The subject of our book has a scope so all-embracing, a wisdom so piquant, an utterance so quaint, a wit so trenchant, a body of material so vast, an antiquity so remarkable that not a volume but a library would be needed to do it justice.
He who would desire to discourse wisely, comprehensively, on the proverbs of all times and of all countries has before him a task too great for fulfilment, if not too vast for ambition, and what to select from the sheer necessity of its inclusion, what to discard since the impossibility of completeness might be our plea in forgiveness of its absence, has been a problem constantly before us. Where there are many men there are many minds, and we shall be, doubtless, blamed alike by some for what they find, and, no less, for what they fail to find. Could our readers see, as we now see before us on reaching this our last page, the great bulk of material that we have accumulated, and that remains unused, they would realise the better the vastness of the field—the ever-recurring problem and responsibility of selection.
The subject has been, from the first page to the last, one of abounding interest to us, and we would fain hope that we have succeeded in imbuing our readers with something of the pleasure that we have ourselves derived from a study in itself so full of charm.
FOOTNOTES:
[194:A] The Portuguese warn us that great talkers make many mistakes, in the adage, "Quem muito falla muito erra."
[195:A] "They have spent theyr tyme lesse fruitfully heretofore in ouer runnyng a multitude of wordes with small consideracion or weyghing of them."—Fisher, A Godlye Treatise.
[196:A] "There are perilous times at hande by reason of some that vnder pretence of godlynesse turne true godlynesse vp side down, and so prate boastynglye of themselues as thoughe the Christian religion consisted in wordes and not rather in purenesse of herte."—Udall.
[197:A] "The tunge is but a litel membre, and reiseth greet thingis. Lo hou litel fier breuneth a ful greet word: and our tunge is fier, the unyversitie of wickidnesse."—St James. Translation of Wiclif.