Wilful will do it. A wilfu' man maun hae his way.-Scotch. He that will to Cupar maun to Cupar.-Scotch. Cupar is a town in Fife, and that is all that Scotch paræmiologists condescend to tell us about it. I suppose there is some special reason why insisting on going to Cupar above all other towns is a notable proof of pig-headedness. A wilful man never wanted woe. A wilfu' man should be unco' wise.-Scotch. Since he chooses to rely on his own wisdom only. 66 Forbidden fruit is sweet. Sweet is the apple when the keeper is away" (Latin).1 "Stolen sweets are always sweeter, Stolen kisses much completer; Stolen looks are nice in chapels; Stolen, stolen be your apples!" So sings Leigh Hunt, translating from the Latin of Thomas Randolph. The doctrine of these poets is as old as Solomon, who says, "Stolen waters are sweet a sentence thus paraphrased in German: "Forbidden water is Malmsey.' A story is told of a French lady, say Madame du Barry, who happened once, by some extraordinary chance, to have nothing but pure She took a deep water to drink when very thirsty. draught, and finding in it what the Roman emperor 1 Dulce pomum quum abest custos. 2 Verbotenes Wasser ist Malvasier. had sighed for in vain-a new pleasure-she cried out, "Ah! what a pity it is that drinking water is not a sin!" "There is no pleasure but palls, and all the more if it costs nothing" (Spanish). "The sweetest grapes hang highest" (German). "The figs on the far side of the hedge are sweeter" (Servian). "Every fish that escapes appears greater than it is" (Turkish). Upon the same principle it is that what nature never intended a man to do is often the very thing he particularly desires to do. "A man who can't sing is always striving to sing" (Latin);3 and generally "He who can't do, always wants to do" (Italian).* Forbid a fool a thing, and that he'll do. Of course; and so will many a one who is otherwise no fool. What mortal man, to say nothing of women, but would have done as Bluebeard's wife did when left in the castle with the key of that mysterious chamber in her hand? Every man has his hobby. 66 Some men pay dearly for theirs. 'Hobby horses are more costly than Arabians" (German).5 1 No hay placer que no enhade, y mas se cuesta de balde. 2 Die süssessten Trauben hangen am höchsten. * Qui nescit canere semper canere laborat. 4 Chi non puole, sempre vuole. 5 Steckenpferde sind theuerer als arabische Hengste. 66 You may pay too dear for your whistle. The origin of this saying, which has become thoroughly proverbial, is found in the following extract from a paper by its author, Benjamin Franklin :When I was a child of seven years old my friends on a holiday filled my pockets with coppers. I went directly to a shop where they sold toys for children, and being charmed with the sound of a whistle that I met by the way in the hands of another boy, I voluntarily offered him all my money for it. I then came home, and went whistling all over the house, much pleased with my whistle, but disturbing all the family. My brothers, and sisters, and cousins, understanding the bargain I had made, told me I had given for it four times as much as it was worth. This put me in mind what good things I might have bought with the rest of the money; and they laughed at me so much for my folly that I cried with vexation, and the reflection gave me more chagrin than the whistle gave me pleasure. This, however, was afterwards of use to me, the impression continuing on my mind; so that often when I was tempted to buy some unnecessary thing I said to myself, 'Don't give too much for the whistle;' and so I saved my money. As I grew up, came into the world, and observed the actions of men, I met with many, very many who gave too much for the whistle.” CUSTOM. HABIT. USE. Use will make a man live in a lion's den. Custom is second nature. 66 There Cicero says nearly the same thing,1 and the thought has been happily amplified by Sydney Smith. is no degree of disguise or distortion which human nature may not be made to assume from habit; it grows in every direction in which it is trained, and accommodates itself to every circumstance which caprice or design places in its way. It is a plant with such various aptitudes, and such opposite propensities, that it flourishes in a hothouse or the open air; is terrestrial or aquatic, parasitical or independent; looks well in exposed situations, thrives in protected ones; can bear its own luxuriance, admits of amputation; succeeds in perfect liberty, and can be bent down into any forms of art; it is so flexible and ductile, so accommodating and vivacious, that of two methods of managing it-compictely opposite-neither the one nor the other need be considered as mistaken and bad. Not that habit can give any new principle; but of those numerous principles which do exist in our nature it entirely determines the order and force." "2 1 Ferme in naturam consuetudo vestitur.-(De Invent. i. 2.) 2 "Lectures on Moral Philosophy." Once a use and ever a custom. "Continuance becomes usage (Italian).1 Whatever we do often we become more and more apt to do, till at last the propensity to the act becomes irresistible, though the performance of it may have ceased to give any pleasure. In Fielding's "Life of Jonathan Wild" the great thief is represented as playing at cards with the Count, a professed gambler. "Such was the power of habit over the minds of these illustrious persons, that Mr. Wild could not keep his hands out of the Count's pockets, though he knew they were empty; nor could the Count abstain from palming a card, though he was well aware Mr. Wild had no money to pay him." change a habit is like death" (Spanish).” 66 Hand in use is father o' lear [learning, skill.-Scotch. 66 66 By working in the smithy one becomes a smith (Latin, French).3 Use makes the craftsman (Spanish, German). An emir had bought a left eye of a glassmaker, and was vexed at finding that he could not see with it. The man begged him to give it a little time; he could not expect that it would see all at once so well as the right eye, which had been for so many years in the habit of it. We take this whimsical story 1 Continuanza diventa usanza. 2 Mudar costumbre a par de muerte. En forgeant on devient forgeron. H |