‘God is high in the sky and the tsar is far away.’ independence; power; rulers and
ruledGOD made the country, and man made the townCf. VARRO De Re Rustica III. i. divina natura dedit agros, ars humana aedificavit urbes,
divine nature gave us the fields, human art built the cities.
1667 A. COWLEY in J. Wells Poems 2 My father said.. God the first Garden made,
& the first City, Cain. 1785 COWPER Task I. 40 God made the country, and man made
the town. 1870 H. TENNYSON Memoir 25 Jan. (1897) II. 96 There is a saying that if God
made the country, and man the town, the devil made the little country town. 1941 H.
MACINNES Above Suspicion x. God made the country, man made the town. Pity men
couldn’t learn better. 1977 G. TINDALL Field & Beneath i. It has been said that ‘God
made the country and man made the town’, but..the town is simply disguised countryside.
NatureGOD makes the back to the burden1822 COBBETT Weekly Register 12 Jan. 94 As ‘God has made the back to the
burthen,’ so the clay and coppice people make the dress to the stubs and bushes. 1839
DICKENS Nicholas Nickleby xviii. Heaven suits the back to the burden. 1939 E. F.
BENSON Trouble for Lucia ii. ‘Spare yourself a bitty’ I’ve said, and always she’s replied
‘Heaven fits the back to the burden.’ 1979 E. ANTHONY Grave of Truth viii. So many
questions and nobody to answer them; it was a true penance for her. ..God made the back
for the burden. .. An Irish nun.. had taught them that saying from her native land.
providence; troubleGOD never sends mouths but He sends meat1377 LANGLAND Piers Plowman B. XIV. 39 For lente neuere was lyf but lyflode
[livelihood] were shapen. 1546 J. HEYWOOD Dialogue of Proverbs I. iv. B1 God neuer
sendeth mouthe, but he sendeth meat. 1832 J. P. KENNEDY Swallow Barn I. xxviii. God
never sends mouths.. but he sends meat, and any man who has sense enough to be honest,
will never want wit to know how to live. 1905 A. MACLAREN Gospel according to St.
Matthew I. 103 We are meant to be righteous, and shall not in vain desire to be so. God
never sends mouths but He sends meat to fill them. hunger; providence