The man on the dyke is always the best hurler. - Munster. The looker-on is quite sure he could do better than the actual players. In Connaught, which is as renowned for its neck-or-nothing riders as Munster is for its vigorous hurlers, they have this parallel saying, The best horseman is always on his feet. In the same sense the Dutch aver that "The best pilots stand on shore." 66 1 In a calm sea every man is a pilot. Every man can tame a shrew but he that hath her. Bachelors' wives and maids' children are always well taught. 'He that has no wife chastises her well; he that has no children rears them well" (Italian)." I ask your pardon, coach; I thought you were a wheelbarrow when I stumbled over you. — Irish. An ironical apology for offence given to overweening vanity or pride. The pride of the cobbler's dog, that took the wall of a wagon of hay, and was squeezed to death. 1 De beste stuurlieden staan aan land. 2 Chi non ha moglie, ben la batte; chi non ha figliuoli, ben gli pasce. SELF-LOVE. SELF-INTEREST. SELF RELIANCE. Charity begins at home. This is literally true in the most exalted sense. The best of men are those "Whose circling charities begin With the few loved ones Heaven has placed them near, It is only in irony, or by an odious abuse of its meaning, that the proverb is ever used as an apology for that sort of charity which not only begins at home, but ends there likewise. The egotist holds that “Self is the first object of charity" (Latin). "Every one has his hands turned towards himself" (Polish). 66 The priest christens his own child first. Every man draws the water to his own mill. 66 Every cow licks her own calf." Every old woman blows under her own kettle" (both Servian). "Every one rakes the embers to his own cake" (Arab). 1 Prima sibi charitas. Every one for himself, and God for us all. Let every sheep hang by its own shank. Let every herring hang by its own gills. Ilka man for his ain hand, as John Jelly fought.-Scotch. James Kelly gives this explanation of the last proverb : "As two men were fighting, John Jelly, going by, made up fiercely to them. Each of them asked him which he was for: he answered for his own hand, and beat them both." Sir Walter Scott puts aside John Jelly's claims to the authorship of this saying, and assigns it to Harry Smith in the following passage of "The Fair Maid of Perth." After the fight between the clans at the North Inch, Black Douglas says to the smith, ་ "If thou wilt follow me, good fellow, I will change thy leathern apron for a knight's girdle, thy burgage tenement for an hundred-pound-land to maintain thy rank withal.' 6 "I thank you humbly, my lord,' said the smith. dejectedly, but I have shed blood enough already; and Heaven has punished me by foiling the only purpose for which I entered the contest.' 666 How, friend?' said Douglas. Didst thou not fight for the Clan Chattan, and have they not gained a glorious conquest?' "I fought for my own hand,' said the smith indifferently; and the expression is still proverbial in Scotland-meaning, I did such a thing for my own pleasure, not for your profit.'" Let every man skin his own skunk. -American. 66 The skunk stinks ten thousand times worse than a polecat. Let every one carry his own sack to the mill" (German).1 "Let every fox take care of his own tail" (Italian.)" Self do, self have. Analogous to this manly proverb, as it seems to me, is that Dutch one, Self's the man,' " which Dean 66 Trench has stigmatised as merely selfish. The tod [fox] ne'er sped better than when he went his ain errand. -Scotch. The miller ne'er got better moulter [toll] than he took wi' his ain If you would have your business done, go; if not, send. If you would have a thing well done, do it yourself. Ilka man's man had a man, and that made the Treve fa'.- Scotch. The Treve was a strong castle built by Black Douglas. The governor left the care of it to a deputy, and he to an under-deputy, through whose negligence the castle was taken and burned. "The master bids the man, and the man bids the cat, and the cat bids its tail" (Portuguese). General Sir Charles Napier, speaking of what happened during his temporary absence from the government of Corfu, says, "How entirely all things depend on the mode of executing them, and how ridiculous mere theories are! 1 Trage Jeder seinem Sack zur Mulle. 3 Zelf is de Man. 4 Manda o amo ao moço, o moço ao gato, e o gato ao rabo. My successor thought, as half the world always thinks, that a man in command has only to order, and obedience will follow. Hence they are baffled, not from want of talent, but from inactivity, vainly thinking that while they spare themselves every one under them will work like horses." Trust not to another for what you can do yourself. "Let him that has a mouth not say to another, Blow" (Spanish).1 66 The master's eye will do more work than both his hands. 'If you have money to throw away, set on workmen and don't stand by " (Italian); for 2 When the cat's away the mice will play. The eye of the master fattens the steed. The master's eye puts mate on the horse's bones. - Ulster. "The answers of Perses and Libys are worth observing," says Aristotle. "The former being asked what was the best thing to make a horse fat, answered, 3 The master's eye;' the other being asked what was the best manure, answered, 'The master's footsteps."" The Spaniards have naturalised this last saying among them. Aulus Gellius tells a story of a man who, being asked why he was so fat, and the horse he rode was so lean, replied," Because I feed myself, and my servant feeds my horse." 1 Quien tiene boca no diga á otro, sopla. 2 Chi ha quattrini a buttar via, metti operaji, e non vi stia. • El pie del dueño estiercol para la heredad. |