“look like the innocent flower,
But be the serpent under’t.”
Juliet (“Romeo and Juliet,” iii. 2) speaks of:
“Serpent heart, hid with a flowering face.”
“A staff is quickly found to beat a dog.” Other versions of this proverb are: “It is easy to find a stick to beat a dog;” “It is easy to find a stone to throw at a dog.”[861] So, in “2 Henry VI.” (iii. 1), Gloster says:
“I shall not want false witness to condemn me,
Nor store of treasons to augment my guilt;
The ancient proverb will be well effected,—
A staff is quickly found to beat a dog.”
“A wise man may live anywhere.” In “Richard II.” (i. 3), John of Gaunt says:
“All places that the eye of heaven visits,
Are to a wise man ports and happy havens.”
“A woman conceals what she does not know.” Hence Hotspur says to his wife, in “1 Henry IV.” (ii. 3):
“Constant you are,
But yet a woman: and for secrecy,
No lady closer; for I well believe
Thou wilt not utter what thou dost not know,—
And so far will I trust thee, gentle Kate.”
“All men are not alike” (“Much Ado About Nothing,” iii. 5).[862]