INTIftE SENTENCES. S5
"
Appetito non vnol salsa. JtaL II a' y " aavlce qne d' appetit, GaU
This proverb is reckoD"d among aphorisms of Socrates
the j Optimum
cibi condimentmmfames sitis pct"s. CIc. lib. 3. de finibas.
might not be driven away, l"ecaase Iningryones would tlien take their places.
I
Every Jack must have his Gill.
Cfa^tscon demande sa sorte. Gall, Like will to like. It onght to be
y 4
:."
"""
:"x
86 PROVERBS THAT ABE
Manvaise herbe croist tons jours. Gall. Passi crescono senn inalBargtt.
Jtai, Fools grow without watering. A mauTis chien la qoetie Iny vtent.
witness ; biU [ thinic be mistakes the intent of it, which is the same with
(anilis qa' il etA cLand. Gall, People mast (ben l^e p icd when they arn ui
(Da
an oath
mihi
or
mutuum
testimony.
teslitnonium.
I'll do
Orat.
as
pro
much
Flacco.
for you.
Lend
Ov
me
claw
me and 1!11 claw you. Commend roe and fll commend yon. " Pra
JJelo Calauriam. Neptune changed with Lataua Delas fur Cs/nawinu
L" i^della dice al paiaolo vad in la, die ta mi non Unga. Itai, II 1""
L
An unhi^py lad may make a good man.
A ragged colt, ^c.
e ast able to bear are least aUe to resist the UnfKMitioa of the burden.
Learn to lick betimes, you know not whose tail you may
Shew me a liar,and JL'Ushew you a.thie" [go by*
Life is sweet.
"While tliere's lifethere's hope.
Insin que v* ^ ftato v* i sperarsa. Ital, JSgroto dum anlma est spes
est, TuU. md Attic 'EXir/^fC ^V ftSoi^iV AvAlft^Ot ^^
^avivTiS, When all diseases fled out of raodora's boy, hope remained
tbere still.
INTIRE SENTENCES. 89
ttiey wlio "ell dear sell little, and many tintes lone a good part of their
^vares, either spoil'd or grown otiC of nf" and fashiun by long keeping, toco
^ spt-sso emjAe it borse to. Itul, LitUe and ottea fills tbe purse.
cheap.
light,4;c.'
a distance, much to their advantage beyond their just propurtkm and merit,
l^ame is a magnifying glass. -
Every one a" they like best^ as the good man said whem
he kiss'd hi^ cow,
i^
Like will to like (as the Devil said to the coUief!)Or^
as. the scabl/d 'squire said to the mangy knight, wheit
they both met in a dish of butter'd ^h,
Ogni siiuile appetisce il suo simile. Jtal. Chasciiif cherche 9on senibla*
bie, or, demaude sa sorte. Gall* Cascus casca/u. ducit, U "" vntulus
on the contrary. These proverbs are always talwn.iu.the worse sense. Tali
erit,
"
"Add* furum par vo magnus mcervus
Be petit vieat oa au grand, oMd, Lea petlu hiiaaen* fbat .U" graadf
rivicrea. Gall, All ekea, 4"^. The greatt-at iiumber it made "p of wdlca;
and all the watera of the aea, of dropa. Plnma i pinma le peta If
Jtal. Feather by feather the goose is plnck'd.
Little pitchers have greaj
^nrSSfTff^flrniJil^^irBien
tost oognea Josqnot .an
That which the child heara by the fire ia often-known aa fiur as Jlf"iM"|M%
a town in Savo$. So that it aeema they have long tongaca, as well aa
PUny reports, tliat thtre are to be foand flints worn by the feet of pis.
mires* Which is not altogether unlikely ; for ilic borae ants especially, I
have obaervcd to have their roads or footppatiis
so worn by their traTtllinf,
that tiM;ymay easily be observed.
Many littles,
jrr.v, little.
So nmny men so many minds.
Tante teste tanti cervelll. ItaL AutanC de testes autant d' opinioiu, GaU^
Qttot homines tot sententke, Terent.
the master's eye : the other being demanded, what was tbe best
manure, answered the master's footsteps. Not impeittnent to this pur|"OM
is that story related by Gellius* A fat man riding upon a lean bone askact
how it came to pans, that himself was fnt, and his liorse lo teaik B"
"wered, because I fctd raybelf,hot my servant my lu"rae"
'
INTIRE SENTENCES. 93
That is not always good in (he maw that is sweet in the
Who that not as he wUW ^iii"
4'(^nV* [mouth.
may
Every may ^ hath a may not be.
Two ill meaU malce the third a glutton.
Measure is a treasure.
After meat comes mustard.
When there Is no more ase of it.
Hutch proverb.
Much water goes by the mill the miller knows not of.
Assai il molino ctie ii molinaio non vcde* ItaL
acqna passa per
An golden thumb.
honest miller hath a
]n vidn doth the mill clack,if the miller his hearing liick.
:i* " '
^- "..
#"^
94 PROVERBS THAT AllB
came alone, " Apres perdre perd on bien. When one begins onoa to lose,
one never makes an end* A Un mal attire I'antre. On^ inisrhief draw* on
another, or one mischief falls upon the neck of another. Ji\frtuna "uiU
cbesse contenta est semeL
Misreckotiing19 no i^tiyment
MiiHHderstmiding brings lies to town.
This is a good observation, lies and flslse report arise most pmrt from mia-
lake and misnnderatanding. llie first hearer mistakes the first repocter, la
some considerable circnmstance or particalar;the second him; and so at
Ia sonris qai n' a qu' aoe e"tr"e est incontinent happi^e. Gail* Mus non
wUjfUUt MUr0. Goo"l riding at two ancfaeo, having (wu string to one's
.
Erasm. Adag.
to light.
owii bushel.
When a musician hath forgot his note, he makes as
N
.
Ntcessity is cole-black.
.Need makes the naked man ran (or the naked quean
A good neighbour, a good good-morrow.
Qui k bon vuisin k bon matin. Gall. Chi ha cattivo vidno ha U mal
iDHtino. Jtal- j4 liquid mall j/roptcr vicinum malum* Flaat. in Mtere.
I7i//tia
KaKog ydriov otrov r' ciya^oQ fiey*ovdap, Hesiod,
ThemlstocleSf having a farm to sell, caused the crier who proclaimed it,to
adrl, that it had a good neighboar: rightlyjudging that loch an advantage
would make it more vendible.
Here's talk of the Turk and Ptrpe, but it's my next neigh'
hour does me the harm.
Yon must ask your neighbour if you shall live in peace,
I'he rough net's not the best catcher of birds.
New lords new laws.
De nouvean seigneur nonvetle mesnie. Gall"
Where notJiing's
to be had, the king must lose his right.
Ninno da qurllo ehe noB ha. Ital, Le roy perd sa rente on il n* y a
prendre. Gall,
que
INTIRB SEKTBNCBS. 97
One jMur t mtne and seven yean the worse.
lMiltt"r
of all those they afterwards bring forth, which seeds, eggs if yoa
yoong
ao pleafe to call them, wheu they are all speut, the female becomes eflaete^
or oeases to breed. In birds these seeds or eggs are visible,and Van
It's all one to physidc the dead, as to instmcC old men. NcfCpov
iarpiT"HV KoX yipovra vtStTuv ravrdy */3tc. Senis mu-
rose, slow, and forgetfol. If they have l"eeD pat in a wroog way at firat,
no hopes then of redacing them. Senex psittacus negligU ferulamn^
winter.
are ready to snspect on the slightestoccasion. Some have this good fortane^
have aU ilieir actions interpreted well, and their faults
to overlooked ; otiiera
to be ill beheld and sospeeted, even when they are innocent. So parenta
times observed to bave partialitytowards
many are great some child ; and
not to be offended with liim for tiut, wliich they woold severely ponish in
their other children.
r
and say the best.
Oy, voy, " te taia, si to veux vivre en pais. GalL Ode, vede, teec*
Sevooi viver in pace. Jtal,^,
pres est la ehalr que la chemise. Gall. My flesh is neartr than my skiit.
ag^^ the stream ; be wearies hionelf and Um"" grooad too. Chi spoda
contra it vento si spnda contra 11 viso. Jtat. He that spiu against the irind
i"ndnta. ItaL
lie that
prieth into every cloud be stricken with a
may
Proffered service (and so ware) stinks. [thunder-bolt.
Merx ultronea putet, apud Hieronym. saith, Qt^in vulg^
ErasTmu
etiam in ore eat, ultra delatum obsequitun plervnque ingrattun esse.
that coonsel wai more available than strength, causes two honee to bo
INTIBB SENTENCES. 105
VroQ^t oat, the om poor and lean ; the ether ttroag and having a busby
Uil. To the poor weak horse he seli a grttt, strong, yoong man. To the
atrong horse he sets a little weak fellow, each lo pluck off his horse's tail.
This latter pullinf the hairs one by one, in a short space, got off with the
whole tail : .whereas the yoong man, catching all the tail at once in hi"
hands, fell a tagging with all his might, labonring and sweating to little per*
pose; till at last he tired, and made himself ridlcnloos to all the company.
Piiuia 4 plama se pela 1' occha. Ital, Feather by feather the goose to
phicked.
money.
Q
Quick at meaty quick at work.
Bonne besle s' eschaoffe GuU, A good beast will
"
en mangeant. get him*
self on heat with eating. Hardi gaigneor hardi maogenr. Gall,
No receiver no thief.
The receiver's as bad as the thief.
^A/Li"l"6Tepot
KXioirtg Kai 6 Be^"fuvoc^ ical'6 K\i\pac*
PkocyL
He that reckons without his host must reckon again.
Chi fa conto senza 1' hoste fa cnnto dae volte. Ital, Qai compte sans
or to betoken as early a decay of wit and parts. As trees that bear doable
flowers, viz. cherries, peaches, "c. bring forth no fmit, but spend all in th"
blossom. Wherefore as another proverb hath it. It is better to knit than
blossom. Prseito mataro, praesto marso. Jtal,
yonng and riring, have more followers than they that are old and decaying.
This consideration, it is thought, withheld Queen Elizabethf a prudent pHo"
cess, ^m declaring her successor.
Orlando chi nou viddero mai sao brando. Itai, Non omnes qui ctfAo-
MWNif oar EingUtk coUeettont, and like^ite the French and JiaUan, I
have kt It peta. A tavola toada son li contende del Inceo. JiaL Roade
table otte le debat. GalL
AeiirepOQ
nXSg.
,A ogni e""a ^ rimedio faora qa' alia morte, Ital* There's a remedy
for every thing bat death.
Save something for the man that rides on the white horse.
Fm* old age, wherein tbe head grows white. It's somewhat a harsh fM-
[themain seiu
and
Sttifing dicingare two things.
Dn dire au faict y 'a gr^nd traict. GaU,
n"y often la driven npon it himiclf* Some word it thas : Hanging's acreftdH
Snf , mocking's catching.
Seek till yon find, and yoa'il not lose your labour.
Seldom comes a better.
To see it rain is better than to be in it
The self-edgemakes show of the cloth.
Self do, self have.
bier impara a radere. ItaL He is a fool that will tuAir a yo"n| liffliaar
to practise first upon him.
trill lenre nelghbooring princet in their ware, and are u famoQs in oar
Tlie brother had rather see the sUter rich than make her
As good sit still as rise up and fall. [so^
If the sky falls we shall catch larks.
Se roninisie II cielo itl pigliarebbon di moiti aocelll. /foZ. Site del tool.
bone" cailles aeroyent prinset. Gall*
when
iSj^iial yon are qK"ke to, oome when you are cali'd.
jut emHikim mlt me"$$ierli mtittfium vourU.
filth.
g" pools gather,
.,.,
"#"lfsesee more
"
than gamesters.
^
" Mv ftiMOM ^mdm in nto negotiovitUni k/tmines.
.
s
110 PROVEKBS THAT ARE
Of sufferancecomes ease.
T
Make not thy tail broader tlian thy wings, t. e. keep not
too many attendants.
A tailor*" shreds are worth the cutting.
Good take heed doth surely speed.
A good taley ill told, is marred in the telling.
One tale is good 'tillanother is told. *
Therefore good Jadge onght to hear both parties. Qui statult mliquld
I a
factis est. Nee mihi dicere prompium, nee facere est isti,
opus
Ovid. Verba importat Hermodorai.
thelborn bosh in a literal sense. Few places in JSngland where a man caa
tons. The Italians in the same words, Tre taceranno, s" due vi non sono.
a groat. fstomacli.
ThaUs, some to SoUm* Est modus m rebus, sunt, "c. llor. 'L' abon-
Ingannato se non cbe si fida. ItaL There ia none deceived bnt be that tnits*
In trust is treason.
comely, jast and eqnal to requite kindnesses, and to make them amends
who have deserved well of us. Mutual offices of love, and alternate help
or assistance, are the fruits and issues of true friendship.
Ton r antres s' attend. While one trusts another, the work is left undone.
against one. Hercules was too little for the Hydra and Cancer together.
.
dogs and a bone never agree in one.
Two dogs strive for a bone, s^d the third rums away
with it.
V
He that stays in th^ valleyshall never get over the hiU.^
L 3
114 PROVERBS THAT ARE
the tame sense, that is, to do or suflfer that patiently which cannot well be
Vngirt unblessM.
Better be unmannerly than troublesome.
Unndnded unmoned.
Use makes perfectness.
l/sus promfiet fadt^
a high interest, and the beneit that wonld accnie to the commonwealth in
w
No safe wading in an unknown water.
It's not good to wake a sleeping dog ; or lion. Ital.
Good ware makes quick markets.
Proba merx/aciU, empt"rem reperit. Plant. Fsbb.
Chi
non puo fare come voglia faccia tome poo. ItiU, and Chi iuhi
pao qnel che vuol, qael che pao voglia. Quoniam id fieri quod vis mm
ennemls mortels.
demje panrie. Gall, So the Jtalimns say, A few words ; we say, one
word; and the French my, half a word is eaoagh to the anfleistauding
and apprdMBihre.
Many go out for wooU and come Iiome shorn,
Wordt are but wind, but blows unkind.
Ktii^oTaroy
irpdy/na XoXoc-
Words are bat sands. It's money buys lands.
Fair words makes foots fain, i, e. glad.
Dooces obligent les fois. Gall, I fatti lono maKhif, le
prooMSfes
parole femine. Ital, Deeds are males, words are females.
cognatL It was wont to be said, Ubi amid ibi opes; bnt now it may (at
Erasmus complains) well be inverted, Ubi opes ibi amicL
Y
As soon goes the young lamb's skin to the market, as the
old ew*s.
Aussi tost roeurt vean comme vache. GalL Coti tosto mnorcU duetto
come capra. Jtal.
Young men think old men fools,and old men know young
men to be so.
This is quoted by Camden, as a saying of one Doctor Metcalf, It is
A
'Vo bring an abbey to a grange.
To brtog a noble to niiie"pence. We ipeak it of an nnthrift. Ha fatto
d' ana lanea una spina, " d'nna calza una borietta. Hal. He hath
.
made of a lance a thorn, and of a pair of breeches, a purse : parallel to oars.
He halhthwiuen a mill-post to a pndding-priclc^
Afraid of the hatchet lest the helve stick in's arse. Chesh,
Afraid of his own shadow.
.More afraid than hurt.
Tkey agree like cats and dogs.
They agree like harp and harrow.
This hath the same sense with the precedent, ^arp and harrow are
secundus, Elizabeth ^nn. 1684. And Sir Edward Cooke calls him the
oracle of the common law. I'his proverb b usually applied to such lawyers
or others as being corrupted with larger fees shift sides, and pretend the
case is altered; such as have bovem in lingua. Some make this the occa"
passed his ground, answered, he might have very good remedy ; but the
other replying, that they were his hogs, Nay then neighbour (qoodi be) the
case is altered. Others more probably make this the original of it. Plowden
being a Roman Catholick, some neighbours of his, who bare him no good
will,intending to entrap him and bring him under the lash of the law, had
taken care to dress up an altar in a certain place, and provided a layman in
a priest*
" habit, who should do mass there at such a time. And withall
notice thereof was given privately to Mr. Plowden, who thereupon went
and was present at the mass. For this he was presently accused and in"
dieted. He at first stands upon his defence and would not acknowledge the
thing. Witnesses are produced, and among the rest one, who deposed, that
he himself performed the mass, and saw Mr. Plowden there. Saith
Plowden to him, art thou a priest then? the fellow replied, no. Why then
gentlemen (quoth he) the ca% is altered: priest no No mass. Which came
t" b" aproverb, and coathnes still in Shropshire with this additioii^ The
B
He knows not a B from a hattledoor.
His hack is broad enough to bear jests.
My Lord Baldwin*^ dead.
It is nsed when one tells that for news wliich every body knows. A
Sussex proverb,but who this Lord Baldwin was 1 coald not learn there.
author that itcontained all the English proverbs, nay, repliedshe. Bate me
^
,
1 hat is, you'llbe a begger, yon^l acratcii yoaraelf.
cat but slowly when the bridle is in bis month. Or else it may signifyto
^Tet,swell, and diisqaiethimself wiib anger. Frana mordertf in Latin,
hatb a different sense, i. e. to resist tliose who have os in subjection, as an
unruly horse gets the bridle between his teetb, and runs away with his
rider ; or as a dog bites the staff yon beat him with. Statius aseth it in
a contrary sense, viz. to submit to the conqueror, and take patiently the
bridle in one's month. Subiit leges S^frana memardit.
To come hluelyoff.
Hc*s true blue, he'll never stain.
Coventry bad formerly the repaution for dyinc Uuet, iosomnch that
true blue came to be a proverb, to signify one that was always the same;,
and like tiimself.
sheep, hares, ftc. )Jay they are sojike, tiint ihvy are called by the same
name ; this figpre they get from the ceils of the col(ni"
Some have it, so let them drittkf and it seems to be better sense so.
sense.
Qpon the top of the barrel, drawing oat the whole vessel without any
intermission.
al hosto s'egr ha buon vino. Jtal, Ask font host if he have good wine.
To complain of ease.
A friend in a corner.
evifipovri
dicitur^oTiTO fi"Ki'^arolg av^ptairoig
i^povi'iPT6Tt
wapaylyerat. La notte i nadre di peniieri. Itai. The night is the
raodier of thoughts.
sick horse.
What is got in tiie covmiy is lost in the hundred.
What is got in the whole sum is lost in particolar reckonings ; or in
Court holy-water.
Ean beniste de la coar. Gali, Fair words and nothing else.
montest 4"^*
city.
coincidence in tfie first letters of Dickson and distress : otherwise wiio thia^
Dickson was I Icnow not.
del ortolano, che Don tnanciii "!" cattoU egli Sc ncin ne Uueu mangUr altri.
Ital, Like the gardener's dog who cannot cat the coleworts himnelfy nor
node to king Henry the sixth, and bis prote"tfor daring bis minority,
Dnke of Gloucester, renowned for hospitalityand good hoose-keeping.
Those were said to dine with Duke Humphrg, ^ho walked oat dinno*
time in tlie tiody of St. PauPs church ; becaose it was believed the Dnke
was buried there. Bat (saith Dr. Fuller) that saying is as far from troth
as they from dinner, even twenty miles off; seeing this the Dolce was buried
in tlie chorch of St. Albans, to which he was a great beueAictor.
bastard.
E
Hb dares not for his ears.
Gorg.
He/ifrf" frsnluncense.
This is "a andent Greek proverb, B^lccv Xi/Jdwrov, SdM"Mre
Cfl"ve by them who have not experienced it, vrhat " bnzslng and noiie a
"NLorefoolthan fidier.
The Ticar offo6ls is his ghostly father.^ A /^y^
O "ef^?r r^-
To set the best /bo* forward. Ir^rt^-y
He hath i^r foreheadto ^
a graft on.
Better lost tban/otmcf.
Too free to be fat. [not get bis wife with child.
He*s/r"e of Fumbler^s-halL Spoken of a man that can-
poiiions k nager; Gait. Yoa raiut not teaoh fish to twini. Xeiiofa me to
do that I know how to do much better than yonrwlf. Teach your father to
way the hair liee, yoar hand slides smoothly down ; but if yoa stroke the.
contrary way, the hair rises up and resists the motion of your hand.
fipcdcittl
to one thst comes so late that he batb kMt -bis dimipr or tapper.
Wky the here's foot ninal be kiss'd I know not; why Ihe coek ihoekt Imi
kissed there b some reason, to gtt some victaals of her.
knew what.
He is
drinking at the hMrrow when be should be foK.
lowing the plow.
To make a long ha^xest of a little corn. [ears.
To hear as- hogs do in harvest with harted
; or, your
He is none of the Hastings.
Spoken of a slow person. There is an aquivoque in the word Hastings
which is the name of a great Camiiy in Leicestershire, which were Earls'
of HUntington. They had a fair hoose at Jshby de la Zouch, now
much mined.
is left him, choose whefher he wiU hxte H^t'or no. Thta Hobson
or any
was a noted carrier in CaasbriOie^J^ liDf^Jmm^* Jtf ^y ttf
"iiiitis/"l"R
134 PBOVEHBIAL PHRASES,
food fai the town } reUevinf the poor, and bolldiof a pabUc coodiiit Id tte
market place.
.
Kot mnch aollke hereto is that lAttin one, Duabus seUis tedert, I. e.
iErasm. JLiberius Mimus cboiien into the senate by C^sar^ coming to sit
down by Cicero^ he refusing hini, said, I woold take yon In dM we not sit
many into the senate that there was scarce room for them to sit. Liberu9
replied, bot yon were wont to sit apon two stools {duabUS seUis sedere)
neinlng to be on both sides.
1
To be Jack on'hoih sides.
Romper il t!iModff
Jtal. Sctndere glaeienu To begin aity btsardont
lOr dUBcolt thing.
fiiickofthet("".
Sick of the idie crick, and the belly-wark in tbe heel,
Belly"wark, i, e. belly-akc It is nsed wben peo^ eeiq^iaiaof sidiMsl
friends to eat this and that and the other thing, thereby clogging ti"eia
stomachs and adding fewel to tiielr diseases : fondly imagining, that if they
eat not a while thcyOl preaestly die.
Kim Jmm.
It comes by Jdnd,it costs him nothing.
A man of a strange kidney.
Whosoever is king be histhou'lt man. [clogs*
111 make one, quoth Kirkkam, when he danc*d in liis
You would kist my arse before my breeches are down.
She had rather kiss than spin.
iSjitafter kind.
A chip of the old block. Qui naist de gelineil aime \ grater, irall. lie
-
that was bora of a ben loves to be scraping.
poDge. ItaU
fli^ a Wiiae to get the akin. Aquam piorat dim iatmt /umOers.
Flaut.
M
Madge ^ood cow gives a good pail of milk^ and then
kicks it down with her foot
To correct, or, mend the Magnificat,
i, e. To correct that which is without any faolt or error. Magnificat
is the Virfiin Mary'% hymn, Luke i. So called fVom the first word of it,
which is Magnificat. As the other hymns are called Benedictus, Nunc
She's a good maid but for thought, word, and deed. '
^^
There are never the fewer Tnaids for her.^ " u^ "L^ic^i^A
^i^iU-^-^^iX^/
that tiatli maUlcn children. ' ^
Spolcen of a woman
"
nothiDg.
^ .
'
N 3.
138 PROYEBBIAL FHRASEjS.
yW's miDd, and a week's mind : they were lesser funeral soleMinilias apt
ppiqt^ by the deceased at those times, for the remembrance of him.
N
He had 9^ gopd eat Jms nm^
You had not your name for nothing.
To Md one by tfienote.
Not too high for thepye, nor too low for the crow.
If there be no remedy then welcome PiUvaU,
To be in a merry pin.
Probably this might come from drinking at pins^ The Dutch, and
with certain pini, and he aoooonted the man that coold nick the pin ;
.
}
FROVBRBIAL P"ftAS^B"" 14t
To come in jii4cUMg"time.
Her pii/ftf
beats matrimooy. fgrouBdy w wind^
To no more jwn^wM tiian to beat yonr^eU againat th9
To as much purpose as the geese shir npon the ice. Chulu
To as much jmrpose as to give a goose hay. Ch$shm
Q
To be in a quandary.
To pick a quarrel.
Heil be quartermaster where e'er he comes;
deducis.
y.
^i'
1 'o ncn thick
throtif^j and thin.
Mi" thft*:narf* nuul" of running leather.
To run i\m wild g"x"f(c chase.
J'o rM"9 orii} way and look another.
Af akMiUin 40, ^^y gig inro^rifia,
apc?fpar uc
VoTo*
yirtfOy, ArUtoph. apMd StAdam* AiUta mammfirt jepUfm,
pufKtm Mttntut nUera. PUat.
s
MoKR Melu to the mill.'
'I'ointrnti Mailmf^hi a foir'f ear.
'I'o M;ii|""f
a tcowerinf^.
You innkf? ruij tcrtttch where it dofli not itdi.
'111'!tm it wantu
i^otriiilairiN water.
Thai woijlil I fain t$ey Miid blind Geor^ of HeOmKm,
To i9#r/IJ|Ioiie'N MtaiT.
If #, Tn r"""/lv" III NbMH tn " plafeek
'1*0"tii uii hitf Nail to every wind,
f "IriiVfrll* * umi v"ii(. Oil//. Evannmre ad 9mmm mmrmwu- Mh^
To i'IimI II 0hrtj)*n
eye at one.
To niNl iin old "/"";"
alter one.
Nol woMli tW-6fu*A/tf#.
To iiitiki*
a Mr show in a coantry chnrch. [CheA.
(iooil lo Inltih n #trA( man sorrow and a dead man woe*
Tdl me it snows.
A sow to a fiddle,
*'Ovog Xi/pag. Astnus ad lyram,
'
.
f^
"^*"^/
^^
Tocalla,;"deaspade. -
He bath "pi^liis
venom.
^^
"^ hcu two Stotdays meet, t. e. never. ^1^ Grttcmi Cakrn^
To swaUow an ox, and be chok'd with the tail, \dmi.
^'^
"^
'^^ l\J^3hUw saiue senie wick ike two koc Mve oac.
,
,,. rf ;4^(UiOCr^ thwi^ an inch board.
^
He'll "a(?e"r^
dagger out of* sheath.
T
To thrust Us feet under another man's tMe.
AUenm vioere quadrd.
A tale of a tub.
To tell tales out of school.
To talk like an apothecary.
^ Totteniefi-steeple's
the cause of Gifodwin's sands.
TUf proverb is aaed when an abcvd and lidkakas reaaoa it givcB at
Biskop Latlmer'% wrmoM in these words : Mr. Meore was once seal with
coinmiwion into Kent, to trj ont, if it mifkc be, wkat was the cause of
GoodtcM9 sands, and tke shelf which stopped op Sauduieh haven. ther
Thi-
cooKth Bfr. Afoore, and calleth all the eonntry before idm, sach as -
Among the rest came iu before liim an old man with a white head, and
one that was thought to be little less than an hnadrad yarn old. Wkoi
Mr. Miwre saw this aged wum, ke thongkl k wtfoditt to kcv kirn say kis
mind in this nutter (for being so old a man, it waa likely that he knew
most in that presence, or company.) So Mr. M^ore caOed tUs old aged
man unto him, said, Father
and (said he) tell roe if yon can, what b the
cause of the great arising of the sands and shelvct here abaaC ttto kavea,
which stop It np, so that no ships eaa arrive here. Tom are *e oldest man
I can espy in M Ike eoopany, so tkat if any man eaa tell any cause of it,
yon of ail likelihood can say moat to it, or at leastwise mare tkan any man
here assembled. Yea f"vsootk, good Mr. Moart, qtonh tkis old man, for
I am well nigh an hundred years old, and no man here in tlds company
thing near my age. Well then (quoth Mr. MtertJ how uj yon to
any
this matterf What think yon to be the came of tkeae riiahres aad aaads,
which stop up Sandwich kavcaf Fonootk sir, (qaolh kt) I "m M otf
.
""" *
t'
V\\ not pull the thorn out of your foot and put it into
To stand upon thorns.
Thriftand he are at a fray.
When in
thrift*^ the field,he's in town. / '
^ r ^"- "- ^
fultus.
u
To nourish a viper in one's bosom.
w
A warrant seal'd with butter.
To look to one's water.
To cast water into the Thames,
Lumen soli mutuari. "e.
You canH see green cheese, but your teeth must water,
I'll not wear the wooden dagger, i, e, lose my winnings.
Wear a horn and blow it not.
To come home by weeping cross.
Thii weeping-crass, which gave occasion to tiiis phrase, b about two
,
ntely blind ; but hatb perfect eyes, and tbose not covered with any brane,
mem-
as some have reported : but open, and to be fomid withoot side the
head, if one search diligeutly, otherwise they may easily escape one, bdiii^
very small and lying hid in the farr. So that it must be fnaatcd, 4hat a
mole sees bat obscarely, yet so mnch as is snflicient for her manner 4"flbfiag"
being most part under ground. Hypstea cieeior. This Hypsaa was a
woman famous for her blindness. Tiresia cacior* The fable of Tiresias,
and how he came to be blind, is well known. Leberidt cethr. Est
(satth Dr. Fuller) I conceive Thomas, the first of th^ name gave chief
occasion to this proverb; who in the year 184S, with ane squire and six
As soft as silk.
As true as a turtle to her mate.
As warm as wooll. fa bull.
As wise as Wahham's calf,that ran nine miles to suck
As wise as a wisp, or woodcock.
As welcome as water into a ship, orf into one*s shoes.
As weak as water.
Otheri.
As angry as a wasp.
As bald as a coot
As bare as the back of my hand.
As bitter as gall. Ipsa bile mnarwr'a, [jet,as ink, as soot
As black as a coal ; as a crow or raven ; as
the Devil, as
He's like a cat, fling him which way you will he'll light
on his legs.
She^s like a cat, she'll play with her own tail.
He claws it as Clayton claw'd the pudding, when he eat
As clear as a bell. [bag and all*
spoken principally of a rchc or Mmnd witbont wiyjarribg
or banhneat.
As dark as pitch.
Blaclmess is the colour of darkness.
As dead as a herring.
A herring is said to die immediately after it b taken out of its element
the water; that it dies very suddenly myself can witness; so likewiae do
As dizzy as a goose.
As driink as a beggar.
This proverb begins now to be disused, and instead oi it people an
ready to say. As drunk as a Lord : so much hath tbat vice (the more is the
As dry as a bone.
As dull as a beetle.
As dun as a mouse.
As fast as hops.
As fat as butter, as a fool,as a hen in the forehead.
ChesMre,
As fierce as a goose.
As fine (or proud) as a lord's bastard.
As fit as a pudding for a'iiiar't mouth.
As fit afi a shoulder of mutton ior a tick horse.
As Haltering or fawning as a spaniel.
As fond of it as an ^a whip and a bell.
ape
To follow one like a St ArUhmy's pig.
It u applicable to such as have 8wU" aalMbie toula, who for a amatt
PROVERBIAL S1MILIES" 151
reward will lacqnay it many miles, being more nttkkmn and takkiOM fei
This Robert was a Knareburgh saint,and the old women there can stiU
fooght with Robin Hood and little John both together, and got the better
A s greedy as a dog.
As as grass ; as a leek.
green
As hail as a roch, fish whole.
" sano come nn pesce. JtoU
As hungry as a church-moose.
As innocent as a Devil of two years old.
A conscience as large as a shipman's hose.
As lawless as a town-bull.
As lazy as the tinker who laid down his budget to fart.
As lean as a rake.
To leap like a cock at a black-berry.
Spoken of one that deflret and eadeavoari to do harm bat cannot.
As lecherous as a he-goat
As light as a tly.
To lick it up like Lim hay. Chesh,
Um b a Tillage on the river Mersey that parti Cheshire and Lanea-
envying mens costly devotion, saith Dr. Fuller; bat more probable it la
that it took its rise from a small image of the Devil standing on the top of
lAiwoln College in Oxford.
As loud as a horn.
To love it as a cat loves mustard.
To love it as the Devil loves holy water.
To love it as a dog loves a whip.
As good luck as had the cow, that stuck herself with her
As merry as a cricket
As old as JUharing-Crois,
As plain as the nose on a man's face.
As poor as Job,
This umilitude rnns through most laiiiEiM|e". la the "ni"ersHy of
wood together.
iiibt";d, that is, a kin. In Suffolk the banei of mttrimoBf are called-
sibberidge.
As sick as a cuahioB.
She simpers like a britle on her wedding day.
She simpers like a riven dish.
She simpers like a furmity kettle.
I'o sit like a frog on a chopping block
As slippery as an eel.
As smooth as a carpet. Spoken of^oodway.
As softly as foot can fall.
As sound as a front.
As sour as verjuce.
As as an onion.
spruce
To stink like a poll cat.
ik^ A^
Bie-4^LA/^^
"ie.-4^ fi-^^r^-"-^At.4"A,
L/C^^ fi-^^r^^"-
As strait as an arrow.
As wild as a buck.
As wily as a fox. {C^sk*
As much wit as three folks,two fools and a mad man.
As well worth it as a thief is worth a rope.
Like Goodifer*spig, never well but when he is doing
mischief. Chesh. [s^yingpnothing. Chesk,
He stands like Mumphaxardy who was hanged for
Like the parson of Saadleworth,who could read in no
book but his own. Chesh. [herfoot. ChesK
To come home like the parson'scow with a calf at
To use one like a Jew.
This poor nation was intolerablyabased by the English, while they
'
water.
The fourth of November the queen had a daughter.
The fifth of November we 'scap'd a great ^a"^:bter.
And the sixth ot November was the next day after.
Cardinal Wobey,
A whip for a fool, and a rod for a school,
Is always in good season.
Will Shimmers,
A halter and a rope for him that will be
pope.
Without all right or reason.
rp K w
1 obacco nic
^ ^.^ ^^^ ^ ^^ ^^^ if he be sick.
Barkshire.
living under King Henry the Eighth, King Etfvartf the Sixth, Qaeen Mary,
and Qneen Elizabeth: was first a papist, tlien a proteatant, tlien a papiat,
then a protestant again. Tbii vicar being taxed by one for being a twra-
adorn them ; as also to matters easy and obvious to be found out without
difficultyor direction. Such this road being broad and beaten, as the.,
any
conflaence of many leading to London from the north and nortb-weat parts
of this land. I conceive, besides this, there is an allusion to the first syllable
of this name Dunstable, for there are other roads in JSngland as broad,
plain, and well beaten as this.
when swoln with rain, "c. in the winter time it arrests the Isle of JSly
with an inundation, bringing down suddenly abundance of water.
Buckinghamshire.
Buckinghamshire bread and beef.
The former njlne, the latter as fat in this, as in any other county.
Here if you beat a bush, it is odds youUl start a thief,
Ko doubt there was just occasion for this proverb at the original thereof,
which then contained a satyrical truth, proportioned to the placa before it
Albans, did cut them doton, because they yielded a place of ref^e for
thieves. But this proverb Is now antiquated, as to the truth thereof;
Bptckinghamshire aflfording
as mauy maiden assizes as any county of equal
popalousness.
Cambridgeshire. '
Cantabrigia petitnequales,
or "equalia"
That is (as Dr. Fuller expounds it) dtber in respect of their commons ;
all of the same mess have equal share : or in respect of extraordinaries, they
are all iao(TVfl(jo\oi,
club alike : or in respect of degree, all of the same
degree wefellou^s well met. The same degree levels, although of dilTerent
age.
Cambridgeshire Camels,
I look upon this aa a nick-name groondledy fastened on' this country*
PROVERBS. 159
men, perhaps because the three first letters are the same in CambtiUge ami
camel. 1 doubt whether it bad any respect to the f"n*njen stalking npon
their stilts,who then iu the apparent length of thehr legs do something re"
An Henrysaphister,
So -they are called, who, after fonr years standing in the university, itay
themselves from commencing batchelors of arts, to render them in some
monly conceived of great strength and stature, that these Sophists Henri'
ciani were elder and bigger than others. The truth is this, in the reign
of King Henry the Eighth, after the destruction of monasteries, learning
was at a loss ; and the University (thanks be unto God more scared than
hurt) stood at a gaze what would become of ber. Hereupon many tindenta
staid themselves twOt three^ noma four years; as who would see, how their
Cheshire.
Ctt B"HIRE chiefof men.
It seems the Cestrians have formerly been renowned for thehr valoir.
V. Fuller,
That is, hard by or at home, the ndxon being that heap of compost
which lies in the yards of good husbands, than far off or from London*
The road from Chester leading to London over some part of tlie moM*
more profitable to match within their own connty, than to bring a bride oat
of other shires, i. Because better acqnaiuted with her birth and breeding.
2. though
Because portion may her chance to be less to maintain her, sacb
intermarriages in this county have been observed both a prolonger of wor"
to their neighlwurs.
p2
l60 PROVERBS.
Cornwall.
By Tre, Pol, and Pen,
You shall know tlte Cornish men.
These three wordi are tbe dictionary of snch flimatnes as are originaliy
Cornish ; and thoag^ seana in MOte, I may fttly term tbem prepoaitiont.
where jadgment in furnul terms ia given against thera, and cxeoited ntorf
PROVERBS. I6l
Cnmberland.
If Sklddaw kalh a eap^
Scrafi'el wats fuU voell of tkat.
Ihefte are two md^tboar IuUa, tbe ooe to iba eooaty, Uie other in AmmH'
dale in Sctftland : if tke foriuer be capp'd with cload* and foggy mhiU, it
will not he loug e're rain falls on tiie other. It is iiwkeu of such who
mmt expect to symjalhiie in their ndferiaifs,hy reason of the vldaity of
their habitations.
keeps and barn it : whidi ashes ar*; h marvel Ioom improveneut to bsttie
terren land, by reason of the fixt salt wliicli they contsiu. This coarse they
take wilfa their barren spm^y healthy land in many cotmtks of England^
aad call it Denshiring. Land so ased will bear two or three good crops
"f com, and then mast be thrown down again.
A Piymoath cloak.
Ttat is, a c"is" or tta0; wkereof this is the occasion. Many a man of
gand cxtractMMi, coming hoase from fsr voyages, may chance to land here,
aad, betag oat of soru, b BnaUe for tlie present tiase aad ptace to recmit
hinwilf with clothes. Here (if not friendlyprovided) they make the no^
wood their draper's shiq",where a staff eat oat serves them for a oovertag.
For we ase when we walk in c"i"rpo to a staff la oar hands, bat
carry
in a doak.
caiiaaee thereof a stopp'd with a boge rock called Morestane; and the
people nwrrily si^, none can remove it bat sack aa are masters of their wives*.
nity betwixt tbeni' For these are two high bills, the first wholly, the otlk"r
partly iu the parish of Broad Windsor. YcA the sea men make the new-
est relation between tliera, catling the one the cmv^ the other the calf; ia
which forms it seenw they appear first to their fancies, being emhient aea.
marks*
Dorsetshire Dorsers.
Dorsers are peds or paniers carried on the backs of horses, on wbiA
higiers use to ride and carry their commodities. It seems this homely, but
most nreftil instrument, was either first found oat, or is the most generally
used in this county, where Jlshjobbers bring up their fish in such eontriv*
Essex.
Essex stiles.
See the catalogue of lentencei.
Essex cahes,
Thia country produceth calves of the fatest, fairest, and ^nest flesh in
cow may be bought for the price of an JEssex calf at the beginning of tlie
year. Let me add, that it argues the goodness of flesh in this county, and
that great gain was got formerly by the sale thereof, because that ao aaaj
stately monwiwnts were ereoted therein aodeatly for butchers, avactibed
CarnifUxs in their epitapbi in Cogshail, Chelmsford, and etoewhcffai,
BMde with marble, inlaid with brass, beOtdng (saith my aalbor) a mar*
eminent nan : whereby it appears, that those of that trade have in thai
abundance, whereon the poor weavers (numerous in this town) makcf nmcb
of their repast, cuttiDg rands, rumps, snrloins, chines, out of diem, at M
goes on.
Jeering Co^shall.
This is no proverb : bat an ignominious epithet fastened on this plaoa bj '
Braintree/or tlie
pure, axtd Bodamgfor the poor
;
Cogshall for thg Jtermg totem, mi Kelvedon for the
whore*
A.. ff^y^f-:^y^-^^^^ ^
^^
f-' -
\
164 PROVERBS.
Hartfordshire.
Hartfordsihre cluhs and clouted shoon.
Some will wonder how this shire lying so near to London, the staple "f
English civility,
should be guilty of so much rusticalness. But the finest
cloth mu4t have a list,and the pure peasants are of as ouarse a thread in
thb, as in any other place. Yet
though some may smile at their clowtUshr
nesSf let none laugh at their industry; the rather,because the high shoon
of the tenaut pays for the Spanish leather boots of the landlord.
Hartfordshire hedge-hogs.
Plenty hedge-hogs are found in this high woodland
of country, reported
to suck the kine, though tite dairymaids conne them small thanks for
sparing their pains in milking them. Whether this proverb may have any
further reflection on the people of this country, as therein taxed for covet-
oasness and constant nuddlingon the earth, I think not worth the enquiry;
these nicknames being imposed on several counties groundle^sly, as to any
moral significancy.
fricat, 4:P^r tst de merente bene mereri, yet it is commonly used oalj
by way of derision of those,who, through forgetfulnessor mistake,drink to
them again whom they pledged immediately.
Herefordshire.
BUtted is the ^^
That is between Severn and Wye.
Not only becuue of the pleannt proipect; ba( it seems Uiitif " prophett*
FROVEBBS. 165
cmI promlte of atfety, to nek m Hve lecired wttlto tiioie grwt rWera^ as ff
Huntingtonshlrc.
An Huntington sturgeon.
This is the way to beggerfr-foush.
It is spoken of such, who use dissohite and improvident coarses, wkicfa
tend to poverty. Beggers-bush being a tree notoriously known, on the left
band of the London road from Huniington to Caxton,
Nay stay, quoth Stringer, wJien his neck was in the halter.
Ramsa.y the rich,
Thit was the Crcesus of all onr English dMes, fbr having but tixty
nooaks to maintain thereiB, the revenues thereof, according to the standard
of those tiroes, amounted unto seven thousand pounds fer mnnum; ^riik!b
pounds for their abbot ; yet at the dissolution of monasteries, the income of
this abbey was reckoned at but one thousand nine hundred eighty three
it
'
i"ounds a year ; whereby plainly appears how much the revenues wero
Kent.
Neither in Kent nor Christendom.
That is, saith Dr. Fuller^ onr English Christendomt of which Kent
was first converted to the Christian faith, as much as to say as Rome and all
Italy, or the first cut and all the lo)if besides : not by way of opposition, as
to the Saxons who viere then Pagans. So that Kent might well be op"
f
poaed to all the rest of England in this respect, it being Pagan when all
number of liacty
; whteraof (though maay of graat birlh) aanse were of low
166 PROVERBS.
fortttoet : and therefore Qaeen Elizabeth was half offended ^ith the earl,
for making knighthood so common.
Kentish long-tails.
Those are mistaken who fottnd this proverb on a miiacle of Austin the
monk ; who preaching in an English village,and being himself and his
associates beat and abased by the Pagans there, who opprobrionsly tiedyf^/*-
tails to their back-sides : in revenge thereof such appendants grew to the
hind parts of all that generation. For the fcene of this lying wonder was
not laid in any part of Kent, bat pretended many miles off, nigh Cerne in
Dorsetshire. I conceive it first of outlandish extraction, and cast by reigners
fo-
as a note of disgrace on all Englishmen, though it chanceth to
stick only on the Kentish at this day. What the original or occasion of it
at first was is hard to say; whether from wearing a pouch or bag, to carry
their baggage in behind their backs, whilst probably the proud Monsieurs
had their lacqnies for that purpose; or whetlier from the mentioned story of
Austin, I am sure there are some at this day in foreign parts, who can
A jack of Dover.
1 find the first mention of this proverb in our English Ennius, Chauafr,
in his Pro"me to the Cook.
grate the ears of tbehr auditors with nngratefal tautologies, of what Is w"rth-
len in itself; tolerable as once uttered in the notion of novelty, but nable
abomi-
if repeated.
Some part of Kent hath health and no wealth, viz. East Kent. Some
Health and no health, viz. The weald of Kent. Some both health and
ucalth, viz. the middle of the country and parts near London,
Lancashire.
Lancashire /at'rwomen.
Whether the women of this county be indeed fairer than their nelghboors
PROVERBS. 167
I kaow not; bot that the inhabitants of some countries may be and are ge*
nerally fairer than those of others, is most certain. The reason-whereof is
I say to a certain degree, for in extream cold coantries the inhabitants are
of dasky complexions. Bnt in the same climate that in some places the
and manner of living, which we see have so mnch inflaence upon beasts, as
to alter them in bigness, shape, and colour; and why it may not have the
inscribed then subject to the Roman empire. And probably this Roches-
ter
was anciently some eminent colony (as by pieces of coins and columns
there daily digged out doth appear.) However at this day it is not so mnch
Ribble,
Leicestershire.
JBean-hellyLeicestersliire.
So called from the great plenty of that grain growing therein. Yea those
prognostick of much rain and moisture, to the much endamaging that fruitful
Carleton warlers.
Til throw field.
you into Harborough
A ttu^at for children, Harborough having no Held.
lancolnsbire.
Xincoloshire, where hogs shite
sope, and cows shite fire*
The inbabitaotfl of the poorer sort washing their clothes with hogs Utrng^
and burning dried cow-dang for want of better fbeJ.
Lincolnshire bagpipes.
Wliether becanse the people here do more delight |n the bagpipes than
others, or whether they are more canning fai playing upon ibem ; indeed the
former of these will infer the laMef.
imposed on it,when baptised by the Papists. Howbeit tbis present 7bM was
All the carts that come to Crowland are shod with silver.
Crowland is situated in so moorish rotten groand in the fens, that scarce
a horse, much less a cart can conse to it. Since the draining, in snmmer
meadows (ealled rile casde-meadows) where fliat the bail dael began, for a
common to the butchers of the town (after the first grass waa eatan) on coa-
dition they find a mad bull, the day six weeks before C%r""f mas-day, tat
Some understand it ironically y that is, they are divided with several fae*
tionS|which rains any canse. Others use it only as an expression of ill sac"
Middlesex.
Middlesex clowns,
Becaose gentry and nobility are respectlTely observed ycording to their
degree, by people i^ distant from ttondoh, less regarded by these Mid-
dtesexians (frequency breeds familiarity)becanse abonnding thereaboiti.
It is generally troe where tiie common people are richer, there are tbey^
more sarly and uncivil : as also where they have less dependence on the
gentry, as in places of great trade.
Idem, ibid,
Tottenham is turned French.
It seems about the beginning of the reign of King Henry VIII. French
1517. Kor was the city only but the conntry villages for four miles about
tilled with French fashions and infeciions. The proverb is applied to such,
who, contemning the cnatoms of their own country, makes themselves move
London.
A London jury, hang half and save half.
Some affirm this of an Essex, others of a Middlesex jury : and my
charity believes it equally true, that is, equally untrue of all three. It
hang true men) acqnU half and condemn half. Thu9 they divide selves
them-
saving life,whan they cu find any cauie or cdov for tb* aame.
Q
170 PROVERBS.
liondon lick-penny.
The country man coning up hlJu^r, by hii own experience, will eaaUir
"s{KMUid the meiniog thereof*
fools to go under,
A Loudon cockney.
This nickname is more than four hnuilred yean old. For when N^gh
Bigot added artificial fortifications to hi" naturally Mrong castle of Bungey
in Suffolk, be gave ont this rhyme, therein vanl^g it for impregmbk*
Were I in my castle of Bungey,
loyalty, to redeem this his castle from being raved to the ground. I meet
with a double sense of this word Cockney, i. One coasfd and cocquer*d^
made a wanton or nestlecock, delicately bred and brought up, so as whea
original ihereof, and the tale of the citizen's son, who knew not the guage
lan-
JBillings-gate language.
Billings was formerly a gate, and (as some would nuke us believe) so
17^ PROVERBS.
thereof, for his greater mortiflcallon. Cripplegate was so called before the
of disagreement.
'*^ "^ ^
- Thkre ti no redempnorlfrom heU. 7 / /
There place partly under, partly by tiie Exchequer chamber, cork
is a
monly called hell (I could wish it had another name, seeingit is illJesting
with edg'd tools)formerly appointed a prison for the King'sdebtors,wlio
never were freed from thence, until they had paid their ntmuat due*
Norfolk*
Norfolk dumpHngs.
This refers not to the stature of their bodia ; bat U" the fare they coiii"
A Yarmouth capon.
That is,a red hei^ring
: more herringsbeing taken than capons bred here.
So the Ifalian friars (when disposed to eat flesh on Fridays)call a capon
jAscem e carte, a fish out of the coop.
a Cornwallis afooL
Northamptonshif"r
The Mayor 0^ Northampton i^pens oysters with his dagger.
To keep them at a aafficient distance from his nose. For this town ing
be-
eighty miles from the sea, fish may well be presnmcd stale therein. Yet
have I heard (saith the Doctor) that oisters pot np with care,' and carried
in the cool, were weekly bronght fresh and good to AUhrof, the hoose of
sent from that city, fresh and good; and they most have been parried soom
I have heard that King Jamei should speak this of Neu'market; bot
I am snre it may better be applied to this town, the dearest in Engtand
for fnd, where no coab can- come by water, and little wood doth grow oA
land.
One proverb there is of this county, which I wonder how Dr.' Fuller,
being native hereof, could miss, unless perchance he did studiously omit it
Lih" Banfoury tinkers that fh. mending one hole make three.
Northumberland.
That is, from one end of the land to the other, parallelto that Scripture
expression, From JDan to JBeersheba*
being before a rich man, fell poor of a sodden, and so hated generally that
he never durst go abroad. Insomnch that the proverb to take Hector's
cloak is coatianed to this day among th^m, in the sense abovemenUoncd,
q3
^4 PROVERBS.
recover. During the enmity between the two nations, lliey had liltlt es-
.
.'"
'
teem of and less affection for a Scotchman in the English burder.
The Scots are great travellers into foreign parts, most for maintenance^
for atcompUshment. And Newcastle gruidstoues" being the best,
many
in their idnd, most needs be car tied far and near.
*
jTf they come they eome not. And
" J^ they come not they come.
.
The cattle of people living hereabont, tnm'd into the common pastare^
Cv yO \ '-(^miil
by cnstom ase to return to their home at night, unless intercepted by
the A'ee.booters and borderers* If therefore those borderers came, tbelr
cattle came not : if tbey came not, their^catlle
sarely returned.
Nottinghamshire .
feigned and fathered on the town's folk of Gotham^ a village in this county.
Here two things may be observed.
1. Men in all ages have made themselves merry with singling out some
place, and fixing the staple of stupidity and soliditytherein. So the Phrp'
gians in Asia, the Abderite in Thrace, and the Baotians in Greece,
were notorious for dolmen and blockheads.
2. These places, thus slighted and scoffed at, afforded some as witty and
wise persons as the world produced. So Dimocritus was an Abderite,
Plutarch a Baotian, "c, Hence Juvenal well concludes,
Sumimos posse viros 4; magna exempla daturos,
Vervecum in patria crassoque sub acre nasci.
As for Gotham it doth breed as wise people as which canselcsly
any,
laugh at their simplicity. Sure I am, Mr. WilUam de Gotham, fifth
master of Michael-house in Cambridge, ]83", and twice chancellor of th"
nniversity, was as grave a governor as that age did afford. Sapientum oc-
tavus. Hor.
Who this little smith and great workman and when he lived I
was,
know not, and have cause to suspect, that this of Nottingham is a peri-
phrasis of Nemo, ^Ig or a person who never was. By way of sar-
Oxfordshire.
You were horn at Hogs^Norton.
This is villageproperly called ffoch-Norton, whose inhabitants
a (itscena
formeriy) were so rustical in their behaviour, that boariah and downlsli
people are said to be born there. But whatever the people were, the
w"8 enongh to occaskm incb a proverb.
PROVERBS. 175
This began about the end of the reign of King Heni% th* eighth, at sack
time as he debased the coin, allaying of it with copper (which common ple
peo-
confound with brass). It continued 'till about the middle of Qae"i
high Dutch haih the same sense, i. e. Nummtis capUatus, money with a
still by the Spanish and the Italian living under the Spanish dok.
women,
minion, and they call them by a name signifying cover infhnt; because they
were first brought into use to hide great bellies. Of the name Verdingal I.
have not met with a good^ that is,true etymology.
Rutlandshire.
Draiton^s PolyottioTu
Rutland Raddleman,
That is, perchance Reddletnan, a trade and that a pow one only in this,
county, whence men bring on their backs a pack of red stones or Oker,
which they sell to their neighboaring coantriea for the marhjng of sheep. "
An Uppingham trencher,
Shropshire.
He that fetcheth a wife from Shrewsbafy carry mu^ her
into Staffordshire, or else he shall Uve in Cumberland.
The staple wit of this vulgar proverb, consistingsolely in sbnilitude of
Somersetshire.
parts of the land, the poor for alms, the pained for caae,
Bristol milk.
That is, sherry-sack, wliich is tlie entertainnient of coone, which the-
Goorteoos Bristolians present to strangers, when Ant visitingtlieir dty.
Staffordshire.
Its baiib in A^pril, is the NUus of Staffordshire, much battUng the men*
dowt thereof.
Idsm ibidem.
Tikis profane proverb, it seems, took ita wicked orig^al frnn the ritaattani^
of Wottim, covered with hills from the light of the son, a diamal place, aa
report represents it.
Suffolk.
Suffolk milk.
Ttab was one of die stafrtecoramoditiet of tlie land of (kinauw, and tainly
cer-
moat wholesome for man's body, because of God's own choosing for
his own people. No county in England affords better and sweeter ef
this kind, lying opposite to Holland in the Netherlands, where is the best
dairy in Christendom.
poverty,
Surrey.
The vale of Holms-dale
Wai never never shall.
won,
1 his proverbial rhyme hath une part of history, the other of prophecy.
As the first is certaiuly antrue, so the second is frivoIoDs, and not to be
Sussex.
A CHicHEStBR lobster,a Seliieycockle,a" Arundel mullet^
a Pulboroug-h eel,an Aoiberley trout, a Rye herring,a
Bourn wheat -ear.
Art the best in their kind, nnderstand it of those that are taken in Uua
conutry,
Westmoreland.
Let Utcr Pendragon do what he can.
The river Eden will run as it ran.
Parallel to that Latin verse.
industry, he invited and tempted the river Eden to forsake liis old chaonelf
but all to no purpose.
Wiltshire.
It is done secundum nsum Sarum.
This proverb coming out of the church bath since enlarged itself into a
civil use, signifying things done' with exactnesi, according to mle and prar
cedent. Osmund bisbop of Sarum, about the year 1090, made that dinal
or-
Yorkshire.
From Hell, Hull, and Halifax deliver us.
This it a part of the beggers and vagrants litany. Of these three frightful
things unto them, it is to be feared, that they least fear the first,conceiting
it the farthest from them. Hull is terrible to them as a tuwa of good vernment,
go-
where beggers meet with punitive charity, and it is to be feared
are oAener corrected than amended. Halifax is formidable for the law
A Scarboronjifliwarning.
Ihat is, nune all but a sadden surprise,when a mischief is felt before it
notice of his approach. However, within six days, by the indostry of the
A Yorkshire way-lit.
That is, an overphts not acconntcd in the reckoning, which sometimes
proves as much as all the rest. Ask a coantry-man, how muny miles it ia
in rach a town, and he will retarn commonly ao many miles aad a teay4"iK.
Which way'bit is eooogh to make the weary traveller sarleit of the length
thereof. But it is not nay-bit thoagh generally pronoanoed,
so bat weebit,
Merry Wakefield.
What pecnliar canse of mirth this town hath above otbcrf^ I do act
know, and dare not too cnrionsly inqoire. Sort it la seated in a fmitfnl^
soil and cheap country, and where good chear and company are the pre"
far from Westwutreland, These three are indeed the hifj^t hnis in Bug*
land, not comprehending Wales, But in f Vales I think Snovdon, Co*
a mile distant from Hull, and was in the time of the late wars for the moai
part pull'd down. Let Hull make the best they can of it.
180 PROVERBS.
places.
The bird that can sing and will not sing must be nmdo
After a lank comes a bank. [to sing.
Said of breeding women.
Twere well for your little belly if your guts were out.
Alurder will out.
This is remarkably true of murder, however secretly acted, but it is ap-
plied
also to the discovery of any fault.
me to have been the fteeple of a church that h^d /ormerly itood upon that
foibidden them that had Che fallingsickness^ and modem ezperieBce batb
fonad it to be bad for the eyes.
Upon St. David's day put oats and barley in the clay.
With n" it is aceoonted a little too early to sow iMurley(whidi b a tender
.
Talk is but tklk, but 'tis money buys lands.
You cry before you are hurt
Cradle-straws are scarce out of his breech.
God send me a friend that may tell me my faults ;
if not,
an enemy, and to be sure he will.
He is a fool that
melancholy once is not a day.
He frets like gum'd ta"[aty.
You speak in clusters, you were begot in nutting.
He'll turn rather than burn.
,
Cut off the head and tail,and throw the rest away.
To play fast and loose.
You are mope-ey'd by living so long a maid.
Neck or nothing.
They two are hand and glove. Somerset*
They love like chick. Somerset*
To give one the go-by.
PROVERBS. 183
Happy is the bride the sun shines on, and the corpse tiie
By fits and girds, as an ague takes a goose.
Will you snap (or bite) off my nose?
You will tell another tale when you are tried.
You eat above the tongue like a calf.
R 2
184 FBOVEHBS.
So got so gone.
tiiat hath not R in it.
Oysters are not good in a month an
thee.
Here's nor rhyme nor reason.
Thama9 More, who being by the an-
Jbi* bring! to mind a itory of Sir
him by all
.
thor ask'd faia judgment of an impertinent book, wiih'd means
Make the vine poor and it will make you rich, (phiia
offiU brmuiM$!)
Not a word of Pensante.
You if you list but do if yon dare.
may
and they will grow rich, set them rich and
Set trees
poor
Remove them always out of a
tlieywill grow poon.
more barren into a fatter soiL
19 o cut to unkindness. f
(Of a man that diet in debt : Us wife iMving all at Ui death, crying Jilt
foodi in three markets an^ three parish churches, is so free of all his debts.)
* / WeUingion roimd-heads,
^
*
1 ^
proud heart in
j["oorbreast, he's meikle doUour dree^
A a to
A scald man's head is soon broken.
A scabbit sheep files all the flock.
A burnt bairne fire dreads.
Anld men are twice bairnes.
A tratler is worse than a thief.
A borrowed len should come laughing hame,
A blitlie heart makes a blomand visage.
A year a nurish, seven years a daw.
An unhappy man's cairt u eith to tumble.
An old l^ound bites sair.
A fair bride is soon bask'd,aiid a ihoit hone soon wisp'd,.
As good hand as draw.
A man that is warned, is half armed.
Ane ill word meets another, and it were at the bridge of Londait^
A hungry louse bites sair.
...^.B^iiki^B.
190 SCOTTISH PHOVBRBS.
B
Bitter iU idio thin work for non^t.
Better Idkra b neifhlKHr^ linDth mr by }"mr m
J roar
Better Ull impljih
injou.
acKk berorc
BclwiiUwa ituula li
c
Court to the town, and whore to the window.
Chalkc is na sheares.
.
D
Do in hill as wald do in hall.
ye
Do as ye wald be done to.
Daffliog(jefting)
good for nothing.
SCOTf ISH PROVERBS. 193
Do well and doubt na man, and do weill and doubt all men.
E
Early maister, lang knave.
Eaten meat is good to pay.
Eild (old age) wald hare hononr.
Every man wates besi where hia own shoe biade him.
Bfler lang mint never dint.
Effer word comes weird.
Efter delay comes a lette.
F
PAin' fowles hes foir fenthers.
Pair bights makes fools fiiin.
Fools are fain of flitting.
Falshood made never a fair hinder end.
Freedom is a fair thing.
For a lost thing care not.
Follow love and it will flee thee, flee love aBdit^tdll follow,thee. "
G
Grace is best for the roan.
H
I
He that hewes over hie, the spail will fail into his eye^
He that eats while he laslf will be the yr^r while he die.
,
Hame is bamelie.
He that is bated of his subjects, cannot be counted a king.
Hap and a half-penny is warlds geir enough-
He calls me skabbed, because I will not call him skadc.
He is blind that eats his marrow, but far blinder that lets him.
Have Grod, and have all.
Honesty is na pride.
He that fishes afore 4he net, lang or he fish get.
He tint never a cow, that gprat for a needle.
He that hes na geir to lose, hes shins to pine.
He that takes all his geir fra himself, and gives to his bairns, it
were weill ward to lake a mallet and knock out his brains.
He sits full still that hes a riven breech.
He that does bidding deserves na dinging.
He that blaws best bears away the born.
He is well slaikit within, that will neither borrow nor len.
Hea will gar a deaf man hear.
He is sairest dung when his awn wand dings him.
He hes wit at will, that with angry heart can hold him still.
Of wilful Persom.
He is at his wits en^U
He hears not at that ear.
Offieifit Persons,
His heart is in his hose.
OffaUe Fenmu,
He will get credit of a hoase full of nnbered milestones.
He looks up with one eye, and down with the other.
He can lie as weill as a dog can lick a dish.
He lies never but when the holen is green.
He bydes are fast a"a cat l^nnd with a sacer.
He wald gar a man trow that the moon is made of green cheis,or
the cat took the heron.
Of mUnortured Persons,
He has a brasen face.
Of uncoTUtant Persons,
He is like a widder cock.
He is on the eronnd.
"ffprmtd Pertons.
He counts his half-penny good silrer.
He makes meikle of his painted sheits.
Cf rath P"r$ons"
He sets all on sex or seviu.
He stumbles at a strea and
loupes at a l^k.
Of igTiorant Per,sfn^,
He does as the blind man when he QaiaUiiis"t|ifi.
He brings a staff to his own head.
He gars
his awn wand dii^ lonu
He takes after the goat that pasta all 4own at eyin.
He hes good skill of rosted wooll, whew it s^nks it is enough.
Of fffemiMt^ Pettfmt,
He is John 77tomson*s man, ooatchingioarlflu
He wears short hose.
Of Drunkarifu
His head is full of bees.
He may write, to his friends.
His hand is in the panyer.
He is better fed nor nortured.
L
liXTTLB intermeddling makes good friends.. -t 4%,
M
MoNY yrons in the fire part mon ooole.
Maidens should be meek antil they be married.
Men may buy gold over dear.
Mony men does lack, that yat \i-a1clfain* have in tbeir pack.
Miffterfiill folk mon not be mansfuU.
Millers takes
ay tlie best toll with their own huinl.
N
Nature nortore.
passes
Na man can bailh
sup
and blaw at once
Flentj is na daintjr.
Poddbgs and paramonn wald be IntelM handHit*
Q
QtfHAiR (where) the deer is slain, some Uond will He.
Qahen the eye sees it saw not, the heart will think it thonght not.
Qnhen the good man is fra hame, the table cloUu tint.
R
Reason bound the man.
s
SiKE man sike master.
.
Sajring goes good cheap.
Spit on the slane, it nill \f6 wet at the last.
Soft fire nakes sweet maH.
Korrows gars websters spin. .
T
Thb mail* haste the viw speid.
Tyde bydes na man.
TjuielrTeslhetrnUi.
The ireedi oTer|;"i"
Ibe uoni.
Thflda; Jiese;nB.tlieii|^hl]ie3"ars.
The tree falls not at th" firil alrailie.
There WSemadinasnufniakinB.
Thcjlanghajf iWwinnfi.
Thou should not tell thy foe when thy fit slides.
The grace of God is geir enough.
Twa hungry meales makes tlie third a glutton.
This warld will not last ay.
The Devil and the dean begins with a letter,when the Devil lies
the dean, the kirk will be the better.
w
Wrang has nea warrand.
Will hes that weill is.
Well done, soon done.
HEBREW PROVERBS.
in a little cab"
This proverb is used against those who teUincradible things.
T3
210 HEBHEW PEOVBEBS.
'TryO YV^ ""^ *" *" *"" camel, going to sedt harns, loet x
his ears.
Against those whoj being diKontented with wiiat they have, In jMnidt
of more lose what diey onoe had.
to the grave.
'"^i1*ljl
t* "" If I had not lifted np the stone, you had not
tbuud the jewel.
It is used wlLQiTone man reant the frait of thelabonra of anoCher.
It is said by one man of the Jewt, that Umtb was a pradova alona whloli
did hang on the neck of Abr^Kuun, whieh when the ride man lookad OA
he was presently healed a and that w^en Abraham died God jplaoed thia
stone in the son " This is tihoagfatto ka"" given 'oceasloo to tha fravcrb
above-named. F. Buxtcrfm LeaOe, BtAHm, In Mce K77
The meaning, is, that we sbonid not likany a wife above oar rankj thoogh
-fve choose such a friend.
K7K ^^2 7K i. Do
:tt t"W 7X02 TprWD e.
companion. . .
The meaning is, thnt we ought to olMervc oitkniug mttt, and give them
due respect in their prosperity.
^It^i HlJi When the weasel and the cat make a mar-
dogs that were very fierce one against the other ; one of them ia assaaltad
by a wolf, and thereopon the other dog resolves to help him against th"
serpent.
:Kt"fl'"b
iki"brV:f\
rntna "M she pUys the whore
for apples and then bestows them upon the sick.
This proverb is used against those whe give ahna el whaithcy gi* en*
''"
Thoa hast dived deep into the water and hast brought up
a potsherd.
tRn^rO CTpT m:^ i^D^:i ". "" He that hath had one
when we are not free from the crimes which we reproach others for.
rUe was forbidden the use of wine, and it was therefore his wisest course
And therefore what thoa wonldst have- kept as a secret reveal not to thy
friend. And they elsewhere say, that He who hath a narrow heart, ". ""
hot a little wisdom, hath a broad tongue, ". ". is apt to talk at large.
thing any great sucecBs. 'J'han it i" said, that a certain man aaid be woold
not. This man and his bride were both fonnd dead the foUowinf U|^t"
Thos was the saying of JJen Syra verified. The bride, "o.
dcriBf tongue does, and is aaenpliaed ha Do^, who by this mc"M broaght
destruction npon th" priesti. *I^ oXiyoP TT^p ^ikltniy iXrp^
^
an honest mau.
to old friend.
your
OF
ENGLISH WORDS
WOT
GENERALLY USED.
WITH
CATALOGUES.
WITH
U
TO HIS
HONOURED FRIEND,
OF
DANNY IN SUSSEX.
,SlR,
Collecllon
tliiii of English Words, but that I might take occa*
son to hope, that you will favourably accept it. 1 confess the
chose rather to present you with this, than lose the honour of be-
ing
Sir,
J. RAY*
220 PREFACE.
elegant writers.
BLume or bloom, for blossom.
^all the lines, and wliat dse they wear upon their bead, head"
^ear; gear is also used for trumpery, rubbishy so a" stuff is.
Goodiy gear,
A gleadf for a kite, which he, very probably, dedoeet from
gliding.
The word grove is not used in tiN) soot^ for digging wHIk ft
apade, but
appropriated cutting npon
it is to metal. But A grmn,
i.e. tepulcrum^ is a pit digged with a spade, and we say" a fpoie-
graft, or a ipit-decp. And agrsove is a furrow, made in wood,
or metal by joyners, smitlis, or other artificers.
Groats,{oT great 6otni"nl, is a general word.
s%ilcu8,fnssula,illex,
Han-ying the country, is also generally used for wasting, dering,
plun-
spoilingit by any means. There is a sort of pnttoek eal^
Ibd a henrharrier from chasing, preying npon, and destroying of
poultry.
Than hie you, for haste nothing more
yon ; common.
Neb, is of frequent use, tho' not for the nose of a man, yet lor
tlie bill of a bird, and metaphorically for the point of a or
pen,
tiif) long an^^lendcr nose of any Teasel.
To nip, for to between the fingers and thumb, not using
press "
Sadi is used also for heavy, spoken of bread tliat rises not, or
the like.
^
boyl,shie, temse-broad.
In the same Jslandish Dictumary, I find also some northern
words not entered in my catalogue, vix.
The eand, spiritus, k cimbrico ande. To byg, sedifioare,bigd
habitatio. To britten beef, to break the bones of it, A. S. brittan
Tolatilis.
The gowk, the cuckowi Island. Gaukur,
u3
"32 PRBFACIS.
give an account of, are hedge, for brisk, badge; clever, neat, gant.
ele-
thing upon one, donum, or merces, obtrudere, but for the etymon,
or original, 1 am to seek
; gosgUMod, I, e. yeasi or barm, is nothiog
hot God's-good (bonum Divinwn) as they pronounce the word in
A
To adle or addle; to etm ; from the ancient Saxon word frf-
lean, a reward, recompence or requital.
After-maths; the pasture after the Iiath been mowed.
grass
In other places called rovghins.
Agate ; Ches. Jast going, as J am agate. Gate in the northern
dialect signifiesa way ; so that agate is at or the waj.
upon
Alantom; at a distance.
prope, additdparticuld
Nean initiali otiota A.
An arain; a spider, a iMt. Aranea. It is used onlj for the
Aji arr; a skar. Pocl"arrs, the marks made by the small poz"
Tliis is a general word, common both to the north and south.
Aud; Old. Var. Dial, as caud for oo\d,wauds for wolds, aumfor
elm. Aud
farand the humour or genius, ingenium,
Avcrg^e ; the breaking of corn fields ; eddish, rooyhings.
Average in law, signifieseither the beasts wliioh tenants and vas-
money that was laid out by merchants to repair the losses fered
suf-
sooner up but the head in the aumbry, imd noie in the cup. In
vrhich sentence, it muit needs signify a cupboard for Tictoals.
Aund; ordained; Fortan per contractionem, J am mund to
B
A backster; a baker.
A badger ; such as buy oorn, or other commodities in ose place
and carry them to another. It is a word of general ase.
poles laid over a stable or other building for the roof, 4 belgico,
j* Teuton, balk, trabs, t^num. In common speech a balk is the
A balk-staff; a quarter-staiT,
a great staff like a pole or beam.
Beeld; shelter.
tpruxing.
Brichoe; brittle. Var. Dial. Che$h.
A broach, spit. It is a French
a word, from ita aiailitiido
wtwveto a is
spire-steeple ealled a broach steeple,as an obelisk is
A buer, a gnat.
Bullen, hempstalks pilled,buns,
A bulkar. Abeam, fox Lincoln. usitatUtima, proctddu^
agro
bio d Dan, Bielcker, n.pl. trabes, bielck, tignum, trabs. Skinner.
Bimiblehitei, bramble-berries. Yorkshire,
A burtle, a sweeting.
A bur-tree, an elder tree.
c
To cadge, to carry. A cad^gerto a mill, a carrier, or loader.
To cc^et, to cample, or seold, as a calletinghousewife.
A cankr^ fellow, cross, ill-condition'd.
Canting, auctio.
A capo, a working horse. Chtshiri, Capel, in old EngUih
signifies
a horse, from caballus,
any thing.
.Cocket, brisk, malapert Dtctmta atUfm (verba snnt Skimieri)
homine
He is very cocket, de valetudinario qui jam meliuseule se
Unas suas V9cantis, vel superbe incidcre iiutar galliin suo sterqui^
iinio,
A cod, a pillow, a pin-cod, a. pin"coshion. A horse-cod, a
LorKc-coller.
Coil, a henrcoil, a hen-pen.
Coke, pit-eoal,
or sea-coal charred ; it is now become a word of
only.
Cttprose,papaoer rhoeas, called also head-wark.
a tumbrel. "
Perchance from the Latin cupa, which Fuller, MisceL
"'I.
2. c. 18. derives from the Hebrew ^^, a belly : whence he
'deduces our English word cup, and
couper.
AJish'Coop is likewise a great hollow vessel, made of twigs, in
'which they take fish Humher.
upon
A coop is generally used for a vessel, or
"
Counterfeits
and trinkets ; porringers and f;aucers. Chesk.
A crdkef a crow. "
Hence crake-berrieSt crowberries. Crake is
of a deep sleep.
A daiwgos,or dawkin; a dirty.Blatteringwoman.
A dayes-man ; an arbitrator ; an umpire, or jndge. For as
Dr. Hammond observes in his Annotation on Heb, x. 25. p. 752.
The word day in all languages and idioms, signifiesjudgment.
So hvOpfairhrii^iipa^man's day, 1 Cor. iii. 13. Is the ment
judg-
of men. dicere, in Latin, is to implead.
So diem
Dosed bread, dough-baked. Dazed meat ; ill roasted, by son
rea-
when frighted
"s dmed ; I am very cold.
Veafky; "r
lonely, solitary, from neighboars.
X2
S32 NORTH COTJNTBY WORDS.
Deary ^
HtUe.
To deg. V. lech,
Dessably; constantly.
To deue ; to laj close together, to desiie wool, straw, tjrc.
To didder ; to quiver
with cold, a Beig, Sitterem Teut. Zit-
tern, nmnia a stridulo sonOy quern frigore hon^entes Sj^ trementes
dig
A ; a mattock. lu Yorkshire they distinguish between
Di%en'd; dresl.
Dodded sheep, i. e, sheep without horns.
Dodred wheat; is red wheal without beards.
To dojffjind
dmi ones cloatlis,contracted from do off, and do
^1C/ 4^^^ *'""" to'^oi off and on.
ginally no more than dry, tho' there be hardly any word of mor"^
E
Eald, age. He is tall of his edld. Hence old, or oZd, aud.
Earn, mine earn, my uncle, also generally my gossip, my pere,
com-
fightinghumour* V, Audfarand,
x3.
234 NORTH COUNTRY WORDS.
To few, to change.
To fey or feigk it : to do thing notably. To/ey meadows,
. any
^
b to cleanse them : to fey a poud, to emptjf it.
Kfiacket, a bottle made in fiuhion of a barrel.
AJUnin, a custard. As flat as afiaun, Prov.
ftizse;
To to fly off,from the Low Datoh, flitten,
to fly"vidt
jliitsfrUl
arrow or shaft
A/brXttffi-ro66{n,
an earwig, called from its forked tail.
^
.
A ^b-sto^';
a quarter-staff.
flatteringfellow.
To glaffer,
or glaver,Chesh. To flatter.
Glatton, Welsh flannel.
Glob% Cheih. Wedded to. fond of.
greet and yowl, Cumb, To weep and cry. For yoiol,in the Souths
they say yawl.
A grip or gripe, a little ditch, or ab
trench,y0fsiiia AS, Gnep,
fossula,cunicnlut. This word b of general use all
BnglanU.
over
bi'uad end.
YivtTn,flustrwn,cestu",.Skiiu
Aharry'gaud, a rigsby, a wild girl.
Hart'Claver, Melilot.
A haspat, or haspenald 1ad" between a man and a bon
The heck, tho door. Steck the heck. Hence hatch cum aspirat.
An heck, a rack for cattle to feed at Vid, hacK.
I
Jamu)cfc, oaten bread made into great loaves.
The Jaum of the dour, the side post. This word is also used in
the South, where
they say the the chimney ; from Ihe jaum of
French /amftc, signifying a leg.
Jimmers, jointed hinges, iu other parts called wing-hinges.
To ill,to reproach, to speak ill of another, used verbally.
Innom-barley, such barley as is sown the second crop ailer the
ground is'fallowed.
word borrowed fron
An ing, a common pasture, a meadow, a
K
Kale, or cale, pim,vicem. Chesh.
Kal", or heal, for yotXs^e, Vide Cole. [ties.
Kaszardli;;cattls sabject to dye, hazardoosi sabjeet^tocasual-
940 NORTH COUNTRY WORDS.
dang.
To ken, to know, as I ken him not, ab AS, kennan. Ken is
icon ken. i. e. As far as the sight of my eye can reach ; and so^
To heppen, to hoodwink.
Kilps, pot-hooks.
A kimnel, or kemlin, a powdering tub.
a Belg. kitte.
A kite, a belly. Cumb.
To klick up, Lincohish, to catch celeriter corripere, nescio
up,
an a Belg. Klackeu.
dere vel quod cateris Umge verisimilius ett iL Dan, Ijeeger ludo*
Ideo autem luec vox in septentrionali Anglic regione, n"m in al\$
mvaluit, quia Dani illam partem primam invaterunt ^ penitut OC"
jugarunt.
The
langot of tbe shoe latchet the shoe, firoui languet
; the of
lingola, a little tongue or slip.
ijor^
; urine, piss, it is an antient Saxon word used to this
day in Lancashire, Somner, -We say iant or leint.
To leint ale, to put urine into it to make it strong.
Skinner, fort.
Lathe, case, or rest, ab AS. Latian, differre,
tardare, cunctaru
Lingey, limber.
To lig,to lie,Yar. Dial. It is near the Saxon liegan,lo lie.
Ling, health, ericas Yorkshite,
To lippen,to rely on, nr trust to. Scot.
Lither, lazy, idle, slothful. A word of general nse, ab AS.
lowtings.
A lown, or lodn, the same with a lout, or mpre general for an
Mom-sworn, forsworn.
Amltzy; a qaagmire.
MoUer, the toll ofk mill, a Latino tnola.
Mores, i. e. hills,hence the hilly part of Staffordshire is called
fhe Morelands ; hence also the county of Westmoreland had its
many hills in tlie North are called mnreSf as Stainsmores, ^c. from
the old Sa\on word mor, a hill or mountain.
To moskeTf to rot, or contract corruption, perhaps from ing
gather-
mosse, as a mosker'd trte, a
moskei'd tooth.
cidns, murcus, qnse festo idem sonant quod ignavus, iners. Thia
word is also used in the South, but more rarely.
To murl, to crumble.
A murth of corn, abundance of corn. Forte cL more.
N
A nape or neap a piece of wood that hath two tliree feet^
; or
with which they bear the fore-partOf laden wain. Tins was
up a
compere,
NORTH COUNTRY \VORDS. 9A5
o
O mellow, spoken of land.
my,
Oneder, v. aunder. [derins.
Omdoms ; Cumb, Afternoons drinkibgs, corrupted from one-
Ousen^ oxen.
'
o/^ ^om pelUs, Lat. The pelt-rotis wh^n sheep dye for pov:erty
Of if]Imping. P^U u 1^ word much, used ip fi^coiury.for. t|(ft)
246 NORTH COUNTKY WORDS.
pocket, a little poke, and the proverbs, tobuy a pig in a poke, and
iohen the p^ is profered,hold ope the poke. Mr. Brokesby forms
in-
R
To rack or reck, to care, never rack i. e. take yon no'
ypu,
thought or care. From the ancient Saxon word rtcc, c"re" and'
NOBTH COUNtHY WORDS. 247
t"e Saxon.
Race rannet, or rennin^. Henee spoken of wine.
; racy,
To rait timber, and so flax and hemp, to pat it into a pond or
easilydurses out, or falls out of the straw with handling it. Vox
"$se mdetur^OvofiariyireTroirf^einj,
To rank, to scratch. A rank with a pin. Perehance only a
pure Saxon word, from the noun sac, saca, a cause, strife, suit^
quarrel, j^. and the preposition leas,without
A saghe ; t. e. a saw.
Sell,self. ^
^
Selt, Chesh. chance, Iis,buta sell whether,, it is but a chance
whether.
Semmit, limber.
To setter, to out the dew-lap.of an on or cow, into which they
put helleboraster,which we call setterwort, by which an issue is
ance, affinity.
Sickerly,surely, k Lat" secure.
"rrbo, lo slip.Skimmer.
To sUt am, Ui leek ms, to casi mm, mr dM "pmiit. If em
To slot a door
; Lincolmh' t. e. To Belg. sloyten..
shat it, k
Teut. schliessen, clauderct occludxre, obterare, Belg. slbt,.sera,
claustrum, ferreum.
A slough,a hvsk ; it is pronounced sluffe. [place*
To slump; to dip, or fall plam down ia any wet, or dirty
To smartle waste
away ; to away.
To smittle, to infect, from the, old l^axon smittan,, and Dntck
in the side of a wain, in which the eve-rings are fastened, tho' the
large and flat ones are called slots. fcail strandy-mires,
Strandy ; restive, passionate, spoken of children. Such they
A strike of com, a bushel, foar pecks, a Teut, Komstreiche,
hostorium, vel radius, Ftreichen, hostorio m^nsuram radere, t"r
quare, complanare.
Strunt, the tail or rnmp, ab AS. steort, stert, Be^. stert, steert,
Teut. stertz. Belg. stront, Fr.
cauda: vel d G. Estron, It. stronzo
To iturken,jgroW, Iktivc^lihnddtn.'atAVe$unc.
16 "' ^
. .
j- ir-^jv.
.,
.,
.
T"mt)'e2s;idle people thnt will notiii to anj^ioftlojraient^'
A tarn, a lake^or me^r-pool, a usual word m the Korfili. ^.'^ "
.
T^orage,a oei^',iTobbeni^toppjeQy.daren
.
To tave, LiiioohsK .
.
hands, when .they catch at.aijy th;iig".pr
wi^re tlj^U^^nds^when
they want the nse.of.reaftoii.
.,"..: . ,\i:t.
1/ ;:\i .:"!"
To touwi, to swoom. -
"
\ .1;
"
""."", ^a
,
To teem, or team, to ponr out, to lade ouiof one.vcus^hm^
another. Credo ^ Danko Tommer, hawiot vtyquib,
exhauriq,, tTbm-
nier, autem oritur i Tbm, vacuus, v. Skinner. .
,
; "..
team, soboifiStftOm,
and roll.
.
';
'
Theatt firm
,
utaancb, spoken of banwis wbea Uwy do not run.
Thew'ds toyfwMy,' .
9"ig;"^aiion, 'f!n.f^eap
jyh|reapan,/liir"apiM),..e^.^Mfllem Idndiicss
*^ot[^,^to
"
tum,ta
"
8t|r;to disorder any. Ihrng by tumbling in
' '
for the same one of writiipf,which of old reeds only were, and. to
thu day ^re, in some parts of the world. The word used
pen, now
.
.
A tye-top, a garland. L.
.,
""
" '""''
"
".'
.
-
A walker, a fuller, a vxdk^ll, ":ftiUing*niUl;ii Bdg. wa)clnr"*
fttllo,hock verb. Belg. walchen, Jt. gnal care,. -pan nos premare,
calcare. Tettt. walcken, polire,omnia jOijedo " Lai. Ckl-
pannum
care. Skinner. .^ '.
.
.
Walch; iniiipid,fre8fa,-wftt^rtsfa;i^
the South, 11^0 say^troUruM^,
meaning somewhat nauseous. -.;.' ,1:
Z 2
3i"n NORTH COUK-rXV WOHD6*
Uti'umque, a work.
'to waryt "Lancath, To cotm, ab AS. warian, verigan, ex"'
'
To ^arp, tb lay eggs, a hen watpt. The smne'with iewy,
A t0ftrt^,a water-ford : I find that wmth\\n the old Saxon sigw
uifies the shoar.
.
" "
-; ".'. "
".' '
"(
Us^ in Shropshire. .
'
" "
1l^trftetieii,."hoaked,,simngle(|;
; ,... ...", .;: ,; ...
,
^'
To wiszle, to get any tilingaway slily.' '
"
i'"
pot. '= "
A wftitf-^^/aiim^berry,
wlidrflMiWi*^ or
"
A nn5"fcel,
v; ^hiikeU "
"""'"
'
"
"^""";--
'".
'
.
Wifily^qemy.^ '"''':''{.' "
.:'"
."'"."..-...
iyiwit.itIf- -
it "" .
""
-^ ""
-
za
iB9 N6ft9ff (fofH^-Pt^ wonos.
i?" "
solet autfrequentat? : .
ahiep.- "".
"
*'';
"
"
'
;'
A ioftfefH, a-^iveaM^.- =
'
To'ii^yAAiBlulM^T.idtei
"
""
.
". "
"
Ykri^eOTetMM* iit#liaUisli.
4eiiMi"i" "agar"altfo^iiiaiblfl""ited;^
It is used also in ike South, h TtiU. guh^fmwidu$p
Htdmn-
ptomfiUi, pmcepi, mpatkim: geafaa pntc^ititt,'^oaveiiy /"riere"
"i|$MrMiefr8; vel pmmm de/km mnht iii JS. ^fearo^ gcin**-
Chaitcttfo MtoMi yaite, ^MrMva, prMipiiu^- 4"" *^ SMimite- eict|mB
.
Tatf|iittotiNt6"""ividat'Clj^iM^"6i""
Qeosn, gtudJMm, i"rftrfMr".
dt%en", tttfentits. Spoken of grass orpastuMs, ii:i"ftiasK fatten.
leardly, valde; ywrUy^ mnob, yrartiiy gi"Bt". that it very
great* u*-
/. "" wiibliiMTia^
Ouitffber.iM^is^arlM ',
.,-;-; v'^aH')naivwk4i;j#74(8i"t.t|^^
'
illiMialrinnnf Juommj i. i
..
iir9fn,OT9A| F#r. 4^i0^ .,.-, '.,,.,
. o.,
To3foi0^er^tQ.|iqi|||9r/
.",..,,..
'
Blighted corn, blasted oorn. Suss, Blight idem quod milldew,
i. e. mel roscidum vel roscida quiedam melligo fruges cor-
quae
ruipit : aesoior an 4 Teutr Bieych, pallidas,k colore scilicet,
Skmner,
.-.,
"
c-
A caddoWf a jack-daw, Narf. In Gomfralithey oa)Vtbe guil'
liom a kiddaw..
Corpet-woy,i..e. green"!W"y.. "
.,
-
'
D
Dt^f dew
upon the grass. Hence daggle-tail is spoken of a
woman that hath dabbled her coats with dew, wet, or dirt
It dares me, it pains or grieres me, jEss. ab AS, Dare sigiihj^
ing hurt, harm, loss. Used also in the North.
A dUling; a darling, or best-bek^Ted child.
A dibble, an instroment to make holes in the groond wltb" for
Dii^irmeatf
spoon-meat^ jKent.
To ding, to sling.Ess. In the North It signifies to beat
A dodman, a shisll-snail,
or bodmandud, Noif, '
cause when standing com grows on both sidea it, it appears like
E
EUinge, solitary, Inuely, melancholy, far from neighbonrs, ^
elongatus, Suff. k Galileo esloigner. Ellende in the ancient Suxqb
Bight. ..."
To gatter, to affrightsuddenly.
scare, Gastred, perterre-
or
thlttgfor ter of .th* deg"" rosbea apan any thimg, Garuk is the
same, signifying one that is as 'twere in a fright,and so lieeds
Botfaiag.
Buaan, cameiby/ Est,
tiudne, kird to " "
Gweta ;
Somersetshire. Canales, cloacae, san senfine subter-
'
A l^, i. e. a stile that may be opened like a gate, Norf,
lAther, lithe,flexible. It is ased also for lazj, slothfol.
Litten, V. churcli"litten. Lio-tane Saxonice caBiniterium.
Lizen'd corn, q. lessened, i. e. lank, or shrank corn, Suss,
Liord Dane, for that the Danes, wiieo ihey were roasters here, were
Liord Dane, who lorded it there, and lived sock a slothful idle life.
A lynchettfa green balk to divide lands.
M
A mad, an earth worm, Ess. From the High Dutch madea.
igitur est Nurfuiciam hanc nostram (quse inter alios aliquot An-
gliom comitatus in Danornm transiit ditionem. An. Dom. dT6.)
Danis maxime habitatam fnisse, eorumque legibus, lingua atqne
moribus imbutam. Claras illi virglncs "c puellas (ut arctoae gen-
lea alise)moer appellabaut. Indc canendo heroum laudes 6c
quas
poemata palmam retulere (teste Olao Wormio^ Scaldmoer, t. f.
Q
Quotted Suts, Clojed, glutted.
R
Bathe, early, Suss. As rathe in morning, i, e. early in the
the
com, ulj AS. hriddel, cribrum, hoc k hreddan, liberare, qdia so.
cribraiiiio partes puriores a crassioribus liberentar, because it
rids the corn from the soil and dross.
A pedder, dorser,
ripper, a or badger. Suss,
light nor heavy. I suppose from rosin, which here in Bsaex the
A scoppertoit,
a time of idleness, a play-time.
A seame of corn of any sort ; a quarter, eight bnshds, 1^, ab
AS. " hoc fort^ k Gneco load, burthen*
seam, aayfia, a a %
horse-load ;
it seems also to have signifiedthe quantity of eight
bushels, beiog oftsn taken in that sense in Matth* Parii. Somner*
A seam of wood ; an horse-load : Suts. ejusdem originis.
iSear, dry, opposed to green, spoken only of wood, or the parti
of plants, from the Greek iffpogaridus. Hence perhaps woodican
Seel, or seed, time or season ;
It is a fair seel^'or
you to come at^
i. e. a fair season or time ; spoken ironically to them that como
oaghtdse. Suss.
A stound, a Utile whitie, 5i#. ^ a stand.
The strigfthe foot-stalk ofany fruit,petiolus,
SosSb
Stover, fodder for cattle; as hay, straw, or the Uke, Ess. fron^
the French estourer fivere, according to Cowel. Spelman re-
dnoet it from the Frestch estoffe matertay j* ettuffer,necessaria-
tumeditmre,
Swads, pods of pease, or the like pulse.
To sweale, to singe or bum, Sus, A swealed pig, a singed {tig;:
ab AS, suodan, to kindle, to set on fire,or burn.
To tmrrlf, to aoarl as a dog doth. Suss,
T
A tagge,sheep of the first year.
a Suss.
boiling.
A wem, a small faalt, hole, decay or blemish } especiallyin
cloth. Ess, oB AS. ioem" a bIot" spot, or blembh.
up
in bpth hands joined together. GoiUdtnan renders it, vola sea
very short
and smart.
Eiiglub. "British,
English. BriUsh,
web. Mr. Nicolson gives the der ; but a spider's web we
Mtate il/id^nc,
antore Laer-
tin lib. f in Menedemo, Mn
.
Nicokan,
9. A crag ; a rook. In 9. Kraig, a rock. I conjee-
Lyoia cragus mons qnidam est tare this word to be originally
diotas Stephano antore, cnjas British,
etiam meminit Horatins.
Aut Tiridis oragi, "c. Mr.
I^icolson,
10. Cole or keale ; pottage. 10. Kawl, idem. SeeArmo-
of a wall. thing.
19. Z^are, harm or pain. V2, DtVa, phrenesis, unde y
^ndharedb,. iusania,,faror.
274 A CATALOGUE OF LOCAL WOKDS.
English. BrUisli.
13. Trinket, " porringer. 13. Tranked, idem.
14. A dub, ft pQol of water. 14. Hibemiftiybyrfons, nobis
dwi/r, aqoa.
1.5. A doublet; dish. 15. 1)wbl"r,m
a Cardiganthirc,
signifiesthe same.
leg.
26. The
speer, the chimney 26. Yspyr, idem.
l?o"t.
"76 A CATALOGUE OF
EngUth, British.
It is a gonend word in nost
countries.
38. Spokes of a wheol. 38. yifpogvy,legs ; used also
stool.
39. A glaive,a sword or bill. 39. GUnv, a bUl ; it is a
French word.
40. A rtdd^e, a coarse Mere. 40. Rhi^lk, idem.
We make a differonce between
are four-square.
Lloyd,
the ancient Saxon, High and Low Dutch and Danish. It is used
belter known in this country (Essex) than fern indeed the only
;
word in the vulgar, who understand not fern. Bnu;kea
use among
is but the pluralof brake, as oyn of ey, and peaseo of peaso, ice.
Bretvt brow, a steep hill^Metaph, The brow of a hill^super-
NORTH COUNTRY WOADS. 277
vUium, tlie edge or side of a hill"or precipioe.
A brock; a badger. This is a word known in most oonntries.
The animal is
trionymas, badger, brock, or gray.
To to chaffer, or It is Low Dutek
coop, or cowp, exchange. a
word. Tiiat which is given by the party which hath the worsti
goods is called boot ; as what boot toUl you give me between your
oldyawd omd myjillyf i. e, between your old mare and my yoaog
one : ab^AS. bot, reward, To boot is used fre-.
or recompense.
quently in the same sense all England over. Boot signifiesprofit,
as in that impersonal verb, it booteth not, it profiteth,he)peth,or
availeth not
die, cumber,
A (ti/cf
,
a ditch. Tins is only a variety of dialect; tho* it
seems dyke, and sengh, or sough, are distinguished in the Norths
a dyke being a ditch to a dry hedge, either of trees or earth, at in
arable lands, where the ditch is usually dry all sommer ; hot a
in the Collection.
2ft
27B A CATALOGUE, "C.
greedily, or with open mouth. " Gob, in the Sonth, signifiesa large
morsel or bit ; so we say a good gob, t. e. a good segment or
Already entered.
Hadder, heath, or ling.
The kollent in a wkll aboat two yards and an half bigh, used in
tide into the dwelling-house, and another on the other side into
the byer, whei" they bind their "c. lengthways
cows, oxen, on
from the door to the other end ; si" that the fossula from the door
to the other end represents the shaft of a mell or the straight
;
tree in cross, and the through tlie house, the head
a passage or
transfers tree.
arms gives him the advantage of striking hard, and therefore soch '
already entered.
Thin drink ; small beer, cerevSsia tenuis, whence thin is de"
rived. The Low Dutch use thick beer for strong beer ; tho* to say
the trutlwthat they call thick beer is properly so, very thick and
**
muddy.
Wad, black-lead, Catalogue.
Cumberland. See Mr. Nicols(m*n
Glossatium Northanhymbricum,
Arelumes, V. heir-lumes.
2 B t"
280 GLOSSARIUM NORTH ANHYMBRICUM.
letter.
[deliraBS.
A dobby\ stultus, fatuns. AS. bob^enb, senex decrepitus 6c
Cbaucero, drovi.
[ccro, eith " elh*
facilis. AS. Ea^ " eafelic. Matt. xix. 26. Chan-
Eeth',
To fang -f
appiehendere. AS. pillgan. Belgis, vanghen.
Tofaw'f i. fang. AH, }:on. Qolliic^, faban. Islandis, faa.
lear; " jftlCCe bacillus. Vox gob est ab AS. ^eapaD pandere
to gape. Unde 3^P' P*^ diruptione sepis.
A gate; oomtua. 4 flood-gate. AS. ^eotao t a^eot^an,
fundere. Goth : giutan. Belgis, gieten.
cueulus, avis. AS. ^ce t ^aec.
A gouk ; Danis, g6g.
A LaUna. AS. gjl"p, gjiep " gjioepe. Kiliano,
grupe^
grippe.'Goth : grobos, foveas. Matt, viii. 20.
Sehaecca, farcimentam.
The lave; reliqois. AS. lap " lape. lap etiam est vidua;
at nobis hodie relict. This is entered in the Collection ; bat
without etjmolugy. Those that are left, from leave.
,
A leiken ; amasius, yel amasia. Goth. Leikan est plaoere. AS*
llCian. Gimbris, arliika. Anglis australioribus, to like; nostralT-
bus, to leik, "c. Et fallor si non aliqna sit cum his affinitas in
V. iElfr. de vet. test 23. " 40. Ubi inlerpres, leyfer " leiver.
p.
Lieve, or lief, is of frequent use all EngUmd over, in this sion,
expres-
I. had as lief, t. e. vellem.
aque
To lithe, ausnltare. Chaucero lithe. Fortd k Sax. hli^C;
tranquiUus, quietus. "
est sera. In the South we have some footsteps of this word for
;
non alligLnlis. ^
douin.
6LOSSARIUM NORTHANHYMBRlCUM. 285
licitas.
ano, wadden "l wteden. V. Vossii Etymol.in voce vado, " vadiim.
voce Walgan.
TTeZJaiMj^i bent AS. palapa.
A ttjian^ 'f lornm. AS. ^panj* V. ihoc-waDg.
Whilk; quisy quid, ulrura, Chancero whilk. AS. DplIC*
Goth, theleiks. Danis, builk. Belgis, welk" Scotia, qailok*
A wh^e ; |"auoi AS. hpaeQ 6c h-won, aliqaantom. ^
At p^jf "
Cenbe hpon^ Operatii pauqi inCodd. Rush. " Cott. Lno. x; 'i
DA.
The.iliis, there, then, that, thou, thine, those, tho', "|*c.
Father, mother, brother, "c
II. Our English alphabet contains some letters that are super-
fltaouR : five in number.
1. C, which, if we use it in its proper
power (as we oaght i"
do) differs not at afl from k, and therefore, the craie, or the other^
must needs be snperflaoos.
2. Q, which is, by general consent, gpranted and agreed to be-
counted a vowel, as in my, thy, it differs not at all from what i^e
4"oafusion to children.
3.. To eallj consonant,
that we we attribate a strange power,
-which no canchild
imagine to belong to it; which the Bishop of
"Chester hath rightly determined to be dzy. That d is an dient
ingre-
into it children do easily discern; for bid a joong cMld,
that begins to speak, say John, it will say Don.
4. To the Towel t we give two powers, where it is pronounced
and use. Whereof the first is a simple letter, but the second a
8. To ch give a strange
we power, or sound, which the Bishop
of Chester rightly determines to be Uh. This young children
it tursh andL some shursk, the former observed the letter t in if,
and the latter the letter sh. Whence it appears, that the true
writing of it is tshurtsh.
9. in all words where
41; is pat before h, as in what, whioh"
2 c
2g0 AN ACCOUNT OF SOME ERRORS AND
'
If all these (kults yr"re amended, vis. the snperflnoas letters cut
easy.
I come now to make some further animadversions our
upon
orthography and manner of speliiug.
The grammarians have a rule, tiiat in spelling and dividing
words, by \ syllables, where ever there is a consonant or two fore
be-
e is added
syllable,compounded to a with i, it signifiesnot, as is
vii1;"-arly
thought, that i is to be produced, but that it stands for
POSTSCRIPT.
a knqwn word for mad, and the usual metrical tnkndation of tb^*^
Psalm".
mickJe mare, much more ; for home, hame, hence all the town^
ending in ham, as Wickham, Fulham, Stretham, "c. hamely fof
homely; for worse, warte and tear; for stone, stone ; tmde Stantofi;
POSTSCRIPT. 293
pick ; for thatch, thack ; thatcher, theaker ; for church, kykr ; near
KvpiaKdv*
3. In many words we change ol and oul into au ; as for cold
2 c 3
"04 or SMELTING AND
Tai oar beaten into small pieeetifis broaght from tbe mine tip
tbe smelting^bouse, and there melted with black and white coal ;
t. e, with charcoal, and wood slit into small pieces and dried in a
kiln for that purpose. The reason why they mix black and
white coal is, because the black alone makes too rehement a fire,
mad tbe white too gentle ; but mixt together, they make a just
tamper of heat After the fire b made, the mine is cast on thh
o?er daywith : within thence it is laded out, and oast into long^
Hqnarebars, with smaller ends fit to lift and them by.
carry
These bars they bring to tlie refiningfurnace, which is covered
#ilk a thick cap
of stone, bound about with iron, and moyeable,
timt so they may lift it up, and make the test at the bottom anew.
wbiob they do erery refining. In the middle of the there is
cap
a bole, in which tbe bar of metal hangs in iron slings above the
Amaoe, that so it may be let down by degrees as it melts off.
Besidee this, they have another hole in the side of tbe fanace,
parallel to the horizon, and bottomed with iron. At this hole
all the bottom of the furnace. The fire is put in by the sido
of tbe bellows. When the furnace is come to a true temper of
boat, the lead converted into lithargeis cast off by the blowing of
the bellows, the silver subsiding into the bottom of the test. The
blast blows the lead, converted into off the
lithatge, silver,afler
the manner that cream is blown off milk
As soon as the glut of Utharge {for to they caU it)is cast off,-the
silver in the bottom of the onple grows cold, and tfant same degree
of heat will not keep it melted as before. The cake of silver,
siter it grows cold, springs or rises up into branches.
The test is made of marrow bones burnt to small pieces,after-
ward
more ado. That which swims over the sieve is beaten with wet
stamp.
That which passeth through the sieve, as atso that which, after
it hath been beaten with the wet stamps, tinrougfa a fin"
passes
grate or strainer of iron, goeth to the buddU, which is a vessel
made like to a shallow tumbrel, standing a little shelving.
Thereop the matter is laid, and water running constantly over
it, moved to and fro with an iron rake or hoe, and so the water
carries away the earth and dross, the metal remaining behind.
That which is thos buddled,they lue with a thick hair sieve,^doae
wrought in a tub of water, rolling the sieve aboat, and inclining
it this way and that way with their hands. Tlie light which
swims over the neve is returned again to the huddle. That whicb
sabsides is fit for the smelting furnace.
cupd. First they weigh the piece cot off, then, after the lead is
separated, the silver. A ton of metal will jield 10, sometimes 15,
and, if it be rich, SOlb. weight of silver. All lead oar digged in
Yeia, wliich tliey call spar, and a black which tbejr call blinds.
This last covers the vein of oar, and when that appears, thejrare
"ore to find oar.
Thb tinners find the nine bj the shoad (or, as they call it,
tfuad, which is loose stones of tin mixed with the earth, of which
of the whole earth, brake it off from the load, and confounded, or
tnperficies
of the earth. The main load begins at the east, and
other points which they call country. The vein, or load, is som"^
hard, they use a gad (a tool like a 8mith*s punch) which they
drive in with one end of their pick-ax, made like a hammer.
When they have they break it with a
gotten out of the mine,
hammer into small pieces the biggest not exceeding half a pound,
or a pound, and then bring it to the stamps. (The stamps am
only two at one place,lifled up by a wheel moved with water as
:" :
OF PREPARING TINr 297
water runs out, aud carrieh with it the mine that is pounded
away
small enoagh to pass the holes, dn"s and ail together, i" a long
gutter or trough made of wood. The dross and earth (as being
lighter)is carried all along the irongh to a pit, or vessel, into
which the trough delivers it, called a loob : llie tin, as being
heavier, subsides and slays behind in the trough : and, besides^
at a good distance from the stamps, they put a turf in the trough
to stop the tin that it runs no further.
The tin remaining in the trough, they take oot and to the
carry
^iu2"i/e,(a.vessel deseribed in the lilver-work^ where tlie saad
"Jid earth is washed from it by the water running over it,the
tinners stirringand working it, both with a shovel, and with their
feet in the buddU the rough tin (as they call it)falis behind ;
the head tin lies uppermost or foremost. The head tin passes to
the wreck, where they work it with a wooden rake ia vessel^, al"
most like the huddling vessels, water running also over it. la
the wreck the head tin lies again foremost, and tliat is finiabed
and fit for the blowing house, aud is called black tin, being of a
black colour, and as fine as sand. The rough tin Ilea next, that^
as also that in the huddle, they sift to separate the coarse, and
new beaten. The fine is lu^d in a fine sierce, moved and waved
to and fro in the is described in th* silTer-work ; the
water, as
oar subbiding to the bottom, the sand,. earth, and other dross^
flows over the rim of the sierco with the water: that which rer
'
mains in the sierce, they sift through a fine sieve, and what passes
through they call black tin. In like manner they order the
waste tin that falls hindmost in the buddU and wreck, which the/
call the eai/,.
as also that which falls into the hob, pit,or sunp,
vis. washing and siftingof it, which they oalls^ri/ipui^ofit,
retnai^
ing the rough and coarse to the stamps, and the finer to tht wreck*
tVith the rough tin that is returned to the stamps, Ihey mingla
new oar, else it will not work" butliir up the stamps. The tin in
the Iqob they let lie a while, and the Wnger the belter, for, say
they,it grows by lying*
and increases
The bUick tinat the blowing house, with
isv smelted, charcoal
only, firiit throwiug on charcoal, then upoii that black tin, and
"o interchangeablyinto a very deep bing (which they call the
house) broader at the top, and narrower at the bottom. They
make the fire very vehemmit. blowing the coals continually with
moved in the smelling
a pair of great bellows by water, as
ahould be so unlike to lead oar, being Tory like to the lead that
if melted out of it
away whole.
Care also must be taken tiiat it be not too much burned, for
then it will
loop, i e. melt and run together in a mass. After it
is burnt, they beat it into small pieces with an sledge, and
iron
then pot it into the furnace (which is before charged with coals^
casting it upon the top of the coals, where it melts, and falls into
the hearth, in the space of about twelve hours, more or less, and
then it runs into a sew.
what was drawn oot at ih^ finery, in the middle, and so finish the
liar.
Note, 1. One load of the smaller coals will draw out one tnn of
iron at the chafery.
2. They expect that one man and a boy, at thejinerjf,
shonld
make two tuns of iron in a week : two men at thechafay, should
take up,
i. e. make or work fire or six inn in a week.
.
3. If into the hearth where they work the iron sows (whether
the chafery or the^nery) you oast upon the iron a piece of brass*
it will hinder the metal working, caosing it
from to spatter about*
so that it cannot be brought into a solid piece.
This account of the whole of the iron work I had
process
from one of the chief iron masters in Sussex, my honoured lriend"
Waller Borrel, of Gnokfield, Esq ; deceased. And now, tliat 1
hate had occasion to mention this worthy gentleman, give me
gybjects.
V
.
Observations referringto Husbandry^
^pddenlj deeay.
This observation I alao find in an extraet of a letter,wriUm
anmed, to the oormption of the timber, may oatoh and ffx one
3iever grow again ; if when their horns are grown, they never cast
them ; in brief, their horus iieror "j|^row after they are geld'^d.
This observation, expre"bed iu almost the same word", I find in
the summary of a book of Francesco Ro"li, the llalian, f^"il"d,
F.spericnzewtorna a diverse cose naturali, Ace Dcliveved m lie
it. Else, if bdth go, and leave it nnfinisbed, their MUm vwvk^,
before tlieyreturn again, will ba"e carried sway, Wassil therr
several nests, all the sticks and amlerials they hwl gat laff'ffcir.
Hence, perhaps,the word tollingfor eheatiag aad i
d U
.302 MAN NEK OF THE WIRE 6CC.
WORK,
^loDinoatbshirey
TiiEY take little square l"ars, made like bars of steel, which
"thej call oshom inmt wrought on purpose for this ntanvlactiire,
and strain, i. draw them at furnace with hammer mored
e. a a bj
water (like those at the iron forg:eft,
bat lesser)into rods
square
of about the bigness of one's little finger,or less, and bow them
round. When that is done, they put them into a furnace, and
neal them with a pretty strong fire for about twelve hours : alter
.longer the better)then the rippers take them and draw them mto
Then they. neal them again for six hours, or more, and water
tliem the second time about a week ; then they are carried
great pack-thread.
Then again they are nealed the third time, and watered about -a
upper room.
In the mill, where the rippers work, the wheel moves several
the two ends of the tongs, which catch hold of the wire, and draw
it through tlie hole. The axis on which the barrel moves, runs
not through the center, but is placed towards one side, viz. that
on which tlie huoks are. Underneath is fastened to the barrel a
good way by the calms or cogs in the axis of the wheel, and draws
back the barrel, which (alls to again by its own weight The
They anoint the wire with train-oil, to make it run the easier.
The plate, wherein the holes.are, is on the outside iron, on the
inside steel.
The boles are bigger on the iron side, because the wire finds
diffaalur tiublilisMiiuuin,nitro"uin,
sulphurcum odore pneteretmtet
onendentom interea aqua hano terrain peroolata in sabjecta
per
Ytsa per lubulos " canales derivata in vate plombeo amplo sex
Tel leptem dieruin spatio coquitur ad justam eonaUtentiaui, turn
in aliud van plurobeiim efTiinditur inimusis asseribos aliquot ;
qoibus adhasrens conoresoat vitriol um uuinibns refrigeratit.
r^allo alio vatte coqui aut oonlineri hoc lixivium potent qu4a.
plambeo ; cni ut faoilius ebulliat ferri injioiuntparticulas,qnm 4
lixivio pland consommuntur.
We saw tlie mauner of making vitriol,or copperas, at Brickl""
.
ley in Essex. They lay tLe stones apon a large bed" or 6oor,
preparedin the open air, underneath which there are gutters, or
aqua
imbuatur substantia vitrioli. Aquam hanc vitriolatam k
2d2
904 THE ALLOM. WOBK AT WHITBY.
geiftlurin Titriolum.
They make great qnantiliesof groen copperas al Deptford'
qear Greenwich.
it with an iron rake or hue. This they grind with two pair of
atouet
,
.which deliver it front one to another, the flnt gnods it
oo"rier" the ieoond finer. (There is a mill so oontrired as that It
tlie right colour in two or three days. The fire must not be ex*-
trene all this while, else it will clod toMther, and change colour..
Hie iron rake, wherewith it is stirred, is hung, or poised, on as
iron hook, else it is so heavy that it could not be moved by one
nan.
Ceruss Is made
plates of lead softened with of steams of vinegar^.
Tid. PhilosophicalTraiisactumt, Numb. CXXXVll. p. 935.
lm)f deep. Alter this first water is drawn off the mine is lh#
pits,they do not presently cast away the mine, but pour IVesli
nater on it the second time ; and, after the second t^ter ia
draw* off (which is much weaker tlian tbe first)they east onf IW
tnne^and put in new, and pour oi* fresh water as before.
Oot of the cistern they
convey thtf Mriknwn, \ry tKWafjhs,iarta
^ ptnr; where it is Mledfei* tfee ^ptm "f tftm/ff-tbrn feeors
examine it
by Weigfht, lo know how mooh Ice, made of kelp, it
will require, which if for the most part six iuches of t!ic |["auV
depth.
Wliiek beings pot in, so soon as the liquor boiIs".or flows ap^
hour, that so the sulphur and other dregs may settle to the botr'
kom, which being done, it is drawn off into coolers, where it con^
tinues about four days and nights. The cooler being drawiL
about hair full,, they pour into it a quantity of urine, viz. about
eight gnltons into a cooler that contains about two half tuns.
Having thos stood foar days and nights, it is quite coo), aad^
the allom chrystalHzed to the sides of the cooler. Then the/
scoop out the liquor (which they call the mother) into a cistenv.
and put it into the again, with new lixivium to be evapo"
pans
rated by boiling, "o. The a1)om that is ihotten and clirystaDizecl
on the sides of the cooler, they scrape off and wash with faic
spring water; then throw it into a bing, where the water draint
from it. Thence it is taken and cast into a pan, which tbey caU
the rocking pan, and there melted it is scooped out, and
; ooa-^
feyed by troughs into tuns, in which it stands about ten dtLjt^
votil it be perfectly cool and condensed. Then they onhoob
and stave the tuns, and taking ont the ailom, chip it and carry ^
into the 8tor^boa8e"
We failed enquire exactly what
to proportion of kefy they paC
ia. For thongh tbey told et six inches of the p4ti'|deptOaJrfi
Hmj tohl ai aot how deep the are mad"..
pans
The salt spring, or (acithey call it) the ^ri7"e pit, h near tk$
river, and is so plentiful,that were all the water boiled oat tlMl
it wonld afford (as they told ns) it would yield salt enough for
all Buglandv The lords of tlie pit appoint how much shall M
boiled as tbey see occasioii" that the trade be not clogged.
Divers have interest in the brine-pit, so that !t bv^
persons
longs not all to one 4ord ; some have one Iead*walling, some two,
some three, some foqr, or morei
lord and Icuant, and all pwsoiu concerned. Tbey appoint Iioiit"
many hoas^s shall work at a time, and that is twelve at tlie moat*.
When there is occasion for salt to be made, they cause a cryer tO'
aaasart.
boiling too fast, if the liquor happens to boil loo fast, they take^
to allayit, brine that had been boiled and drained from the salts
onide brine, they say, will diminish their salt The ale serves, they
fud, to harden the corn of the salt.
After on" hour's boiling, tlie brine will begin to com : then
they take a small quantity of clear ale, and sprinkle thereof into
the about an egg-shell full. [Note, If yon pat in too much
pan
it will make the broth boil over the pan.] All the' while before
they pot in the last ale, the^ cause the to boil as fast as they
pan
afterwards gently,'till the salt be almost' dry; They
can; very
do not evaporate ad ticeitatem, but leave about a pottle or lon
gal-
of brine in the lest the salt should burn and stick to
pan,
the sides of the pan. .
ont the salt, and put it into conical baskets, (which they call
barrows) and in them let the water drain from it an hour, more
Note, The house in which the salt is boiled is called the Wych/f
house; whence it may be guessed. what toj/c^ signifies,and why
all those towns where there are salt springs and salt made, are