as nice as a nun's hen

british library (PD)

"As nice as a nun's hen." Now there's a proverb I haven't heard before.  I found it in Select Proverbs of All Nations: Illustrated With Notes And Comments, a book compiled by John Wade in 1825.  I also found such gems as the following:

• As wise as Waltham's calf, that ran nine miles to suck a bull.
• Child's pig but father's bacon. (Refers to the promises that parents make and often fail to keep.)
• The more you stroke pussy's back, the higher she raises her tail. (Gaelic, but no explanation given.)
• Trust not a horse's heel nor a dog's tooth.
• Two cats and a mouse, two wives in one house, two dogs and a bone, never agree in one.
• I'm no every man's dog that whistles on me. (Scotch)
• Biting and scratching got the cat with kitten.