Download or read book English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases (Classic Reprint) written by William Carew Hazlitt and published by Forgotten Books. This book was released on 2017-04-27 with total page 624 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases That popular phraseology which has subsisted among us time out of mind, and which may be said to constitute a kind of common speech, presents to our notice a theme peculiarly abounding in curiosity, interest and social illustration. The Rev. John Ward, Vicar of stratford-on-avon in the time of Charles II., observes in his diary Six things required to a proverb; 1. Short; 2. Plain; 3. Common; 4. Figurative; 5. Ancient; 6. True. If we allow this to be a fair criterion or standard, it follows that in the existing collections are a very great number of articles which have no real title to a place there; and such is, indeed, the actual fact. In Dr. Fuller's Gnomologia, 1732, there are 6496 sayings; but of these a considerable proportion would have to be eliminated to satisfy Mr. Ward's postulates; for there are, assuredly, many which do not fall under any of those heads. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.