poorest peasant, the humblest mechanic can practise it as well as kings on their throne; for they too have their favours, their kindnesses to bestow. But, to return to the king: we have a lively instance of the trait we have alluded to in the case of General von Kockeritz, the intimate friend of Frederick, who had become attached to him when only crownprince, and soon gave him his confidence. On his ascending the throne, in 1797, he wrote him a long letter, truly honourable both to him and to his friend, begging of him to assist him freely with his counsel and advice, and asking him the following questions, Will you always remain the same as now? always so think-always so act?' and creating him, in the fullest sense of the word, his privy-councillor. Kockeritz was worthy of the esteem and confidence shown him by his king; though not possessing distinguished talents or scientific knowledge, he was a man of sound and clear understanding, upright, true-hearted, and full of goodnature and benevolence; he accompanied the king after the destructive battle of Jena, in 1806, on his melancholy retreat to Konigsberg, and staunchly stood by his side during those blows of destiny. In 1809, he returned with the king to Berlin and Potsdam, and ere long had to participate in his royal master's soul-anguish on the death of his queen.

"Time passed on till the completion of his fiftieth year of faithful service, when, at the dawn of that day, Kockeritz was awakened by the hautboyists of the guard playing a piece of choral music under his window; soon after, one of the king's adjutants entered his chamber, bringing with him a royal rescript, in which the king alluded to his loyal devotion, personal attachment, and useful service, and concluded by adding,' As a token of my esteem I herewith, on this festival of your fifty years' service, confer on you the order of the Black Eagle, and send you the decoration, accompanied by my wish that you will wear it this day, and that you may for many years be an ornament to it. Be ever the friend of your most sincere friend.' At 10 o'clock the king's adjutants and other generals conducted Kockeritz to the Lustgarten, where he found the regiments of the guards, in parade uniform assembled. The king was already on the ground, wearing all his orders. Having placed Kockeritz on his right hand, and the generalfield-marshal on his left, his majesty stepped forward and gave the word of command himself-a circumstance which rarely happened. All the troops filed past the astonished and

excited veteran, and as they passed, amid the thunder of drums, trumpets, and cannon, the colours of each regiment were waved. The review finished, the king, after a few impassioned words, embraced his old friend in sight of all the troops and the crowd of assembled people. After that the generals and other high officers in the state had wished him joy, the king said, 'Now my dear Kockeritz, in the first place we mean to conduct you home, and afterwards take luncheon with you.'-Kockeritz being a bachelor, his domestic arrangements did not admit of entertaining company on so short a notice-much less the king. He was inclined to treat his announced intention as a joke; but when he found the king was in earnest he deprecated the intended honour, but the king good-humouredly turned away, saying, No, no! it is decided, gentlemen; we accompany Kockeritz home, and take a comfortable breakfast with him.'-'It is really impossible,' said the embarrassed Kockeritz; 'my confused bachelor-economy is not in a fit state for any such a thing.'-' Why are you not married then?' retorted the king; 'I have often joked you on that head; now it is too late; you shall therefore be punished for the omission to-day.'-'If it must be so,' said Kockeritz, in a half-sorrowful tone, 'I must at least beg of your majesty a delay of four hours, that I may make the necessary arrangements; there's nothing in the house, and all my rooms are in disorder. I cannot possibly receive your majesty instanter.'' Eh, what?' said the king, 'a lieutenant-general will surely have a crust of bread-and-butter, and a glass of wine to offer us! It's all settled!' Then, turning to his suite, Come along, gentlemen.' The whole party put themselves in motion, Kockeritz all the time in a most disagreeable agitation, not seeing how the thing could be managed. A deep sigh escaping him, the king jokingly said, 'You are rightly served; it would have been infinitely more agreeable to be received by a handsome hostess attended by her children. Well, we shall see what's to be had at the old bachelor's, and endeavour to treat him as mercifully as possible.'

"As they approached the house, the royal party were greeted by drums and trumpets, and a crowd of the servants of the palace in their gala liveries were discernible. The steps leading to the door were strewed with flowers, the dining-room and adjoining chambers tastefully ornamented, the table elegantly spread and decorated with costly porcelain, whilst a valuable service of plate covered an abundance of smoking dishes. The king, on entering the

dinner-room, turned to his attendants and said, with peculiar good-nature, Would you have surmised this of Kockeritz ?-he said there was nothing prepared, and we find all charmingly arranged!' He then took his tried friend by the hand and placed him next himself; the rest were soon seated, and joy and gratitude filled every heart. When the déjeûner was finished, the king said, 'Now, my dear Kockeritz, since we have breakfasted with you, you and the rest of your guests must make it convenient to dine with me. But, inasmuch as we have done justice to your hospitality, the dinner shall be ordered for a later hour than usual, and, in the meantime, we will take a drive into the country.' He then invited Kockeritz into his own carriage, and resuming his natural sombre silence, requested him to recount his early history. He did so; mentioning by name his early friends, of whom only a small remainder were living. In a few hours they arrived at Neugarten, where the company were already assembled; but who shall describe the amazement and transport of the honest old veteran when he beheld, on entering the banqueting-hall, the only three surviving friends of his youth, whom the king had managed to bring together from distant. places, and who now stood with open arms to receive him an exhilirating scene from the realities of human life!"

In his domestic character the king is brought before us in a very pleasing light; he was a tender and affectionate father; it was his custom every morning to visit the nursery, where he received the royal children one after another from the hands of their mother, and bestowed on each fond marks of fatherly affection; he would sometimes tarry long with them, playing and joking; and each trifling circumstance, so weighty to children, he treated with participating interest, as it were a matter of high importance. If any of them received special praise for good behaviour, &c., he took from his pocket a small reward. Even so heartily did he enter into their pleasantries, that he often seemed chained to the spot, forgetful of the flight of time; for the queen had frequently to remind him that the adjutant had been announced. Every evening before retiring to rest, he, together with the queen, visited the sleeping infants, and stealthily kissed the forehead of each. He was devotedly attached to his good and beautiful queen, Louisa; and after her death, which took place June 19, 1810, he caused an open temple to be erected on the castern point of Peacock Island, and there placed her bust, elegantly worked in

marble. Thither he would frequently repair, generally unattended, and linger there awhile in solitary musings. When at Charlottenburg, he used to stroll along the dark avenue' of fir-trees that led to her mausoleum; he only had the key of the lower vault. A holy stillness pervades the spot where the good and beautiful Queen Louisa found an early grave.

Frederick William's life extended to man's allotted portion-threescore years and ten; "life's taper burnt brightly to the last." To the end, as it had always been, "the love of his subjects was his greatest treasure; his resignation and tender-heartedness grew daily more prominent; each small attention, and even delicate handing of refreshment, was received with thanks; and all his farewell looks were verily benedictory loving-kindnesses. His genuine affection and childlike mindedness were remarkably displayed towards his under-chamberlain the day before his death. When Kienal presented him a cup of bouilli, the dying king motioned it away, saying, 'I cannot take it;' but the trusty and anxious man desisted not, saying, 'The medical gentlemen have ordered it, and sinking strength requires support.' The invalid rejoined, 'My children, I desire it not; do not trouble me.' The attached servant, nevertheless, continued to beseech him to take the broth; and with pitiful expressions of sorrow, such as are often used towards beloved equals, he said, 'Well then, your majesty, do drink it, if only to please me.' Tears at the same time gushing from his eyes, he left the room hastily, placing the cup in the hands of his constant nurse and affectionate consort, the Princess of Liegnitz, who was sitting close to the bed. 'The kindly meaning man!' uttered the dying king; did you remark his tears, my dear Augusta? Drink it instead of me, that on his return, seeing the cup empty, he may feel consoled.'"

*

With this touching anecdote we will close our paper. The king departed this life the 14th June, 1840. He was truly a noble man; his mind was imbued with deeply religious feelings; so that, in the words of the good bishop," with him the fear of God was the one great condition under which all that is good, of whatever name, can alone thrive; therefore was it the soul of his private as of his public life. As he will live in history, so can he be signalised by no more suitable, complete, and true term than Frederick William III. the Pious."

*His second wife.

29. "BETTER to come at the end of a feast than at the beginning of a fray." Danish, Bedre at komme til slutningen af et maal-tid end til begynd af et klammerie. Maal-tid, meal-time; the Danish is nearly preserved entire in the Scotch word meltith; the d is only aspirated. Klammerie is in some measure retained in the Scots' word clammyhowet, which signifies an accidental bodily hurt, such as might be expected in a brawl or fray. Begynd is beginning.

30. Forloret gods forloret venner. Nimmer gelt nimmer gesell, is an old proverb of Agricola's, one of the earliest of the German proverbialists: the earliest except Fridank, who lived in the fifteenth century. Forloret, from Anglo-Saxon forlæsan, is a form of lose, with the prefix, which we have lost, except in the above form, and in a very few terms, as forfeit, forget, forsooth, forswear, &c.; but the Germans and Danes have retained it. Gods, goods; venner, friends. The German proverb, "No money no chum," is equally terse and significant.

"The

31. Eller kousten priser meisteren. work should praise the master." Schiller has a fine version of this proverb

"Das werk muss den Meister loben

Doch der Segen kommt von oben." Danish, konst, and German, kunst (art), are from the radical word can; hence king, the man who can or could, the powerful, skilful, &c., man. Priser, praise; meister, master.

32. At selge biornen hud for end biornen er slagen. Literally, "to sell the bear's-hide before that the bear is slain;" or "to sell the bear's skin on his back," as we say. The Germans have a story illustrative of this proverb, viz. :-Once the environs of the city of Nuremberg were infested by a huge bear, which slaughtered the swine while feeding in the adjoining forest. The inhabitants had often tried in vain to rid themselves of this destructive animal, and invited the hunters of the neighbouring province to their aid. Three brave Swabian youths agreed to slay the bear, and to share the offered reward. They arrived in the city, supped, slept, and breakfasted at the Golden Lion, and promised their

* Continued from page 377, vol. v.

host the bear's skin as payment of their bill. They forthwith went in search of Bruin, who soon appeared. The foremost hunter turned his back, and ran to the city with all speed; the second climbed up a tree just by; the third fell flat on his face, holding in his breath, and shamming to be dead. The bear came up to him, smelled him on one side, turned him over, and went away. When fairly out of sight, the man who was in the tree and saw what passed, came down and asked what the bear whispered into his fellow's ear while he was lying on the ground. "Never sell the bear's skin on his back,” replied his companion.

33. "A beggar's purse is bottomless." Danish, Staadere pose er bundelos. The Scottish dialect has the word pose in a sense nearly akin to purse, viz., "a secret hoard of money." It is from the Maso-Gothic posse, purse, and is totally different from our word pose, to puzzle. The terminational affix, los, is German as well as Danish.

34. Der som himmelen falder da bryste der mange leergryder. "When the sky falls, many pipkins will be broken." We say, "When the sky falls, we shall catch larks." Lark is probably from the Mæso-Gothic; as the SueoGothic, or modern Swedish, the purest descendant of the ancient language, has larka, Danish, lerke. Falder, bryste, and mange will be readily recognised as forms of fall, bruise (burst), many.

35. En nar kand meere spörge end ti (ten) wyse skal suare. "One fool can ask more questions than ten wise men can answer." Nar, German, narr, a fool; sporge, Scottice, speer (ask); suare, answer.

36. Muraille blanche, papier des fols, say the French. "White walls fools' paper." Danish, Hoid wegge narren's skrifuet tafel (writingtable, or material); wegge, walls, Scottice, wa's; skrif and scribo, tafel and tabula, are from ancient radical words common to both Latin and Gothie languages.

37. En nar gior mange. "One fool makes many."

38. Det er en arm (poor) muus der hafuer ick un et hull. "It is a poor mouse which has but one hole." In Scotland, mouse is pronounced mús, the sounding like u in bull. "The cat knew but one craft (art), but it

was a master-craft (climbing), and she escaped." "The fox boasted that he knew many ways of baffling his pursuers, yet he was caught."

39. Det er ikke alt guld der gloer og glimmer. "It is not all gold that glitters." The Scots add, "Nor all siller that shines, nor all maids that wear braided hair." It was once the practice in that country for women to cover their heads only when married. The Germans say, Nicht alles Gelt was glanzt: the Latins, Nulla fides fronti. A good face, however, is a letter of commendation; and a good address is a still surer passport to its possessor; the proverb, nevertheless, expresses a true judgment, and will be affirmed by those who have had the most extensive intercourse

with men. A good exterior and polished address are not always the certain signs of an honest heart and liberal mind. Coleridge tells, somewhere in his works, a story of a man of grave demeanour, who appeared to listen attentively to what was spoken at a large dinner-party, and who said nothing, but appeared to think much. The poet was anxious to hear the sapient and pertinent remarks which he was assured this silent neighbour was secretly meditating; but the illusion was dissipated on the appearance of a dish of apple-dumplings. This clodpate could employ his mouth on something more interesting than philosophy and morals: he uttered, ex animo, "Ah, them's the jockers for me!"

40. Et stygt barn kand blive en vaker karl. "An ugly child may be a handsome man." The Scots say, "Foul in the cradle and fair in the saddle. Blive, German bleiben, to remain, is one of the Danish forms of the verb to be, or to become. Karl, and churl, English, are from the same root; the Scots use the word carle in a vulgar sense, not in the bad sense in which it is always used in England. It is one of the many examples of words that have become obsolete in the sense they once had, but still exist in the language in another, and generally bad signification. The Latin hostis, an enemy; the English knave," once used for a male child, as the German knabe still signifies, are examples.

41. To indulge vain hopes is proverbially expressed in the Danish by, At bygge i luften: "To build in the air." Both bygge and luft are still used in the Scottish dialect; as, "Fools big (build) houses, and wise men buy them." 'If the lift fa', the laverocks (larks) will be smoored." The French say, Bâtir châteaux en Espagne: "To build castles in the air."

42. "God helps them that help themselves," as poor Richard says. The Danes say the

same, and almost in the same words: Hielp dig selv, saa hielper dig Gud. Aide-toi et Dieu t'aidera. In the French and Danish forms we have the structure of the sentences identically the same, though the words be all different. In German, the sense only is the same; both the words and structure are different: Dem Arbeiter hilft Gott. The Latins say, Dii facientes adjuvant. The verbal sense of both German and Latin forms is, "God helps the industrious."

"A

43. Drukken mand farer sielden ilde. drunken man gets seldom hurt." Kelly quotes the Scottish proverb, "A drunken man is rarely hurt;" but, with his usual discrimination, denies its truth. The words drunk, man, seldom, and ill, are recognisable in this Danish proverb. The Scottish dialect retains the radical sense of farer, in the verb fa, in such expressions as, "We maunna fa that," we may not obtain that.

44. Han horer ikke med det öre." He does not hear with that ear; he is deaf on that side of his head."

"Empty

45. Tomme tönder ramler mest. barrels make most noise." Toom (teem, Aberdonice) is Scottish and Swedish for empty. The words tun, rumble, and most, are from the same roots as tönder, ramler, and mest.

The English say, "Shallow brooks make

most noise;" "The shallower the brains, and the emptier the skull, the greater the braggart."

46. Bedre erdet at vaere misunded end yuked. "Better is it to be (vaere) envied than pitied." This is one of our universal proverbs; a judgment founded on the general feelings and experience of humanity; it has but little humour in it, and still less benevolence-but charity begins at home: he who is unjust or unkind to himself, will be neither just nor generous to others. We often hear it said of a never-do-well, luckless, reckless wight, "Poor fellow! he was no one's enemy but his own." This is ample condemnation: the man who is an enemy to himself cannot be a friend to anybody.

47. Den har ond (bad) naboer som (who) maae roese (praise) sig. "He lives beside a bad neighbour who must praise himself." We say, "A man's trumpeter is dead," when he sounds forth his own praise. The Germans say

"Self-praise stinks,

Friends' praise limps."

People should have a just estimate of thei own merits, but they should be slow to give

utterance to their own judgments of themselves.

"To

σε Το

48. At have en finger med i fadet. have a finger in the pie (fad, dish)." have an oar in every man's boat," is very properly condemned; but "To give every man a stake in the hedge (common privileges and duties)," is commendable. "The man whose cow is in the mire puts his foot farrest in;" or, "He that owns the cow goes nearest to her tail."

49. Frisk fisk og nye komma giæstes stinker naar de ere (they are) tre dage gamle (old). "Fresh fish and new-come guests stink when they are three days old." In the above sentence, both the words and the construction are English. It has been already shown that sk in Danish is equivalent to sh in English, a sound which the Danes have not. Th represents an English sound which is now lost in all continental languages, as derived from the Latin and Teutonic. Naar (when) is the only word in the proverb entirely foreign.

50. Naar mand har ej (no) maere at give vinskab er ude. "When a man has no more to give, friendship ceases." We give this not for its wit nor for its truth, since its expression is poor and bald, and its truth, to the honour of humanity be it said, is far from universal; but it exemplifies the similarity of the two languages which we are comparing. Er ude, "is out," is a very common expression: as, the beer-cask is out; we are out of this article, &c. In most of the languages derived from the same source as our own, we can very readily illustrate the difficulties of construction, or syntax, by examples drawn from our own; though we generally neglect this very obvious method of learning a foreign tongue, and chiefly because our attention is not directed to these coincidences in grammatical structure. Comparative grammar is only beginning to attract attention among us. Mais retournons à nos moutons. We are writing about proverbs, not about our neglect of the science of universal, or rather comparative grammar. We prefer the sarcastic, terse form of our own version; "No longer pipe, no longer dance;" or, "No longer foster, no longer friend." There is truth in the saying

"Donec eris

Felix multos numeralis amicos-
Tempora si nubila solus eris."

"The rich hath many friends, the poor man is hated by his relations." Naar lykken (fortune) sig vender (changes) er der inguo (no one) kiender (knows us). Sig vender, changes, itself is an example of the usage of the reflec

tive verb, so common in most continental languages.

51. At komme efter et marked. "To come after the fair." Except at (to) and et (the, neuter), every word is pure English. When too late, we say, "To come a day after the fair." "To come in pudding time" is genuine English in form, but, like the above, expresses a general or universal truth, viz., "If time is not taken by the forelock, he is bald behind."

52. Kloge falk lader sig skielden narre of daarer. This proverb has an import similar to our saying, "The deepest are to be done." Cunning people sometimes overreach themselves."

66

53. "Like to like," or, "Like love like." Krage söger mage.

"A crow seeks a make (mate); every Jack has a Gill;

There never was so bad a Jack but there was as bad a Gill."

Krage (craw, Scottice); g is often changed into w: söger, seeks; mage, make. The medial or soft sound of g is changed into k.

54. "Like master like man." Som herren er saa er tienereu. Or, "Like pot like cover." "The one is good enough for the other."

55. "To have an aching tooth to one." At have nag til eu. Nag, a grudge or spite, to bear a grudge against one. Most people know the pain of a gnawing or nagging tooth.

56. Tileg til sengs (bed) og tileg op giver riigdom (wisdom) og sund hed. Literally, "Early to by and early up, gives riches, wisdom, and wealth."

"Early to bed and early to rise,

Make a man healthy, wealthy, and wise." The terminational affixes dom and hed are common in English, and are most probably from the Danish; head is pronounced hed. The German heit is more remote; it is nearer to our form than the Anglo-Saxon had, which means office, dignity, &c., as well as head.

57. At spende kiarren for vogneu. Literally this means to put the cart before the wagon (wain, vogn); to put one thing in the place of another; usteron pro teror, a figure which the monk exemplified when he thanked God for creating large rivers near or close to large towns.

58. "Charity begins at home." Skearten er naermere kroppen end tröjen. "The shirt is nearer the carcase than the jacket;" an exact translation of proximus mihi met. A similar proverb, "Poor blood that is not thicker than water," teaches that our poor relatives have a stronger claim on our charity than strangers have.