PBOVEBB 365 PROVIDENCE rectly from the people, the chosen vehi- cles of their sentiments and opinions, they naturally reflect the habits of thought, the turn of mind, the way of looking at things that prevail among those who use them. Of the national groups the Spanish is unquestionably the most remarkable. The number of Spanish proverbs is pro- digious. In any other language 5,000 or 6,000 would be a lai'ge collection, but a Spanish MS. by Yriarte, the royal libra- rian, which was in the Heber library, contained between 25,000 and 30,000. Language, it may be observed, plays an important part in proverbs. Take, for example, the Scotch "Better a toom house than an ill tenant." Compared with the English "empty," how much more effective is the Scandinavian "toom," to say nothing of the alliteration. The Italian proverbs, only less numer- ous than the Spanish, are more re- markable for wit, often bitter, than for humor; in the French, on the other hand, there is little or none of that brilliant wit and epigrammatic neatness of expression which distinguish French literature. English, including the Low- land Scotch, must be regarded as simply a subdivision of the great Teutonic group comprising the German, the Platt- deutsch, the Dutch, the Danish, the Swedish, and the Norwegian. Each of these has, of course, its own peculiar proverbs, but in each case the main body, it will be seen on comparison, belongs to a common stock. Next to Spain, the re- gion richest in proverbs in Europe is the Anglo-Saxon country. Compared with other groups, the Celtic proverbs must be rated as poor. The Gaelic proverbs, as Nicolson's admirable collection shows and he himself admits, have been largely recruited from Norse and Lowland Scotch sources; and the purely Celtic are to a great extent made up of say- ings in praise of Fingal, or expressive of the opinion which one clan has of an- other, or of itself. The Welsh proverbs gathered by Howell are very flat; and of the Irish Dr. Nicolson observes that the wonder is they are so few, and those few so remarkably deficient in the wit — a remark certainly borne out by the specimens usually given, in which moral truisms of the copy book order, like "vir- tue is everlasting wealth," "wisdom ex- cels all riches," "falling is easier than rising," have a decided predominance. Among the Oriental proverbs the Arabic hold the first place in respect to quantity, and perhaps quality likewise, but the Persian and Hindustani are also excel- lent, and in the Turkish, together with abundant worldly shrewdness, there is sometimes a vein of poetry that is very Vol. VII— Cyo striking. It is questionable whether the "tender beauty," to use Trench's praise, of the English proverb of the shorn lamb is not rivalled by its Turkish par- allel, "God makes a nest for the blind bird." PROVEBBS OF SOLOMON, one of the sacred books of the Old Testament as- cribed to Solomon. The Hebrew term translated proverbs means literally a similitude or comparison of two objects, and this is the form that most of them take. Solomon, we are told, uttered 3,000 proverbs; but it has been doubted whether he ever made any collection of them in writing; and it is expressly stated that the latter part of the book, beginning with chapter xxv., was writ- ten and added by order of King Heze- kiah. The title shows the author rather than the compiler. It has hardly ever been contended that a large share in the composition of the book is to be ascribed to the Wise King; and the divine author- ity of the book is sufficiently proved by i-iie quotations made from it in the New Testament. In all ages this book has been regarded as a great store house of practical wisdom. PROVIDENCE, a city, capital of the State of Rhode Island, and county-seat of Providence co. ; on the Providence river, an arm of Narragansett Baj% and on the New York, New Haven, and Hart- ford, and the New England railroads; 44 miles S. W. of Boston. It is the sec- ond city of New England in population and wealth, and is built on a rolling plateau. Business Interests. — Providence has upward of 2,000 manufacturing estab- lishments, with a combined capital of about $60,000,000, and employing about 40,000 persons. It is noted for its manu- factures of cotton and woolen goods, jewelry, and stoves, and is the largest seat of fine jewelry manufacture in the United States. The other industries in- clude silverware, tools, engines, locomo- tives, boilers, sewing machines, screws, files, general hardware, yarn, calico, laces, braids, worsteds, broadcloth, chemicals, etc. There is an ^ extensive coastwise commerce and shipping indus- try, especially in the coal, cotton, and wool trade. There is also an important shell-fish industry. Lines of steamboats run regularly to Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. There are 7 National and several other banks; and many daily, weekly, and monthly peri- odicals. The assessed property valua- tions exceed $235,000,000, and the net debt $14,000,000. Public Interests. — The city has an area of 19 square miles: 268 miles of 24
