Produced by Delphine Lettau, Lisa Reigel, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Transcriber's Notes: Variations in spelling and hyphenation have been left as in the original. Words in italics in the original are surrounded by _underscores_. Ellipses match the original.
A few typographical errors have been corrected. A complete list follows the text.
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2. FAMILIAR FRENCH QUOTATIONS & PROVERBS.
5. BIBLE TRUTHS WITH SHAKESPEARIAN PARALLELS. By J. B. Selkirk.
6. A HANDY BOOK OF SYNONYMS, CONTAINING ABOUT 33,000 ENGLISH WORDS.
7. THE SECRETARY'S ASSISTANT AND CORRESPONDENT'S GUIDE. Nineteenth Edition.
8. TOURIST'S FRENCH PRONOUNCING HANDBOOK.
9. REASONS WHY WE BELIEVE THE BIBLE. By the Rev. James Copland, M.A.
10. TALES FROM SHAKSPEARE. By Charles Lamb.
11. A DICTIONARY OF DAILY BLUNDERS CORRECTING THEM.
18. THE STORY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. By the Rev. A. Carter, M.A.
1. HANDBOOK FOR WRITERS & READERS (_English_).
2. REFERENCE HANDBOOK OF QUOTATIONS, _English, French and Latin_.
3. LAMB'S TALES FROM SHAKSPEARE, RASSELAS, & ELIZABETH.
4. REFERENCE HANDBOOK FOR BIBLE & GENERAL READERS.
5. HANDBOOK FOR WRITERS & READERS (_Classical_); CLASSICAL DICTIONARY, PLUTARCH, AND MYTHOLOGY.
"The genius, wit, and spirit of a nation are discovered by their proverbs."--LORD BACON.
Long before writing and books were in common use, proverbs were the principal means of imparting instruction. In modern times there is not so much need to apply these old sayings as a means of educating the people, but they are still constantly met with in the newspapers and in general literature, and they are rightly considered as "The texts of common life."
The late Earl Russell very aptly described a proverb as "The wisdom of many and the wit of one." We value proverbs chiefly as moral maxims teaching some practical lesson set forth in concise, pithy sentences, which are fixed in the memory without effort, and retained without being burdensome. They have been found useful for guidance in almost every condition of life; but, on the other hand, it is quite true that many dangerous precepts have been propounded in proverbs, and some of the older ones gave such questionable advice, or were couched in such objectionable language, that they have been very properly omitted from every collection intended, as this is, for general use. Other old proverbs have become obsolete, and as their meaning is now obscure, they have not been included in the Dictionary.