"For which these wise clerkes that ben dede Have euer this prouerbed to us young That the first vertue is to kepe the toung." Hence, "If you keep your tongue prisoner your body may go free." Another old proverb of similar import is, "Confine your tongue, lest your tongue confine you"; while the Spaniards throw even more force into their version, "Let not the tongue say what the head shall pay for." "Life and death are in the power of the tongue"--self-destruction, or that of others. "A fool's tongue may cut his throat" is a homely English saw, and very much to the point. A very quaint old MS. in the Harleian collection deals with the faults and failings to which men are liable. Thus, for instance: "With thy tong thou mayst thyself spylle, And with tong thou mayst haue all thy wylle. Here and se, and kepe thee stylle,[198:A] Whatsoever ye thynk avyse ye wele." This call to reflection terminates each verse. The whole poem is so quaintly refreshing that we cannot forbear quoting, at all events, one more verse--the caution against insobriety; and as this particular evil has, amongst its other bad effects, that of provoking strife, angry discussion, and foul language, we may still feel that it comes within our scope--the influence of the tongue: "And thow goo vnto the wyne And thow thynk yt good and fyne, Take thy leve whane yt ys tyme, Whatsoever ye thynk avyse ye wele." An ancient proverb reminds us that "It is good sleeping in a whole skinne," and thereupon Heywood comments and advises: "Let not your tong run at rover, since by stryfe yee may lose and can not winne." To "Teach thy tongue to say, I do not know" is also an excellent discipline. The young, especially, shut themselves off from much valuable knowledge rather than admit their ignorance.[198:B] In a manuscript of the fourteenth century we found the following:-- "Wykkyd tunge breket bon, the first Thow the self haue non"-- This is the first reference that we have come across to a proverb commonly encountered in the form of "The tongue breaks bones, though she herself has none."[199:A] It is no doubt based on the passage in Ecclesiasticus, declaring that "The stroke of the whip maketh marks in the flesh, but the stroke of the tongue breaketh the bones. Many have fallen by the edge of the sword, but not so many as have fallen by the tongue." The book of Ecclesiasticus is an overflowing treasury of wisdom. What could be wiser counsel, for example, than this?--"If thou hast understanding, answer thy neighbour: if not, lay thy hand upon thy mouth. Honour and shame is in talk, and the tongue of man is his fall. Be not called a whisperer, and lie not in wait with thy tongue." "Where there is whispering there is lying" says one of our proverbs, and it is in the main true. The honourable and straightforward thing can ordinarily be proclaimed in the ears of all.