There is a double meaning in the original. The same Italian word means Tuscan and poison.
It is better to be in the forest and eat pine cones than to live in a castle with Spaniards.—Italian.[801]
Because the frugal Spanish soldiers could subsist on diet on which men of other nations would starve. For them "Bread and radishes were a heavenly dinner" (Spanish).[802]
Abstract from Spaniard all his good qualities, and there remains a Portuguese.—Spanish.
Every layman in Castile might make a king, every clerk a pope.—Spanish.
If the overweening pride of the Spaniard appears in these two proverbs, the candour of the following must also be acknowledged:—
Succours of Spain, either late or never.—Spanish.[803]
Things of Spain.—Spanish.[804]
That is, abuses, anomalies, and faults of all kinds. See "Ford's Handbook," passim.
When the Spaniard sings, either he is mad or he has not a doit.—Spanish.[805]
A Pole would rather steal a horse on Sunday than eat milk or butter on Friday.—German.[806]
Poland is the hell of peasants, the paradise of Jews, the purgatory of burghers, the heaven of nobles, and the gold mine of foreigners.—German.[807]
A Polish bridge, a Bohemian monk, a Swabian nun, Italian devotion, and German fasting are worth a bean.—German.[808]
If the devil came out of hell to fight there would forthwith be a Frenchman to accept the challenge.—French.[809]
When the Frenchman sleeps the devil rocks him.—French.[810]
The Italians weep, the Germans screech, and the French sing.—French.[811]
This is found word for word in Italian also, though it seems devised for the special glorification of Frenchmen. The Portuguese say,—
The Frenchman sings well when his throat is moistened.—Portuguese.[812]
The Germans have their wit in their fingers.—French.[813]