For many years, the work being so well done, no irruption took place, and the bishop diverted some of the money to the building of a steeple to Tenterden Church. People dwelt in a false security, and the dykes were gradually growing weaker, until at last the catastrophe came. The old man's tale was quite rational, had he been allowed to finish it, but the audience, impatient of his garrulousness, and ready for a laugh at his expense, did not give him an opportunity to do so. It was not the ignorance of the speaker but the impatience of the auditors that supplies the true moral of the story. Any extended reference to old collections of proverbs, to county histories, to old plays, and such-like sources of information would readily yield a large harvest of these local allusions, but enough has been brought forward to illustrate the nature of them, and for our purpose a specimen twenty is as satisfying as an illustrative hundred. FOOTNOTES: [125:A] A South African species of this genus is called by the settlers and natives, "Waht en beetje"--wait a bit, because its crooked thorns catch their clothes as they journey. [125:B] A quaint and true old proverb that says cheese and means it too is this, "The king's cheese goes half away in parings," so many dependants being ready to help themselves to a share of it. [126:A] Holland's translation. [129:A] The Italians have it, "Chi prende, si vende"--"He sells himself who accepts a gift." [130:A] "Easy it is Of a cut loaf to steal a shive."--"Titus Andronicus." [131:A] "Every man has just as much of vanity as he wants understanding." [131:B] Another old English proverb says, "Send a fool to market and a fool he will come back." The Italians have it, "Chi bestia va à Roma bestia retorna," and the ancient Romans made the discovery that "Cœlum non animam mutant qui trans mare currunt." [131:C] "The man that once did sell the lion's skin while the beast lived, was killed with hunting him."--SHAKESPEARE, _Henry V._ [132:A] "Kleine Diebe henkt man, vor grosser zieht man den Hut ab"--"Petty thieves are hanged," say the Germans, "but people take off their hats to great ones." [134:A] Or again: "If you crush spice it will be the sweeter." [136:A] A poem full of suggestive thoughts, as, for instance:-- "He that in southe no vertu usit, In age alle honure hym refusit." "Ever the hiere that thou art, Ever the lower be thy hert." "Deme the best of every doute, Tyl the truthe be tryed out." [136:B] "'Tis greatly wise to talk with our past hours, and ask them what report they bore to heaven." "Think nought a trifle, though it small appear, sands make the mountain, moments make the year, and trifles life." [137:A] "To wilful men the injuries which they themselves procure must be their schoolmasters"; or, in more colloquial phrase, "Experience is a dear school, but fools learn in no other."