WHISPERS.—Whispers that, tinged with friendship, doubly would;
Pity, that injures; and concern, that
kills.
Shenstone.—Elegy XXIII. Verse 18.
Cut men’s throats with whisperings.
Ben Jonson.—Sejanus, Act I. Scene 1.
WHISTLE.—Hear the shrill whistle, which doth order give
To sounds confus’d.
Shakespeare.—King Henry V. Chorus to Act III.
He trudg’d along, unknowing what he sought,
And whistled as he went, for want of thought.
Dryden.—Cymon and Iphigenia.
WHY.—Whatever sceptic could inquire for,
For every why he had a wherefore.
Butler.—Hudibras, Part I. Canto I. Line 131.
The why is plain as way to parish church.
Shakespeare.—As You Like it, Act II. Scene 7. (Jaques to Duke S.)
WIDOW.—Widows are a study you will never be any proficient in.
Fielding.—Love in Several Masques, Act IV. Scene 9.
And, widow, as I say, be your own friend;
Your husband left you wealthy, ay, and wise;
Continue so, sweet
duck, continue so.
Beaumont and Fletcher.—The Scornful Lady, Act I. Scene 3.
WIDOW.—
She—
Presents her weed, well fancied, at the ball,
And raffles for the death’s-head on the ring.
Dr. Young.—Night V. Line 581.
A death’s face in a ring.
Shakespeare.—Love’s Labour’s Lost, Act V. Scene 2. (Biron to Dumain.)
WIFE.—I will fasten on this sleeve of thine:
Thou art an elm, my husband, I, a vine.
Shakespeare.—Comedy of Errors, Act II. Scene 2. (Adriana.)
So all those false alarms of strife
Between the husband and the wife,
And little quarrels often prove
To be
but new recruits of love.
Butler.—Hudibras, Part III. Canto I. Line 903.
Body and soul, like peevish man and wife,
United jar, and yet are loth to part.
Young.—Night II. Line 175.