A Collection of English Proverbs, 1678 (a reference to Hunter Biden!)

Book - "A Collection of English Proverbs" ^ | 1678 | John Ray

[ProtectOurFreedom]

John Ray is best known for his work in botany, with his thorough Catalogus Plantarum Angliae serving as the basis for subsequent british plant encyclopedias, and for his work defining the concept of species.

However, like most of his era, his prosperity was gained from his pen, and he published works on Religion, as would be expected, as well as this collection of english proverbs (with a section on Scotch proverbs as well.)

Evidently some took offence at the contents, given the following passage from the preface to this edition:

“Now whereas I understand that some Proverbs Admitted in the former Edition have given offence to sober and pious persons, as favouring too much of obscenity, being apt to suggest impure fancies to corrupt, being apt to suggest impure fancies to corrupt minds, I have in this omitted all I could suspect for such save only one, for the letting of which stand I have given my reason in the note upon it; and yet now upon better consideration i could wish that it also were obliterated.”

From what we can tell this is the specific proverb he refers to, being retained in both editions:

“He that woes a maid must fain, lie and flatter: But he that woes a widow, must down with his breeches and at her.”

NOTE: "woes" means "woos." The archaic meanings of "fain" are happy, pleased, inclined, and desirous.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

I was looking up the old saying "What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander" and I found it in this 340 year old collection of English Proverbs. This antiquarian bookseller has a copy for sale and that's where I noticed this great old proverb "He that woes a maid must fain, lie and flatter: But he that woes a widow, must down with his breeches and at her."

Apparently the originally published book had many such bawdy and ribald proverbs and the public outcry caused the author to republish a cleaned-up version of the book.

But he retained one bawdy proverb in the revised edition and apparently it is the one about Hunter Biden shagging his brother's widow!

[Cats Pajamas]

good one!

[TokarevM57]

...”with a section on Scotch proverbs as well.” Hmmmm;
must be those penned by Johhnie Walker;Teachers; Dewars; and other famous SCOTCH luminaries....(Sarc...correct identifier would have been “Scottish”....)

[SES1066]

Read later

[Dr. Sivana]

(Sarc...correct identifier would have been “Scottish”....)

Maybe not. A customer of and engineers at 3M who invented modern tape referred to their cheap boss, calling it Scotch Tape.

The brand name Scotch came about around 1925 while Richard Drew was testing his first masking tape to determine how much adhesive he needed to add. The bodyshop painter became frustrated with the sample masking tape and exclaimed, "Take this tape back to those Scotch bosses of yours and tell them to put more adhesive on it!"[4][5] The name was soon applied to the entire line of 3M tapes. (WIKIPEDIA)

[TokarevM57]

....verrrrry interesting, laddie....
something to find interesting.... from a popular on-line dictionary.....in truth I do enjoy a dram or two of SCOTCH whisky from time to time....distilled and bottled in Scotland by SCOTTISH craftsmen.....

“Scotch is generally used in compounds (such as Scotch pine or Scotch whisky), and set phrases. Scottish is the preferred adjective; in cases where you are referring to the literature, character, or ancestry of the people of Scotland, it is generally correct to describe them as Scottish.”

[Dr. Sivana]

Now you made me have to bring out the big guns.

My print edition of The Oxford English Dictionary has Scotch as the dominant usage except for formal speech. Used by real Scotch poets like Burns, etc. (See lines marked with red in margin).

http://sittnick.net/scotch_1.jpg

zoomed version

If you want an American dictionary, my 1968 World Webster's Unabridged (fake Webster's) is still serviceable:

http://sittnick.net/scotch_3a.jpg

[TokarevM57]

....well, stone the crows....!!! I guess we are both right, depending on how we wish to use the words Scotch and Scottish....although admittedly I never heard the term “Scottish whisky”..... may the wind always be at your back, laddie.....have a nice day......