The proverbs which follow are not folk-sayings, but they are given a place here as being quaint and curious, and not devoid of a certain interest, as they were collected by the author while tramping in the Vale of Blackmore during the summer of 1921:—
"When the gorse is out of blossom, kissing is out of fashion" (i.e. kissing is never out of fashion).
"Trouble ran off him like water off a duck's back."
"If you sing before breakfast, you'll cry before night."
"Turn your money when you hear the cuckoo, and you'll have money in your purse till the cuckoo comes again."
"Plenty of lady-birds, plenty of hops." (The coccinella feeds upon the aphis that proves so destructive to the hop-plant.)
"March, search; April, try;
May will prove if you live or die."
"When your salt is damp, you will soon have rain."