e been ascribed to the effects
of this proverb. Their popular but suppressed feelings on taxation, and
on a variety of dues exacted by their clergy, were murmured in
proverbs--_Lo que no lleva Christo lleva el fisco!_ "What Christ takes
not, the exchequer carries away!" They have a number of sarcastic
proverbs on the tenacious gripe of the "abad avariento," the avaricious
priest, who, "having eaten the olio offered, claims the dish!" A
striking mixture of chivalric habits, domestic decency, and epicurean
comfort, appears in the Spanish proverb, _La muger y la salsa a la mano
de la lanca_: "The wife and the sauce by the hand of the lance;" to
honour the dame, and to have the sauce near.

The Italian proverbs have taken a tinge from their deep and politic
genius, and their wisdom seems wholly concentrated in their personal
interests. I think every tenth proverb, in an Italian collection, is
some cynical or some selfish maxim: a book of the world for worldlings!
The Venetian proverb, _Pria Veneziana, poi Christiane_: "First Venetian,
and then Christian!" condenses the whole spirit of their ancient
Republic into the smallest space possible. Their political proverbs no
doubt arose from the extraordinary state of a people sometimes
distracted among republics, and sometimes servile in petty courts. The
Italian says, _I popoli s'ammazzano, ed i principi s'abbracciano_: "The
people murder one another, and princes embrace one another." _Chi
prattica co' grandi, l'ultimo a tavola, e'l primo a strapazzi_: "Who
dangles after the great is the last at table, and the first at blows."
_Chi non sa adulare, non sa regnare_: "Who knows not to flatter, knows
not to reign." _Chi serve in corte muore sul' pagliato_: "Who serves at
court, dies on straw." Wary cunning in domestic life is perpetually
impressed. An Italian proverb, which is immortalised in our language,
for it enters into the history of Milton, was that by which the elegant
Wotton counselled the young poetic traveller to have--_Il viso sciolto,
ed i pensieri stretti_, "An open countenance, but close thoughts." In
the same spirit, _Chi parla semina, chi tace raccoglie_: "The talker
sows, the silent reaps;" as well as, _Fatti di miele, e ti mangieran le
mosche_: "Make yourself all honey, and the flies will devour you." There
are some which display a deep knowledge of human nature: _A Lucca ti
vidi, a Pisa ti connobbi!_ "I saw you at Lucca, I knew you at Pisa!"
_Guardati d'aceto di