Long before writing and books were in common use, proverbs were the principal means of imparting instruction. In modern times there is not so much need to apply these old sayings as a means of educating the people, but they are still constantly met with in the newspapers and in general literature, and they are rightly considered as "The texts of common life."

The late Earl Russell very aptly described a proverb as "The wisdom of many and the wit of one." We value proverbs chiefly as moral maxims teaching some practical lesson set forth in concise, pithy sentences, which are fixed in the memory without effort, and retained without being burdensome. They have been found useful for guidance in almost every condition of life; but, on the other hand, it is quite true that many dangerous precepts have been propounded in proverbs, and some of the older ones gave such questionable advice, or were couched in such objectionable language, that they have been very properly omitted from every collection intended, as this is, for general use. Other old proverbs have become obsolete, and as their meaning is now obscure, they have not been included in the Dictionary.

This series of "Handy Books" would hardly be complete without a collection of English Proverbs. Many books on the subject have been written, but it is hoped that this collection will, in some respects, be found to be an improvement on all its predecessors. Like The Dictionary of Daily Blunders, this Dictionary of English Proverbs has been framed so as to enable the reader to find what he wants without difficulty. The Dictionary itself is arranged according to the principal words, and there is also a Copious Index of additional principal words.

Other modern collections profess to give an "Alphabetical Index," but such an index is of little use when we find that it is framed on the rule that because a proverb begins with the article A, it should therefore be indexed under that letter. As, "A bald head is soon shaven." In another similar Index we find the proverb, "'Tis the second blow makes the fray," inserted under the letter T. In one index of this kind there are no less than twenty-two pages of A's and almost as many of The's. Indeed the whole index is compiled without the slightest regard to the subject of the proverbs. On this subject Disraeli, in his essay on the "Philosophy of Proverbs," says "The arrangement of proverbs has baffled the ingenuity of every one of their collectors. Ray, after long premeditation, has chosen a system with the appearance of an alphabetical order, but it turns out that his system is no system, and his alphabet is no alphabet. After ten years' labour the good man could only arrange his proverbs by commonplaces." In this little Dictionary, as we have already stated, the proverbs are arranged in alphabetical order, according to the leading words, and are consecutively numbered. But, in order to avoid repetition (as most of the proverbs contain, at least, two leading words), the subject words are used for the Dictionary, and the other principal words will be found in the Index, with a numerical reference to the proverb. The great advantage of this arrangement is, that if only one important word of a proverb be remembered, that word can be turned to in the Dictionary, and, if not found there, will certainly be in the Index. Nearly two thousand of the leading words are thus indexed—enough to make it almost impossible to miss finding what is wanted. This plan has also the effect of bringing together the proverbs on kindred subjects, which is often a matter of importance to writers, and is, moreover, most amusing to those who only read the book to while away a leisure hour. Ready reference is further facilitated in the Index by the addition of associated words. If one word only had been given, the reader might have had to refer to eleven proverbs before he found the one he required; as, for example, in the case of Dog.

It may be convenient to state that the Dictionary has been compiled principally from Ray's collection, first published in 1670. The remainder of the proverbs have been collected from ancient and modern literature; but some few of them will not be found in any other published collection.

It only remains to remind the reader that this is a collection of English Proverbs only; and we may appropriately conclude our Preface with a further extract from Disraeli's essay, wherein he very justly remarks that "The experience of life will throw a perpetual freshness over these short and simple texts; every day may furnish a new commentary; and we may grow old and still find novelty in proverbs by their perpetual application."

A Dictionary of English Proverbs.