“As true as steel.” This popular adage is quoted in “Troilus and Cressida” (iii. 2):
“As true as steel, as plantage to the moon.”
We may also compare the proverb: “As true as the dial to the sun.”
“At hand, quoth pick-purse” (“1 Henry IV.,” ii. 1). This proverbial saying arose, says Malone, from the pickpurse always seizing the prey nearest him.
“Ay, tell me that and unyoke” (“Hamlet,” v. 1). This was a common adage for giving over or ceasing to do a thing; a metaphor derived from the unyoking of oxen at the end of their labor.
“Baccare, quoth Mortimer to his sow.” With this Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps compares Gremio’s words in the “Taming of the Shrew” (ii. 1):
“Saving your tale, Petruchio, I pray,
Let us, that are poor petitioners, speak too:
Baccare! you are marvellous forward.”
Mr. Dyce (“Glossary,” p. 23) says the word signifies “go back,” and cites one of John Heywood’s epigrams upon it:
“Backare, quoth Mortimer to his sow;
Went that sowe backe at that bidding, trow you.”
“Barnes are blessings” (“All’s Well that Ends Well,” i. 3).