Hew Morrison Collection > Collection of Gaelic proverbs, and familiar phrases

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or a little punch now and then, diet a little more costly,
clothes a little finer, and a little entertainment now and
then, can be no great matter ; but remember ' Many a
little makes a mickle.' Beware of little expences ; ' A
small leak will sink a great ship,' as Poor Richard
says. And again, ' Who dainties love, shall beggars
prove :' and moreover, ' Fools make feasts, and wise
men eat them.* Here you are all got together to this
sale of fineries and nicknacks. You Call them goods ,-
but, if you do not take care, they will prove evils to
some of you. You expect they will be sold cheap, and
perhaps they may for less than they cost ; but if you
have no occasion for them, they must be dear to you.
12. " Remember what Poor Richard says, ' Buy
* what you have no need of, and ere long thou shalt
'sell thy necessaries.' And again, ' At a great penny-
* worth pause a while.* He means, that perhaps the
cheapness is apparent only, and not real ; and the bar-
gain, by straitening thee in thy business, may do thee
more harm than good. For in another place he says,
* Many have been ruined by buying good pennyworths.'
Again, ' It is foolish to lay out money in a purchase of
repentance ;' and yet this folly is practised every day
at auctions, for want of minding the Almanack. Many
persons, for the sake of finery on the back, have gone
with a hungry belly, and half-starved their families.
' Silks and satins, scarlets and velvets, put out the
* kitchen fire,' as Poor Richard says.
13. " These are not the necessaries of life; they
can scarcely be called the conveniences : and yet, only
because they look pretty, how many want to have
them ! By these and other extravagancies, the gen-
teel are reduced to poverty, and forced to borrow of
those whom they formerly despised, but who, through
industry and frugality, have maintained their standing-