HEAR now what has befallen me; I'm nicely taken in!
All through my Wife! who thought at once a mine of wealth to win:
A Dealer shew'd his Ostrich and its egg to her one day,
And making her believe 'twas such a wondrous bird to lay;
I bought it at her bidding-brought it home, and, like her, thought
A Bird that lay such eggs as that, could not be dearly bought.
And, as compar'd to Ostrich eggs, were of no size at all.
Off such an egg as that, why, two could make a dinner quite,
'Twas big enough to satisfy a ploughman's appetite.
Such was my mind: but very soon I'd reason to regret
I'd parted with my money, or an Ostrich ever met.
It eat! Oh! such a bird to eat as that I never saw!
No end of food and things could satisfy its hungry maw;
But Eggs! not one it laid! though all the while I did my best
With hay and straw and feathers soft to make the bird a nest.
When, after waiting long, -t'was just about the month of May-
I found one egg! Eh! now, thought I, it had begun to lay!
But all my joy was very short, for from that time till now,
It hasn't laid another egg, nor will it any how.
Yet all this while our Hens, as is with Hens the usual way,
THey've always laid at intervals, and often ev'ry day.
At length, all patience losing, and my temper put about,
Away with you, you rav'nous brute, you shall no longer stay!
You're big enough, and eat enough, and yet no eggs you lay.
I see how 'tis with you, you're all appearance, nothing more;
In buying you I've learnt what I ought well t'have known before:
The biggest things are not the best, the brightest often dross;
And when we grasp at profit most, we oft get greater loss.
A PIUMA à piuma se pela l'oca.
A gotta à gotta il mar si secherebbe.
VON kleinen fischlin werden die hecht gross.
PEU à peu file la vieille sa quenouille.
Qui s'agite, senrichit.
LITTLE pot, soon hot.
IL bue s'è fatto grande, e la stalla piccola.
The ox fattens in a little stall.
EN petite maison Dieu a grand part.
FORTUNAM qui avidè vorare pergit,
Hanc tandem male concoquat necesse est.
CELUI qui méprise les petites choses, tombera petit à petit.-Syrach. xxix. I.
LE peu est siffisant à l'homme bien appris.-Ib. xxx. 21.
KLEYN visje, soet visje.
MAJORA perdes, parva ni servaveris.
Who neglects the little, loses the greater.
ADDE parum parvo, tandem fit magnus acervus.
Gutta cavat lapidem.-OVID.
WER keinen Pfenning achtet,
Der auch nimmer eines Gulden Herre.
ALBAXANSE los adarves,
Y alcanse los muladeres.
MET veel schlagen wort de Stockvisch murw.
GRANO á grano hinche la gallina el papo.
Grain à grain
Amasse la fourmy son pain.
DOET by een kleyntje diekmael wat,
Soo wort'et noch een groote shat.
DIIS proximus est, quicunque eget pauccissimus.
Tandem fit Surculus Arbor.
HOW small soe'er your Profit be,
Despise it not, but learn to know,
That almost ev'ry thing you see
From small at first to large did grow:
Do but a little oft, and you
Will find that little grow apace;
The Penny to the Pound accrue,
And ''slow and sure oft win the race.''
THE Smith the steele, so tempers in the fire,
As that it may indure flints stroke and ire;
The flint and steel, 'gainst others while they strive,
Give sparkles, which the tinder keeps alive;
Untill the sulphure to the match gives flame,
Which keeps, and to the candle doth give the fame;
The candle thus lighted proper use hath none:
Thus all ordained is for man alone.
Dame Nature so commandeth ev'ry thing
In his owne kind to serve his Lord and King;
Things of meere being, and which doe not live,
As Elements, food to the living give;
The living herbs doe beasts with sense mainetaine,
And these, to feede us, ev'ry houre are slaine:
So every thing is for the use of man,
To God should he not doe then, what he can?
FARLIE'S Emblems.
A HEN LAYS EVERY DAY, BUT AN OSTRICH ONLY ONCE A YEAR
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