earest water! On
the judges in Gallicia, who, like our former justices of peace, "for
half a dozen chickens would dispense with a dozen of penal statutes," _A
juezes Gallicianos, con los pies en las manos_: "To the judges of
Gallicia go with feet in hand;" a droll allusion to a present of
poultry, usually held by the legs. To describe persons who live high
without visible means, _Los que cabritos venden, y cabras no tienen, de
donde los vienen?_ "They that sell kids, and have no goats, how came
they by them?" _El vino no trae bragas_, "Wine wears no breeches;" for
men in wine expose their most secret thoughts. _Vino di un oreja_, "Wine
of one ear!" is good wine; for at bad, shaking our heads, both our ears
are visible; but at good the Spaniard, by a natural gesticulation
lowering on one side, shows a single ear.

Proverbs abounding in sarcastic humour, and found among every people,
are those which are pointed at rival countries. Among ourselves, hardly
has a county escaped from some popular quip; even neighbouring towns
have their sarcasms, usually pickled in some unlucky rhyme. The egotism
of man eagerly seizes on whatever serves to depreciate or to ridicule
his neighbour: nations proverb each other; counties flout counties;
obscure towns sharpen their wits on towns as obscure as themselves--the
same evil principle lurking in poor human nature, if it cannot always
assume predominance, will meanly gratify itself by insult or contempt.
They expose some prevalent folly, or allude to some disgrace which the
natives have incurred. In France, the Burgundians have a proverb, _Mieux
vaut bon repas que bel habit_; "Better a good dinner than a fine coat."
These good people are great gormandizers, but shabby dressers; they are
commonly said to have "bowels of silk and velvet;" this is, all their
silk and velvet goes for their bowels! Thus Picardy is famous for "hot
heads;" and the Norman for _son dit et son dedit_, "his saying and his
unsaying!" In Italy the numerous rival cities pelt one another with
proverbs: _Chi ha a fare con Tosco non convien esser losco_, "He who
deals with a Tuscan must not have his eyes shut." _A Venetia chi vi
nasce mal vi si pasce_, "Whom Venice breeds, she poorly feeds."

There is another source of national characteristics, frequently
producing strange or whimsical combinations; a people, from a very
natural circumstance, have drawn their proverbs from local objects, or
from allusions to peculiar cust