“Heaven’s above all.” In “Richard II.” (iii. 3) York tells Bolingbroke:
“Take not, good cousin, further than you should,
Lest you mistake: the heavens are o’er our heads.”
So, too, in “Othello” (ii. 3), Cassio says: “Heaven’s above all.”[876]
“He is a poor cook who cannot lick his own fingers.” Under a variety of forms, this proverb is found in different countries. The Italians say, “He who manages other people’s wealth does not go supperless to bed.” The Dutch, too, say, “All officers are greasy,” that is, something sticks to them.[877] In “Romeo and Juliet” (iv. 2) the saying is thus alluded to:
“Capulet. Sirrah, go hire me twenty cunning cooks.
2 Servant. You shall have none ill, sir; for I’ll try if they can lick their fingers.
Capulet. How canst thou try them so?
2 Servant. Marry, sir, ’tis an ill cook that cannot lick his own fingers: therefore he that cannot lick his fingers goes not with me.”
“He’s mad, that trusts in the tameness of a wolf, a horse’s health, a boy’s love, or a whore’s oath” (“King Lear,” iii. 6).[878]
“Heroum filii noxæ.” It is a common notion that a father above the common rate of men has usually a son below it. Hence, in “The Tempest” (i. 2), Shakespeare probably alludes to this Latin proverb: