"The corn in this cold country," writes Ray, "exposed to the winds, bleak and shelterless, is very backward at the first, but afterwards overtakes the forwardest in the country, if not in the barn, in the bushel, both for the quantity and goodness thereof." According to the Italians, "Every grain hath its bran," which corresponds with our saying, "Every bean hath its black," The meaning being that nothing is without certain imperfections. A person in extreme poverty is often described as being "as bare as the birch at Yule Even," and an ill-natured or evil-disposed person who tries to do harm, but cannot, is commonly said to:—
"Jump at it like a cock at a gooseberry."
Then the idea of durableness is thus expressed in a Wiltshire proverb:—
"An eldern stake and a blackthorn ether [hedge],
Will make a hedge to last for ever"—
an elder stake being commonly said to last in the ground longer than an iron bar of the same size.[1]
A person who is always on the alert to make use of opportunities, and never allows a good thing to escape his grasp, is said to "have a ready mouth for a ripe cherry." The rich beauty, too, of the cherry, which causes it to be gathered, has had this moral application attached to it:—
"A woman and a cherry are painted for their own harm."
Speaking of cherries, it may be mentioned that the awkwardness of eating them on account of their stones, has given rise to sundry proverbs, as the following:—
"Eat peas with the king, and cherries with the beggar,"
and:—