Folk-lore of Shakespeare Part 94

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 ecrits 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 "Coriola.n.u.s" (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 b.a.s.t.a.r.d 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 "t.i.tus 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-fas.h.i.+oned 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 h.o.m.opathy. 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 ??? pa?de? ?? ?e???te?. The proverb occurs in "Hamlet" (ii. 2): "An old man is twice a child."

"Out of G.o.d'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.