It is a foule byrd that fyleth his owne nest.1

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. o. Have yee him on the hip.2

Ibid. Hee must have a long spoone, shall eat with the devill.3

Ibid. It had need to bee A wylie mouse that should breed in the cats eare. Ibid. Leape out of the frying pan into the fyre.

Ibid. Time trieth troth in every doubt.6

Ibid.

Mad as a march hare.

Ibid.

Much water goeth by the mill That the miller knoweth not of.

Ibid.

He must needes goe whom the devill doth drive.'

Chap. ri. Set the cart before the horse. 10

Ibid.

1 See Skelton, page 8.

? I have thee on the hip. — SHAKESPEARE : Merchant of Venice, act ir. sc. 1; Othello, act ii. sc. 7. 3 See Chaucer, page 4.

4 A hardy mouse that is bold to breede
In cattis eeris.

Order of Foles. MS. circa 1450. 5 The same in Don Quixote (Lockhart's ed.), part i. book iii. chap. iv. BuxYAN : Pilgrim's Progress. FLETCHER : The Wild-Goose Chase, act ir. sc. 3. 6 Time trieth truth. – Tottel's Miscellany, reprint 1867, p. 221.

Time tries the troth in everything. — Tusser: Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry. Author's Epistle, chap. i.

7 I saye, thou madde March hare. — SKELTOX : Replycation against certayne yong scolers.

& More water glideth by the mill Than wots the miller of.

SHAKESPEARE: T'itus Andronicus, act ii. sc. 7. 9 An earlier instance of this proverb occurs in Heywood's Johan the Husbande. 1533,

He must needs go whom the devil drives. - SHAKESPEARE: All's Well that Ends Well, act i. sc. 3. CERVANTES: Don Quixote, part is book iv. chap. iv. Gosson : Ephemerides of Phialo. PEELE : Edward I.

10 Others set carts before the horses. — RABELAIS : book v. chap. xxii.

The moe the merrier.1

Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. vii. To th’ end of a shot and beginning of a fray.2 Ibid.

It is better to be An old man's derling than a yong man's werling. Ibid.

Be the day never so long, Evermore at last they ring to evensong.

Ibid. The moone is made of a greene cheese.*

Ibid. I know on which side my bread is buttred,

Ibid.

3

It will not out of the flesh that is bred in the bone.5

Chap. riii Who is so deafe or so blinde as is hee That wilfully will neither heare nor see ? 6 Chap. ix. The wrong sow by th’eare.?

Ibid.

Went in at the tone eare and out at the tother. 8

Ibid.

Love me, love my dog.'

Ibid.

1 GASCOIGNE: Roses, 1575. Title of a Book of Epigrams, 1608. BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER : The Scornful Lady, act i. sc. 1; The Sea Voyage, act i. sc. 2.

? To the latter end of a fray and the beginning of a feast.-SHAKESPEARE: 2 Henry IV. act iv. sc. 2.

3 Be the day short or never so long,
At length it ringeth to even song.
Quoted at the Stake by George Tankerfield (1555).

Fox : Book of Martyrs, chap. vii. p. 346. 4 Jack Jugler, p. 46. RABELAIS : book i. chap. xi. BLACK LOCII : Ilatchet of heresies, 1565. BUTLER : Hudibras, part ii. canto iii. line 263.

5 What is bred in the bone will never come out of the flesh. - l'Illay : The Two Fishermen, fable xiv.

It will never out of the flesh that's bred in the bone. – Jossox : Every Man in his Humour, act i. sc. 1.

6 None so deaf as those that will not hear. - MATHEW HENRY : Commentaries. Psalm lriii.

7 He has the wrong sow by the ear. ~ Joxson : Every Man in his Humour, act ii. sc. 1.

8 See Chaucer, page 6.
9 CHAPMAN : Widow's Tears, 1612.

A proverb in the time of Saint Bernard was, Qui me amat, amet et canem meum (Who loves me will love my dog also). - Sermo Primus.

An ill winde that bloweth no man to good."

Proverbes. Part i. Chap. ix. For when I gave you an inch, you tooke an ell.2 Ibid. Would

yee
both eat your cake and have your cake ? 3

Ibid. Every man for himselfe and God for us all.4

Ibid. Though he love not to buy the pig in the poke.5 Ibid. This hitteth the naile on the hed.

Chap. c, Enough is as good as a feast.

Ibid.

THOMAS TUSSER.

Circa 1515-1580.

God sendeth and giveth both mouth and the meat.8

Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry. Except wind stands as never it stood, It is an ill wind turns none to good.

A Description of the Properties of Wind. At Christmas play and make good cheer, For Christmas comes but once a year.

The Farmer's Daily Diet.

i Falstaff. What wind blew you hither, Pistol ?
Pistol Not the ill wind which blows no man to good.

SHAKESPEARE: 2 Henry IV. act v. sc. 3. 2 Give an inch, he'll take an ell. — WEBSTER: Sir Thomas Wyatt. 3 Wouldst thou both eat thy cake and have it? – HERBERT : The Size.

4 Every man for himself, his own ends, the devil for all. - BURTON : Anatomy of Melancholy, part iii. sec. i. mem. ii.

5 For buying or selling of pig in a poke. — TUSSER: Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry. September Abstract.

6 You have there hit the nail on the head. - RABELAIS: bk. iii. ch. xxxi.

7 Dives and Pauper, 1493. GASCOIGNE: Poesies, 1575. POPE: Horace, book i. Ep. rii, line 24. FIELDING : Covent Garden Tragedy, act v. sc. 1. BICKERSTAFF: Lore in a Village, act it. sc. 1.

8 God sends meat, and the Devil sends cooks. – JOHN TAYLOR: Works, rol. ii. p. 85 (1630). Ray: Proverbs. GARRICK: Epigram on Goldsmith's Retaliation.

Such mistress, such Nan,
Such master, such man."

Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry.

April's Abstract.

Who goeth a borrowing
Goeth a sorrowing.

June's Abstract.

'Tis merry in hall

Where beards wag all.2 Naught venture naught have.3

August's Abstract.

Octuber's Abstract,

Dry sun, dry wind;
Safe bind, safe find.“

Washing

RICHARD EDWARDS.

Circa 1523-1566.

The fallyng out of faithfull frends is the renuyng of loue.5

The Paradise of Dainty Devices.

1 On the authority of M. Cimber, of the Bibliothèque Royale, we owe this proverb to Chevalier Bayard : “ Tel maitre, tel valet."

2 Merry swithe it is in halle,
When the beards waveth alle.

Life of Alexander, 1312.
This has been wrongly attributed to Adam Davie. There the line runs, -

Swithe mury hit is in halle,

When burdes waiven alle. 3 See Heywood, page 15.

4 See Heywood, page 10. SHAKESPEARE: Merchant of Venice, act ii. sc. 5.

5 The anger of lovers renews the strength of love. — Publius SYRUS : Marim 24.

Let the falling out of friends be a renewing of affection. - LYLY : Euphues.

The falling out of lovers is the renewing of love. BURTOX : Anatomy of Melancholy, part iii. sec. 2.

Amantium iræ amoris integratiost (The quarrels of lovers are the renewal of love). — TERENCE : Andria, act ii. sc. 5.

EDWARD DYER.

Circa 1540-1607.

My mind to me a kingdom is;

Such present joys therein I find,
That it excels all other bliss

That earth affords or grows by kind :
Though much I want which most would have,
Yet still my mind forbids to crave.

MS. Ravol. 85, p. 17.1
Some have too much, yet still do crave;

I little have, and seek no more:
They are but poor, though much they have,

And I am rich with little store :
They poor, I rich; they beg, I give;
They lack, I have; they pine, I live.

Ibid.

BISHOP STILL (JOHN). 1543–1607.
I cannot eat but little meat,

My stomach is not good;
But sure I think that I can drink
With him that wears a hood.

Gammer Gurton's Needle.?

Act ü.

1 There is a very similar but anonymous copy in the British Museum. Additional MS. 15225, p. 85. And there is an imitation in J. Sylvester's Works, p. 651. – Hansal : Courtly Poets.

My mind to me a kingdom is ;

Such perfect joy therein I find,
As far exceeds all earthly bliss

That God and Nature hath assigned.
Though much I want that most would have,
Yet still my mind forbids to crave.

BYRD : Psalmes, Sonnets, etc. 1588.
My mind to me an empire is,
While grace affordeth health.

ROBERT SOUTHWELL (1560-1595): Loo Home. Mens regnum bona possidet (A good mind possesses a kingdom). – SENECA : Thyestes, ii. 380.

2 Stated by Dyce to be from a MS. of older date than Gammer Gurton's Needle. See Skelton's Works (Dyce's ed.), vol. i. pp. vii-x, note.