Italian Proverb
Think much, speak little, and write less.
Wit of a Dandy
When the celebrated Beau Nash was ill, Dr. Cheyne wrote a prescription for him. The next day the doctor, coming to see his patient, inquired if he had followed his prescription. “No, truly, doctor,” said Nash; “if I had, I should have broken my neck, for I threw it out of the bedroom window.”
On a Puritanicall Lock-Smith
A zealous Lock-Smith dyed of late,
And did arrive at heaven gate,
He stood without and would not knocke,
Because he meant to picke the locke.
… William Camden
A Toast to Parables
When Christ turned water into wine
There were no drys to scold and whine;
Today prohibitors would rail
And send the Son of God to jail.
The Falcon
A certain Roman lady, in the days of Pompey the Great, was courted by a knight, whose joy of joys was to be near his lady-love. One day he craved of her a falcon which sat on her wrist, and she gave it him. He was so taken up with this bird that he discontinued his visits to the lady, and she sent for him. The knight came with the falcon on his wrist, and the lady said to him, “Let me touch my old favourite;” but no sooner was it in her hand than she wrenched its head off, and said to the knight, “Grieve not at what I have done. That falcon weaned thy love from me, and caused thee to offend: now that I have killed it, I shall again enjoy thy presence.” And it was so.
… Gesta Romanorum
What’s in a Name?
Shoushanian: Armenian in derivation, identified as a flower, shoushan is defined as lily.
Shoushan is actually derived from Hebrew (https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H7799&t=KJV)