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'Tis hard to wive and thrive both in a year.

Who weds ere he be wise shall die ere he thrive.

Happy is the wooing that is not long a-doing.

This is so far true as it discommends long engagements.

'Tis time to yoke when the cart comes to the capples [i.e., horses].

That is, it is time to marry when the woman wooes the man. This provincial word "capple" is Irish also, and is allied to, but not derived from, the Latin caballus. It is probably one of the few words of the ancient Celtic tongue of Britain which were adopted into the language of the Saxon conquerors.

Husbands are in heaven whose wives chide not.

Whether or not that heaven is ever found on earth is a question which each man must decide from his own experience. "He that has a wife has strife,"ssss1 say the French, and the Italian proverb-mongers take an unhandsome advantage of the fact that in their language the words "wife" and "woes" differ only by a letter.ssss1 St. Jerome declares that "Whoever is free from wrangling is a bachelor."ssss1