" The rich beauty, too, of the cherry, which
causes it to be gathered, has had this moral application attached
to it:--
"A woman and a cherry are painted for their own harm."
Speaking of cherries, it may be mentioned that the awkwardness of eating
them on account of their stones, has given rise to sundry proverbs, as
the following:--
"Eat peas with the king, and cherries with the beggar,"
and:--
"Those that eat cherries with great persons shall have their eyes
squirted out with the stones."
A man who makes a great show without a corresponding practice is said to
be like "fig-tree fuel, much smoke and little fire," and another
adage says:--
"Peel a fig for your friend, and a peach for your enemy."
This proverb, however, is not quite clear when applied to this country.
"To peel a fig, so far as we are concerned," writes Mr. Hazlitt[2], "can
have no significance, except that we should not regard it as a friendly
service; but, in fact, the proverb is merely a translation from the
Spanish, and in that language and country the phrase carries a very full
meaning, as no one would probably like to eat a fig without being sure
that the fruit had not been tampered with. The whole saying is, however,
rather unintelligible.
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