593. Chaucer has this expression again, Kn. Ta. 2184 (A. 3042); Troilus,
iv. 1586. It was a common proverb. Shakespeare has it frequently; Two G. of
Ver. iv. i. 62; Rich. II., i. 3. 278; King Lear, iii. 2. 70. An early
example of it is in Matt. Paris (Record Series), i. 20:--'Vitam in tantam
sanctitatem commutavit, faciendo de necessitate virtutem,' &c.
596. _to borwe_, for a security; _borwe_ being a sb., not a verb. Cf. Kn.
Ta. 360, 764 (A. 1218, 1622). Hence it means, 'Saint John being for a
security,' i. e. Saint John being my security; as in The Complaint of Mars,
l. 9. She pledges herself by Saint John, the apostle of truth; see 1 John,
iii. 19, iv. 20. Lydgate has 'seint John to borowe' in his Complaint of the
Black Knight, st. 2.
601. 'When he has well _said_ everything, he has done (all he means to
do).'
602. This is a common proverb; cf. Com. of Errors, iv. 3. 64; Tempest, ii.
2. 103; Marlowe, Jew of Malta, iii. 4.