PROVERBS AND EMBLEMS ILLUSTRATING OLD TRUTHS BY THE REV. J. LONG MEMBER OF THE BENGAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, F.R.G.S. LONDON TRÜBNER & CO., LUDGATE HILL 1881 [All rights reserved] PREFACE. PN6511 46 THE materials from which this little work has been compiled are scattered over more than 1000 volumes, some very rare, and to be consulted only in libraries in India, Russia and other parts of the Continent, or in the British Museum. The field has been so wide and the materials so immense, that the work of condensation has been almost as difficult as that of collecting; many statements are, therefore, simply suggestive; amplification would require several volumes. The Author has spared neither time nor labour in collecting and classifying the treasures drawn from the rich and new storehouse of Eastern Emblems and Proverbs, with the view of helping those who have neither the means of collecting a large reference library nor the time to spend in the search. This work, begun a quarter of a century ago in the jungles of India for the instruction of peasants and women, is designed to afford some help to the following classes— Orientalists, Lovers of Folk-Lore, Teachers, and Preachers. The former desire to open a vista into the recesses of Eastern thought on moral and religious subjects, especially in relation to women and the masses; the latter are anxious to fix in the school, the pulpit, or the press great spiritual truths by means of emblems and illustrations drawn from the depths of the popular mind. Those classes may, 476174 |