Meaning & Analysis
The proverb literally means to be completely destitute, without even a single coin of the lowest value (a penny, halfpenny, or a 'cross,' which was a common marking on coins) to one's name.
Insights
Spiritual and Material Destitution
The phrase metaphorically equates financial destitution with a state of spiritual and social abandonment. The inability 'to bless himself' suggests a lack of divine favor or grace, implying that poverty is a curse that leaves one utterly without protection or good fortune.
Absence of Agency
The proverb illustrates a state of complete powerlessness and lack of agency. Without a single coin, an individual is deprived of the basic means to influence their circumstances, rendering them socially invisible and incapable of self-sufficiency.
Extreme Penury
It serves as a stark depiction of absolute poverty, using the smallest unit of currency to emphasize the extremity of the situation. It's not just about being poor, but about having absolutely nothing, a state of complete financial void.
Historical and Religious Symbolism
The proverb's power stems from the dual meaning of 'cross'. Many medieval and early modern English coins, like the silver penny, were stamped with a cross, allowing them to be physically broken for change. Lacking even a 'cross' thus meant not having a single coin, or even a fraction of one. This links material destitution to the spiritual, as being unable 'to bless himself' without the coin's cross implies a state of being forsaken by divine grace as well as worldly fortune.
Psychology of Poverty
This expression reveals a deep-seated cultural belief connecting minimal financial security with a sense of personal well-being and divine favor. To be without a single coin was to be 'unblessed'—not merely poor, but fundamentally vulnerable and lacking the basic agency to secure one's own welfare, a sentiment echoed in the cross-referenced proverb, 'The devil dances in an empty pocket'.
Socio-Economic Context
The proverb's frequent appearance in 16th and 17th-century literature reflects the tangible realities of a cash-based society where daily survival depended on having physical currency. It vividly portrays a state of absolute penury that was a common social anxiety of the period.
Rhetorical Devices
Wordplay (Pun)
The proverb hinges on the powerful pun of the word 'cross', which refers both to a type of coin (or the mark on it) and the Christian symbol of blessing. This wordplay intertwines financial and spiritual well-being.
Hyperbole
The statement is a form of hyperbole, exaggerating the person's poverty to an absolute extreme (not even a single penny) to emphasize the severity of their destitution.
Synecdoche
The specific coins ('cross', 'penny', 'halfpenny') function as a synecdoche, where the smallest part of wealth represents the total absence of it.
Transcription
Quotations
He shal not haue a halfepenye lefte to blesse hym with.
That hath neuer a crosse lefte him to blesse him with.
He had not nowe one peny to blysse hym.
The pestilence of penny he hath in his purse, to blesse him with.
I haue neuer a crose to blesse me.
Who many times, hath not a Crosse to blesse him.
You picke euerye poore mannes pocket . . till you leaue them neuer a penny to blesse themselues.
I'm afraid your good husband will leave you ne'er a cross i'th' house to bless you with.
He hath not a peny to bless him.
Cross References
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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