Meaning & Analysis
The proverb compares a person to a specific (likely legendary or local) dog that obstinately refuses to follow its master to Sunday services, yet also refuses to remain quietly inside the house.
Insights
Intractable Contrariness
It describes a person who is impossible to satisfy and habitually obstructive. No matter what solution is offered (come with me or stay here), they reject it, preferring the state of resistance over any constructive action.
Social Limbo
The figure represents someone who fits nowhere: they are unsuited for public, communal life ('church') but are equally restless or unhappy in the private, domestic sphere ('home').
Paralysis of Indecision
It depicts the anxiety of the 'buridan's ass' scenario—an inability to commit to one of two mutually exclusive choices, resulting in a useless middle state.
Eponymous Obscurity
'Hunt' and 'Wood' function as 'blason populaire'—names of specific individuals (perhaps local eccentrics or tradesmen) whose stubborn animals became legendary in their communities. Over time, the specific identity is lost, but the name remains as a placeholder for 'any stubborn master with a stubborn dog.' 'Hunt' may also be a contraction for 'The Hunt's dog' or a Huntsman.
Sabbath Binary
In 17th-century England, life on Sunday was strictly divided between the public obligation of the Church and the private sphere of the Home. There was no third option (like the tavern or work). To refuse both was to effectively opt out of society entirely, highlighting the absurdity of the behavior.
The Butcher Connection
Torriano (1666) notes this phrase is 'taken from Butchers' or used to translate an Italian phrase regarding butchers. Butcher's dogs were working animals (drovers or bull-baiters); a dog that would neither work nor stay put was particularly useless, emphasizing the economic waste of such a personality.
Canine Exclusion
Historically, dogs were actively barred from churches (often by a designated 'dog-whipper'). A dog that 'would not go to church' was technically behaving correctly, but the proverb twists this: the dog refuses the *command* or the *company*, not the destination, making its refusal to stay home even more vexing.
Rhetorical Devices
Simile
The construction 'Like X...' anchors a general human behavior in a specific, vivid character (the dog), making the criticism more colorful and less direct.
Merism
The pairing of 'church' and 'home' serves to encompass the entirety of a person's expected whereabouts, implying that the subject is wrong in *all* contexts.
Antithesis
The opposition of 'go' and 'stay' highlights the total lack of cooperation; the subject opposes motion and stasis equally.
Transcription
Quotations
To refuse of two things to do either: taken from Butchers; the English say, Neither go to Church, nor yet stay at home.
(Like Hunt's dog, neither).
(Like Wood's Dog; he'll neither).
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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