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Beggar

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A beggar may sing before a pickpocket. (In Latin, “Cantabit vacuus coram latrone viator.”) A beggar may sing before a highwayman because he has nothing in his pocket to lose.

Set a beggar on horseback, and heʹll ride to the deʹil. There is no one so proud and arrogant as a beggar who has suddenly grown rich.

“Such is the sad effect of wealth—rank pride

Mount but a beggar, how the rogue will ride!”


Peter Pindar: Epistle to Lord Lonsdale.

Latin: “Asperius nihil est humili cum surgit in altum.”

French: “Il nʹest orgueil que de pauvre enrichi.”

Italian: “Il vilan nobilitado non connosce il parentado” (A beggar ennobled does not know his own kinsmen).

Spanish: “Quando el villano está en el mulo, non conoze a dios, ni al mundo” (when a beggar is mounted on a mule, he knows neither gods nor men).

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Beer
Beer and Skittles
Beer aux Mouches
Beeswing
Beetle (To)
Beetle-crusher
Befana
Before the Lights
Before the Mast
Beg the Question (To)
Beggar
Beggars
Beggars Barm
Beggars Bullets
Beggar’s Bush
Beggar’s Daughter
Begging Hermits
Begging the Question
Beghards
Begtashi
Begue dentendement

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Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green (The)