Better leave than lack.

All covet, all lose.

Covetousness brings nothing home.

2

1

"It bursts the bag" (Italian). Like the dog in the fable, it grasps at the shadow, and lets fall the substance. "He that embraces too much holds nothing fast" (Italian, French). A statue was erected to Buffon in his lifetime, with the inscription, Naturam amplectitur omnem (" He embraces all nature"). Somebody remarked upon this, "He that embraces too much," &c. Buffon heard of the sarcasm, and had the inscription obliterated.

It is hard for a greedy eye to hae a leal heart. Scotch. Covetousness is scarcely consistent with honesty.

Much would have more.

A greedy eye never had a fu' weam [belly].- Scotch.

"The dust alone can fill the eye of man" (Arab); i. e., the dust of the grave can alone extinguish the lust of the eye and the cupidity of man. Among the Arabs, the phrase, "His eye is full," signifies he possesses every object of his desire. The Germans say,

Greed and the eye can no man fill.”3 The Scotch say of a covetous person,—

He'll get enough ae day when his mouth 's fu' o' mools [mould).

1 La codicia rompe il saco.

2 Chi troppo abbraccia, nulla stringe. Qui trop embrasse, mal étreint.

* Den Geiz und die Augen kann niemand füllen.

The greedy man and the gileynoar [cheat] are soon agreed.—Scotch. sharper soon cheats the covetous man

"The (Spanish).1

The grace of God is gear enough.- Scotch.

This is the northern form of the proverb which Launcelot Gobbo speaks of as being well parted between Bassanio and Shylock. "You [Bassanio] have the grace of God, and he [Shylock] has enough."

Too much is stark nought.-Welsh.

Too much of one thing is good for nothing.

"One may be surfeited with eating tarts" (French)." "Nothing too much!" (Latin.)

Better a wee fire to warm us than a meikle fire to burn us.-Scotch.

It is better to be content with a moderate fortune than attempt to increase it at the risk of being ruined. "Give me the ass that carries me, rather than the horse that throws me" (Portuguese).*

Little sticks kindle a fire, but great ones put it out.

Fair and softly goes far in a day.

Hooly and fairly men ride far journeys-Scotch.

"Who goes softly goes safely, and who goes safely

1 El tramposo presto engaña al codicioso.

2 On se saoule bien de manger tartes.

3 Ne quid nimis.

* Mais quero asno que me leve que cavallo que me derrube.

goes far" (Italian). "Take-it-easy and Live-long are brothers" (German).2

Fools' haste is no speed.

The more haste the worse speed

This seems to be derived from the Latin adage, Festinatio tarda est ("Haste is slow"). It defeats its own purpose by the blunders and imperfect work it occasions. A favourite saying of the Emperors Augustus and Titus was, Festina lente (" Hasten leisurely "), which Erasmus calls the king of adages. The Germans have happily translated it,3 and it is well paraphrased in that saying of Sir Amyas Paulet, "Tarry a little, that we may make an end the sooner." A thing is done "Fast enough if well enough" (Latin).*

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Naething in haste but gripping o' fleas.-Scotch.

Nothing should be done in haste except catching fleas.
Haste trips up its own heels.

He that goes too hastily along often stumbles on a fair road

(French).5 "Reason lies between the bridle

and the spur" (Italian).o

1 Chi va piano, va sano, e chi va sano, va lontano.

2 Gehgemach und Lebelang sind Bruder.

3 Eile mit Weile.

4 Sat cito si sat bene.

5 Qui trop se hâte en cheminant, en beau chemin se fourvoye

souvent.

• Trà la briglia e lo speron consiste la raggion.

Draw not your bow till your arrow is fixed.

He, that rides ere he be ready wants some o' his graith.-Scotch.

He leaves some of his accoutrements behind him. Perhaps one reason why It is good to have a hatch before your door" is, that it may act as a check upon such unprofitable haste Sydney Smith adopted a similar expedient, which he called a screaming gate. "We all arrived once," he said, "at a friend's house just before dinner, hot, tired, and dusty-a large party assembled and found all the keys of our trunks had been left behind. Since then I have established a screaming gate. We never set out on our journey now without stopping at a gate about ten minutes' distance from the house, to consider what we have left behind. The result has been excellent."

Two hungry meals make the third a glutton.

Excess in one direction induces excess in the opposite direction.

Soft fire makes sweet malt.

More flies are caught with a drop of honey than with a tun of vinegar. "Gentleness does more than violence (French).' "The gentle calf sucks all the cows" (Portuguese).*

Ower hot, ower cauld. Sootch.

may be a fire on the morrow it will be ashes"

1 Plus fait douceur que violence.

2 Bezerrinha mansa todas as vaccas mamma.

(Arab). Violent passions are apt to subside quickly. "Soon fire, soon ashes" (Dutch).

A man may love his house weel, and no ride on the riggin [roof] o't. -Scotch.

No one will believe that he loves it the more for any such extravagant demonstration.

Many irons in the fire, some will cool.

Too many cooks spoil the broth.

Ower mony greeves [overseers] hinder the wark. - Scotch.

66

"Too many tirewomen make the bride ill dressed " (Spanish).1 If the sailors become too numerous the ship sinks" (Arab).

66

A bow o'erbent will weaken.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

This nation, the northern part of it especially, is given to believe in the sovereign efficacy of dulness. To be sure, dulness and solid vice are apt to go hand in hand. But then, according to our notions, dulness is in itself so good a thing—almost a religion. Now, if ever a people required to be amused, it is we sadhearted Anglo-Saxons. Heavy eaters, hard thinkers, often given up to a peculiar melancholy of our own, with a climate that for months together would frown away mirth if it could-many of us with very gloomy thoughts about our hereafter. If ever there were a people who should avoid increasing their dulness by all work and no play, we are that people. They took

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