1 Pryde and Abuse of Women, 1550. The Marriage of True Wit and Science. BUTLER: Hudibras, part ii. canto i. line 698. FIELDING: The Grub Street Opera, act ii. sc. 4. PRIOR: Epilogue to Lucius. Lord Macaulay (History of England, vol. i. chap. iii.) thinks that this proverb originated in the preference generally given to the gray mares of Flanders over the finest coach-horses of England. Macaulay, however, is writing of the latter half of the seventeenth century, while the proverb was used a century earlier. 2 See Chaucer, page 6. Two may keep counsel when the third 's away. SHAKESPEARE : Titus Andronicus, act iv. sc. 2. 8 Pitchers have ears. 4 See Chaucer, page 3. SHAKESPEARE: Richard III. act ii. sc. 4. 5 Thou shalt come out of a warme sunne into Gods blessing. - LYLY: Euphues. Thou out of Heaven's benediction comest To the warm sun. SHAKESPEARE: Lear, act ii. sc. 2. 6 Ther can no great smoke arise, but there must be some fire. — LYLY: Euphues (Arber's reprint), p. 153. 7 One swallowe prouveth not that summer is neare. Treatise against Dancing. 1577. 8 See Chaucer, page 2. NORTHBROOKE: It is a foule byrd that fyleth his owne nest.1 Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. v. Ibid. Hee must have a long spoone, shall eat with the devill." It had need to bee Ibid. A wylie mouse that should breed in the cats eare.1 Ibid. Leape out of the frying pan into the fyre." Time trieth troth in every doubt." Mad as a march hare." Much water goeth by the mill That the miller knoweth not of.8 He must needes goe whom the devill doth drive.9 Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Set the cart before the horse.10 Chap. vii. Ibid. Order of Foles. MS. circa 1450. 5 The same in Don Quixote (Lockhart's ed.), part i. book iii. chap. iv. BUNYAN Pilgrim's Progress. FLETCHER: The Wild-Goose Chase, act iv. sc. 3. 6 Time trieth truth.- Tottel's Miscellany, reprint 1867, p. 221. Time tries the troth in everything. TUSSER: Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry. Author's Epistle, chap. i. 7 I saye, thou madde March hare. SKELTON: Replycation against certayne yong scolers. 8 More water glideth by the mill Than wots the miller of. SHAKESPEARE: Titus Andronicus, act ii. sc. 7. 9 An earlier instance of this proverb occurs in Heywood's Johan the Husbande. 1533. SHAKESPEARE: All's Well He must needs go whom the devil drives. that Ends Well, act i. sc. 3. CERVANTES: Don Quixote, part i. book iv. chap. iv. GosSON: Ephemerides of Phialo. PEELE: Edward I. 10 Others set carts before the horses. - RABELAIS: book v. chap. xxii. An old man's derling than a yong man's werling. The moe the merrier.1 Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. vii. Ibid. To th' end of a shot and beginning of a fray.2 It is better to be Be the day never so long, Ibid. Evermore at last they ring to evensong. 3 Ibid. The moone is made of a greene cheese.* Ibid. I know on which side my bread is buttred. Ibid. It will not out of the flesh that is bred in the bone.5 Chap. viii Who is so deafe or so blinde as is hee That wilfully will neither heare nor see?" Chap. ix. The wrong sow by th' eare." Ibid. Went in at the tone eare and out at the tother.8 Ibid. Love me, love my dog.9 Ibid. 1 GASCOIGNE: Roses, 1575. Title of a Book of Epigrams, 1608. BEAU MONT AND FLETCHER: The Scornful Lady, act i. sc. 1; The Sea Voyage, act i. sc. 2. 2 To the latter end of a fray and the beginning of a feast.-SHAKESPEARE: 2 Henry IV. act iv. sc. 2. 8 Be the day short or never so long, At length it ringeth to even song. 4 Jack Jugler, p. 46. Hatchet of Heresies, 1565. Quoted at the Stake by George Tankerfield (1555). 5 What is bred in the bone will never come out of the flesh. PILPAY: The Two Fishermen, fable xiv. It will never out of the flesh that's bred in the bone. - JONSON: Every Man in his Humour, act i. sc. 1. 6 None so deaf as those that will not hear. MATHEW HENRY: Commentaries. Psalm lviii. 7 He has the wrong sow by the ear.-JONSON: Every Man in his Humour, act ii. sc. 1. 8 See Chaucer, page 6. 9 CHAPMAN: Widow's Tears, 1612. A proverb in the time of Saint Bernard was, Qui me amat, amet et canem meum (Who loves me will love my dog also). — Sermo Primus. An ill winde that bloweth no man to good.1 Proverbes. Part i. Chap. ix. For when I gave you an inch, you tooke an ell.2 Would yee both eat your cake and have your cake? 3 Ibid. Ibid. Every man for himselfe and God for us all.4 Ibid. Though he love not to buy the pig in the poke." Ibid. This hitteth the naile on the hed." Chap. xi, Enough is as good as a feast." Ibid. THOMAS TUSSER. Circa 1515-1580. 8 God sendeth and giveth both mouth and the meat. Except wind stands as never it stood, A Description of the Properties of Wind. At Christmas play and make good cheer, The Farmer's Daily Diet. 1 Falstaff. What wind blew you hither, Pistol? SHAKESPEARE: 2 Henry IV. act v. sc. 3. 2 Give an inch, he 'll take an ell. - WEBSTER: Sir Thomas Wyatt. 3 Wouldst thou both eat thy cake and have it? - HERBERT: The Size. 4 Every man for himself, his own ends, the devil for all. — BURTON: Anatomy of Melancholy, part iii. sec. i. mem. iii. 5 For buying or selling of pig in a poke. -TUSSER: Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry. September Abstract. 6 You have there hit the nail on the head. - RABELAIS: bk. iii. ch. xxxi. Dives and Pauper, 1493. GASCOIGNE: Poesies, 1575. POPE: Horace, book i. Ep. vii, line 24. FIELDING: Covent Garden Tragedy, act v. sc. 1. BICKERSTAFF: Love in a Village, act iii. sc. 1. 8 God sends meat, and the Devil sends cooks. — JOHN TAYLOR: Works, vol. ii. p. 85 (1630). RAY: Proverbs. GARRICK: Epigram on Goldsmith's Retaliation. Such mistress, such Nan, Such master, such man.1 Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry The fallyng out of faithfull frends is the renuyng of loue." The Paradise of Dainty Devices. 1 On the authority of M. Cimber, of the Bibliothèque Royale, we owe this proverb to Chevalier Bayard: "Tel maître, tel valet." 2 Merry swithe it is in halle, When the beards waveth alle. Life of Alexander, 1312. This has been wrongly attributed to Adam Davie. There the line runs, Swithe mury hit is in halle, When burdes waiven alle. 8 See Heywood, page 15. 4 See Heywood, page 10. ii. sc. 5. SHAKESPEARE: Merchant of Venice, act 5 The anger of lovers renews the strength of love. - PUBLIUS SYRUS: Maxim 24. Let the falling out of friends be a renewing of affection. -- LYLY: Euphues. - The falling out of lovers is the renewing of love. BURTON: Anatomy of Melancholy, part iii. sec. 2. Amantium iræ amoris integratiost (The quarrels of lovers are the renewal of love).- TERENCE: Andria, act iii. sc. 5. |