PROVERBS.
In the present chapter are collected together the chief proverbs either
quoted or alluded to by Shakespeare. Many of these are familiar to most
readers, but have gained an additional interest by reason of their
connection with the poet's writings. At the same time, it may be noted
that very many of Shakespeare's pithy sayings have, since his day,
passed into proverbs, and have taken their place in this class of
literature. It is curious to notice, as Mrs. Cowden-Clarke remarks,[857]
how "Shakespeare has paraphrased some of our commonest proverbs in his
own choice and elegant diction." Thus, "Make hay while the sun shines"
becomes
"The sun shines hot; and if we use delay,
Cold biting winter mars our hoped-for hay,"
a statement which applies to numerous other proverbial sayings.
[857] "Shakespeare Proverbs," 1858.
"A black man is a jewel in a fair woman's eyes." In the "Two Gentlemen
of Verona" (v. 2), the following passage is an amusing illustration of
the above:
"_Thurio._ What says she to my face?
_Proteus._ She says it is a fair one.
_Thurio._ Nay then, the wanton lies; my face is black.
_Proteus._ But pearls are fair; and the old saying is,
Black men are pearls in beauteous ladies' eyes."
In "Titus Andronicus" (v. 1) there is a further allusion to this
proverb, where Lucius says of Aaron,
"This is the pearl that pleas'd your empress' eye."
"A beggar marries a wife and lice." So in "King Lear" (iii. 2), Song:
"The cod-piece that will house,
Before the head has any,
The head and he shall louse;
So beggars marry many."
Thus it is also said: "A beggar payeth a benefit with a louse."
"A cunning knave needs no broker." This old proverb is quoted by Hume,
in "2 Henry VI." (i. 2):
"A crafty knave does need no broker."
"A curst cur must be tied short." With this proverb we may compare what
Sir Toby says in "Twelfth Night" (iii. 2), to Sir Andrew: "Go, write it
in a martial hand; be curst and brief."
"A drop hollows the stone," or "many drops pierce the stone." We may
compare "3 Henry VI." (iii. 2), "much rain wears the marble," and also
the messenger's words (ii. 1), when he relates how "the noble Duke of
York was slain:"
"Environed he was with many foes;
And stood against them, as the hope of Troy
Against the Greeks, that would have enter'd Troy.
But Hercules himself must yield to odds;
And many strokes, though with a little axe,
Hew down and fell the hardest-timber'd oak."
"A finger in every pie." So, in "Henry VIII." (i. 1), Buckingham says of
Wolsey:
"no man's pie is freed
From his ambitious finger."
To the same purport is the following proverb:[858] "He had a finger in
the pie when he burnt his nail off."
[858] Bohn's "Handbook of Proverbs," p. 159.
"A fool's bolt is soon shot." Quoted by Duke of Orleans in "Henry V."
(iii. 7). With this we may compare the French: "De fol juge breve
sentence."[859]
[859] Ibid. p. 94.
"A friend at court is as good as a penny in the purse." So, in "2 Henry
IV." (v. 1), Shallow says: "a friend i' the court is better than a penny
in purse." The French equivalent of this saying is: "Bon fait avoir ami
en cour, car le procès en est plus court."
"A little pot's soon hot." Grumio, in "Taming of the Shrew" (iv. 1),
uses this familiar proverb: "were not I a little pot, and soon hot, my
very lips might freeze to my teeth," etc.
"A pox of the devil" ("Henry V.," iii. 7).
"A smoky chimney and a scolding wife are two bad companions." There are
various versions of this proverb. Ray gives the following: "Smoke,
raining into the house, and a scolding wife, will make a man run out of
doors."
Hotspur, in "1 Henry IV." (iii. 1), says of Glendower:
"O, he's as tedious
As a tired horse, a railing wife;
Worse than a smoky house."
"A snake lies hidden in the grass." This, as Mr. Green[860] remarks, is
no unfrequent proverb, and the idea is often made use of by Shakespeare.
Thus, in "2 Henry VI." (iii. 1), Margaret declares to the attendant
nobles:
"Henry my lord is cold in great affairs,
Too full of foolish pity: and Gloster's show
Beguiles him, as the mournful crocodile
With sorrow snares relenting passengers,
Or as the snake, roll'd in a flowering bank,
With shining checker'd slough, doth sting a child,
That for the beauty thinks it excellent."
[860] "Shakespeare and the Emblem Writers," 1870, p. 341.
Lady Macbeth (i. 5) tells her husband:
"look like the innocent flower,
But be the serpent under't."
Juliet ("Romeo and Juliet," iii. 2) speaks of:
"Serpent heart, hid with a flowering face."
"A staff is quickly found to beat a dog." Other versions of this proverb
are: "It is easy to find a stick to beat a dog;" "It is easy to find a
stone to throw at a dog."[861] So, in "2 Henry VI." (iii. 1), Gloster
says:
"I shall not want false witness to condemn me,
Nor store of treasons to augment my guilt;
The ancient proverb will be well effected,--
A staff is quickly found to beat a dog."
[861] See Kelly's "Proverbs of All Nations," 1870, p. 157.
"A wise man may live anywhere." In "Richard II." (i. 3), John of Gaunt
says:
"All places that the eye of heaven visits,
Are to a wise man ports and happy havens."
"A woman conceals what she does not know." Hence Hotspur says to his
wife, in "1 Henry IV." (ii. 3):
"Constant you are,
But yet a woman: and for secrecy,
No lady closer; for I well believe
Thou wilt not utter what thou dost not know,--
And so far will I trust thee, gentle Kate."
"All men are not alike" ("Much Ado About Nothing," iii. 5).[862]
[862] Halliwell-Phillipps's "Handbook Index to Shakespeare," p.
390, under Proverbs.
"All's Well that Ends Well."
"As lean as a rake." So in "Coriolanus" (i. 1), one of the citizens
says: "Let us revenge this with our pikes, ere we become rakes." So
Spenser, in his "Fairy Queen" (bk. ii. can. 11):
"His body leane and meagre as a rake."
This proverb is found in Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" (i. 289):
"Al so lene was his hors as is a rake."
"As thin as a whipping-post" is another proverb of the same kind.
"As mad as a March hare" ("The Two Noble Kinsmen," iii. 5). We may
compare the expression "hare-brained:" "1 Henry IV." (v. 2).
"As sound as a bell." So in "Much Ado about Nothing" (iii. 2), Don Pedro
says of Benedick: "He hath a heart as sound as a bell."
"As the bell clinketh, so the fool thinketh." This proverb is indirectly
alluded to in "Much Ado About Nothing" (iii. 2), in the previous
passage, where Don Pedro says of Benedick that "He hath a heart as sound
as a bell, and his tongue is the clapper; for what his heart thinks, his
tongue speaks."
Another form of the same proverb is: "As the fool thinks, the bell
tinks."[863]
[863] See Kelly's "Proverbs of All Nations," p. 91.
"As true as steel." This popular adage is quoted in "Troilus and
Cressida" (iii. 2):
"As true as steel, as plantage to the moon."
We may also compare the proverb: "As true as the dial to the sun."
"At hand, quoth pick-purse" ("1 Henry IV.," ii. 1). This proverbial
saying arose, says Malone, from the pickpurse always seizing the prey
nearest him.
"Ay, tell me that and unyoke" ("Hamlet," v. 1). This was a common adage
for giving over or ceasing to do a thing; a metaphor derived from the
unyoking of oxen at the end of their labor.
"Baccare, quoth Mortimer to his sow." With this Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps
compares Gremio's words in the "Taming of the Shrew" (ii. 1):
"Saving your tale, Petruchio, I pray,
Let us, that are poor petitioners, speak too:
Baccare! you are marvellous forward."
Mr. Dyce ("Glossary," p. 23) says the word signifies "go back," and
cites one of John Heywood's epigrams upon it:
"Backare, quoth Mortimer to his sow;
Went that sowe backe at that bidding, trow you."
"Barnes are blessings" ("All's Well that Ends Well," i. 3).
"Base is the slave that pays" ("Henry V.," ii. 1).[864]
[864] Halliwell-Phillipps's "Handbook Index to Shakespeare," p. 391.
"Bastards are born lucky." This proverb is alluded to in "King John" (i.
1), by the Bastard, who says:
"Brother, adieu; good fortune come to thee!
For thou wast got i' the way of honesty."
Philip wishes his brother good fortune, because Robert was not a
bastard.
"Beggars mounted run their horses to death."[865] Quoted by York in "3
Henry VI." (i. 4). We may also compare the proverb: "Set a beggar on
horseback, he'll ride to the devil."
[865] See Bohn's "Handbook of Proverbs," p. 326.
"Begone when the sport is at the best." Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps quotes
Benvolio's words in "Romeo and Juliet" (i. 5):
"Away, be gone; the sport is at the best."
To the same effect are Romeo's words (i. 4):
"The game was ne'er so fair, and I am done."
"Be off while your shoes are good." This popular phrase, still in use,
seems alluded to by Katharina in "Taming of the Shrew" (iii. 2), who
says to Petruchio:
"You may be jogging whiles your boots are green."
"Better a witty fool, than a foolish wit." Quoted by the clown in
"Twelfth Night" (i. 5).
"Better fed than taught." This old saying may be alluded to in "All's
Well that Ends Well" (ii. 2) by the clown, "I will show myself highly
fed and lowly taught;" and again (ii. 4) by Parolles:
"A good knave, i' faith, and well fed."
"Blessing of your heart, you brew good ale." Quoted by Launce as a
proverb in the "Two Gentlemen of Verona" (iii. 1).
"Blush like a black dog." This saying is referred to in "Titus
Andronicus" (v. 1):
"_1 Goth._ What, canst thou say all this, and never blush?
_Aaron._ Ay, like a black dog, as the saying is."
"Bought and sold" ("Troilus and Cressida," ii. 1). A proverbial phrase
applied to any one entrapped or made a victim by treachery or
mismanagement. It is found again in the "Comedy of Errors" (iii. 1); in
"King John" (v. 4); and in "Richard III." (v. 3).
"Bring your hand to the buttery-bar, and let it drink" ("Twelfth Night,"
i. 3). Mr. Dyce quotes the following explanation of this passage,
although he does not answer for its correctness: "This is a proverbial
phrase among forward abigails, to ask at once for a kiss and a present.
Sir Andrew's slowness of comprehension in this particular gave her a
just suspicion, at once, of his frigidity and avarice." The buttery-bar
means the place in palaces and in great houses whence provisions were
dispensed; and it is still to be seen in most of our colleges.
"Brag's a good dog, but Hold-fast is a better." This proverb is alluded
to in "Henry V." (ii. 3), by Pistol:
"Hold-fast is the only dog, my duck."[866]
[866] See Bohn's "Handbook of Proverbs," p. 333; Kelly's
"Proverbs of all Nations," 1870, p. 173.
"Bush natural, more hair than wit." Ray's Proverbs. So in "Two Gentlemen
of Verona" (iii. 1), it is said, "She hath more hair than wit."
"By chance but not by truth"[867] ("King John," i. 1).
[867] Halliwell-Phillipps's "Handbook Index to Shakespeare," p. 391.
"Care will kill a cat; yet there's no living without it." So in "Much
Ado About Nothing" (v. 1), Claudio says to Don Pedro: "What though care
killed a cat, thou hast mettle enough in thee to kill care."
"Come cut and long-tail" ("Merry Wives of Windsor," iii. 4). This
proverb means, "Let any come that may, good or bad;" and was, no doubt,
says Staunton, originally applied to dogs or horses.
"Comparisons are odious." So, in "Much Ado About Nothing" (iii. 5),
Dogberry tells Verges: "Comparisons are odorous."
"Confess and be hanged." This well-known proverb is probably alluded to
in the "Merchant of Venice" (iii. 2):
"_Bassanio._ Promise me life, and I'll confess the truth.
_Portia._ Well then, confess, and live."
We may also refer to what Othello says (iv. 1): "To confess, and be
hanged for his labour; first, to be hanged, and then to confess. I
tremble at it."
In "Timon of Athens" (i. 2), Apemantus says: "Ho, ho, confess'd it!
hang'd it, have you not?"
"Cry him, and have him." So Rosalind says, in "As You Like It" (i. 3),
"If I could cry 'hem' and have him."
"Cry you mercy, I took you for a joint-stool" ("King Lear," iii. 6). It
is given by Ray in his "Proverbs" (1768); see also "Taming of the Shrew"
(ii. 1).
"Cucullus non facit monachum." So in "Henry VIII." (iii. 1), Queen
Katherine says:
"All hoods make not monks."
Chaucer thus alludes to this proverb:
"Habite ne maketh monk ne feere;
But a clean life and devotion
Maketh gode men of religion."
"Dead as a door-nail." So, in "2 Henry VI." (iv. 10), Cade says to Iden:
"I have eat no meat these five days; yet, come thou and thy five men,
and if I do not leave you all as dead as a door-nail, I pray God I may
never eat grass more."
We may compare the term, "dead as a herring," which Caius uses in the
"Merry Wives of Windsor" (ii. 3), "By gar, de herring is no dead, so as
I vill kill him."
"Death will have his day" ("Richard II.," iii. 2).
"Delays are dangerous." In "1 Henry VI." (iii. 2), Reignier says:
"Defer no time, delays have dangerous ends."
"Diluculo surgere," etc. ("Twelfth Night," ii. 3).
"Dogs must eat." This, with several other proverbs, is quoted by Agrippa
in "Coriolanus" (i. 1).
"Dun's the mouse" ("Romeo and Juliet," i. 4). This was a proverbial
saying, of which no satisfactory explanation has yet been given. Nares
thinks it was "frequently employed with no other intent than that of
quibbling on the word _done_." Ray has, "as dun as a mouse." Mercutio
says: "Tut, dun's the mouse, the constable's own word."
"Empty vessels give the greatest sound." Quoted in "Henry V." (iv. 4).
"Every dog hath his day, and every man his hour." This old adage seems
alluded to by Hamlet (v. 1):[868]
"The cat will mew, and dog will have his day."
[868] Bohn's "Handbook of Proverbs," p. 86.
"Every man at forty is either a fool or a physician."[869] This popular
proverb is probably referred to in "Merry Wives of Windsor" (iii. 4), by
Mistress Quickly, who tells Fenton how she had recommended him as a
suitor for Mr. Page's daughter instead of Doctor Caius: "This is my
doing, now: 'Nay,' said I, 'will you cast away your child on a fool, and
a physician? look on Master Fenton:'--this is my doing."
[869] Ray gives another form: "Every man is either a fool or a
physician after thirty years of age;" see Bohn's "Handbook of
Proverbs," 1857, p. 27.
"Familiarity breeds contempt." So, in the "Merry Wives of Windsor" (i.
1), Slender says: "I hope, upon familiarity will grow more contempt."
"Fast bind, fast find." In "Merchant of Venice" (ii. 5), Shylock says:
"Well, Jessica, go in:
Perhaps I will return immediately:
Do as I bid you; shut doors after you;
Fast bind, fast find;
A proverb never stale in thrifty mind."
"Finis coronat opus." A translation of this Latin proverb is given by
Helena in "All's Well that Ends Well" (iv. 4):
"Still the fine's the crown."
In "2 Henry VI." (v. 2), also, Clifford's expiring words are: "La fin
couronne les oeuvres." We still have the expression _to crown_, in the
sense of _to finish_ or _make perfect_. Mr. Douce[870] remarks that
"_coronidem imponere_ is a metaphor well known to the ancients, and
supposed to have originated from the practice of finishing buildings by
placing a crown at the top as an ornament; and for this reason the words
_crown_, _top_, and _head_ are become synonymous in most languages.
There is reason for believing that the ancients placed a crescent at the
beginning, and a crown, or some ornament that resembled it, at the end
of their books." In "Troilus and Cressida" (iv. 5), Hector says:
"The fall of every Phrygian stone will cost
A drop of Grecian blood: the end crowns all;
And that old common arbitrator, Time,
Will one day end it."
[870] "Illustrations of Shakespeare," p. 199.
Prince Henry ("2 Henry IV.," ii. 2), in reply to Poins, gives another
turn to the proverb: "By this hand, thou think'st me as far in the
devil's book as thou and Falstaff, for obduracy and persistency: let the
end try the man."[871]
[871] See Green's "Shakespeare and the Emblem Writers," 1870,
pp. 319, 323.
"Fly pride, says the peacock." This is quoted by Dromio of Syracuse, in
"The Comedy of Errors" (iv. 3).[872]
[872] Halliwell-Phillipps's "Handbook Index to Shakespeare," p. 391.
"Friends may meet, but mountains never greet." This is ironically
alluded to in "As You Like It" (iii. 2), by Celia: "It is a hard matter
for friends to meet; but mountains may be removed with earthquakes, and
so encounter."
"Give the devil his due." In "Henry V." (iii. 7) it is quoted by the
Duke of Orleans.
"God sends fools fortune." It is to this version of the Latin adage,
"Fortuna favet fatuis" ("Fortune favors fools"), that Touchstone alludes
in his reply to Jaques, in "As You Like It" (ii. 7):
"'No, sir,' quoth he,
'Call me not fool till heaven hath sent me fortune.'"
Under different forms, the same proverb is found on the Continent. The
Spanish say, "The mother of God appears to fools;" and the German one is
this, "Fortune and women are fond of fools."[873]
[873] Kelly's "Proverbs of All Nations," 1872, p. 52.
"God sends not corn for the rich only." This is quoted by Marcius in
"Coriolanus" (i. 1).
"Good goose, do not bite." This proverb is used in "Romeo and Juliet"
(ii. 4):
"_Mercutio._ I will bite thee by the ear for that jest.
_Romeo._ Nay, good goose, bite not."
"Good liquor will make a cat speak." So, in the "Tempest" (ii. 2),
Stephano says: "Come on your ways: open your mouth; here is that which
will give language to you, cat; open your mouth."
"Good wine needs no bush." This old proverb, which is quoted by
Shakespeare in "As You Like It" (v. 4, "Epilogue")--"If it be true that
good wine needs no bush, 'tis true that a good play needs no
epilogue"--refers to the custom of hanging up a bunch of twigs, or a wisp
of hay, at a roadside inn, as a sign that drink may be had within. This
practice, "which still lingers in the cider-making counties of the west
of England, and prevails more generally in France, is derived from the
Romans, among whom a bunch of ivy was used as the sign of a wine-shop."
They were also in the habit of saying, "Vendible wine needs no ivy hung
up." The Spanish have a proverb, "Good wine needs no crier."[874]
[874] Ibid., 1870, pp. 175, 176.
"Greatest clerks not the wisest men." Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps, in his
"Handbook Index to Shakespeare" (p. 391), quotes the following passage
in "Twelfth Night" (iv. 2), where Maria tells the clown to personate Sir
Topas, the curate: "I am not tall enough to become the function well,
nor lean enough to be thought a good student; but to be said an honest
man and a good housekeeper goes as fairly as to say a careful man and a
great scholar."
"Happy man be his dole" ("Taming of the Shrew," i. 1; "1 Henry IV.," ii.
2). Ray has it, "Happy man, happy dole;" or, "Happy man by his dole."
"Happy the bride on whom the sun shines." Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps, in
his "Handbook Index to Shakespeare" (p. 392), quotes, as an illustration
of this popular proverb, the following passage in "Twelfth Night" (iv.
3), where Olivia and Sebastian, having made "a contract of eternal bond
of love," the former says:
"and heavens so shine,
That they may fairly note this act of mine!"
"Happy the child whose father went to the devil."[875] So, in "3 Henry
VI." (ii. 2), King Henry asks, interrogatively:
"And happy always was it for that son,
Whose father, for his hoarding, went to hell?"
[875] See Bohn's "Handbook of Proverbs," p. 100; Kelly's
"Proverbs of All Nations," p. 187.
The Portuguese say, "Alas for the son whose father goes to heaven."
"Hares pull dead lions by the beard." In "King John" (ii. 1), the
Bastard says to Austria:
"You are the hare of whom the proverb goes,
Whose valour plucks dead lions by the beard."
"Have is have, however men do catch." Quoted by the Bastard in "King
John" (i. 1).
"Heaven's above all." In "Richard II." (iii. 3) York tells Bolingbroke:
"Take not, good cousin, further than you should,
Lest you mistake: the heavens are o'er our heads."
So, too, in "Othello" (ii. 3), Cassio says: "Heaven's above all."[876]
[876] Halliwell-Phillipps's "Handbook Index to Shakespeare," p. 392.
"He is a poor cook who cannot lick his own fingers." Under a variety of
forms, this proverb is found in different countries. The Italians say,
"He who manages other people's wealth does not go supperless to bed."
The Dutch, too, say, "All officers are greasy," that is, something
sticks to them.[877] In "Romeo and Juliet" (iv. 2) the saying is thus
alluded to:
"_Capulet._ Sirrah, go hire me twenty cunning cooks.
_2 Servant._ You shall have none ill, sir; for I'll try if
they can lick their fingers.
_Capulet._ How canst thou try them so?
_2 Servant._ Marry, sir, 'tis an ill cook that cannot lick his
own fingers: therefore he that cannot lick his fingers goes
not with me."
[877] See Kelly's "Proverbs of All Nations," 1870, pp. 196, 197.
"He's mad, that trusts in the tameness of a wolf, a horse's health, a
boy's love, or a whore's oath" ("King Lear," iii. 6).[878]
[878] Halliwell-Phillipps's "Handbook Index to Shakespeare," p. 392.
"Heroum filii noxæ." It is a common notion that a father above the
common rate of men has usually a son below it. Hence, in "The Tempest"
(i. 2), Shakespeare probably alludes to this Latin proverb:
"My trust,
Like a good parent, did beget of him
A falsehood, in its contrary as great
As my trust was."
"He knows not a hawk from a handsaw." Hamlet says (ii. 2): "When the
wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw."
"He may hang himself in his own garters." So, Falstaff ("1 Henry IV."
ii. 2) says: "Go, hang thyself in thine own heir-apparent garters."
"He that is born to be hanged will never be drowned." In "The Tempest"
(i. 1), Gonzalo says of the Boatswain: "I have great comfort from this
fellow: methinks he hath no drowning mark upon him; his complexion is
perfect gallows. Stand fast, good Fate, to his hanging! make the rope of
his destiny our cable, for our own doth little advantage! If he be not
born to be hanged, our case is miserable." The Italians say, "He that is
to die by the gallows may dance on the river."
"He that dies pays all debts" ("The Tempest," iii. 2).
"He who eats with the devil hath need of a long spoon." This is referred
to by Stephano, in "The Tempest" (ii. 2): "This is a devil, and no
monster: I will leave him; I have no long spoon." Again, in the "Comedy
of Errors" (iv. 3), Dromio of Syracuse says: "He must have a long spoon
that must eat with the devil."
The old adage, which tells how
"He that will not when he may,
When he will he shall have nay,"
is quoted in "Antony and Cleopatra" (ii. 7) by Menas:
"Who seeks, and will not take, when once 'tis offer'd,
Shall never find it more."
"Hold hook and line" ("2 Henry IV.," ii. 4). This, says Dyce, is a sort
of cant proverbial expression, which sometimes occurs in our early
writers ("Glossary," p. 210).
"Hold, or cut bow-strings"[879] ("A Midsummer-Night's Dream," i. 2).
[879] See page 394.
"Honest as the skin between his brows" ("Much Ado About Nothing," iii.
5).[880]
[880] "Handbook Index to Shakespeare," p. 392.
"Hunger will break through stone-walls." This is quoted by Marcius in
"Coriolanus" (i. 1), who, in reply to Agrippa's question, "What says the
other troop?" replies:
"They are dissolved: hang 'em!
They said they were an-hungry; sigh'd forth proverbs,--
That hunger broke stone-walls," etc.
According to an old Suffolk proverb,[881] "Hunger will break through
stone-walls, or anything, except Suffolk cheese."
[881] Bohn's "Handbook of Proverbs," 1857, p. 409.
"I scorn that with my heels" ("Much Ado About Nothing," iii. 4). A not
uncommon proverbial expression. It is again referred to, in the
"Merchant of Venice" (ii. 2), by Launcelot: "do not run; scorn running
with thy heels." Dyce thinks it is alluded to in "Venus and Adonis:"
"Beating his kind embracements with her heels."
"If you are wise, keep yourself warm." This proverb is probably alluded
to in the "Taming of the Shrew" (ii. 1):
"_Petruchio._ Am I not wise?
_Katharina_. Yes; keep you warm."
So, in "Much Ado About Nothing" (i. 1): "that if he have wit enough to
keep himself warm."
"I fear no colours" ("Twelfth Night," i. 5).
"Ill-gotten goods never prosper." This proverb is referred to by King
Henry ("3 Henry VI.," ii. 2):
"Clifford, tell me, didst thou never hear
That things ill got had ever bad success?"
"Illotis manibus tractare sacra." Falstaff, in "1 Henry IV." (iii. 3),
says: "Rob me the exchequer the first thing thou dost, and do it with
unwashed hands too."
"Ill will never said well." This is quoted by Duke of Orleans in "Henry
V." (iii. 7).
"In at the window, or else o'er the hatch" ("King John," i. 1). Applied
to illegitimate children. Staunton has this note: "Woe worth the time
that ever a gave suck to a child that came in at the window!" ("The
Family of Love," 1608). So, also, in "The Witches of Lancashire," by
Heywood and Broome, 1634: "It appears you came in at the window." "I
would not have you think I scorn my grannam's cat to leap over the
hatch."
"It is a foul bird which defiles its own nest." This seems alluded to
in "As You Like It" (iv. 1) where Celia says to Rosalind: "You have
simply misused our sex in your love-prate: we must have your doublet and
hose plucked over your head, and show the world what the bird hath done
to her own nest."
"It is a poor dog that is not worth the whistling." So Goneril, in "King
Lear" (iv. 2): "I have been worth the whistle."
"It is a wise child that knows its own father." In the "Merchant of
Venice" (ii. 2), Launcelot has the converse of this: "It is a wise
father that knows his own child."
"It is an ill wind that blows nobody good." So, in "3 Henry VI." (ii.
5), we read:
"Ill blows the wind that profits nobody."
And, in "2 Henry IV." (v. 3), when Falstaff asks Pistol "What wind blew
you hither?" the latter replies: "Not the ill wind which blows no man to
good."
"It is easy to steal a shive from a cut loaf." In "Titus Andronicus"
(ii. 1), Demetrius refers to this proverb. Ray has, "'Tis safe taking a
shive out of a cut loaf."
"It's a dear collop that's cut out of my own flesh." Mr.
Halliwell-Phillipps thinks there may be possibly an allusion to this
proverb in "1 Henry VI." (v. 4), where the Shepherd says of La Pucelle:
"God knows, thou art a collop of my flesh."
"I will make a shaft or a bolt of it." In the "Merry Wives of Windsor"
(iii. 4) this proverb is used by Slender.[882] Ray gives "to make a bolt
or a shaft of a thing." This is equivalent to, "I will either make a
good or a bad thing of it: I will take the risk."
[882] A shaft is an arrow for the longbow, a bolt is for the
crossbow. Kelly's "Proverbs of All Nations," p. 155.
"It is like a barber's chair" ("All's Well that Ends Well," ii. 2).
The following passage, in "A Midsummer-Night's Dream" (iii. 2):
"Jack shall have Jill;
Nought shall go ill;
The man shall have his mare again,
And all shall be well,"
refers to the popular proverb of olden times, says Staunton, signifying
"all ended happily." So, too, Biron says, in "Love's Labour's Lost" (v.
2):
"Our wooing doth not end like an old play;
Jack hath not Jill."
It occurs in Skelton's poem "Magnyfycence" (Dyce, ed. i. p. 234): "Jack
shall have Gyl;" and in Heywood's "Dialogue" (Sig. F. 3, 1598):
"Come, chat at hame, all is well, Jack shall have Gill."
"Kindness will creep where it cannot go." Thus, in the "Two Gentlemen of
Verona" (iv. 2), Proteus tells Thurio how
"love
Will creep in service where it cannot go."
There is a Scotch proverb, "Kindness will creep whar it mauna gang."
"Let the world slide" ("Taming of the Shrew," Induction, sc. i.).
"Let them laugh that win." Othello says (iv. 1):
"So, so, so, so:--they laugh that win."
On the other hand, the French say, "Marchand qui perd ne peut rire."
"Like will to like, as the devil said to the collier." With this we may
compare the following passage in "Twelfth Night" (iii. 4): "What, man!
'tis not for gravity to play at cherry-pit with Satan: hang him, foul
collier!"--collier having been, in Shakespeare's day, a term of the
highest reproach.
"Losers have leave to talk." Titus Andronicus (iii. 1) says:
"Then give me leave, for losers will have leave
To ease their stomachs with their bitter tongues."
"Maids say nay, and take." So Julia, in the "Two Gentlemen of Verona"
(i. 2), says:
"Since maids, in modesty, say 'No' to that
Which they would have the profferer construe 'Ay.'"
In "The Passionate Pilgrim" we read:
"Have you not heard it said full oft,
A woman's nay doth stand for nought?"
"Make hay while the sun shines." King Edward, in "3 Henry VI." (iv. 8),
alludes to this proverb:
"The sun shines hot; and, if we use delay,
Cold, biting winter mars our hop'd-for hay."
The above proverb is peculiar to England, and, as Trench remarks, could
have its birth only under such variable skies as ours.
"Many talk of Robin Hood that never shot in his bow." So, in "2 Henry
IV." (iii. 2), Justice Shallow, says Falstaff, "talks as familiarly of
John o' Gaunt as if he had been sworn brother to him; and I'll be sworn
a' never saw him but once in the Tilt-yard,--and then he burst his head,
for crowding among the marshal's men."
"Marriage and hanging go by destiny."[883] This proverb is the popular
creed respecting marriage, and, under a variety of forms, is found in
different countries. Thus, in "Merchant of Venice" (ii. 9), Nerissa
says:
"The ancient saying is no heresy,--
Hanging and wiving goes by destiny."
[883] "But now consider the old proverbe to be true, yt saieth
that marriage is destinie."--Hall's "Chronicles."
Again, in "All's Well that Ends Well" (i. 3) the Clown says:
"For I the ballad will repeat,
Which men full true shall find;
Your marriage comes by destiny,
Your cuckoo sings by kind."
We may compare the well-known proverb, "Marriages are made in heaven,"
and the French version, "Les mariages sont écrits dans le ciel."
"Marriage as bad as hanging." In "Twelfth Night" (i. 5), the Clown says:
"Many a good hanging prevents a bad marriage."
"Marry trap" ("Merry Wives of Windsor," i. 1). This, says Nares, "is
apparently a kind of proverbial exclamation, as much as to say, 'By
Mary, you are caught.'"
"Meat was made for mouths." Quoted in "Coriolanus" (i. 1).
"Misfortunes seldom come alone." This proverb is beautifully alluded to
by the King in "Hamlet" (iv. 5):
"When sorrows come, they come not single spies,
But in battalions."
The French say:[884] "Malheur ne vient jamais seul."
[884] See Bohn's "Handbook of Proverbs," p. 116.
"More hair than wit" ("Two Gentlemen of Verona," iii. 2). A well-known
old English proverb.
"Mortuo leoni et lepores insultant." This proverb is alluded to by the
Bastard in "King John" (ii. 1), who says to the Archduke of Austria:
"You are the hare of whom the proverb goes,
Whose valour plucks dead lions by the beard."
"Much water goes by the mill the miller knows not of." This adage is
quoted in "Titus Andronicus" (ii. 1), by Demetrius:
"more water glideth by the mill
Than wots the miller of."
"My cake is dough" ("Taming of the Shrew," v. 1). An obsolete proverb,
repeated on the loss of hope or expectation: the allusion being to the
old-fashioned way of baking cakes at the embers, when it may have been
occasionally the case for a cake to be burned on one side and dough on
the other. In a former scene (i. 1) Gremio says: "our cake's dough on
both sides." Staunton quotes from "The Case is Altered," 1609:
"Steward, your cake is dough, as well as mine."
"Murder will out." So, in the "Merchant of Venice" (ii. 2), Launcelot
says: "Murder cannot be hid long,--a man's son may; but, in the end,
truth will out."
"Near or far off, well won is still well shot" ("King John," i. 1).
"Needs must when the devil drives." In "All's Well that Ends Well" (i.
3), the Clown tells the Countess: "I am driven on by the flesh; and he
must needs go, that the devil drives."
"Neither fish, nor flesh, nor good red herring."[885] Falstaff says of
the Hostess in "1 Henry IV." (iii. 3): "Why, she's neither fish nor
flesh; a man knows not where to have her."
[885] See Bohn's "Handbook of Proverbs," pp. 160, 251.
"One nail drives out another." In "Romeo and Juliet" (i. 2), Benvolio
says:
"Tut, man, one fire burns out another's burning,
One pain is lessen'd by another's anguish;
Turn giddy, and be holp by backward turning;
One desperate grief cures with another's languish:
Take thou some new infection to thy eye,
And the rank poison of the old will die."
The allusion, of course, is to homoeopathy. The Italians say, "Poison
quells poison."
"Old men are twice children;" or, as they say in Scotland, "Auld men are
twice bairns." We may compare the Greek [Greek: Dis paides oi gerontes].
The proverb occurs in "Hamlet" (ii. 2): "An old man is twice a child."
"Out of God's blessing into the warm sun." So Kent says in "King Lear"
(ii. 2):
"Good king, that must approve the common saw,--
Thou out of heaven's benediction com'st
To the warm sun."
"Patience perforce is a medicine for a mad dog." This proverb is
probably alluded to by Tybalt in "Romeo and Juliet" (i. 5):
"Patience perforce with wilful choler meeting,
Makes my flesh tremble in their different greeting."
And again, in "Richard III." (i. 1):
"_Gloster._ Meantime, have patience.
_Clarence._ I must perforce: farewell."
"Pitch and Pay" ("Henry V.," ii. 3). This is a proverbial expression
equivalent to "Pay down at once."[886] It probably originated from
pitching goods in a market, and paying immediately for their standing.
Tusser, in his "Description of Norwich," calls it:
"A city trim,
Where strangers well may seem to dwell,
That pitch and pay, or keep their day."
[886] See Dyce's "Glossary," p. 323.
"Pitchers have ears." Baptista quotes this proverb in the "Taming of the
Shrew" (iv. 4):
"Pitchers have ears, and I have many servants."
According to another old proverb: "Small pitchers have great ears."
"Poor and proud! fy, fy." Olivia, in "Twelfth Night" (iii. 1), says:
"O world, how apt the poor are to be proud!"
"Praise in departing" ("The Tempest," iii. 3). The meaning is: "Do not
praise your entertainment too soon, lest you should have reason to
retract your commendation." Staunton quotes from "The Paradise of Dainty
Devises," 1596:
"A good beginning oft we see, but seldome standing at one stay.
For few do like the meane degree, then praise at parting some men say."
"Pray God, my girdle break"[887] ("1 Henry IV.," iii. 3).
[887] Halliwell-Phillipps's "Handbook Index to Shakespeare," p. 393.
"Put your finger in the fire and say it was your fortune." An excellent
illustration of this proverb is given by Edmund in "King Lear" (i. 2):
"This is the excellent foppery of the world, that, when we are sick in
fortune, we make guilty of our disasters, the sun, the moon, and the
stars: as if we were villains on necessity; fools, by heavenly
compulsion; knaves, thieves, and treachers, by spherical predominance;
drunkards, liars, and adulterers, by an enforced obedience of planetary
influence; and all that we are evil in, by a divine thrusting on: an
admirable evasion," etc.
"Respice finem, respice furem." It has been suggested that Shakespeare
("Comedy of Errors," iv. 4) may have met with these words in a popular
pamphlet of his time, by George Buchanan, entitled "Chamæleon Redivivus;
or, Nathaniel's Character Reversed"--a satire against the Laird of
Lidingstone, 1570, which concludes with the following words, "Respice
finem, respice furem."
"Seldom comes the better." In "Richard III." (ii. 3), one of the
citizens says:
"Ill news, by'r lady; seldom comes the better:
I fear, I fear, 'twill prove a troublous world"
--a proverbial saying of great antiquity. Mr. Douce[888] cites an account
of its origin from a MS. collection of stories in Latin, compiled about
the time of Henry III.
[888] "Illustrations of Shakespeare," p. 333.
"Service is no inheritance." So, in "All's Well that Ends Well" (i. 3),
the Clown says: "Service is no heritage."
"Sit thee down, sorrow" ("Love's Labour's Lost," i. 1).
"Sit at the stern." A proverbial phrase meaning to have the management
of public affairs. So, in "1 Henry VI." (i. 1), Winchester says:
"The king from Eltham I intend to steal,
And sit at chiefest stern of public weal."
"She has the mends in her own hands." This proverbial phrase is of
frequent occurrence in our old writers, and probably signifies, "It is
her own fault;" or, "The remedy lies with herself." It is used by
Pandarus in "Troilus and Cressida" (i. 1). Burton, in his "Anatomy of
Melancholy," writes: "And if men will be jealous in such cases, the
mends is in their own hands, they must thank themselves."
"Small herbs have grace, great weeds do grow apace" ("Richard III.,"
ii. 4).
"So wise so young, do ne'er live long" ("Richard III.," iii. 1).[889]
[889] See page 332.
"So like you, 'tis the worse." This is quoted as an old proverb by
Paulina in the "Winter's Tale" (ii. 3).
"Something about, a little from the right" ("King John," i. 1).
"Sowed cockle, reap no corn" ("Love's Labour's Lost," iv. 3).
"Speak by the card" ("Hamlet," v. 1). A merchant's expression,
equivalent to "be as precise as a map or book." The card is the document
in writing containing the agreement made between a merchant and the
captain of a vessel. Sometimes the owner binds himself, ship, tackle,
and furniture, for due performance, and the captain is bound to declare
the cargo committed to him in good condition. Hence, "to speak by the
card" is to speak according to the indentures or written instructions.
"Still swine eat all the draff" ("Merry Wives of Windsor," iv. 2). Ray
gives: "The still sow eats up all the draught."
"Still waters run deep." So in "2 Henry VI." (iii. 1), Suffolk says:
"Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep."
"Strike sail." A proverbial phrase to acknowledge one's self beaten. In
"3 Henry VI." (iii. 3), it occurs:
"now Margaret
Must strike her sail and learn awhile to serve,
Where kings command."
When a ship, in fight, or on meeting another ship, lets down her
topsails at least half-mast high, she is said to strike, that is, to
submit or pay respect to the other.[890]
[890] Brewer's "Dictionary of Phrase and Fable," p. 860.
"Strike while the iron is hot." Poins probably alludes to this proverb
in "2 Henry IV." (ii. 4): "My lord, he will drive you out of your
revenge, and turn all to a merriment, if you take not the heat."
Again, in "King Lear" (i. 1), Goneril adds: "We must do something, and
i' the heat."
"Take all, pay all" ("Merry Wives of Windsor," ii. 2). Ray gives another
version of this proverb: "Take all, and pay the baker."
"Tell the truth and shame the devil." In "1 Henry IV." (iii. 1), Hotspur
tells Glendower:
"I can teach thee, coz, to shame the devil
By telling truth: tell truth, and shame the devil."
"That was laid on with a trowel."[891] This proverb, which is quoted by
Ray, is used by Celia in "As You Like It" (i. 2). Thus we say, when any
one bespatters another with gross flattery, that he lays it on with a
trowel.
[891] Ray's "Proverbs" (Bohn's Edition), 1857, p. 76.
"The cat loves fish, but she's loath to wet her feet." It is to this
proverb that Lady Macbeth alludes when she upbraids her husband for his
irresolution ("Macbeth," i. 7):
"Letting 'I dare not' wait upon 'I would,'
Like the poor cat i' the adage."
There are various forms of this proverb. Thus, according to the rhyme:
"Fain would the cat fish eat,
But she's loath to wet her feet."
The French version is "Le chat aime le poisson mais il n'aime pas à
mouiller la patte"--so that it would seem Shakespeare borrowed from the
French.
"The devil rides on a fiddlestick" ("1 Henry IV.," ii. 4).
"The galled jade will wince." So Hamlet says (iii. 2), "let the galled
jade wince, our withers are unwrung."
"The grace o' God is gear enough." This is the Scotch form of the
proverb which Launcelot Gobbo speaks of as being well parted between
Bassanio and Shylock, in the "Merchant of Venice" (ii. 2): "The old
proverb is very well parted between my master Shylock and you, sir; you
have the grace of God, sir, and he hath enough."
"The Mayor of Northampton opens oysters with his dagger." This proverb
is alluded to by Pistol in "Merry Wives of Windsor" (ii. 2), when he
says:
"Why, then the world's mine oyster,
Which I with sword will open."
Northampton being some eighty miles from the sea, oysters were so stale
before they reached the town (before railroads, or even coaches, were
known), that the "Mayor would be loath to bring them near his nose."
"The more haste the worse speed." In "Romeo and Juliet" (ii. 6), Friar
Laurence says:
"These violent delights have violent ends
And in their triumph die; like fire and powder,
Which, as they kiss, consume: the sweetest honey
Is loathsome in his own deliciousness,
And in the taste confounds the appetite:
Therefore, love moderately; long love doth so;
Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow."
The proverb thus alluded to seems to be derived from the Latin adage,
"Festinatio tarda est." It defeats its own purpose by the blunders and
imperfect work it occasions.[892] Hence the French say: "He that goes
too hastily along often stumbles on a fair road."
[892] Kelly's "Proverbs of All Nations," p. 80.
"There is flattery in friendship"--used by the Constable of France in
"Henry V." (iii. 7); the usual form of this proverb being: "There is
falsehood in friendship."
"There was but one way" ("Henry V.," ii. 3). "This," says Dyce, "is a
kind of proverbial expression for death." ("Glossary," p. 494.)
"The weakest goes to the wall." This is quoted by Gregory in "Romeo and
Juliet" (i. 1), whereupon Sampson adds: "Women, being the weaker
vessels, are ever thrust to the wall: therefore, I will push Montague's
men from the wall, and thrust his maids to the wall."
"There went but a pair of shears between them" ("Measure for Measure,"
i. 2). That is, "We are both of the same piece."
"The world goes on wheels." This proverbial expression occurs in "Antony
and Cleopatra" (ii. 7); and Taylor, the Water-Poet, has made it the
subject of one of his pamphlets: "The worlde runnes on wheeles, or,
oddes betwixt carts and coaches."
"Three women and a goose make a market." This proverb is alluded to in
"Love's Labour's Lost" (iii. 1):
"thus came your argument in;
Then the boy's fat _l'envoy_, the goose that you bought;
And he ended the market."
The following lines in "1 Henry VI." (i. 6),
"Thy promises are like Adonis' gardens
That one day bloom'd, and fruitful were the next,"
allude to the _Adonis horti_, which were nothing but portable earthen
pots, with some lettuce or fennel growing in them. On his yearly
festival every woman carried one of them in honor of Adonis, because
Venus had once laid him in a lettuce bed. The next day they were thrown
away. The proverb seems to have been used always in a bad sense, for
things which make a fair show for a few days and then wither away. The
Dauphin is here made to apply it as an encomium. There is a good account
of it in Erasmus's "Adagia;" but the idea may have been taken from the
"Fairy Queen," bk. iii. cant. 6, st. 42 (Singer's "Shakespeare," 1875,
vol. vi. p. 32).
"To clip the anvil of my sword." "This expression, in 'Coriolanus' (iv.
5) is very difficult to be explained," says Mr. Green, "unless we regard
it as a proverb, denoting the breaking of the weapon and the laying
aside of enmity. Aufidius makes use of it in his welcome to the banished
Coriolanus."
"here I clip
The anvil of my sword; and do contest
As hotly and as nobly with thy love,
As ever in ambitious strength I did
Contend against thy valour."
"To have a month's mind to a thing." Ray's "Proverbs." So, in the "Two
Gentlemen of Verona" (i. 2), Julia says:
"I see you have a month's mind to them."[893]
[893] See page 385.
"'Tis merry in hall when beards wag all."[894] This is quoted by Silence
in "2 Henry IV." (v. 3):
"Be merry, be merry, my wife has all;
For women are shrews, both short and tall;
'Tis merry in hall when beards wag all,
And welcome merry shrove-tide.
Be merry, be merry."
[894] See Bohn's "Handbook of Proverbs," p. 115.
"To have one in the wind." This is one of Camden's proverbial sentences.
In "All's Well that Ends Well" (iii. 6), Bertram says:
"I spoke with her but once,
And found her wondrous cold; but I sent to her,
By this same coxcomb that we have i' the wind,
Tokens and letters which she did re-send."
"To hold a candle to the devil"--that is, "to aid or countenance that
which is wrong." Thus, in the "Merchant of Venice" (ii. 6), Jessica
says:
"What, must I hold a candle to my shames?"
--the allusion being to the practice of the Roman Catholics who burn
candles before the image of a favorite saint, carry them in funeral
processions, and place them on their altars.
"To the dark house" ("All's Well that Ends Well," ii. 3). A house which
is the seat of gloom and discontent.
"Truth should be silent." Enobarbus, in "Antony and Cleopatra" (ii. 2),
says: "That truth should be silent I had almost forgot."
"To take mine ease in mine inn." A proverbial phrase used by Falstaff in
"1 Henry IV." (iii. 3), implying, says Mr. Drake, "a degree of comfort
which has always been the peculiar attribute of an English house of
public entertainment."[895]
[895] "Shakespeare and his Times," vol. i. p. 216.
"Twice away says stay" ("Twelfth Night," v. 1). Malone thinks this
proverb is alluded to by the Clown: "conclusions to be as kisses, if
your four negatives make your two affirmatives, why, then, the worse for
my friends and the better for my foes;" and quotes Marlowe's "Last
Dominion," where the Queen says to the Moor:
"Come, let's kisse.
_Moor._ Away, away.
_Queen._ No, no, sayes I, and twice away sayes stay."
"Trust not a horse's heel." In "King Lear" (iii. 6) the Fool says, "he's
mad that trusts a horse's health." Malone would read "heels."
"Two may keep counsel, putting one away." So Aaron, in "Titus
Andronicus" (iv. 2), says:
"Two may keep counsel, when the third's away."
"Ungirt, unblest." Falstaff alludes to the old adage, in "1 Henry IV."
(iii. 3). "I pray God my girdle break." Malone quotes from an ancient
ballad:
"Ungirt, unblest, the proverbe sayes;
And they to prove it right,
Have got a fashion now adayes,
That's odious to the sight;
Like Frenchmen, all on points they stand,
No girdles now they wear."
"Walls have ears." So, in "A Midsummer-Night's Dream" (v. 1), Thisbe is
made to say:
"O wall, full often hast thou heard my moans,
For parting my fair Pyramus and me."
"Wedding and ill-wintering tame both man and beast." Thus, in "Taming of
the Shrew" (iv. 1), Grumio says: "Winter tames man, woman, and beast;
for it hath tamed my old master, and my new mistress, and myself." We
may also compare the Spanish adage: "You will marry and grow tame."
"We steal as in a castle" ("1 Henry IV.," ii. 1). This, says Steevens,
was once a proverbial phrase.
"What can't be cured must be endured." With this popular adage may be
compared the following: "Past cure is still past care," in "Love's
Labour's Lost" (v. 2). So in "Richard II." (ii. 3), the Duke of York
says:
"Things past redress are now with me past care."
Again, in "Macbeth" (iii. 2) Lady Macbeth says:
"Things without all remedy
Should be without regard: what's done is done."
"What's mine is yours, and what is yours is mine" ("Measure for
Measure," v. 1).
"When things come to the worst they'll mend." The truth of this popular
adage is thus exemplified by Pandulph in "King John" (iii. 4):
"Before the curing of a strong disease,
Even in the instant of repair and health,
The fit is strongest; evils that take leave,
On their departure most of all show evil."
Of course it is equivalent to the proverb, "When the night's darkest the
day's nearest."
"When? can you tell?" ("Comedy of Errors," iii. 1). This proverbial
query, often met with in old writers, and perhaps alluded to just before
in this scene, when Dromio of Syracuse says: "Right, sir; I'll tell you
when, an you'll tell me wherefore;" occurs again in "1 Henry IV." (ii.
1): "Ay, when? canst tell?"
"When two men ride the same horse one must ride behind." So in "Much Ado
About Nothing" (iii. 5) Dogberry says: "An two men ride of a horse, one
must ride behind."[896] With this may be compared the Spanish adage, "He
who rides behind does not saddle when he will."
[896] See Kelly's "Proverbs of All Nations," p. 49.
"While the grass grows, the steed starves." This is alluded to by Hamlet
(iii. 2): "Ay, sir, but 'while the grass grows,' the proverb is
something musty." See Dyce's "Glossary," p. 499.
"Who dares not stir by day must walk by night" ("King John," i. 1).
"Who goes to Westminster for a wife, to St. Paul's for a man, and to
Smithfield for a horse, may meet with a queane, a knave, and a jade."
This proverb, often quoted by old writers, is alluded to in "2 Henry
IV." (i. 2):
"_Falstaff._ Where's Bardolph?
_Page._ He's gone into Smithfield to buy your worship a horse.
_Falstaff._ I bought him in Paul's, and he'll buy me a horse
in Smithfield: an I could get me but a wife in the stews, I
were manned, horsed, and wived."
"Wit, whither wilt?" This was a proverbial expression not unfrequent in
Shakespeare's day. It is used by Orlando in "As You Like It" (iv. 1): "A
man that had a wife with such a wit, he might say--'Wit, whither wilt?'"
"Will you take eggs for money?" This was a proverbial phrase, quoted by
Leontes in the "Winter's Tale" (i. 2), for putting up with an affront,
or being cajoled or imposed upon.
"Words are but wind, but blows unkind." In "Comedy of Errors" (iii. 1),
Dromio of Ephesus uses the first part of this popular adage.
"Worth a Jew's eye." Launcelot, in the "Merchant of Venice" (ii. 5),
says:
"There will come a Christian by,
Will be worth a Jewess' eye."
According to tradition, the proverb arose from the custom of torturing
Jews to extort money from them. It is simply, however, a corruption of
the Italian _gióia_ (a jewel).
"You'll never be burned for a witch." This proverb, which was applied to
a silly person, is probably referred to in "Antony and Cleopatra" (i. 2)
by Charmian, when he says to the soothsayer:
"Out, fool; I forgive thee for a witch."
"Young ravens must have food" ("Merry Wives of Windsor," i. 3).[897] Ray
has "Small birds must have meat."
[897] "Handbook Index to Shakespeare," p. 395.