'Moult a soris povre secors,
Et fait en grant peril sa druge,
Qui n'a c'ung partuis à refuge.
Tout ainsinc est-il de la fame,' &c.
In Kemble's Solomon and Saturn, p. 57, several parallel proverbs are given;
e.g.--
'Mus miser est antro qui tantum clauditur uno.'
'Dolente la souris qui ne seit c'un pertuis.'
He refers us to Collins' Dict. of Span. Proverbs, p. 36; MS. Harl. [306]
3362, fol. 40; Grüter, Florilegium Ethico-politicum, p. 32; G. Herbert,
Jacula Prudentum, p. 67; MS. Proverbs, Corp. Chr. Cam. no. 450; MS. Harl.
1800, fol. 37 b. The proverb in Herbert is--'The mouse that hath but one
hole is quickly taken'; cf. Hazlitt's Proverbs, p. 380.
575. 'I made him believe'; see above. _enchanted_, bewitched, viz. with
philtres or love-potions; according to an old belief. See Othello, i. 2.
63-79. Cf. also Le Rom. de la Rose, 13895:--'Si croi que m'aves enchantee';
and the note to D. 747 (p. 311).
581. _Red_ occurs so frequently as an epithet of _gold_, that association
of gold with blood was easy enough. See note to B. 2059 (p. 196).
602. _a coltes tooth_, the tooth of a young colt. Cf. 'Young folks [are]
most apt to love ... the _colt's_ evil is common to all complexions';
Burton, Anat. of Mel. pt. 3. sec. 2. mem. 2. subsec. 1. 'Your _colt's
tooth_ is not cast yet'; Hen. VIII. i. 3. 48. And see A. 3888, E. 1847.