Part 12 (2/2)

2. See ”English Folk-lore,” pp. 42, 43.

3. ”Primitive Manners and Customs,” p. 74.

4. Dublin University Magazine, December 1873, p. 677.

5. See Swainson's ”Weather-lore,” p. 257.

6. See ”Flower-lore,” p. 226.

7. See _Notes and Queries_, 1st Ser. II. 511.

CHAPTER XI

PLANT PROVERBS.

A host of curious proverbs have, from the earliest period, cl.u.s.tered round the vegetable world, most of which--gathered from experience and observation--embody an immense amount of truth, besides in numerous instances conveying an application of a moral nature. These proverbs, too, have a very wide range, and on this account are all the more interesting from the very fact of their referring to so many conditions of life. Thus, the familiar adage which tells us that ”n.o.body is fond of fading flowers,” has a far deeper signification, reminding us that everything a.s.sociated with change and decay must always be a matter of regret. To take another trite proverb of the same kind, we are told how ”truths and roses have thorns about them,” which is absolutely true; and there is the well-known expression ”to pipe in an ivy leaf,” which signifies ”to go and engage in some futile or idle pursuit” which cannot be productive of any good. The common proverb, ”He hath sown his wild oats,” needs no comment; and the inclination of evil to override good is embodied in various adages, such, as, ”The weeds o'ergrow the corn,”

while the tenacity with which evil holds its ground is further expressed in such sayings as this--”The frost hurts not weeds.” The poisonous effects, again, of evil is exemplified thus--”One ill-bred mars a whole pot of pottage,” and the rapidity with which it spreads has, amongst other proverbs, been thus described, ”Evil weeds grow apace.” Speaking of weeds in their metaphorical sense, we may quote one further adage respecting them:--

”A weed that runs to seed Is a seven years' weed.”

And the oft-quoted phrase, ”It will be a nosegay to him as long as he lives,” implies that disagreeable actions, instead of being lost sight of, only too frequently cling to a man in after years, or, as Ray says, ”stink in his nostrils.” The man who abandons some good enterprise for a worthless, or insignificant, undertaking is said to ”cut down an oak and plant a thistle,” of which there is a further version, ”to cut down an oak and set up a strawberry.” The truth of the next adage needs no comment--”Usurers live by the fall of heirs, as swine by the droppings of acorns.”

Things that are slow but sure in their progress are the subject of a well-known Gloucesters.h.i.+re saying:--

”It is as long in coming as Cotswold barley.”

”The corn in this cold country,” writes Ray, ”exposed to the winds, bleak and shelterless, is very backward at the first, but afterwards overtakes the forwardest in the country, if not in the barn, in the bushel, both for the quant.i.ty and goodness thereof.” According to the Italians, ”Every grain hath its bran,” which corresponds with our saying, ”Every bean hath its black,” The meaning being that nothing is without certain imperfections. A person in extreme poverty is often described as being ”as bare as the birch at Yule Even,” and an ill-natured or evil-disposed person who tries to do harm, but cannot, is commonly said to:--

”Jump at it like a c.o.c.k at a gooseberry.”

Then the idea of durableness is thus expressed in a Wilts.h.i.+re proverb:--

”An eldern stake and a blackthorn ether [hedge], Will make a hedge to last for ever”--

an elder stake being commonly said to last in the ground longer than an iron bar of the same size.[1]

A person who is always on the alert to make use of opportunities, and never allows a good thing to escape his grasp, is said to ”have a ready mouth for a ripe cherry.” The rich beauty, too, of the cherry, which causes it to be gathered, has had this moral application attached to it:--

”A woman and a cherry are painted for their own harm.”

Speaking of cherries, it may be mentioned that the awkwardness of eating them on account of their stones, has given rise to sundry proverbs, as the following:--

”Eat peas with the king, and cherries with the beggar,”

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