Thomas Tusser. Circa 1515-1580.
God sendeth and giveth both mouth and the meat.[20:8]
Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry.
Except wind stands as never it stood,
It is an ill wind turns none to good.
Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry. A Description of the Properties of Wind.
At Christmas play and make good cheer,
For Christmas comes but once a year.
Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry. The Farmer's Daily Diet.
[21]
Such, mistress, such Nan,
Such master, such man.[21:1]
Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry. April's Abstract.
Who goeth a borrowing
Goeth a sorrowing.
Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry. June's Abstract.
'T is merry in hall
Where beards wag all.[21:2]
Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry. August's Abstract.
Naught venture naught have.[21:3]
Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry. October's Abstract.
Dry sun, dry wind;
Safe bind, safe find.[21:4]
Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry. Washing.
Footnotes
[20:1]
Falstaff. What wind blew you hither, Pistol?
Pistol. Not the ill wind which blows no man to good.
Shakespeare: 2 Henry IV. act v. sc. 3.
[20:2] Give an inch, he 'll take an ell.—Webster: Sir Thomas Wyatt.
[20:3] Wouldst thou both eat thy cake and have it?—Herbert: The Size.
[20:4] Every man for himself, his own ends, the devil for all.—Burton: Anatomy of Melancholy, part iii. sec. i. mem. iii.
[20:5] For buying or selling of pig in a poke.—Tusser: Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry. September Abstract.
[20:6] You have there hit the nail on the head.—Rabelais: bk. iii. ch. xxxi.
[20:7] Dives and Pauper, 1493. Gascoigne: Poesies, 1575. Pope: Horace, book i. Ep. vii. line 24. Fielding: Covent Garden Tragedy, act v. sc. 1. Bickerstaff: Love in a Village, act iii. sc. 1.
[20:8] God sends meat, and the Devil sends cooks.—John Taylor: Works, vol. ii. p. 85 (1630). Ray: Proverbs. Garrick: Epigram on Goldsmith's Retaliation.
[21:1] On the authority of M. Cimber, of the Bibliothèque Royale, we owe this proverb to Chevalier Bayard: "Tel maître, tel valet."
[21:2]
Merry swithe it is in halle,
When the beards waveth alle.
Life of Alexander, 1312.
This has been wrongly attributed to Adam Davie. There the line runs,—
Swithe mury hit is in halle,
When burdes waiven alle.
[21:3] See Heywood, page 15.
[21:4] See Heywood, page 10. Shakespeare: Merchant of Venice, act ii. sc. 5.