Proverb-Rhymes

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METRICAL proverbs are so numerous, that a large volume might be filled with them without much difficulty; and it is, therefore, unnecessary to say that nothing beyond a very small selection is here attempted. We may refer the curious reader to the collections of Howell, Ray, and Denham, the last of which chiefly relates to natural objects and the weather, for other examples; but the subject is so diffuse, that these writers have gone a very short way towards the compilation of a complete series.

Said by children when one wishes a gift to be returned, a system naturally much disliked. So, says Plato, twn orqws doqentwn afairesis ous esti. Ray, p. 113, ed. 1768. Ben Jonson appears to allude to this proverb in the Sad Shepherd, where Maudlin says—"Do you give a thing and take a thing, madam?" Cotgrave, Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues, 1632, in v. Retirer, mentions "a triviall proverb:"

And it is alluded to in a little work entitled Homer à la Mode, a mock poem upon the First and Second Books of Homer's Iliads, 12mo. Oxford, 1665, p.34:

The proverb sometimes runs thus:

"A lee with a hatchet," as they say in the North, is a circumstantial self-evident falsehood, and so runs the proverb:

Children say the following when one has been detected in any misrepresentation of a mischievous character—

The following versions of the former rhyme are current in the North of England:

      In Yorkshire a tell-tale is termed a pleen-pie, and there is a proverb current which is very similar to that given above:

When your right eye itches, it is a sign of good luck; when the left, a sign of bad luck. When both itch, the above distich expresses the popular belief.

A muxy is a dunghill, and the pucksy a quagmire. This is a variation of the old saying of falling out of the dripping-pan into the fire:

These proverbial lines are supposed to be spoken by Suffolk cheese, which is so hard that a myth tells us gate-pegs in that county are made with it. The proverb has been long true, and
Pepys, writing in 1661, says: "I found my wife vexed at her people for grumbling to eate Suffolk cheese, which I also am vexed at."

Said of a person who makes his appearance unexpectedly, when he is spoken of.

That is, when Easter falls on Lady-day, March 25, which happens when the Sunday Letter is G, and the Golden Number 5, 13, or 16. See Aubrey's Miscellanies, ed. 1696, p. 21.

From Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire, given in Hone's Year-Book, col. 1595.

From Lancashire. This resembles in its character the cuckoo song we have given at p. 160.

A North country proverb, the sops being the small detached clouds hanging on the sides of a mountain. Carr, ii. 147.

This is sometimes addressed to one who promises something "to-morrow," but who is often in the habit of making similar engagements, and not remembering them.

TIT FOR TAT

The proverb of tit for tat may perhaps be said to be going out of fashion, but it is still a universal favorite with children. When any one is ill-natured, and the sufferer wishes to hint his intention of retaliating at the first convenient opportunity, he cries out—

LAZY LAWRENCE

This distich is said by a boy who feels very lazy, yet wishes to exert himself. Lazy Lawrence is a proverbial expression for an idle person, and I possess an old chap-book, entitled "the History of Lawrence Lazy, containing his birth and slothful breeding; how he served the schoolmaster, his wife, the squire's cook, and the farmer, which, by the laws of Lubberland, was accounted high treason." A West country proverb, relating to a disciple of this hero, runs thus:

That is, land in a soppy or wet state is in a favorable condition for receiving seed; a statement, however somewhat questionable.
 

Said in derision by one child to another, who complains of being stared at.

From Howell's English Proverbs, 1659, p. 21.

A proverb, no doubt, true in former times, but now only partially correct.

From Howell's English Proverbs, p. 20. The expression not one amongst twenty is a generic one for not one out of a large number. It occurs in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, v. 2.

From an old manuscript political treatise, dated 1652, entitled a Cat may look at a King.

A proverbial phrase applied to very small beer, implying that no quantity of it will cause intoxication.

A saying by which a person, who has lost a verbal wager, avoids payment on the plea of no stakes having been deposited.

These proverbial lines were obtained from Lancashire. An early version occurs in Tusser, p. 199.

A North country version of these common proverbial lines, given by Mr. Denham, p. 16. Clarty-paps are dirty sluts.

Alluding to toys, a great number of which are imported into this country from Holland.

Halliwell, James Orchard. Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales. London: John Russell Smith, 1849.

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