“The sun shines hot; and, if we use delay,
Cold, biting winter mars our hop’d-for hay.”
The above proverb is peculiar to England, and, as Trench remarks, could have its birth only under such variable skies as ours.
“Many talk of Robin Hood that never shot in his bow.” So, in “2 Henry IV.” (iii. 2), Justice Shallow, says Falstaff, “talks as familiarly of John o’ Gaunt as if he had been sworn brother to him; and I’ll be sworn a’ never saw him but once in the Tilt-yard,—and then he burst his head, for crowding among the marshal’s men.”
“Marriage and hanging go by destiny.”[883] This proverb is the popular creed respecting marriage, and, under a variety of forms, is found in different countries. Thus, in “Merchant of Venice” (ii. 9), Nerissa says:
“The ancient saying is no heresy,—
Hanging and wiving goes by destiny.”
Again, in “All’s Well that Ends Well” (i. 3) the Clown says:
“For I the ballad will repeat,
Which men full true shall find;
Your marriage comes by destiny,
Your cuckoo sings by kind.”
We may compare the well-known proverb, “Marriages are made in heaven,” and the French version, “Les mariages sont écrits dans le ciel.”
“Marriage as bad as hanging.” In “Twelfth Night” (i. 5), the Clown says: “Many a good hanging prevents a bad marriage.”
“Marry trap” (“Merry Wives of Windsor,” i. 1). This, says Nares, “is apparently a kind of proverbial exclamation, as much as to say, ‘By Mary, you are caught.’”