various versions of this proverb. Ray gives the following: "Smoke,
raining into the house, and a scolding wife, will make a man run out of
doors."

Hotspur, in "1 Henry IV." (iii. 1), says of Glendower:

"O, he's as tedious
As a tired horse, a railing wife;
Worse than a smoky house."

"A snake lies hidden in the grass." This, as Mr. Green[860] remarks, is
no unfrequent proverb, and the idea is often made use of by Shakespeare.
Thus, in "2 Henry VI." (iii. 1), Margaret declares to the attendant
nobles:

"Henry my lord is cold in great affairs,
Too full of foolish pity: and Gloster's show
Beguiles him, as the mournful crocodile
With sorrow snares relenting passengers,
Or as the snake, roll'd in a flowering bank,
With shining checker'd slough, doth sting a child,
That for the beauty thinks it excellent."

[860] "Shakespeare and the Emblem Writers," 1870, p. 341.

Lady Macbeth (i. 5) tells her husband:

"look like the innocent flower,
But be the serpent under't."

Juliet ("Romeo and Juliet," iii. 2) speaks of:

"Serpent heart, hid with a flowering face."

"A staff is quickly found to beat a dog." Other versions of this proverb
are: "It is easy to find a stick to beat a dog;" "It is easy to find a
stone to throw at a dog."[861] So, in "2 Henry VI." (iii. 1), Gloster
says:

"I shall not want false witness to condemn me,
Nor store of treasons to augment my guilt;
The ancient proverb will be well effected,--
A staff is quickly found to beat a dog."

[861] See Kelly's "Proverbs of All Nations," 1870, p. 157.

"A wise man may live anywhere." In "Richard II." (i. 3), John of Gaunt
says:

"All places that the eye of heaven visits,
Are to a wise man ports and happy havens."

"A woman conceals what she does not know." Hence Hotspur says to his
wife, in "1 Henry IV." (ii. 3):

"Constant you are,
But yet a woman: and for secrecy,
No lady closer; for I well believe
Thou wilt not utter what thou dost not know,--
And so far will I trust thee, gentle Kate."

"All men are not alike" ("Much Ado About Nothing," iii. 5).[862]

[862] Halliwell-Phillipps's "Handbook Index to Shakespeare," p.
390, under Proverbs.

"All's Well that Ends Well."

"As lean as a rake." So in "Coriolanus" (i. 1), one of the citizens
says: "Let us revenge this with our pikes,