Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 1.djvu/589

 10* s. i. JC.N-E is, low.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

485

T. Dodd, J. A. Nicholl, J. Forrester, Rev. W. M Lane, M. M. Henderson, W. Shaw, J. Shaw J. Turnbull, J. Hutchinson, H. Hastings, W, Barker, M. Jackson, H. L. Seddon, S. Wall, M. E. Quiney. G. S. PARRY, Lieut.-Uol.

FRENCH PROVERBIAL PHRASES.

(See ante, p. 3.) Bon jour et bon an. The following lines appeared in the Mercure of January, 1726, and mutatis mutandis might almost be applied to Christmas boxes :

Sur le jour de Van. Ne peut-on du calendrier Effaeer le premier Janvier, Ce jour fatal aux pauvres bourses, Ce jour fertile en sottes courses ; Ce jour oil cent froids visiteurs, A titre de complimenteurs, Pleins dii zele qui les transporte, Sement 1'ennui de porte en porte ? On fuir les assauts petulans De ces baiseurs congratulans, Qui viennent donner pour e"trenne Le fier poison de leur haleine ? O jour ! qui n'as pour amateurs Que 1'ordre des freres questeurs, Quand du joug dur de tes corv^es Verrons-nous nos cites sauv^es ?

Bon. Here are a few proverbs containing or beginning with this adjective : Bonnes gens font les bons pays. Bon cceur fait le bon caractere. Bons comptes font les bons amis. Bon fermier fait la bonne terre. Bons livres font les bonnes moeurs, Bons maitres les bons serviteurs. Les bons bras font les bonnes lames. Le bon gout fait les bons ecrits. Bons maris font les bonnes femmes, Bonnes femmes les bons maris.

C'est le chat. This expression is used as in English to express disbelief in what has been said, and the following lines are given in La Mesangere's book a propos of the phrase :

Purgon, medecin k la mode,

Est vraiment habile docteur ;

II vante partout sa methode ;

On la suit, le malade meurt.

Purgon, en le voyant sans vie,

Dit encore avec bonhomie :

Ce n'est pas moi qui 1'ai mis la ; Non, c'est le chat.

Toujours content de sa personne, Sans cesse Damon s'applaudit ; Et plus le monsieur deraisonne, Plus il savoure ce qu'il dit ; H ne peut nombrer ses conquetes ; II fait tourner toutes les tetes : Monsieur Damon n'est pas un fat, Non, c'est le chat.

EDWARD LATHAM. (To be continued.)

Here is another illustration of the phrase "II est bon d'avoir des amis partout," taken from the Count de Chevigne's 'Contes Remois.' A young girl at the conclusion of a sermon goes to a priest, and requests him to say a mass to her intention :

Une fillette aux yeux bleus au corps gent De lui s'approche, et d'un air innocent, L'argent en main, lui demande line messe. " Est-ce la Vierge ? " " Oh oui, certainement r Monsieur," dit-elle. " Excusez, mon enfant ; Sur ce article il faut qu'on vous previenne Que bien souvent la Vierge prend en haine Et punit fort jeune fille qui ment." La belle alors, par le bras 1'arretant : " Dites aussi deux mots & la Madeleine."

' Le Choix d'une Messe.'

A further example is by Gerald Massey, from his poem entitled ' Louis Napoleon and England ': There was a poor old woman, a daughter of our

nation, Before the devil's portrait stood in ignorant

adoration. " You 're bowing down to Satan, ma'am," said some

spectator civil : " Ah, sir, it 's best to be polite, for we may go to the devil."

Bow, bow, bow, We may go to the devil, so it 's just as well to bow.

JOHN HEBB.

A JAPANESE MASTER OF LIES. Kyokutei Bakin (1767-1848), the greatest Japanese romancist of modern times, in his 'Kiryo Manroku,' 1812 (ed. 1885, torn. ii. fol. 33), records the following story, which he heard during his sojourn in Kyoto some years Defore his writing :

" A courtier named Saito Fumitsugu, still alive, is very skilful in telling laughable lies. In the evening of the ' Bon ' festival last seventh moon Takatsuki. A man, from his despondency in love, nflicted bodily harm upon about seventy persons. When the news spread in Kyoto there were dif- 'erent opinions as to its veracity. Then Fumitsugu, calling on a friend, reported that the day previous le went himself to his relative in that place, and was assured that three men were actually wounded. As it was thought seventy individuals were too many for a single man to wound in one evening, sverybody pronounced him to have told the truth or the first time in his life. Next day, however,, a man really came from that town and confirmed seventy as the genuine number. All were so con- vulsed with laughter as to be almost stunned.
 * here took place a very extraordinary event in

"At the beginning of a year, Fumitsugu called lis friends round him and said, ' It is a custom for poets and musicians to celebrate at this time the east of the first production of their arts, so I will ielebrate my lies on the eleventh day, whereto you ire all invited at noon.' Thus speaking in earnest, le went home. All his friends, extremely curious what manner of lies he would utter then, called on lira as was appointed, To their great surprise, his