English Grafton 10-19/25 12433 PROVERBS, &c. &c. &c. VOLUME THE SECOND. Mendacem memorem, esse oportet. "IL faut qu'un menteur ait bonne mémoire,” a liar ought to have a good memory. When a transaction is related exactly as it occurred, there is no probability that the relater should at any time vary in his account. The circumstance must for ever dwell in his mind, in the very manner he described it. But if a fictitious story is told, he must have a good memory to be able at all times to tell it in the same manner. The liar therefore has little chance that his fiction shall remain long undiscovered, for should no other circumstance lead to the detection of it, he will, by not adhering always to the same story, betray the imposition he has practised; and it is well that it is so, as there is no vice that doth so cover a man with shame, as to be detected in telling a lie. "Clear and round VOL. II. B round dealing," Lord Verulam says, "is the honour of man's nature, while a mixture of falsehood, is like allay in coin of gold or silver, which may make the metal work better, but it embaseth it." Montaigne says, very happily, "To accuse a man of lying, is as much as to he is a brave towards God, and a coward towards man." say, Qui bene conjiciet, hunc Vatem perhibeto optimum. Let him who conjectures best, who from circumstances draws the most rational conclusions, be esteemed your best counsellor or adviser, or more literally, let him be your soothsayer or prophet. "He that conjectures least amiss, Of all the best of prophets is." Do not, like the Africans, and other illiterate and uncultivated people, consult astrologers, or diviners, with the view of learning your future destiny, which cannot with any certainty be foretold. It is true, as is said of persons having the second sight in Scotland, there there is sometimes a very near, or perhaps, an exact coincidence between the prediction and the event, "Quis est enim, qui totum diem jaculans, non aliquando conlineat?" for, who shoots often, will at some time hit the mark. But on inquiry, it would be found, that they fail fifty times for once that they are right. But jugglers, or fortune-tellers, as they are called, are in no small degree of estimation in this country, and among persons who should be ashamed of giving encouragement to such wretched impostures. Erasmus complains, that they were not less in vogue in his time, and that they were resorted to by personages of the highest rank, "Si fuera adevino, no muriera mesquino," if I were a conjuror, I should not die a beggar, the Spaniards say, which shews they do not want encouragement in that country also. Of the Spaniards, it has been said, that they are less wise, as the French are found to be more wise, more politic, at the least, than from their respective habits and manners, might be expected. (8) Pannus lacer. A tattered garment, which, if a man has the misfortune to be obliged to appear in, it being what is first seen and noticed, he is usually rejected, without trying whether, under that sordid and wretched outside, there may not lie talents, which might make him a valuable associate. "Want is the scorn of every wealthy fool, And wit in rags is turn'd to ridicule." But this might be borne, and it might perhaps be in some measure compensated, if the contempt in which persons so accoutred are held, should incite in such as have abilities, so much industry and frugality, as might guarantee them from falling into a state of indigence, which is not so impracticable, as it is often supposed to be. But when men become indigent through misfortune, their distress is more than doubled, when they find that those who in their prosperity courted, now turn their backs upon them, and this, it is to be feared, is no uncommon case. "poverty, When no ill else will do 't, makes all friends fly." An |