The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1889-06-17
ABOUT PROVERBS.
OBSCURE OF ORIGIN, BUT ACCEPT
| ED FROM INTRINSIC MERIT.

definitions Given OF Them by Famous Men.
| a Reference to the hook OF Proverbs
Quotations from Chaaccr. burns and
Others.
To begin at the beginning, what Is
provcrb? Lord John Russcll's definition
was; "Thc wit Of one, the wisdom OF
many" In quaint old book. "The
Worthics Of England. written by Thomas
Fuller, an English divine and author,
published in 1860. provcrb is defined to
hc "Much matter decOcted into few
words Francis Bacon. the well known
shilosophic author and lawyer, made
gord chancellor Of England by James |.
ind dismissed. disgraced and fined for
receiving brides from suitors, was char
actorizcd in Pope's satire in this couplet:
II parts allure thee. think how Bacon shined.
Tho Wi,cst brightest, meanest Of mankind
VARIOUS DEFINITIONS.
J Bacon, however, went very near the
truth when he wrote: The genius, wit
and spirit of a nation are discovered by
their proverbs
| Fleming says: proverbs embody the
current and practical philosophy Of an
are or n nation" Brandc tells us that
Proverbs are, for the most part, rules
81 moral or still more properly of prudial
conduct" DR.. johnson said that they
were "short sentences, frequently re-
heated by the people" Cervantes, au-
thor Of don Quixote," who may be said
10 have peppcred the conversation OF
Sancho panza with proverbs, declares
them 10 be "short sentences drawn from
long experiences" I'm this the immortal
peasant squire resemblcd IIudibras, OF
whom Butler wrote:
! For rhetoric. he could not ope
! His mouth but out there few a trope
! Il is calculated that there are now in
use. among European nations and the
English speaking people of the United
States, not fewer than 10000 proverbs,
by far the largest proportion Of which
are Spanish. They enter very extern
sively into the ordinary conversation OF
Spaniards. Hence the propriety on Ger
untcs' part Of making 'Sancho Panza
/ ignorant and vulgar, as peasant Of the
time and place would have been. but also
shrcwd and PRACTICAL speak very much
in proverbs. the language of his practical
| good sense.
For tho most part, though proverbs are
10 be found in all languages and in the
history Of all nations generally in their
carly stages, there is no record Of their
birth nor Of their paternity. They have
accn accepted. not as resting on the au-
thority Of a rcvercd name. but from their
inherent truth or semblance Of truth. In
fullncss Of time, which means in or near
The last three or four centuries, men
made collections Of them. The publica-
zion in the year 1900 Of volume 10y
Erasmus. which he called "Adagia,' first
set the learned men Of Europe on the
r:NlS of provcrb collecting. He was the
first in that line. at least the first who
had Travelled far upon it, Since then the
publication of proverbs has been very
general. and q heavy harvest Of this sort
has been gathered in from the ordinary
speech as well as the written works OF
Spain, Italy, France, Germany and Eng
land There are now at least from
thirty to forty different collections Of
ENGLISH proverbs 1t was in Asia. said
TO have been the birthplace and cradle
Of the human race, that proverbs found
their way into the popular speech OF Pal
ostine and Babylonia.
sOLOMON's WISDOM.
In the book of Proverbs in the Bible,
there is wisdom in them, but not a parti-
Gle of wit. Its opening words, The prov
cribs of solomon, the son Of David, the
king Of Israel, give us its current lie
brew title. Il has also been called in tho
Talmud. and by more than one very carly
Christian writer, THE Book Of Wisdom.
Generally, by Jews and Christians, it i
DESIGNATED The Proverbs Of Solomon,
and. representing the wisdom of which
2 the Hebrews thought so much, stands a
the head Of the whole class Of book
known as the Sapiental The Bible cred
its Solomon with the authorship OF 3.OO
proverbs and ,OOj songs. Much OF Tia
I former remain. few OF the latter. Mos
? nrohablv Solomon collected short an'
8 ceiling phrases then used in conversation
] Kidding many thoughts of his own TIN
a oldest proyorb on record is, "Wickednes
j procecdeth from the wicked, " which III
} / Samuel XIV 12) David declared to b
.'the provcrb Of the ancients'-conse
: ouontly much older than any compose
bv his son Solomon.
y Those Of the east are graveand simple
of Greece. intellectual; of Rome, NOR
c worldly; Of Spain, stately and thought
r full. of Italy. poetic yet gross; Of GeT
}. many. subtle and shrewd; of England
r very practical. Many Of these last
u which are our own, indeed. are take
Il from the poets. Chaucor, the father Q
b English poetry, who is supposed to hav
g been born early in the reign Of Edwar
= HI-the date on his tombstone is 1928
y and who died about the year 400, wrot
much Of this provcrbial philosophy. i
the urolosue 10 the Testament OF Love
ne las. Habit makcth no monk, nc
5. wearing of gilt spurs maketh no knight
'i Henry Scoean, "a contemporary Of Chal
20 ser. thought $50 well Of this idea that j
ID put into his own poem, A Moral Balade'
" these words
u lie is gentle. though he rich seeni
d All wear he mitre, crown OF diadem
q Sir Thomas Elyot put the same idea
e The Governor, published in 1881 "N
iC have i'm this realm coins which he Gale
% mobiles As long rs they seem to be gol'
J. they be- so called; but if they be counte
feitod. and made in brass, copper or oth'
vile metal. who. f)r the print only, cal
he eth them mobiles? Whereby it appeareI
ct that the estimation is the metal and NJ
II i'm the print or figure" II is most pro-
re able that Robert Burns never read Cha'
'' Ger. never heard of Scogan or Elyot; "
I" the intuition Of his genius seized the
\. thought and 50 condensed it that we no
K. have:
~, Tie rank Is but the gulnea's stamp
- TIA. mans the gold for a that
70 Thomas J. Bowditck IN Troy Time