FOURTH CLASS--PROVERBS.
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ST Swithin's day, if thou dost rain, For forty days it will remain: St. Swithin's day, if thou be fair, For forty days 'twill rain na mair. |
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TO make your candles last for a', You wives and maids give ear-o! To put 'em out's the only way, Says honest John Boldero. |
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[The following is quoted in Miege's 'Great French Dictionary,' fol. Lond. 1687, 2d part.] |
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A SWARM of bees in May Is worth a load of hay; A swarm of bees in June Is worth a silver spoon; A swarm of bees in July Is not worth a fly. |
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THEY
that wash on Monday Have all the week to dry; They that wash on Tuesday Are not so much awry; They that wash on Wednesday Are not so much to blame; They that wash on Thursday, Wash for shame; They that wash on Friday, Wash in need; And they that wash on Saturday, Oh! they're sluts indeed. |
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NEEDLES and pins, needles and pins, When a man marries his trouble begins. |
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[One version of the following song, which I believe to be the genuine one, is written on the last leaf of MS. Harl. 6580, between the lines of a fragment of an old charter, originally used for binding the book, in a hand of the end of the seventeenth century, but unfortunately it is scarcely adapted for the "ears polite" of modern days.] |
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A MAN of words and not of deeds Is like a garden full of weeds; And when the weeds begin to grow, It's like a garden full of snow; And when the snow begins to fall, It's like a bird upon the wall; And when the bird away does fly, It's like an eagle in the sky; And when the sky begins to roar, It's like a lion at the door; And when the door begins to crack, It's like a stick across your back; And when your back begins to smart, It's like a penknife in your heart; And when your heart begins to bleed, You're dead, and dead, and dead, indeed. |
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HE that would thrive Must rise at five; He that hath thriven May lie till seven; And he that by the plough would thrive, Himself must either hold or drive. |
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SEE
a pin and pick it up, All the day you'll have good luck; See a pin and let it lay, Bad luck you'll have all the day! |
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GO to bed first, a golden purse; Go to bed second, a golden pheasant; Go to bed third, a golden bird! |
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WHEN the wind is in the east, 'Tis neither good for man nor beast; When the wind is in the north, The skilful fisher goes not forth; When the wind is in the south, It blows the bait in the fishes' mouth; When the wind is in the west, Then 'tis at the very best. |
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[The following proverb is alluded to in Clarke's 'Phraseologia Puerilis,' 12mo, Lond. 1655, p.21. See also Brand's 'Popular Antiquities,' vol i, p.266, and the 'Arch'ologist,' p.182.] |
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BOUNCE BUCKRAM, velvet's dear; Christmas comes but once a year. |