He that kisseth his wife in the market-place shall have people enough to teach him.

"He who builds according to every man's advice will have a crooked house" (Danish).1

He that speers a' opinions comes ill speed.-Scotch.

"If you want to get into the bog ask five fools the way to the wood" (Livonian). “Take help of many, coun

sel of few" (Danish).2

A fool may put something in a wise man's head.

It was a saying of Cato the elder, that wise men learnt more by fools than fools by wise men.

1 Hvo som bygger efter hver Mands Raad, hans Huser kommer kroget at staae.

2 Tag Mange til Hielp og Faa til Rad.

The original of this is in Aristophanes: it means that

"Envy doth merit like its shade pursue."

"The best bearing trees are the most beaten" (Italian). "It is only at the tree laden with fruit that people throw stones" (French). "Towers," say the Chinese,

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are measured by their shadows, and great men by their calumniators." An old French proverb compares detraction to dogs that bark only at the full moon, and never heed her in the quarter. "If the fool has a hump," say the Livonians, no one notices it; if the wise man has a pimple, everybody talks about it."

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Slander leaves a slur.

"A blow of a fryingpan smuts, if it does not hurt"

1 I megliori alberi sono i più battuti.

2 On ne jette des pierres qu'à l'arbre chargé de fruits.

(Spanish). The Arabs say, "Take a bit of mud, dab it against the wall: if it does not stick it will leave its mar;" and we have a similar proverb derived from the Latin: 2

Fortunately

Throw much dirt, and some will stick.

When the dirt's dry it will rub out.
Ill-will never spoke well.

The evidence of a prejudiced witness is to be distrusted. "He that is an enemy to the bride does not speak well of the wedding" (Spanish); " and "A runaway monk never spoke in praise of his monastery” (Italian).1

Give a dog an ill name and hang him.

"I'll not beat thee nor abuse thee," said the Quaker to his dog: "but I'll give thee an ill name.”—Irish.

He that hath an ill name is half-hanged.

A French proverb declares, with a still bolder figure, that "Report hangs the man." 5 The Spaniards say, "Whoso wants to kill his dog has but to charge him with madness.'

All are not thieves that dogs bark at. The innocent are sometimes cried down.

1 El glope de la sarten, aunque no duele, tizna.

2 Calumniare audacter, aliquid adhærebit.

"An honest

8 El que es enemigo de la novia no dice bien de la boda.

4 Monaco vagabondo non disse mai lode del suo monastero. 5 Le bruit pend l'homme.

6 Quien á su perro quiere matas, rabia le ha de levantar.

man is not the worse because a dog barks at him" (Danish).1 "What cares lofty Diana for the barking dog?" (Latin)."

Common fame is seldom to blame.

What everybody says must be true.

It never smokes but there's a fire.

"There's never a cry of 'Wolf' but the wolf is in the district" (Italian).3 "There's never much talk of a thing but there's some truth in it" (Italian).4 This is the sense in which our droll English saying is applied:

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There was a thing in it!" quoth the fellow when he drank the dishclout.

To accept the last half-dozen of proverbs too absolutely would often lead us to uncharitable conclusions; we must, therefore, temper our belief in these maxims by means of their opposites, such as this:

Common fame is a common liar.

"Heresay is half lies" (German, Italian).5 "Hear the other side, and believe little" (Italian)."

1 Ærlig Mand er ei disværre, at en Hund göer ad ham.

2 Latrantem curatne alta Diana canem?

3 E' non si grida mai al lupo, che non sia in paese.

4 Non si dice mai tanto una cosa che non sia qualche cosa. 5 Hörensagen ist halb gelogen. gia.

Aver sentito dire è mezza bug

6 Odi l'altra parte, e credi poco.

A tale never loses in the telling.

Witness George Colman's story of the Three Black Crows.

The devil is not so black as he is painted.

Nor is the lion so fierce (Spanish).1 the wolf bigger than he is" (German).2

It is a sin to belie the devil.

Give the devil his due.

Report makes

So

"Get a good name and go to sleep" (Spanish).3 do many. Hence it is often better to intrust the execution of a work to be done to an obscure man than to one whose reputation is established.

One man may better steal a horse than another look over the hedge.

"A good name covers theft" (Spanish).*

est man enjoys the theft" (Spanish).5

"The hon

A gude name is sooner tint [lost] than won.-Scotch.

6

"Once in folks' mouths, hardly ever well out of them again" (German). "Good repute is like the cypress: once cut, it never puts forth leaf again” (Italian)."

1 No es tan bravo el leon como le pintan.

2 Geschrei macht den Wolf grösser als er ist.

3 Cobra buena fama, y échate á dormir.

4 Buena fama hurto encubre.

5 El buen hombre goza el hurto.

6 Einmal in der Leute Mund, kommt man übel wieder heraus. 7 La buona fama è come il cipresso: una volta tagliato non riverdisce più.