PROVERB (from the Latin proverbium, that is, pro-rerburn, in which respect the form of the word bears analogy to praludium, aii4 other words of the kind), a by-word, which meaning is also conveyed by adegings." adage," and the Greek pareemia (trapoght). Of the many definitions which have been given of a proverb, the beat appears to be the following by Synesius, a Christian writer of the early part of the Lth century, who quotes from a work of Aristotle, now lost: "A proverb is a remnant of the ancient philosophy prcaerved amidst very many destructions on account of its brevity and fitness for use." To collect and explain such portions of wisdom has engaged the attention of some of the most learned men. Aristotle, Theophrastua Chrysippus, ti and others, according to Laertius, made collections of proverbs. With the works of Plutarch is printed (' Opera Montilla' vol. v.) a collection of 131 proverbs, with explanations; and, though this collection has not been uniformly acknowledged as Plutarch' s, there is good reason to believe it to be his genuine work. Zenobius or Zenodotus, Sophist who lived at the beginning of the 2nd century, made an epitome of the proverbs of two older writers, Tarricus and Didyrnus, in number 552. Diogenianus lived about the same time as Zenobius, and made a collection of proverbs, amounting to 775. These two col
Ilections, together with 1400 proverbs out of Suidas, and an appendix of 553 from the Vatican Library, and a selection of proverbs in metre, wore well edited by Andrew Schott, 4to, Antwerp, ]612. The adages of Erasmus, in number 4151, are too well known to require any de scription. They are presented in their most useful form in the Atpitome of them published by the Elzivirs, 12mo, Amat., 1663. Many modern writers have published collections of proverbs from various languages. The name of our own countryman, John Ray, is 'familiar to all the lovers of natural history. In 1672 he published his collection of proverbs, which has been often reprinted. Modern languages contain a great number of proverbs, and it is remarkable how many can be traced to an ancient origin, and how many are the common property of nations civilised and barbarous, so as to seem .almost universal. Again, the proverbs peculiar to a nation or country .never fail to mark distinctly the character and condition of the people. There is a valuable collection of English proverbs, with lengthened 'explanations, by Ray, by Oswald Dykes, and by H. G. Bohn, which also contains a selection of foreign proverbs.