“When things come to the worst they’ll mend.” The truth of this popular adage is thus exemplified by Pandulph in “King John” (iii. 4):
“Before the curing of a strong disease,
Even in the instant of repair and health,
The fit is strongest; evils that take leave,
On their departure most of all show evil.”
Of course it is equivalent to the proverb, “When the night’s darkest the day’s nearest.”
“When? can you tell?” (“Comedy of Errors,” iii. 1). This proverbial query, often met with in old writers, and perhaps alluded to just before in this scene, when Dromio of Syracuse says: “Right, sir; I’ll tell you when, an you’ll tell me wherefore;” occurs again in “1 Henry IV.” (ii. 1): “Ay, when? canst tell?”
“When two men ride the same horse one must ride behind.” So in “Much Ado About Nothing” (iii. 5) Dogberry says: “An two men ride of a horse, one must ride behind.”[896] With this may be compared the Spanish adage, “He who rides behind does not saddle when he will.”
“While the grass grows, the steed starves.” This is alluded to by Hamlet (iii. 2): “Ay, sir, but ‘while the grass grows,’ the proverb is something musty.” See Dyce’s “Glossary,” p. 499.
“Who dares not stir by day must walk by night” (“King John,” i. 1).
“Who goes to Westminster for a wife, to St. Paul’s for a man, and to Smithfield for a horse, may meet with a queane, a knave, and a jade.” This proverb, often quoted by old writers, is alluded to in “2 Henry IV.” (i. 2):
“Falstaff. Where’s Bardolph?
Page. He’s gone into Smithfield to buy your worship a horse.