LXVI. PAUVRE MOUNE BAIL DEJEUNER NANS' CUIOR. Poor people entertain with the heart. Or as old Bishop Hall says in closing one of his satires: For whom he means to make an often guest, One dish shall serve, and welcome make the rest.1 Or as Shakespeare puts it: What my tongue dare not LXVII. CABRITE PAS CONNAIT GOUMÉ MAIS CUI LI BATTE LA CHARGE. The goat does not know how to fight, but his skin may beat the charge. There is no one so humble or so infirm that he can not in some way promote a cause he has really at heart. 'Sat., III, book III. "Groom in Richard 2, Act 5, Sc. 5. 1 LXVIII. BEF PAS CA JAMAIN LASSE POTÉ CONES LI. The ox is never weary of carrying his horns. What flatters our vanity or gives us protection is never wearisome. Marti arma non sunt oneri. LXIX. MOUNE CONNAIT CA QUA BOUILLI NEN CANARI LI. Every one knows what is boiling in his own pot. LXX. HAILLIONS MOI PASSÉ TOUT NU. Better rags than nakedness, or half a loaf than no bread. LXXI. BUTÉ PAS TOMBÉ. A stumble is not a fall; or, One error is not ruin. The horse which draws his halter is not quite escaped. LXXII. SI LI TÉ GAGNÉ MOUSSA LI TA MANGÉ GUMBO. If he had mush, he would want gumbo. A proverb applicable to the large class who are never sensible of their present blessings, but always wishing something more or different. So the Hebrews say, An ass is cold even in the summer solstice. Luther, in his Table-Talk, is represented as putting down a Misnian noble who had stumbled into the category of men, who, when they have mush want gumbo, and rejected the gospel because it paid no interest, by telling the following fable: “A lion, making a great feast, invited all the beasts, and with them some swine. When all manner of dainties were set before the guests, the swine asked, 'Have you no corn?' "Even so," continued the doctor 66 even so in these days it is with our Epicureans. We preachers set before them in our churches the most dainty and costly dishes, as everlasting salvation, remission of sins, and God's grace, but they, like swine, turn up their snouts, and ask for guilders. Offer a cow a nutmeg, and she will reject it for old hay." LXXIII. CI LA QUI VLÉ COUVÉ COUVÉ SU ZEF YO. Let him who wishes to hatch sit on his own eggs. He who proposes to live without work must not undertake to do it at others' expense. He who would indulge in the luxury of a family must provide for it- he must hatch his own eggs. LXXIV. C'EST DEVANT TAMBOUR N'A CONNAIS ZAMBA. It is before the drum you know Zamba. A man's talents must be tested by what he professes to know and do best. Cicero taught the same truth, but less poetically; Is maxime decet quemque, quod est suam maxime.1 The Germans say, also, Jedem steht sein eigenes kleid am besten.2 1 De Officiis, 132. It best becomes us to do what we can do best. 'Every one's own garment becomes him best. LXXV. DENT MORDE LANGUE. The teeth bite the tongue. One of the uniform consequences of do mestic quarrels. LXXVI. VOLEUR PAS VLÉ CAMARADE LI PORTE MACOUTE. The robber does not desire a comrade to carry his knapsack for him. Distrust is one of the qualities most certain to rule in the breast of a rogue. Whom no one can trust is sure to trust no one. An important corollary of this proverb is thus treated by Seneca: Nam quidam fallere docuerunt dum timent falle; et illi jus peccandi suspecando fecerunt. Which Voltaire may have had in his mind when he wrote the following line in his tragedy of Zaire: Quiconque est soupçonneux invite a le trahir. Whether in his mind or not, this modification of the jus peccandi shows that seventeen centuries of Christianity had not been |