There is a good deal to be said in favour of the alphabetical arrangement, but only on condition that the leading word of the adage be taken. It is a mere absurdity to take the first word. How can we reasonably put under letter A, "A rolling stone gathers no moss"? It may be objected that we are putting an extreme case, but extreme cases have to be considered as much as any others. In one book before us we find that the old author in scores of instances produces results as grotesquely inadequate. Under the letter D, for instance, we find, "Do not spur a willing horse," though surely everyone, with the exception of the compiler of the list, would at once realise that the pith of the adage does not in any way rest in "do." We may at once see this if we take the proverb in another of its popular forms, "Spur not a willing horse." The classification of these old saws according to their subject, such as friendship, pride, industry, and the like, is sometimes adopted, and it has many advantages; but we very soon find that we come to something that declines to be thus pigeon-holed. If we take the Russian proverb, for instance, "The burden is light on the shoulders of another," how shall we classify it? It will clearly not come under "friendship," and it is equally not at home in the section on "industry." While some adages decline to fit into any section, others we find might with almost equal appropriateness find a home under three or four headings. Fuller defines a proverb as "much matter decocted into a few words," and a very good definition it is. He declares that "six essentials are necessary for the compleating of a perfect Proverb. Namely that it be-- 1. Short } { 1. Oration 2. Playne } Otherwise it is not { 2. Riddle 3. Common } a proverb at all { 3. Secret 4. Figurative } but a { 4. Sentence 5. Antient } { 5. Upstart 6. True } { 6. Libel."