at every man's door. This seems probable,
though none of the unfortunate can be
expected to believe it, especially after waiting
many years, and never hearing the knock. It
may be said that they were asleep at the very
moment they should have been awake; or,
perhaps, Fortune knocked, but they did not
know the stranger.

"The pu'pit (pulpit) wad haud my friends,
but it wad tak the kirk to haud my relations"
True friends are rare, and so far from being
confined to a man's family, that it is quite as
uncommon to find one in his small domestic
circle, as in the whole range of society where
no ties originally exist, and all has to begin
from a first meeting, introductory note, or
extraneous circumstance.

"A fine verse, like a stream, may run through
a course of ages." (Chinese). And it often
does so; sweetening the heart, fertilising the
imagination, and purifying the mind.

"The first glance marks the intention of fate."
(Chinese). Generally; but men must "allow
for the wind," besides free will and human
energy.

"Prostrate thyself before the wicked monkey
in his day of power" (Arabic). Of a similar
kind from the same source is,—"A tyrannical
sultan is better than constant broils." One
would have said that such a sentiment could
only have found favour in a despotic country,
enslaved for ages, had we not a living example
of the same opinions and actions before our
eyes, in a prostrate country, at the present
moment.

"Do no good, thou shalt not find evil."
(Arabic). Nor good either. If the proverb
is a keen cut at ingratitude, another view of it
shows that acts of kindness are seldom long
continued where there is no reciprocity.

"Stolen fruits are sweetest." The imagination
enhances the value of a forbidden pleasure,
or object desired, and the will is excited
by opposition, or the challenge of a difficulty
in its way. But it sometimes happens that
the sweetness of the forbidden fruit is more
than matched by the bitterness of the
consequences.

"Penny wise and pound foolish." The
majority of people are instances of this. We
are full of reason, caution, and carefulness, if
not economy, in trifles for which we have no
great desire; but the moment an object starts
up which really excites us, then all our thrifty
notions fly to the winds, or, perhaps, we make
use of a little apologetic sophistry to
ourselves, whereby it appears that the present
indulgence in the pound, is in reward for our
many previous self-denials in pennies.

"Duos qui sequitur lepores, neutrum capit;"
he who follows two hares is sure to catch
neither. That is, if he follows, or tries to follow,
them both at the same time. The
practical wisdom of this proverb is sufficiently
obvious. It is very superior to the English
one of having "too many irons in the fire,"
because we often see enterprising men, of
capacious heads for business, manage very
successfully with a number of "irons in the
fire."

"The nearer the church, the farther from
God." This proverb admits of two constructions.
First, that a church being a material
structure of masonry and conventional forms,
the more strict the observance given to the
"letter," the further you are from the "spirit."
Secondly, that the closer a hypocrite may take
shelter under the walls of the church, the
farther he is from any pure religious feeling.
Either way, we hand the proverb over to be
settled by the Bench of Black Aprons.

"The shortest way's the langest hame."
(Scotch.) Beware how you jump at conclusions,
lest it cost you many a fall, or a long
journey round to recover it.

"Ce qui vient par la flûte, s'en va par le
tambour;" that which comes by the flute,
goes with the tambourine. What is gained in
dissipation, is lost in it; or what is gained in
one battle, is lost by another. "Lightly come,
lightly gone."

"The wheel of fortune turns swifter than a
mill-wheel." (Spanish.) Good luck obtains a
more rapid result than industry. So does bad
luck.

"One swallow does not make a summer." We
are but too ready to accept the first isolated
sign of success, as a proof of its aggregate
presence, or forthcoming; whereas, any one
actual and entire success requires a combination
of favourable circumstances (with a sharp
sprinkling of the unfavourable too, by way of
spurs and spices), more numerous and intricate
than could ever be present, or even seen
after they had occurred.

"L'esprit est toujours la dupe du cœur."
(Rochefoucault.) The intellect is always the
dupe of the heart. On the contrary, it is not
guided by it half enough, for man's goodness,
purity, and wisdom. We see this "duping,"
as the cynic calls it, in childhood; and it is
more deeply to be regretted than any other
change we know, that, as man advances in
knowledge of the world, he ceases to be a
child and act upon his feelings—but becomes
a very knowing fellow, and acts only upon his
reason, as he considers it, while in most cases
it is only his prejudices and self-interest, in
the narrowest sense. Happy the man who
remains, essentially, a child; if he has at the
same time a man's intellect and experience,
his "childhood" will have a good chance of
making him a genius.

"Veritas odium parit; " truth produces
hatred. No doubt of it, so few can endure to
hear it. The imperfections of man, as well
as the great artificialities of society, are too
numerous and entangling to permit so tranchant
a principle to have its full vent without
constant opposition. There is another reason
for it in another Latin proverb—"Vincit
omnia veritas;" truth overcomes all things.
There is, also, no doubt of this; and how vast
a majority of mankind hate by instinct, if