“The sun shines hot; and if we use delay,
Cold biting winter mars our hoped-for hay,”
a statement which applies to numerous other proverbial sayings.
“A black man is a jewel in a fair woman’s eyes.” In the “Two Gentlemen of Verona” (v. 2), the following passage is an amusing illustration of the above:
“Thurio. What says she to my face?
Proteus. She says it is a fair one.
Thurio. Nay then, the wanton lies; my face is black.
Proteus. But pearls are fair; and the old saying is,
Black men are pearls in beauteous ladies’ eyes.”
In “Titus Andronicus” (v. 1) there is a further allusion to this proverb, where Lucius says of Aaron,
“This is the pearl that pleas’d your empress’ eye.”
“A beggar marries a wife and lice.” So in “King Lear” (iii. 2), Song: