“Sowed cockle, reap no corn” (“Love’s Labour’s Lost,” iv. 3).
“Speak by the card” (“Hamlet,” v. 1). A merchant’s expression, equivalent to “be as precise as a map or book.” The card is the document in writing containing the agreement made between a merchant and the captain of a vessel. Sometimes the owner binds himself, ship, tackle, and furniture, for due performance, and the captain is bound to declare the cargo committed to him in good condition. Hence, “to speak by the card” is to speak according to the indentures or written instructions.
“Still swine eat all the draff” (“Merry Wives of Windsor,” iv. 2). Ray gives: “The still sow eats up all the draught.”
“Still waters run deep.” So in “2 Henry VI.” (iii. 1), Suffolk says:
“Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep.”
“Strike sail.” A proverbial phrase to acknowledge one’s self beaten. In “3 Henry VI.” (iii. 3), it occurs:
“now Margaret
Must strike her sail and learn awhile to serve,
Where kings command.”
When a ship, in fight, or on meeting another ship, lets down her topsails at least half-mast high, she is said to strike, that is, to submit or pay respect to the other.[890]
“Strike while the iron is hot.” Poins probably alludes to this proverb in “2 Henry IV.” (ii. 4): “My lord, he will drive you out of your revenge, and turn all to a merriment, if you take not the heat.”
Again, in “King Lear” (i. 1), Goneril adds: “We must do something, and i’ the heat.”