Misfortunes come fast enough, we need not seek them, which those do who enter into contests in which they have no concern; or who meet troubles half way, and begin lamenting before they arrive, the difficulty is to get rid of them when present. Mischiefs come by the pound, and go away by the ounce, which seems a very indifferent imitation of Les maladies viennent a cheval, retournent a pied, diseases make their attack on horseback, but retire on foot.

Experience is the mistress of fools, and the burnt child, we say, dreads the fire. Some men are only to be made cautious by their own experience, they must suffer before they will be wary.

A tough and harsh knot, is not to be attempted to be cut by a fine tool; it can only be overcome by the application of a strong wedge. Great difficulties or diseases are not ordinarily subdued, but by powerful remedies, which may not be applied, perhaps, without some degree of danger. The adage also intimates, that in repelling injuries, we may use weapons, or means, similar to those with which we have been attacked. Craft and cunning may therefore be properly had recourse to, in opposing the machinations of the malevolent, and unjust. A horse perceiving that a lion was endeavouring by pretending to be skilful in medicine to entice him into his power, in order to destroy him, asked him to look at a swelling which he affected to have in his foot, and the lion preparing to examine the part, the horse gave him so violent a stroke with his heels, as laid him sprawling on the ground. The adage also means, that a lesser evil is sometimes obliterated by a greater, and one passion or affection of the mind by another.
«Even as one heat another heat expels,
Or as one nail by strength drives out another,
So the remembrance of my former love,
Is by another objet quite forgotten».

Evil counsel is most pernicious to the giver of it. The adage is applicable to persons who find the mischief they intended for others, fall upon themselves. «He hath graven and digged a pit, and hath fallen into the midst of it himself». Advice is of a sacred nature, and should he given faithfully, and those who prostitute it to evil purposes, are deserving of the severest punishment. The following story is related as having given rise to this apothegm. The statue of Horatius Codes, who had defended the passage of a bridge singly against the whole Etrurian army, being struck with lightning, the augurs were consulted as to the expiation proper to be made to the offended deities, for to that cause the Romans attributed these and similar accidents; and they advised, among other things, that the statue should be placed in a lower situation; meaning, perhaps, where it would be less liable to a similar injury. But the advice being supposed to be given through treachery, they were accused, convicted, and put to death. This was so agreeable to the superstitious people, that for a long time after they sang the verse which forms this adage, in triumph, about the streets. The augurs are said to have acknowledged their guilt, as many poor old women, accused of witchcraft, have done in this country. The story is more circumstantially related by Aulus Gellius. See Beloe's translation of that entertaining work. Though augury was held in high estimation by the Greeks and Romans, scarcely any great action being undertaken among them without having recourse to it; and the common people in both countries, as well as many eminent for their rank, and for their literary attainments, placed an entire confidence in it, yet there were not wanting, at all times, persons who held it in contempt. Cato, the censor, Cicero tells us, expressed his astonishment, that the auspices could keep their countenance when two of them met. «Mirari se aiebat, quod non rideret haruspex haruspicem cum videret» And Homer makes Hector say to Polydamus, advising him not to attack the Grecian camp, on account of some sinister omen.

«Ye vagrants of the sky! your wings extend,
Or where the suns arise, or where descend;
To right, to left, unheeded take your way»–––

«Without a sign, his sword the brave man draws,
And asks no omen but his country's cause».

When Cassius was advised by the augurs not to fight with the Parthians until the moon had passed the scorpion, he said, «he was not afraid of the scorpion, but of the arrows of the enemy». But some of the augurs were, doubtless, dupes to their own art, and as credulous, and as foolish, as any modern old witch.

An unseasonable, or improper gift, tending to the injury, not to the profit of the receiver: as a large sum of money to voung persons, which they, not knowing how to use properly, often apply in such ways, as to become destructive to their health, their morals, and their fortunes; authority, to ignorant and inexperienced, or to base and worthless men, who will use it to the injury of those whom they ought to favour and protect; or preferment in the church, to ignorant and illiterate divines, who, like the ape, only become the more disgraced, the higher they rise.

The worthless vessel escapes being broken more frequently than one of more value. Naught, we say, though often in danger, is seldom hurt, and ill weeds grow apace. The opinion that the virtuous and discreet are more subject to accident and misfortune, than the vicious, is too general not to be founded on observation. The good man, conscious of not having done, or intended injury to any one, is not easily led to apprehend mischief from others, or to use precautions against the shafts of malice, which he cannot suppose to be levelled at him; but the vicious man, knowing he has deserved, is constantly on his guard against the enmity of those whom he has injured or provoked. This habit of watchfulness and attention to his safety, occasions him not only to escape the injuries which persons less wary meet with, but to obtain a larger portion of the goods of the world, than fall to the lot of persons more deserving, but who are less active and vigilant in using the means necessary for acquiring them. Or the adage may be explained in this way: we set snares for the Canarybird, the Groldfinch, and other birds of song, and having taken them, we confine them in cages; but the Sparrow, the Swallow, and many others, that neither contribute to our amusement, nor are used at our tables, are suffered to enjoy their liberty.