572. From Le Rom. de la Rose, 13354:—
'Moult a soris povre secors,
Et fait en grant peril sa druge,
Qui n'a c'ung partuis à refuge.
Tout ainsinc est-il de la fame,' &c.
In Kemble's Solomon and Saturn, p. 57, several parallel proverbs are given; e.g.—
'Mus miser est antro qui tantum clauditur uno.'
'Dolente la souris qui ne seit c'un pertuis.'
He refers us to Collins' Dict. of Span. Proverbs, p. 36; MS. Harl.
3362, fol. 40; Grüter, Florilegium Ethico-politicum, p. 32; G. Herbert, Jacula Prudentum, p. 67; MS. Proverbs, Corp. Chr. Cam. no. 450; MS. Harl. 1800, fol. 37 b. The proverb in Herbert is—'The mouse that hath but one hole is quickly taken'; cf. Hazlitt's Proverbs, p. 380.