Parœmiologia Anglo-Latina 21 Cobler keepe to your last. 1721 J. KELLY Scottish
Proverbs 242 Let not the Cobler go beyond his last. .. Taken from the famous Story of
Apelles, who could not bear that the Cobler should correct any part of his Picture beyond
the Slipper. 1868 W. CLIFT Tim Bunker Papers lix. I understood the use of a plow..
better than the use of a pen.. remembering the old saw ‘Let the cobbler stick to his last.’
1930 C. F. GREGG Murder on Bus xxx. Yet even then, Mapell had been mixed up with a
gang of blackmailers. The shoemaker sticks to his last! 1984 A. MACLEAN San Andreas
viii. Point taken, Mr. McKinnon. You see before you a rueful cobbler who will stick to
his last from now on. workThe COBBLER to his last and the gunner to his linstockA fanciful variant of the preceding proverb. A linstock is a staff with a forked head to hold
a lighted match.
1748 SMOLLETT Roderick Random II. xlii. I meddle with no body’s affairs but my
own; The gunner to his linstock, and the steersman to the helm, as the saying is. 1893 H.
MAXWELL Life of W. H. Smith II. v. He.. never showed any disposition to trespass on
the province of science or literature. .. There is sound sense in the adage, ‘The cobbler to
his last and the gunner to his linstock.’ workcobbler see also the SHOEMAKER’S son always goes barefoot.Every COCK will crow upon his own dunghillEveryone is confident or at ease when on home ground. Cf. SENECA Apocolocyn-tosis vii.
gallum in suo sterquilinio plurimum posse, the cock is most powerful on his own dunghill; the
work is a satire on Claudius’ deification at death, and Seneca is punning on Claudius’
provincial origin and interests, as gallus means both a cock and a Gaul.
a 1250 Ancrene Wisse (1952) 62 Coc is kene [bold] on his owune mixerne [midden].
1387 J. TREVISA tr. Higden’s Polychronicon (1879) VIII. 5 As Seneca seith, a cok is
most myghty on his dongehille. 1546 J. HEYWOOD Dialogue of Proverbs I. xi. D2 He
was at home there, he myght speake his will. Euery cocke is proude on his owne dunghill.
1771 SMOLLETT Humphry Clinker II. 178 Insolence.. akin to the arrogance of the
village cock, who never crows but upon his own dunghill. 1935 D. L. SAYERS Gaudy
Night xix. ‘I believe you’re showing off.’.. ‘Every cock will crow upon his own dunghill.’
1980 M. GILBERT Death of Favourite Girl vii. Mariner seemed to be easy enough. A
cock on his own dunghill. home