Never dry up her tears with kisses,
The more she cries, the less she p⸺s.”
(Reflections, Moral, Critical, and Cosmical,
part iii. p. 23, A.D. 1707.)
This expression is to be found also in old French,—perhaps is derived from it: “Pleurez donc, et chiez bien des yeux, vous en pissez moins.”—(“Moyen de Parvenir,” A.D. 1610.)
“Juletta, how loath she was to talk, too, how she feared me!
I could now piss mine eyes out for mere anger.”
(“The Pilgrim,” iii. 4, Beaumont and Fletcher.)
The converse of the adage is illustrated in the following epigram on a lady who shed her water at seeing the tragedy of “Cato:”
“Whilst maudlin chiefs deplore their Cato’s fate,