CJTranslations

QUOTES BY TOPIC

A sentence is but a cheveril glove to a good wit: how quickly the wrong side may be turned outward!

PLAY: Twelfth Night
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Fool
CONTEXT:
VIOLA
Save thee, friend, and thy music. Dost thou live by thy
tabor?
FOOL
No, sir, I live by the church.
VIOLA
Art thou a churchman?
FOOL
No such matter, sir. I do live by the church; for I do
live at my house, and my house doth stand by the church.
VIOLA
So thou mayst say the king lies by a beggar if a beggar
dwell near him, or the church stands by thy tabor, if
thy tabor stand by the church.
FOOL
You have said, sir. To see this age! A sentence is but
a cheveril glove to a good wit. How quickly the wrong
side may be turned outward!
VIOLA
Nay, that’s certain. They that dally nicely with words
may quickly make them wanton.

DUTCH:
Kijk dezen tijd toch eens! Een gezegde is voor een vluggen geest niets dan een zeemlederen handschoen: hoe snel is de verkeerde kant buiten te keeren!

MORE:
Live by=(1) Live from (2) Live near
Tabor=Drum
Cheveril (chev’ril)=Kid leather glove (which can be worn inside out)
Dally=Play
Nicely=Subtly, with the detail of
Wanton=Equivocal
Compleat:
Tabor=Tabret, zeker slach van een trommeltje
Cheveril=Een wilde Geit
Cheveril leather=Geiteleder, zeemleer
Dally=Dartelen, stoeijen; gekscheeren; beuzelen, tydverkwisten
To be nice in something=Keurig
To grow wanton with too much prosperity=In voorspoed weeldrig worden

Burgersdijk notes:
Met uw musiek. Men denke, dat de nar op zijn tamboerijn slaat. Een trommel of tamboerijn was het muziekinstrument der narren. — Viola vraagt den nar nu in het oorspronkelijke, of hij van de trommel leeft: dost thou live by thy tabor? Dit kan ook beteekenen: woont gij bij uw trommel ?” en
zoo verkiest de nar de vraag op te vatten.

Topics: fashion/trends, order/society, remedy, emotion and mood

And will be glad to do my benevolence to make atonements and compromises between you

PLAY: The Merry Wives of Windsor
ACT/SCENE:
SPEAKER: Sir Hugh Evans
CONTEXT:
SIR HUGH EVANS
It is marring indeed, if he quarter it.
SHALLOW
Not a whit.
SIR HUGH EVANS
Yes, py’r lady; if he has a quarter of your coat,
there is but three skirts for yourself, in my
simple conjectures: but that is all one. If Sir
John Falstaff have committed disparagements unto
you, I am of the church, and will be glad to do my
benevolence to make atonements and compromises
between you.
SHALLOW
The council shall bear it; it is a riot.

DUTCH:
Maar dat is alles hetselfde; — als Sir John Falstaff u onaangenaamheids pechaan heeft, dan pen ik van de kerk en wil recht chaarne mijn welwillendheid u aandoen en versoeningen en kompremiesen tusschen u maken.

MORE:
Proverb: Marrying is marring

Disparage=Vilify, be contemptuous of
Quarter=Incorporate another coat of arms in a heraldic coat of arms
Marring=Marring in marrying
Not a whit=Not at all
Py’r lady=By our Lady (Virgin Mary)
Skirt=Coat tail
Do my benevolence=Perform a friendly service
Compleat:
Marr=Bederven, verknoeijen
Not a whit displeased=Niet een zier misnoegd
Disparagement=Verachting, verkleining, kleinachting
Benevolence=Gunst, goedwilligheyd

Topics: proverbs and idioms, abuse, remedy, resolution

By uproar severed, like a flight of fowl scattered by winds and high tempestuous gusts

PLAY: Titus Andronicus
ACT/SCENE: 5.3
SPEAKER: Marcus
CONTEXT:
MARCUS ANDRONICUS
You sad-faced men, people and sons of Rome,
By uproar severed, like a flight of fowl
Scattered by winds and high tempestuous gusts,
O, let me teach you how to knit again
This scattered corn into one mutual sheaf,
These broken limbs again into one body;
Lest Rome herself be bane unto herself,
And she whom mighty kingdoms court’sy to,
Like a forlorn and desperate castaway,
Do shameful execution on herself.
But if my frosty signs and chaps of age,
Grave witnesses of true experience,
Cannot induce you to attend my words,

Speak, Rome’s dear friend, as erst our ancestor,
When with his solemn tongue he did discourse
To love-sick Dido’s sad attending ear
The story of that baleful burning night
When subtle Greeks surprised King Priam’s Troy,
Tell us what Sinon hath bewitched our ears,
Or who hath brought the fatal engine in
That gives our Troy, our Rome, the civil wound.
My heart is not compact of flint nor steel;
Nor can I utter all our bitter grief,
But floods of tears will drown my oratory,
And break my utterance, even in the time
When it should move you to attend me most,
Lending your kind commiseration.
Here is a captain, let him tell the tale;
Your hearts will throb and weep to hear him speak.

DUTCH:
Ontstelde mannen, Romes volk en zonen,
Verstrooid door ‘t oproer als een vogelzwerm,
Dien wind en stormgeloei uiteen doen spatten
Laat mij u leeren, die verspreide halmen
Op nieuw tot éene garve saam te voegen,
Die stukgereten leden tot éen lijf (…)

MORE:
CITED IN US LAW: Re the definition of: “fowl”: State v Davis, 72 NJL 345, 61 A.2 (1905)

Corn=Grain
Mutual=Unified
Bane=Destroyer
Chaps=Cracks, wrinkles
Erst=Erstwhile, former
Dido=Queen of Carthage, abandoned by Aeneas
Sad-attending=Listening seriously
Sinon=Greek soldier who persuaded the Trojans to accept the wooden horse
Fatal=Deadly
Engine=Instrumenet of war
Civil wound=Wound inflicted in a civil war
Compleat:
Corn=Koorn, graan
Mutual=Onderling, wederzyds
Bane=Verderf, vergif
A chap=Een kooper, bieder
Erst=Voorheen
Sad=Droevig
Fatal=Noodlottig, noodschikkelyk, verderflyk, doodelyk
Engine=Een konstwerk, gereedschap, werktuig; Een list, konstgreep§

Topics: cited in law, mercy, remedy, leadership, order/society, conflict

Care is no cure, but rather corrosive,
For things that are not to be remedied.

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 1
ACT/SCENE: 3.3
SPEAKER: Joan la Pucelle
CONTEXT:
JOAN LA PUCELLE
Dismay not, princes, at this accident,
Nor grieve that Rouen is so recovered:
Care is no cure, but rather corrosive,
For things that are not to be remedied.
Let frantic Talbot triumph for a while
And like a peacock sweep along his tail;
We ‘ll pull his plumes and take away his train,
If Dauphin and the rest will be but ruled.
CHARLES
We have been guided by thee hitherto,
And of thy cunning had no diffidence:
One sudden foil shall never breed distrust

DUTCH:
Verlies om ‘t ongeval den moed niet, prinsen,
‘t Bedroeve u niet, dat wij Rouaan verloren;
Want smart om dingen, die onheelbaar zijn,
Is geen arts’nij, maar bijtend, knagend gif.

MORE:
Proverb: Care is no cure
Proverb: Past cure past care

Dismay not=Do not be dismayed
Recovered=Taken back
Frantic=Mad
Train=Followers
Diffidence=Suspicion, mistrust

Compleat:
To dismay=Verslagen maaken, beanstigen
To recover=Weder bekomen, weer krygen, weer opkomen
Frantick=Zinneloos, hersenloos, ylhoofdig
Train (retinue)=rein, stoet, gevolg
Diffidence (distrust)=Wantrouwen

Topics: proverbs and idioms, invented or popularised, still in use, remedy

Disarm them, and let them question: let them keep their limbs whole and hack our English

PLAY: The Merry Wives of Windsor
ACT/SCENE:
SPEAKER:
CONTEXT:
SIR HUGH EVANS
He has no more knowledge in Hibbocrates and Galen,
—and he is a knave besides; a cowardly knave as you
would desires to be acquainted withal.
PAGE
I warrant you, he’s the man should fight with him.
SLENDER
O sweet Anne Page!
SHALLOW
It appears so by his weapons. Keep them asunder:
here comes Doctor Caius.
PAGE
Nay, good master parson, keep in your weapon.
SHALLOW
So do you, good master doctor.
HOST
Disarm them, and let them question: let them keep
their limbs whole and hack our English.

DUTCH:
Ontwapen hen en laat hen samen redetwisten. Laat
hen hunne armen en beenen heel houden en ons arm
Engelsch verminken!

MORE:
Hibbocrates=Hippocrates (Hippocrates and Galen, ancient physicians)
Withal=With
Warrant (assure, promise)=Verzekeren, belooven, ervoor instaan
Asunder=Apart
So do you=You too
Question=Talk, discuss
Hack=Chop, cut with frequent blows
Compleat:
I’ll warrant you=Ik verzeker ‘t u, ik staa ‘er borg voor, ik sta er voor in
Asunder=Byzonder, op zich zelven, onderscheiden
To put asunder=Elk byzonder zetten, van één scheiden

Topics: language|conflict|remedy

Doubting things go ill often hurts more than to be sure they do

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 1.7
SPEAKER: Imogen
CONTEXT:
IMOGEN
I pray you, sir,
Deliver with more openness your answers
To my demands. Why do you pity me?
IACHIMO
That others do—
I was about to say, enjoy your—but
It is an office of the gods to venge it,
Not mine to speak on ’t.
IMOGEN
You do seem to know
Something of me or what concerns me. Pray you,
Since doubting things go ill often hurts more
Than to be sure they do—for certainties
Either are past remedies, or, timely knowing,
The remedy then born—discover to me
What both you spur and stop.
IACHIMO
Had I this cheek
To bathe my lips upon; this hand, whose touch,
Whose every touch, would force the feeler’s soul
To the oath of loyalty; this object, which
Takes prisoner the wild motion of mine eye,
Fixing it only here; should I, damn’d then,
Slaver with lips as common as the stairs
That mount the Capitol; join gripes with hands
Made hard with hourly falsehood—falsehood, as
With labour; then by-peeping in an eye
Base and unlustrous as the smoky light
That’s fed with stinking tallow; it were fit
That all the plagues of hell should at one time
Encounter such revolt.

DUTCH:
Vaak slaat de vrees voor rampen dieper wond
Dan zekerheid er van.

MORE:
Doubting=Suspecting, fearing
Past remedies=Beyond resolution, beyond our ability to resolve
Timely knowing, the remedy then born=If we know in time, we can devise a solution
What both you spur and stop=Urges on and at the same time holds back
Compleat:
To spur (on)=Aanspooren, noopen, aandryven
To spur a question=Een onverwagte, schielyke vraag doen
Timely=Tydig, gepast

Topics: uncertainty, concern , remedy

For certainties either are past remedies, or, timely knowing, the remedy then born

DUTCH:
Want kent men ze,
Dan kan ‘t te laat zijn, ja, maar tijdig weten
Brengt vaak nog redding aan.

Topics: uncertainty, concern , remedy, resolution

For do we must what force will have us do.

PLAY: Richard II
ACT/SCENE: 3.3
SPEAKER: King Richard II
CONTEXT:
HENRY BOLINGBROKE
So far be mine, my most redoubted lord,
As my true service shall deserve your love.
KING RICHARD II
Well you deserve: they well deserve to have,
That know the strong’st and surest way to get.
Uncle, give me your hands: nay, dry your eyes;
Tears show their love, but want their remedies.
Cousin, I am too young to be your father,
Though you are old enough to be my heir.
What you will have, I’ll give, and willing too;
For do we must what force will have us do.
Set on towards London, cousin, is it so?

DUTCH:
Wij moeten doen, wat overmacht gebiedt. —
Naar Londen; — neef, niet waar, daar gaan wij heen

MORE:

Proverb: They that are bound must obey

Redoubted=Feared, respected (often used to address a monarch)
Want=Fail to provide (a remedy)

Compleat:
Redoubted=Geducht, ontzaglyk
Want=Gebrek

Topics: proverbs and idioms, still in use, status, remedy, merit

He has no pace, but runs where he will

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 4.5
SPEAKER: Lafew
CONTEXT:
LAFEW
A shrewd knave and an unhappy.
COUNTESS
So he is. My lord that’s gone made himself much
sport out of him : by his authority he remains here,
which he thinks is a patent for his sauciness; and,
indeed, he has no pace, but runs where he will.
LAFEW
I like him well; ’tis not amiss. And I was about to
tell you, since I heard of the good lady’s death and
that my lord your son was upon his return home, I
moved the king my master to speak in the behalf of
my daughter; which, in the minority of them both,
his majesty, out of a self-gracious remembrance, did
first propose: his highness hath promised me to do
it: and, to stop up the displeasure he hath
conceived against your son, there is no fitter
matter. How does your ladyship like it?

DUTCH:
Een doortrapte schelm, en boosaardig ook!

MORE:
Shrewd=Sly, cunning, artful, arch
Patent=Licence
Pace=Gait (trained horse)
Self-gracious=Own recollection, by his own grace
Compleat:
Shrewd=Loos, doortrapt, sneedig, vinnig, fel
Patent=Vergunnig, octroy
Pace=Stap, treede, schreede, tred, gang, pas, voertgang
Gracious=Genadig, genadenryk, aangenaam, lieftallig, gunstig

Topics: authority, understanding, remedy

He is my prisoner. If I let him go, the debt he owes will be required of me

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 4.4
SPEAKER: Officer
CONTEXT:
OFFICER
Masters, let him go.
He is my prisoner, and you shall not have him.
PINCH
Go, bind this man, for he is frantic too.
ADRIANA
What wilt thou do, thou peevish officer?
Hast thou delight to see a wretched man
Do outrage and displeasure to himself?
OFFICER
He is my prisoner. If I let him go,
The debt he owes will be required of me.
ADRIANA
I will discharge thee ere I go from thee.
Bear me forthwith unto his creditor,
And, knowing how the debt grows, I will pay it.—
Good Master Doctor, see him safe conveyed
Home to my house. O most unhappy day!

DUTCH:
t Is mijn gevang’ne; ontsnapt hij mij, dan wordt,
Wat hij betalen moet, op mij verhaald

MORE:
Cited in Shakespeare’s Legal Maxims (William Lowes Rushton)
“If a sheriff or gaoler suffers a prisoner to escape upon mesne process (that is, during the pendency of a suit), he is liable to action on the case.” (Cro. Eliz. 625, Bennion v Watson)

Peevish=Silly, spiteful
Displeasure=Offence, harm
Outrage=Rude violence, contempt shown to law and decency
Compleat:
Peevish=Kribbig, gemelyk
Outrage=Smaad, spyt, overlast, leed
Displeasure=Misnoegen, mishaagen, ongenade
To do a displeasure to one=Iemand verdriet aandoen

Topics: law/legal, debt/obligation, punishment, remedy, consequence

His currish riddles sort not with this place

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 3
ACT/SCENE: 5.5
SPEAKER: Prince Edward
CONTEXT:
KING EDWARD IV
Bring forth the gallant, let us hear him speak.
What! Can so young a thorn begin to prick?
Edward, what satisfaction canst thou make
For bearing arms, for stirring up my subjects,
And all the trouble thou hast turn’d me to?
PRINCE EDWARD
Speak like a subject, proud ambitious York!
Suppose that I am now my father’s mouth;
Resign thy chair, and where I stand kneel thou,
Whilst I propose the selfsame words to thee,
Which traitor, thou wouldst have me answer to.
QUEEN MARGARET
Ah, that thy father had been so resolved!
GLOUCESTER
That you might still have worn the petticoat,
And ne’er have stol’n the breech from Lancaster.
PRINCE EDWARD
Let Aesop fable in a winter’s night;
His currish riddles sort not with this place.

DUTCH:
Aesopus moge in winternachten faab’len;
Hier passen zulke hondsche raadsels niet.

MORE:

Gallant=Person of rank
Prick=Incite
Satisfaction=Amends
Turned me to=Caused me
Suppose=Consider, remember
Breech=Trousers
Currish=Malicious

Compleat:
Gallant=Salet jonker
To prick=Prikken, steeken, prikkelen
Satisfaction= (amends) Vergoeding, voldoening
Suppose=Vermoeden, denken, onderstellen
Currish=Hondsch, kwaadaardig

Burgersdijk notes:
V. 5. 25. Aesopus moge in winternachten faab’len. De Prins vergelijkt Richard met den mismaakten
fabeldichter Aesopus.

Topics: remedy, truth, respect, status, order/society, marriage

I am a simple maid, and therein wealthiest, that I protest I simply am a maid

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER:
CONTEXT:
HELEN
I am a simple maid, and therein wealthiest,
That I protest I simply am a maid.
Please it your majesty, I have done already:
The blushes in my cheeks thus whisper me,
‘We blush that thou shouldst choose; but, be refused,
Let the white death sit on thy cheek for ever;
We’ll ne’er come there again.’
KING
Make choice; and, see,
Who shuns thy love shuns all his love in me.
HELEN
Now, Dian, from thy altar do I fly,
And to imperial Love, that god most high,
Do my sighs stream. Sir, will you hear my suit?
FIRST LORD
And grant it.
HELEN
Thanks, sir; all the rest is mute.
LAFEW
I had rather be in this choice than throw ames-ace
for my life.

DUTCH:
Ik ben slechts een eenvoudig meisjen, en
Hierin bet rijkst, dat ik niets ben dan dit. –
Uw majesteit vergunne, ik heb gedaan;
De blosjes op mijn wangen fluist’ren dit:

MORE:
Simply=Only
The rest is mute=I will say no more
Be=If you are
White=Paleness of
Ames-ace=Two aces, the lowest throw at dice (denoting bad luck)
Compleat:
Simply=Slechtelyk, eenvoudiglyk
Mute=Stom, spraakeloos
To shun=Vermyden, ontwyken, ontvlieden

Topics: remedy, love

I can get no remedy against this consumption of the purse.

PLAY: King Henry IV Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Falstaff
CONTEXT:
I can get no remedy against this consumption of the purse.
Borrowing only lingers and lingers it out, but the disease is
incurable. Go bear this letter to my Lord of Lancaster, this
to the Prince, this to the Earl of Westmoreland; and this to
old Mistress Ursula, whom I have weekly sworn to marry
since I perceived the first white hair on my chin. About it.
You know where to find me.

DUTCH:
Ik weet geen middel tegen die uittering van de beurs; borgen rekt en rekt de ziekte, maar de kwaal is ongeneeslijk,

MORE:

Proverb: He is purse-sick and lacks a physician

Linger=To protract, to draw out, not to bring to a speedy end
Consumption=A wasting disease
Ursula=Name meaning ‘bear’

Compleat:
Consumption=Verquisting, vertier
To linger=Leuteren, draalen

Topics: remedy, excess, money

I have in equal balance justly weighed What wrongs our arms may do, what wrongs we suffer, And find our griefs heavier than our offences.

PLAY: King Henry IV Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Archbishop
CONTEXT:
Wherefore do I this? So the question stands.
Briefly, to this end: we are all diseased,
And with our surfeiting and wanton hours
Have brought ourselves into a burning fever,
And we must bleed for it; of which disease
Our late King Richard, being infected, died.
But, my most noble Lord of Westmoreland,
I take not on me here as a physician,
Nor do I as an enemy to peace
Troop in the throngs of military men,
But rather show awhile like fearful war
To diet rank minds sick of happiness
And purge th’ obstructions which begin to stop
Our very veins of life. Hear me more plainly.
I have in equal balance justly weighed
What wrongs our arms may do, what wrongs we suffer,
And find our griefs heavier than our offences.

DUTCH:
Ik heb op juiste schalen streng gewogen,
Wat leed onze oorlog brengt, wat leed wij lijden,
En vind de grieven zwaarder dan ‘t vergrijp.

MORE:
Surfeiting=Gluttony, self-indulgence
Bleed=Be bled
Take on me=Assume the role of
Rank=Sick, corrupted, morbid

Compleat:
To bleed one=Iemand bloed aftappen, laaten; bloedlaating, bloeding
To surfeit (satiate or glut)=Ergens zat van worden, het moede worden
Surfeiting=Overlaading van de maag

Topics: excess, judgment, remedy, resolution

I must excuse what cannot be amended

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 4.7
SPEAKER: Aufidius
CONTEXT:
LIEUTENANT
I do not know what witchcraft’s in him, but
Your soldiers use him as the grace ’fore meat,
Their talk at table, and their thanks at end;
And you are darken’d in this action, sir,
Even by your own.
AUFIDIUS
I cannot help it now,
Unless, by using means, I lame the foot
Of our design. He bears himself more proudlier,
Even to my person, than I thought he would
When first I did embrace him: yet his nature
In that’s no changeling; and I must excuse
What cannot be amended.

DUTCH:
Doch zijn wezen
Verzaakt hij hierin niet; ik moet verschoonen,
Wat ik niet beet’ren kan.

MORE:
Proverb: What cannot be altered must be borne not blamed
Proverb: To be no changeling

Changeling=Sense shifter, inconstant, turncoat, fickle (Arden)
Darkened=Eclipsed, put into the shade
For your particular=For you personally
Compleat:
Changeling=Een wissel-kind, verruild kind
Particular=Byzonder, zonderling, byzonderheid
To darken=Verduisteren, verdonkeren

Topics: remedy, understanding, regret, plans/intentions, proverbs and idioms

I’ll answer him by law: I’ll not budge an inch, boy

PLAY: The Taming of the Shrew
ACT/SCENE: Ind 1
SPEAKER: Sly
CONTEXT:
SLY
Y’are a baggage, the Slys are no rogues. Look in the
chronicles—we came in with Richard Conqueror. Therefore
paucas pallabris: let the world slide. Sessa!
HOSTESS
You will not pay for the glasses you have burst?
SLY
No, not a denier. Go by, Saint Jeronimy. Go to thy cold
bed and warm thee.
HOSTESS
I know my remedy. I must go fetch the thirdborough.
SLY
Third, or fourth, or fifth borough, I’ll answer him by law.
I’ll not budge an inch, boy. Let him come, and kindly.

DUTCH:
Doe dat, en zijn moer en zijn grootjen er bij; ik zal hem
naar de wet te woord staan; ik ga geen duimbreed van
mijn plaats, jongen; laat hem maar komen, en fatsoenlijk
ook.

MORE:
Proverb: He came in with the Conqueror

Slide=Take its course
Denier=French coin of little value
Richard=Mistake for William the Conqueror
Jeronimy=Mistake for St. Jerome (Hieronymous) or cross between St Jerome and Hieronimo
Thirdborough=Peace keeping officer
Fifth borough=Paris officer
Kindly=Welcome
Compleat:
Rogue=Een Schelm, fielt
To play the rogue=Guytery aanrechten
Slide=Glyen

Burgersdijk notes:
Richard den Veroveraar . Hij meent natuurljjk Willem den Veroveraar, met wien zoovelen van den oudsten adel in bet land kwamen . – Het paucas pallabris is verdraaid uit het Spaansche pocas palabras, weinig woorden! evenals sessa uit het Spaansche cesa, houd op, stil! twee uitheemsche
uitdrukkingen, toen, blijkens andere tooneelspelen van dien tjjd, in zwang; ook Brummel gebruikt het woord palabras in „Veel leven om niets”, 3.5

Ga weg, Jeronimus. Deze woorden zijn genomen uit KYD’S Spaansche Tragedie, toen ter tijd aan ieder schouwburgbezoeker bekend, zoodat zeker de aanhaling dadelijk opgemerkt werd. In de folio staat „S . Ieronimie”; de S wordt door de uitgevers der Cambridge- en Globe-edition voor een vraagteeken gehouden, dat voor uitroepingsteeken gebezigd werd, en
zoo is hier vertaald. Doch misschien is het beter de S als eene werkelijke S, dus als eene verkorting van Saint, te beschouwen en te vertalen : „ga weg, Sint Jeronimus!” zoodat de dronkaard den held der Sp . Tragedie met den heiligen Hieronymus verwart.

Ik ga den schout halen. In de folio staat : I must go fetch the Headborough . Headborough is een konstabel, een policie-agent. Blijkbaar moet dit woord vervangen worden, zooals in alle uitgaven geschiedt, door thirdborough;
dit blijkt uit Sly’s antwoord Third or fourth, or fifth borough.
Thirdborough was een onderkonstabel, of nagenoeg gelijk met headborough. In The Constable’s Guide (1771) leest men : „There are in several counties of this realm other officers ; that is, by other titles, but not much inferior to our constables ; as, in Warwickshire, a thirdborough . – In de vertaling moest bet antwoord van Sly gewijzigd worden ; hij spreekt hier van den schout als van
een soort van duivel . – Hij richt verder in zijn dronkenschap het woord tot den knecht van het bierhuis.

Topics: proverbs and idioms, invented or popularised, remedy

If he mend, he is no longer dishonest; if he cannot, let the botcher mend him. Anything that’s mended is but patched

PLAY: Twelfth Night
ACT/SCENE: 1.5
SPEAKER:
CONTEXT:
OLIVIA
Go to, you’re a dry fool. I’ll no more of you.
Besides, you grow dishonest.
FOOL
Two faults, madonna, that drink and good counsel will
amend. For give the dry fool drink, then is the fool not
dry. Bid the dishonest man mend himself. If he mend, he
is no longer dishonest. If he cannot, let the botcher
mend him. Anything that’s mended is but patched. Virtue
that transgresses is but patched with sin, and sin that
amends is but patched with virtue. If that this simple
syllogism will serve, so. If it will not, what remedy?
As there is no true cuckold but calamity, so beauty’s a
flower. The lady bade take away the fool. Therefore, I
say again, take her away.

DUTCH:
Alles wat verbeterd wordt, is maar gelapt:
de deugd, die uit het spoor raakt, wordt maar met zonde
gelapt, en de zonde, die zich verbetert, wordt maar met
deugd gelapt.

MORE:
Proverb: Beauty fades like a flower

Go to=Term of impatience
Dry=Dull
Mend=Reform
Botcher=Cobbler or mender of old clothes (See Coriolanus, 2.1)
Syllogism=Reasoning (from two different premises)
Compleat:
Dry=Droog
To mend=Verbeteren, beteren; verstellen, lappen
To mend a fault=Een fout verbeteren
Botcher=Een lapper, knoeijer, boetelaar, broddelaar
Syllogism=Een sluytreden, bewysreeden, zynde een besluit ‘t welk uyt twee voorgaande stellingen getrokken wordt, gelyk als:
Alle ondeugd is zonde
Bedrog is een ondeugd
Derhalven in bedrog zonde.

Burgersdijk notes:
Twee gebreken, madonna. Alleen in dit stuk komt bij Sh. de titel madonna voor.

Topics: proverbs and idioms, appearance, advice, remedy, flaw/fault

If that this simple syllogism will serve, so. If it will not, what remedy?

PLAY: Twelfth Night
ACT/SCENE: 1.5
SPEAKER: Fool
CONTEXT:
OLIVIA
Go to, you’re a dry fool. I’ll no more of you.
Besides, you grow dishonest.
FOOL
Two faults, madonna, that drink and good counsel will
amend. For give the dry fool drink, then is the fool not
dry. Bid the dishonest man mend himself. If he mend, he
is no longer dishonest. If he cannot, let the botcher
mend him. Anything that’s mended is but patched. Virtue
that transgresses is but patched with sin, and sin that
amends is but patched with virtue. If that this simple
syllogism will serve, so. If it will not, what remedy?
As there is no true cuckold but calamity, so beauty’s a
flower. The lady bade take away the fool. Therefore, I
say again, take her away.

DUTCH:
Kan deze eenvoudige gevolgtrekking helpen,
goed! zoo niet, wat te doen? Zoo waar er geen
echte hoorndrager is behalve de ellende, zoo is de schoonheid een bloem. —
De jonkvrouw wilde den zotskap weg
hebben, daarom, zeg ik nog eens, brengt haar weg.

MORE:
Proverb: Beauty fades like a flower

Burgersdijk notes:
Twee gebreken, madonna. Alleen in dit stuk komt bij Sh. de titel madonna voor.

Topics: proverbs and idioms, appearance, advice, remedy, flaw/fault

Is there no way to cure this? No new device to beat this from his brains?

PLAY: King Henry VIII
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Cardinal Wolsey
CONTEXT:
CARDINAL WOLSEY
What should this mean?
What sudden anger’s this? how have I reap’d it?
He parted frowning from me, as if ruin
Leap’d from his eyes: so looks the chafed lion
Upon the daring huntsman that has gall’d him;
Then makes him nothing. I must read this paper;
I fear, the story of his anger. ‘Tis so;
This paper has undone me: ’tis the account
Of all that world of wealth I have drawn together
For mine own ends; indeed, to gain the popedom,
And fee my friends in Rome. O negligence!
Fit for a fool to fall by: what cross devil
Made me put this main secret in the packet
I sent the king? Is there no way to cure this?
No new device to beat this from his brains?
I know ’twill stir him strongly; yet I know
A way, if it take right, in spite of fortune
Will bring me off again. What’s this? ‘To the Pope!’
The letter, as I live, with all the business
I writ to’s holiness. Nay then, farewell!
I have touch’d the highest point of all my greatness;
And, from that full meridian of my glory,
I haste now to my setting: I shall fall
Like a bright exhalation in the evening,
And no man see me more.

DUTCH:
Is er geen middel,
Geen kunstgreep, die dit wegdrijft uit zijn brein?

MORE:
Chafed=Angry
Galled=Injured
Undone=Ruined
Fee=Pay
Packet=Package of papers
Device=Scheme, plot
Stir=Irritate
Meridian=Top point
Exhalation=Meteor
Compleat:
Chafed=Verhit, vertoornd, gevreeven
To gall=’t Vel afschuuren, smarten
To gall the enemy=Den vyand benaauwen
Undone=Ontdaan, losgemaakt, bedurven
To fee=Beloonen, betaalen, de handen vullen, de oogen uytsteken door giften
Device=List; uytvindsel, gedichtsel
Stir=Gewoel, geraas, beroerte, oproer
Meridian=Middagslyn

Topics: ruin, negligence, plans/intentions, remedy

It is no little thing to make mine eyes to sweat compassion

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 5.3
SPEAKER:
CONTEXT:
AUFIDIUS
I was moved withal.
CORIOLANUS
I dare be sworn you were:
And, sir, it is no little thing to make
Mine eyes to sweat compassion. But, good sir,
What peace you’ll make, advise me: for my part,
I’ll not to Rome, I’ll back with you; and pray you,
Stand to me in this cause. O mother! wife!
AUFIDIUS
I am glad thou hast set thy mercy and thy honour
At difference in thee: out of that I’ll work
Myself a former fortune.
CORIOLANUS
Ay, by and by;
But we will drink together; and you shall bear
A better witness back than words, which we,
On like conditions, will have counter-seal’d.
Come, enter with us. Ladies, you deserve
To have a temple built you: all the swords
In Italy, and her confederate arms,
Could not have made this peace.

DUTCH:
Ik zweer er op, dit waart gij;
En, man, ‘t is niets gerings, te maken, dat
Mijn oog erbarmen drupt.

MORE:
Make eyes to sweat compassion=Cry, force tears
Work myself=Gain for myself
Former fortune=Fortune as before
Countersealed=Both ratified
Confederate=United
Compleat:
To move to compassion=Tot medelyden beweegen
Confederate=Een bondgenoot, bondverwant, metverwant

Topics: pity, emotion and mood, dispute, remedy, respect

Let me have audience for a word or two

PLAY: As You Like It
ACT/SCENE: 5.4
SPEAKER: Jaques
CONTEXT:
JAQUES DE BOYS
Let me have audience for a word or two.
I am the second son of old Sir Rowland,
That bring these tidings to this fair assembly.
Duke Frederick, hearing how that every day
Men of great worth resorted to this forest,
Addressed a mighty power, which were on foot
In his own conduct, purposely to take
His brother here and put him to the sword.
And to the skirts of this wild wood he came,
Where, meeting with an old religious man,
After some question with him, was converted
Both from his enterprise and from the world,
His crown bequeathing to his banished brother,
And all their lands restored to them again
That were with him exiled. This to be true
I do engage my life.

DUTCH:
Wil voor een woord of twee gehoor mij geven;

MORE:
Audience=Your attention
Addressed=Assembled, prepared
In his own conduct=Led by him
Take=Arrest
Question=Conversation
Engage=Pledge
Compleat:
Audience=Gehoor
To address=Vervoegen, toeschikken, bestellen
Conduct=Beleid, bestier
To engage=Verbinden, verplichten, verpanden

Topics: news, conflict, remedy, resolution

Let’s make us med’cines of our great revenge

PLAY: Macbeth
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: Malcolm
CONTEXT:
Be comforted.
Let’s make us med’cines of our great revenge,
To cure this deadly grief.

DUTCH:
Zoek troost; dat onze felle wraak u heeling
Van deze doodwond breng’!

MORE:
Allusion to the proverb: “A desperate disease must have a desperate cure” (1539, Tilley)

Topics: revenge, grief, remedy

Mercy is not itself, that oft looks so

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Escalus
CONTEXT:
JUSTICE
Lord Angelo is severe.
ESCALUS
It is but needful:
Mercy is not itself, that oft looks so;
Pardon is still the nurse of second woe:
But yet,—poor Claudio! There is no remedy.
Come, sir.

DUTCH:
Genade is, vaak betoond, niet meer genade;
Vergiff’nis wordt staag voedster van het kwade.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Needful=Requisite, indispensable, necessary
Nurse=Metaphorically, that which brings up, nourishes, or causes to grow
Woe=Extreme calamity and grief (second=secondary, follow-up)
Compleat:
Severe=streng, straf
A severe judge=Een gestreng Rechter

Topics: mercy, proverbs and idioms, remedy

Much rain wears the marble

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 3
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Gloucester
CONTEXT:
LADY GREY
What you command, that rests in me to do.
KING EDWARD IV
But you will take exceptions to my boon.
LADY GREY
No, gracious lord, except I cannot do it.
KING EDWARD IV
Ay, but thou canst do what I mean to ask.
LADY GREY
Why, then I will do what your grace commands.
GLOUCESTER
[to CLARENCE] He plies her hard; and much rain
wears the marble.

DUTCH:
Hij dringt haar sterk, veel regen holt den steen.

MORE:

Proverb: Constant dropping will wear the stone

Rests in me=Is within my power
My boon=Favour (that I will ask)
Except=Unless
Plies=Keeps working on, persists with

Compleat:
Boon=Een verzoek, geschenk, gunst, voordeel
To ply=Wakker op iets aanvallen
He plies me too hard=Hy valt my al te hard hy wil al te veel werks van my hebben

Topics: proverbs and idioms, authority, remedy

Must I repent? I cannot do it better than in gyves, desired more than constrained

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 5.4
SPEAKER: Posthumus
CONTEXT:
JAILER
You shall not now be stol’n; you have locks upon you.
So graze as you find pasture
SECOND JAILER
Ay, or a stomach
POSTHUMUS
Most welcome, bondage! for thou art a way,
think, to liberty: yet am I better
Than one that’s sick o’ the gout; since he had rather
Groan so in perpetuity than be cured
By the sure physician, death, who is the key
To unbar these locks. My conscience, thou art fetter’d
More than my shanks and wrists: you good gods, give me
The penitent instrument to pick that bolt,
Then, free for ever! Is’t enough I am sorry?
So children temporal fathers do appease;
Gods are more full of mercy. Must I repent?
I cannot do it better than in gyves,
Desired more than constrain’d: to satisfy,
If of my freedom ’tis the main part, take
No stricter render of me than my all.
I know you are more clement than vile men,
Who of their broken debtors take a third,
A sixth, a tenth, letting them thrive again
On their abatement: that’s not my desire:
For Imogen’s dear life take mine; and though
‘Tis not so dear, yet ’tis a life; you coin’d it:
‘Tween man and man they weigh not every stamp;
Though light, take pieces for the figure’s sake:
You rather mine, being yours: and so, great powers,
If you will take this audit, take this life,
And cancel these cold bonds. O Imogen!
I’ll speak to thee in silence.

DUTCH:
Verlangt gij
Berouw? toon ik dit meer ooit dan in keet’nen,
Gewenscht, niet opgedrongen

MORE:
You shall not now be stolen=Alluding to the custom of puting a lock on a horse’s leg when it is put out to pasture (Johnson)
Penitent instrument=A means of freeing conscience of its guilt (Rolfe)
Groan=To utter a mournful voice in pain or sorrow
Temporal=Pertaining to this life or this world, not spiritual, not eternal
Gyves=fetters
Render=A surrender, a giving up
Stricter=More rigorous
Stamp=Coin with the sovereign’s head impressed
Though light, take pieces…=It was common practice for forgers lighten the weight of coins in order to conserve material.
Take this audit=Accept this settlement of accounts
Clement=Disposed to kindness, mild
Compleat:
Gyves=Boeijen, kluisters
Constrained=Bedwongen, gedrongen, gepraamd
Strict=Gestreng
Clement=Goedertieren, zachtzinnig
Audit=Het nazien der Rekeningen
Penitent=Boetvaardig, berouw toonend
Temporal (secular, not spiritual)=Waereldlyk

Burgersdijk notes:
“Nu steelt u niemand, met dat blok aan ‘t been; Graas nu zoover gij weide hebt”. Zooals men wel een paard in de weide met een ketting en slot bevestigt opdat het niet gestolen worde of wegloope.

Topics: regret, guilt, remedy, death, conscience

My conscience, thou art fettered more than my shanks and wrists: you good gods, give me the penitent instrument to pick that bolt

DUTCH:
Mijn geweten,
Gij draagt meer kluisters dan mijn pols en enkels;
O, goden, moog’ mijn boete ‘t werktuig zijn,
Die kluisters te oop nen; dan, voor eeuwig Vrij!

Topics: regret, guilt, remedy, conscience, debt/obligation

Nay, ’tis strange, ’tis very strange, that is the brief and the tedious of it

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Parolles
CONTEXT:
PAROLLES
Nay, ’tis strange, ’tis very strange, that is the
brief and the tedious of it; and he’s of a most
facinerious spirit that will not acknowledge it to be
the—
LAFEW
Very hand of heaven.
PAROLLES
Ay, so I say.
LAFEW
In a most weak—and debile minister, great power, great
transcendence: which should, indeed, give us a further
use to be made than alone the recovery of the king, as
to be—generally thankful.
PAROLLES
I would have said it; you say well. Here comes the
king.

DUTCH:
Ja, ‘t is wonderbaar, ‘t is recht wonderbaar, dat is het korte en het lange er van ; en hij is zeker een vervloekte vrijgeest, die niet wil erkennen, dat het –

MORE:
Brief and tedious=Short and long
Facinerious=Wicked
Debile=Feeble
Minister=Agent
Generally=Universally
Compleat:
Brief=Kort
Tedious=Langwylig; verdrietig
Debiltiy=Zwakte, zieklykheyd

Topics: custom, authority, remedy

O, he’s a limb that has but a disease; mortal, to cut it off; to cure it, easy

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Menenius
CONTEXT:
SICINIUS
He’s a disease that must be cut away.
MENENIUS
O, he’s a limb that has but a disease;
Mortal, to cut it off; to cure it, easy.
What has he done to Rome that’s worthy death?
Killing our enemies, the blood he hath lost—
Which, I dare vouch, is more than that he hath,
By many an ounce—he dropp’d it for his country;
And what is left, to lose it by his country,
Were to us all, that do’t and suffer it,
A brand to the end o’ the world.
SICINIUS
This is clean kam.

DUTCH:
Hij is een edel lid, met een gezwel;
Wegsnijding brengt den dood; en ‘t is genees’lijk.

MORE:
Proverb: To go clean cam (awry)

Mortal=Fatal, deadly
Brand=Mark of infamy, stigma
To the end of the world=Eternal
Kam=Awry, twisted. Crooked. Topsy turvy. Perverse or extraordinary (Irish and Welsh cam)
Compleat:
To cast a brand upon one=Iemands eer brandmerken
Mortal=Sterflyk, doodlyk

Burgersdijk notes:
Gebazel! Het Engelsch heeft This is clean kam. “Dit is geheel verkeerd”, tegen den draad in, à contrepoil.

Topics: remedy, understanding, regret, plans/intentions, proverbs and idioms

O, let me teach you how to knit again this scattered corn into one mutual sheaf

PLAY: Titus Andronicus
ACT/SCENE: 5.3
SPEAKER: Marcus Andronicus
CONTEXT:
MARCUS ANDRONICUS
You sad-faced men, people and sons of Rome,
By uproar severed, like a flight of fowl
Scattered by winds and high tempestuous gusts,
O, let me teach you how to knit again
This scattered corn into one mutual sheaf,
These broken limbs again into one body;
Lest Rome herself be bane unto herself,
And she whom mighty kingdoms court’sy to,
Like a forlorn and desperate castaway,
Do shameful execution on herself.
But if my frosty signs and chaps of age,
Grave witnesses of true experience,
Cannot induce you to attend my words,

MORE:
CITED IN US LAW: Re the definition of: “fowl”: State v Davis, 72 NJL 345, 61 A.2 (1905)

Topics: cited in law, mercy, remedy, leadership, order/society, conflict

Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie which we ascribe to heaven

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Helen
CONTEXT:
HELEN
Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie,
Which we ascribe to heaven: the fated sky
Gives us free scope, only doth backward pull
Our slow designs when we ourselves are dull.
What power is it which mounts my love so high,
That makes me see, and cannot feed mine eye?
The mightiest space in fortune nature brings
To join like likes and kiss like native things.
Impossible be strange attempts to those
That weigh their pains in sense and do suppose
What hath been cannot be: who ever strove
To show her merit, that did miss her love?
The king’s disease—my project may deceive me,
But my intents are fixed and will not leave me.

DUTCH:
Vaak vinden we in onszelf de hulp en baat,
Die wij den hemel vragen. ‘t Noodlot laat
Den weg ons vrij, en spert dien enkel dan,
Wanneer wij loom en traag zijn, zonder plan.

MORE:
Proverb: Like will to like (“To join like likes”)

Fated=Fateful (see also King Lear “The plagues that hang fated over men’s faults”, 3.2)
Mightiest space in fortune=Greatest difference in social rank
Weigh their pains=Count the cost
In sense=In advance
Miss=Fail to gain
Compleat:
Fated=Door ‘t noodlot beschooren
Sense=Het gevoel; gevoeligheid; besef; reden
To take pains=Moeite doen, arbeid aanwenden

Topics: independence, fate/destiny , remedy, satisfaction, achievement, proverbs and idioms

She did betray me to my own reproof

PLAY:
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Abbess
CONTEXT:
ADRIANA
She did betray me to my own reproof.
Good people, enter and lay hold on him.
ABBESS
No, not a creature enters in my house.
ADRIANA
Then let your servants bring my husband forth.
ABBESS
Neither: he took this place for sanctuary,
And it shall privilege him from your hands
Till I have brought him to his wits again
Or lose my labour in assaying it.
ADRIANA
I will attend my husband, be his nurse,
Diet his sickness, for it is my office
And will have no attorney but myself;
And therefore let me have him home with me.

DUTCH:
Zij heeft mij bitter zelfverwijt gewekt. —
Naar binnen, vrienden! haalt mijn man nu hier!

MORE:
Betray=Expose, confront with
Reproof=Reproach, blame
Privilege=Exempt (keep him out of)
Assaying it=In the attempt
Diet=Treat
Office=Duty
Attorney=Deputy
Compleat:
Betray=Verraaden, beklappen
Reproof=Bestraffing, berisping
Priviledge=Voorrecht, handvest, privilegie
To assay=Beproeven, toetsen, onderstaan, keuren
To diet one=Iemand eenen eet-regel voorschryven
Office=Een Ampt, dienst

Topics: blame, guilt, security, remedy

The robbed that smiles, steals something from the thief

PLAY: Othello
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Duke
CONTEXT:
BRABANTIO
God be with you. I have done.
Please it your grace, on to the state affairs.
I had rather to adopt a child than get it.—
Come hither, Moor.
I here do give thee that with all my heart
Which, but thou hast already, with all my heart
I would keep from thee. For your sake, jewel,
I am glad at soul I have no other child.
For thy escape would teach me tyranny,
To hang clogs on them.— I have done, my lord.
DUKE
Let me speak like yourself and lay a sentence
Which as a grise or step may help these lovers
Into your favour.
When remedies are past the griefs are ended
By seeing the worst which late on hopes depended.
To mourn a mischief that is past and gone
Is the next way to draw new mischief on.
What cannot be preserved when fortune takes,
Patience her injury a mock’ry makes.
The robbed that smiles steals something from the thief,
He robs himself that spends a bootless grief.

DUTCH:
Wie, schoon bestólen, lacht, besteelt den dief,
Wie nutt’loos treurt, zichzelf, tot nieuwe grief.

MORE:
CITED IN US LAW:
Dykes v. State, 264 So.2d 65, 66 n. 1 (Fla. Ct. App. 1972)(Howell, J.).

Proverb: Never grieve for that you cannot help

Grise (grize) (also grice, greese)=Step, degree
Lay a sentence=Apply a maxim
Patience=Endurance
Mockery=Subject of laughter and derision
Bootless=Futile, unavailing
Compleat:
Mockery=Bespotting, spotterny
Bootless=Te vergeefs, vruchteloos
Patience=Geduld, lydzaamheid, verduldigheid

Topics: adversity, regret, cited in law, proverbs and idioms, remedy

There is no need of any such redress, Or if there were, it not belongs to you.

PLAY: King Henry IV Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Westmoreland
CONTEXT:
WESTMORELAND
When ever yet was your appeal denied?
Wherein have you been gallèd by the King?
What peer hath been suborned to grate on you,
That you should seal this lawless bloody book
Of forged rebellion with a seal divine
And consecrate commotion’s bitter edge?
ARCHBISHOP
My brother general, the commonwealth,
To brother born an household cruelty,
I make my quarrel in particular.
WESTMORELAND
There is no need of any such redress,
Or if there were, it not belongs to you.

DUTCH:
Niets geeft het recht om zoo dien eisch te doen,
En ware er recht, dan komt dit u niet toe.

MORE:

Commotion’s bitter edge=The edge of commotion, bitter strife
Consecrate=It was a custom for the Pope to consecrate the general’s sword

Schmidt:
Quarrel=Any dispute or contest that cannot be settled by words; a private difference as well as a dissension and combat for a public cause and on a larger scale

Compleat:
Consecrate=Heiligen, wyen, toewyen
Burgersdijk notes:
Mijn algemeene broeder, onze staat enz. Deze drie regels zijn in het oorspronkelijk zeer gewrongen; de plaats is zeker bedorven, maar de beteekenis is niet twijfelachtig.

Topics: rights, claim, remedy, justification

Therein the patient
Must minister to himself.

PLAY: Macbeth
ACT/SCENE: 5.3
SPEAKER: Doctor
CONTEXT:
MACBETH
Cure her of that.
Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased,
Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow,
Raze out the written troubles of the brain
And with some sweet oblivious antidote
Cleanse the stuffed bosom of that perilous stuff
Which weighs upon the heart?
DOCTOR
Therein the patient
Must minister to himself.
MACBETH
Throw physic to the dogs; I’ll none of it.

DUTCH:
Hier moet de kranke Zichzelf tot arts zijn.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Minister to=Administer (medicines), to prescribe, to order
CITED IN LAW: In a direct quotation or “borrowed eloquence” in White v Chief Constable of the South Yorkshire Police [1999] 1 All ER 1, considering the concepts of foreseeability and psychiatric injury, Lord Hoffmann noted, as the Doctor of Physic tells Macbeth: “therein the patient must minister to himself” (Macbeth Act 5, Scene 3).

Topics: madness, memory, guilt, conscience, remedy

Well you deserve: they well deserve to have, That know the strong’st and surest way to get.

DUTCH:
0, veel verdient gij; — hij verdient te ontvangen,
Die vast en goed den weg weet om te erlangen. —

MORE:

Proverb: They that are bound must obey

Redoubted=Feared, respected (often used to address a monarch)
Want=Fail to provide (a remedy)

Compleat:
Redoubted=Geducht, ontzaglyk
Want=Gebrek

Topics: proverbs and idioms, still in use, statys, remedy, merit

What cannot be eschewed must be embraced

PLAY: The Merry Wives of Windsor
ACT/SCENE:
SPEAKER: Page
CONTEXT:
FORD
Stand not amazed; here is no remedy:
In love the heavens themselves do guide the state;
Money buys lands, and wives are sold by fate.
FALSTAFF
I am glad, though you have ta’en a special stand to
strike at me, that your arrow hath glanced.
PAGE
Well, what remedy? Fenton, heaven give thee joy!
What cannot be eschewed must be embraced.

DUTCH:
Wat nu? — ‘t Zij. — Fenton, zegene u de hemel!
Wat niet te ontgaan is, nu, dat moet men dragen.

MORE:
Proverb: What cannot be cured must be endured

Amazed=Bewildered
Glanced=Missed the mark
Compleat:
Amazed=Ontzet, verbaasd, ontsteld
Glance=Eventjes raaken

Topics: proverbs and idioms|fate/destiny|love|remedy

What shalt thou expect, to be depender on a thing that leans

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 1.5
SPEAKER: Queen
CONTEXT:
QUEEN
Weeps she still, say’st thou? Dost thou think in time
She will not quench and let instructions enter
Where folly now possesses? Do thou work:
When thou shalt bring me word she loves my son,
I’ll tell thee on the instant thou art then
As great as is thy master, greater, for
His fortunes all lie speechless and his name
Is at last gasp: return he cannot, nor
Continue where he is: to shift his being
Is to exchange one misery with another,
And every day that comes comes to decay
A day’s work in him. What shalt thou expect,
To be depender on a thing that leans,
Who cannot be new built, nor has no friends,
So much as but to prop him?
Thou takest up
Thou know’st not what; but take it for thy labour:
It is a thing I made, which hath the king
Five times redeem’d from death: I do not know
What is more cordial. Nay, I prethee, take it;
It is an earnest of a further good
That I mean to thee. Tell thy mistress how
The case stands with her; do’t as from thyself.
Think what a chance thou changest on, but think
Thou hast thy mistress still, to boot, my son,
Who shall take notice of thee: I’ll move the king
To any shape of thy preferment such
As thou’lt desire; and then myself, I chiefly,
That set thee on to this desert, am bound
To load thy merit richly. Call my women:
Think on my words.
A sly and constant knave,
Not to be shaked; the agent for his master
And the remembrancer of her to hold
The hand-fast to her lord. I have given him that
Which, if he take, shall quite unpeople her
Of liegers for her sweet, and which she after,
Except she bend her humour, shall be assured
To taste of too.
So, so: well done, well done:
The violets, cowslips, and the primroses,
Bear to my closet. Fare thee well, Pisanio;
Think on my words.

DUTCH:
Want zijn geluk ligt spraak’loos neer, zijn naam
Is stervende. Hij kan niet wederkeeren,
Niet blijven waar hij is.

MORE:
Quench=Grow cool, lose zeal
Shift his being=Relocate, change abode
Leans=Inclining, about to fall
Prop=Support, prop up
Compleat:
Quench=Blusschen, uytblusschen, lesschen, dempen
To lean=Leunen, leenen, steunen
Prop=Een stut, steun. To prop=Ondersteunen, stutten

Topics: sorrow, intellect, remedy, fate/fortune, achievement

What’s past and what’s to come is strewed with husks and formless ruin of oblivion

PLAY: Troilus and Cressida
ACT/SCENE: 4.5
SPEAKER: Agamemnon
CONTEXT:
AGAMEMNON
Worthy of arms! as welcome as to one
That would be rid of such an enemy;
But that’s no welcome: understand more clear,
What’s past and what’s to come is strewed with husks
And formless ruin of oblivion;
But in this extant moment, faith and troth,
Strained purely from all hollow bias-drawing,
Bids thee, with most divine integrity,
From heart of very heart, great Hector, welcome.

DUTCH:
Doch dit, geen welkom is ‘t; versta dus beter:
Wat was, wat komt, is door vergetelheids
Onkenbaar puin bestelpt, door kaf verborgen;
Maar in deze’ oogenblik heet trouw en waarheid,
Van alle boze valschheid vlekk’loos rein,
Met al de oprechtheid, die men Goden wijdt,
Uit ‘s harten grond u, groote Hector, welkom.

MORE:
Extant=Present
Hollow=Insincere
Bias-drawing=Prejudice
Compleat:
Extant=Voor handen, in weezen
Hollow=Hol
Bias=Overhelling, overzwaajing, neyging

Topics: conflict, resolution, remedy

When in the “why” and the “wherefore” is neither rhyme nor reason?

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Dromio of Syracuse
CONTEXT:
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
Shall I tell you why?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Ay, sir, and wherefore, for they say every why hath a wherefore.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
“Why” first: for flouting me; and then “wherefore”: for urging it the second time to me.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Was there ever any man thus beaten out of season,
When in the “why” and the “wherefore” is neither rhyme nor reason?
Well, sir, I thank you.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
Thank me, sir, for what?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Marry, sir, for this something that you gave me for nothing.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
I’ll make you amends next, to give you nothing for something. But say, sir, is it dinnertime?

DUTCH:
In geen van deze twee daaroms is rijm noch slot noch zin.
Toch, heer, dank ik u.

MORE:
Proverb: Neither rhyme nor reason
Proverb: Every why has a wherefore/There is never a why but there is a wherefore
Proverb: My stomach has struck dinnertime/twelve (rung noon)

Out of season=Unfairly, unseasonably
Dinnertime: shortly before noon
Compleat:
Why and wherefore=Waarom
Out of season=Uit de tyd
To make amends=Vergoeding doen, vergoeden
To flout=Bespotten, beschimpen

Topics: invented or popularised, still in use, reason, proverbs and idioms, remedy

Wise men ne’er sit and wail their loss but cheerly seek how to redress their harms

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 3
ACT/SCENE: 5.4
SPEAKER: Queen Margaret
CONTEXT:
Great lords, wise men ne’er sit and wail their loss,
But cheerly seek how to redress their harms.
What though the mast be now blown overboard,
The cable broke, the holding-anchor lost,
And half our sailors swallow’d in the flood?
Yet lives our pilot still. Is’t meet that he
Should leave the helm and like a fearful lad
With tearful eyes add water to the sea
And give more strength to that which hath too much,
Whiles, in his moan, the ship splits on the rock,
Which industry and courage might have saved?

DUTCH:
Geen wijze zit en jammert om verliezen;
Neen, moedig streeft hij naar ‘t herstel er van.

MORE:

Proverb: One must not bemoan (wail) a mischief but find out a remedy for it
Proverb: To cast water into the sea (Thames)

Wail=Bemoan
Cheerly=Cheerfully
Redress=Remedy
Meet=Appropriate
In his moan=While he laments

Compleat:
To bewail=Beweenen, beschreijen
Redress=Herstelling, verhelping, verbetering, vergoeding, verligting
Meet=Dienstig

Topics: adversity, proverbs and idioms, remedy, hope/optimism

You take me in too dolorous a sense, for I spake to you for your comfort

PLAY: Antony and Cleopatra
ACT/SCENE: 4.2
SPEAKER: Antony
CONTEXT:
ENOBARBUS
What mean you, sir,
To give them this discomfort? Look, they weep,
And I, an ass, am onion-eyed. For shame,
Transform us not to women.
ANTONY
Ho, ho, ho!
Now the witch take me if I meant it thus!
Grace grow where those drops fall! My hearty friends,
You take me in too dolorous a sense,
For I spake to you for your comfort, did desire you
To burn this night with torches. Know, my hearts,
I hope well of tomorrow, and will lead you
Where rather I’ll expect victorious life
Than death and honour. Let’s to supper, come,
And drown consideration.

DUTCH:
De Booze haal’ mij, als ik ‘t zoo bedoelde!
Heil spruite uit deze droppels! Liefste vrienden,
Gij neemt het veel te droevig op; ik wilde
U troost inspreken, u door fakkelglans
De nacht verdelgen doen.

MORE:
Onion-eyed=Tearful
Drops=Tears
Grace=Herb-of-grace (the plant Ruta Graveolens)
Hearty=Warmhearted
Dolorous=Sad
Consideration=Serious thought
Compleat:
Dolorous=Pynlyk, droevig
Drops=Druppelen
Hearty=Hartig, openhartig
Dolorous=Pynlyk, droevig
Consideration=Overweeging, overdenking, aanmerking, naadenking, inzigt

Topics: remedy, hope/optimism

Your bidding shall I do effectually

PLAY: Titus Andronicus
ACT/SCENE: 4.4
SPEAKER: Aemilius
CONTEXT:
TAMORA
If Tamora entreat him, then he will:
For I can smooth and fill his aged ear
With golden promises; that, were his heart
Almost impregnable, his old ears deaf,
Yet should both ear and heart obey my tongue.
Go thou before, be our ambassador:
Say that the emperor requests a parley
Of warlike Lucius, and appoint the meeting
Even at his father’s house, the old Andronicus.
SATURNINUS
Aemilius, do this message honourably:
And if he stand on hostage for his safety,
Bid him demand what pledge will please him best.
AEMILIUS
Your bidding shall I do effectually.

DUTCH:
Ik zal met alle zorg mijn last volbrengen.

MORE:
Entreat=Asks
Smooth=Flatter
Stand on=Demand
Hostage=Security
Pledge=Surety
Effectually=Efficaciously
Compleat:
To entreat=Bidden, ernstig verzoeken
Smooth=Glad maaken, stryken; Iemand streelen, liefkoozen
To stand (or insist) upon one’s privilege=Op zyne voorrechten staan, dezelven vorderen
Hostage=Gyzelaar; pandsman
Pledge=Pand, onderpand, borg
Effectually=Krachtiglyk met der daad

Topics: flattery, honour, persuasion, remedy