He was born on a Sunday; he likes work ready done. It is well to leave off playing when the game is at its best. Good bargains bring ruin. On a fool's beard the barber learns to shave. By candle light a goat looks like a lady. In the end it will be known who ate the bacon. In the tail lies the venom. Every one feels his own burden heavy. Every fool loves his bauble. No grass grows on a beaten road. When a thing is done, advice comes too late. To wash an ass's head is but loss of time and soap. Loaves put awry into the oven come out crooked. A table-friend is gone when the table is bare. Love and lordship like no fellowship. Love, a cough, smoke, and money are ill to hide. EXERCISES ON LESSON XXVIII. Explain each of the proverbs. But before you think of trying to do so, tell me the meaning of every word in it you have not had before. What is a word the sign of? What is a written or printed word the sign of? Why is it necessary to know what words mean? You cannot answer these questions ? Then, before you go onwards, read the Preface. Preface to be looked for? What is a Preface? a Preface at the end of a book? Where is the LESSON XXIX. Nothing is done while anything remains undone. No day so long but has its evening. Lion-skins were never had cheap. Better to stumble once than be always tottering. There are calumnies against which even innocence loses courage. Hunger looks in at the industrious man's door, but dares not enter. Fortune can take from us only what she has given us. War makes robbers, peace hangs them. The eagles does not hunt flies. Love teaches asses to dance. The ass that is common property is always the worst saddled. The night brings counsel. The hen's eyes are with her chickens. The skin is nearer than the shirt. Fear is a great inventor. The greatest cunning is to have none at all. The arguments of the strongest have always the most weight. The big fishes eat the little ones. Honours change manners. Lawyers' houses are built of fools' heads. Small presents maintain friendship. The most cunning are the first caught. The belly overrules the head. What is true is not always probable. The eye of the master fattens the steed. He is a fool who makes a mallet of his fist. The soul makes the music. It is not enough to run, you must start in time. The higher the rise, the greater the fall. Take down a rogue from the gallows and you hang yourself. The devil often lurks behind the cross. There are good dogs of all sizes. Two sparrows on the same ear of corn are not long friends. It is the master-wheel that makes the mill go round. Trim my beard and I will trim your top-knot. A woman and a melon are hard to choose. Foul linen should be washed at home. Never mind losing a minnow to catch a salmon. Set your sail according to the wind. Turn your tongue seven times before you speak. Learn to like what you cannot hinder. He that puts his sickle into another man's corn will reap vexation. It will not do to keep holidays before they come. Never limp before the lame. Don't snap your fingers at the dog before you are out of the village. Never sell the bearskin until you have killed the bear. There never was a looking-glass that told a woman she was ugly. The only way to keep a secret is to say nothing It is a good horse that never trips. None so busy as those who do nothing. EXERCISES ON LESSON XXIX. How can ill luck be good for something? What is ill luck good for? Is there really any such thing as either ill luck or good luck? Have you read the Preface to this volume ? Then tell me in as few words as you can what the writer says. You cannot remember? I do not want his words but his ideas? Give me the substance of what he says. You cannot ?-then read the Preface again; read it carefully; try to understand it ; if you find any word you do not know the meaning of, go to your dictionary; if your dictionary does not give you the aid you need come to me. Then when you understand what the writer means, you will find it easy to give me that meaning, and to do so in your own words. Come, now, let us talk over each of the proverbs contained in the last exercise: when we have done you will understand the sense better. Against our next lesson, choose from Lesson XXIII. the proverbs you like best, and come prepared to tell me why you like them best. LESSON XXX. Ill luck is good for something. The weakest must hold the candle. A man travels as far in a day as a snail in a thousand years. A peg for every hole. After shearing, there's nothing to shear. With the help of an If, you may put London into a bottle. Much memory, little judgment. A handsome hostess looks ugly on your purs^. Ready money works great cures. Every man is taken at his own price. He has enough to do who holds the handle of the frying-pan. Fly low on account of the branches. 'Tis a good farthing that saves a penny. He who rides on the shoulder of a giant sees further than the giant. The holder of the handle of the frying-pan is in danger of being burnt. A century is not much, but never is a long while. There are toys for all ages. Hunger drives the wolf out of the wood. Vanity has no greater foe than vanity. Truth is the club that knocks down and kills everybody. Avarice bursts the bag. The miser and the pig are of no use till dead. A handsome shoe often pinches the foot. There is a remedy for everything but death. The beadle of the parish is always of the vicar's opinion. The hunchback is blind to his own hump, but clearly sees his brother's. The heart leads whither it goes. There are more foolish buyers than foolish sellers. The listener makes the backbiter. The doctor is often more to be feared than the disease. Honey is sweet, but the bee stings. The richest man carries nothing away with him but his shroud. He is the wisest man who does not think himself so. The first step binds one to the second. The absent are always in the wrong. The rich man has more relations than he knows. |