Despite a certain unpleasant sneering at women, as in the proverb, "A deaf husband and a blind wife make the best couple," and others that affect to hold feminine virtue, constancy, truthfulness and the like in poor esteem, the Frenchman appears to preserve a perennial spring of affection for his mother and a fervent belief in its reciprocity on her part. Hence, in all proverb-lore, dramatic representation, poetry, oratory, this special relationship is a sacred one, and we get in an arid desert of cynicism so sweet an oasis as, "Tendresse maternelle toujours se renouvelle." Such proverbs in common use in France as "A cheval donné il ne faut point regarder à la bouche," "Les murailles ont des oreilles," "Il n'y a que le premier pas qui coute," "Il ne faut pas parler de corde dans la maison d'un pendu," are but cosmopolitans in French garb. In England we find that "A bad workman finds fault with his tools," but in France this is softened down a little and becomes, "Mechant ouvrier jamais ne trouvera bons outils." Our picturesque declaration that it is sometimes advisable to "Throw away a sprat to catch a herring," loses somewhat in "Il faut hazarder un petit poisson pour prendre un grand." The Gallic "A beau jour beau retour," is a very pleasant variant of our saying, "One good turn deserves another." There is in the English version a somewhat unpleasant suggestion of barter and bargain in this exchange of help, "Nothing for nothing, and not much for a half-penny."[101:A] On the other hand, our "Diamond cut diamond" is pleasanter in expression than the cruder "Ruse contre ruse." We have already seen how an English playwright once wrote a comedy in which he introduced English proverbs _ad nauseam_, and we find, in like manner, in France, a French author, Adrien de Montluc, writing in the year 1615 or thereabouts, a play called the "Comédie des Proverbës," where we find strung together dialogue-wise all the most familiar adages then current in France.[102:A] The proverbs of Spain are very numerous, and are often distinguished by a stately sententiousness, much thoughtfulness, a strong sense of chivalry and honour, and very frequently, with these good qualities, a very happy dash of humour or irony. Ford declares that this abounding proverb-lore "gives the Spaniard his sententious dogmatical admixture of humour, truism, twaddle, and common-sense." A proverb aptly introduced is a decisive argument, and is always greeted with approval by high and low, an essentially national characteristic. It will be recalled how Sancho Panza has an adage for every emergency. The Don uses his own words, being a man of fine fancy and good breeding, to express his own ideas, but the vocabulary of his Squire is almost entirely composed of the well-nigh inexhaustible proverbs of his country. The Arabs, whose language is rich in such wisdom, doubtless furnished numerous contributions to this very marked feature of the national literature.