Folk-lore of Shakespeare Part 95

For few do like the meane degree, then praise at parting some men say."

"Pray G.o.d, 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 ill.u.s.tration 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, ent.i.tled "Chamaeleon 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] "Ill.u.s.trations 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 c.o.c.kle, 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 doc.u.ment 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 a 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' G.o.d is gear enough." This is the Scotch form of the proverb which Launcelot Gobbo speaks of as being well parted between Ba.s.sanio 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 G.o.d, 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 appet.i.te: 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."