half an Airedale and half a Retriever, and the worst half of both
After the preliminary studies at St Anthony’s, in which More had learned to appreciate English ‘congrewe’, or grammatical accuracy, he proceeded to the study of the Latin language. Ever since the middle of the fourteenth century this had been achieved partly by means of vulgaria, clauses or sentences in English which then had to be translated into Latin. Many of these useful phrases were proverbial in nature, and through such tags or apothegms it is possible to glimpse a true permanence or continuity within English culture: ‘O good turne asket another’; ‘When the hors is stolen, steyke the stabul dore’; ‘Where is no fyre ther is no smoke’; ‘Brende childe fyre dredes’; ‘Many hondes maken lite werke’; ‘Maner makes man’; ‘The more haste, the werse spede’; ‘Bettur ys late thanne never’. These proverbs were old when they were collected in manuscript form, which suggests a tradition of speech enduring for almost a thousand years. It might be termed folk wisdom, but some of that wisdom has now fallen into disuse; ‘It is no shame to fall, but to lye longe’ and ‘Thou shalt do as the preste says, but not as the preste dothe’ are unfortunate casualties of time and forgetfulness.
(Peter Ackroyd, The Life of Thomas More)