A coward is worse than a cup of sack with lime in it.
H. IV. PT. I. ii. 4.

Slander'd to death by villains;

That dare as well answer a man, indeed,
As I dare take a serpent by the tongue;
Boys, apes, braggarts, jacks, milksops.

M. A. v. 1.

Well, for two of them, I know them to be as true bred cowards as ever turned back; and for the third, if he fight longer than he sees reason, I'll forswear arms.

H. IV. PT. I. i. 2.

How many cowards, whose hearts are all as false
As stairs of sand, wear yet upon their chins
The beards of Hercules, and frowning Mars;
Who, inward search'd, have livers white as milk!
And these assume but valour's excrement,
To render them redoubted.

M. V. iii. 2.

A plague of all cowards, I say, and a vengeance too! marry and amen! H. IV. PT. I. ii. 4.

The mouse ne'er shunn'd the cat, as they did budge

From rascals worse than they.

Reproach and everlasting shame
Sit mocking in our plumes.

Did I but suspect a fearful man,
He should have leave to go away betimes;
Lest, in our need, he might infect another,
And make him of like spirit to himself.
If any such be here, as God forbid!
Let him depart before we need his help.

C. i. 6.

H.V. iv. 5.

H.VI. PT. III. v. 4.

To say the truth, this fact was infamous,
And ill-beseeming any common man;
Much more a knight, a captain, and a leader.

We took him for a coward, but he's the very devil incardinate.

H.VI. PT. 1. iv. 1.

T. N. v. 1.

Cym. iv. 2.

Cowards father cowards, and base things sire base :
Nature hath meal, and bran; contempt, and grace.

All the contagion of the south light on you!

You shames of Rome! You herd of,-Boils and plagues
Plaster you o'er; that you may be abhorred
Farther than seen, and one infect another
Against the wind a mile!

C. 1. 4.

COWARD,-continued.

He which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse:
We would not die in that man's company,
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
Perish the man whose mind is backward now.

H.V. iv. 3.

H.V. iv. 3.

He's a great quarreller; and, but that he hath the gift of a coward, to allay the gust he hath in quarrelling, 'tis thought among the prudent, he would quickly have the gift of a grave.

T. N. i. 3.

In a retreat he outruns any lacquey; marry, in coming on, he has the cramp.

You are the hare of whom the proverb goes,
Whose valour plucks dead lions by the beard.
Plenty and peace, breed cowards: hardness ever
Of hardiness is mother.

I have fled myself; and have instructed cowards
To run, and show their shoulders.

A. W. iv. 3.

K. J. ii. 1.

Cym. iii. 6.

A. C. iii. 9.

Foul-spoken coward! that thunderest with thy tongue,
And with thy weapon nothing dar'st perform. Tit. And. ii. 1.
He excels his brother for a coward, yet his brother is
reputed one of the best that is.
A. W. iv. 3.

Turn head and stop pursuit; for coward dogs
Most spend their mouths, when what they seem to threaten
Runs far before them.

So cowards fight when they can fly no further:
As doves do peck the falcon's piercing talons;
So desperate thieves, all hopeless of their lives,
Breathe out invectives 'gainst the officers.

H.V. ii. 4.

H. VI. PT. III. i. 4.

Cowards die many times before their deaths: The valiant never taste of death but once. COXCOMB (See also FRIBBLE).

J.C. ii. 2.

Believe me, an absolute gentleman, full of most excel-
lent differences, of very soft society, and great showing:
indeed, to speak feelingly of him, he is the card or calendar
of gentry, for you shall find in him the continent of what
part a gentleman would see.
H. v. 2.

A man in all the world's new fashion planted,
That hath a mint of phrases in his brain :

One, whom the music of his own vain tongue
Doth ravish like enchanting harmony;

A man of compliments, whom right and wrong
Have chose as umpire of their mutiny.

L. L. i. 1.

COXCOMB,-continued.

O murd'rous coxcomb! what should such a fool

Do with so good a wife?

O most profane coxcomb!

0. v. 2. L. L. iv. 3.

Thus has he and many more of the same breed, that, I know, the drossy age dotes on, only got the tune of the time, and outward habit of encounter; a kind of yeasty collection, which carries them through and through the most fond and winnowed opinions; and do but blow them to their trial, the bubbles are out.

A barren-spirited fellow.

COZENERS.

H. v. 2.

T.C. iv. 1.

And, indeed, Sir, there are cozeners abroad; therefore it behoves men to be wary.

CRAFT, EXPLODED.

My antient incantations are too weak.

CREDULITY.

Thus credulous fools are caught!

W.T. iv. 3.

H.VI. PT. I. v. 3.

0. iv. 1.

But he that will believe all that they say, shall never be saved by half that they do.

CRIMES.

All have not offended:

A. C. v. 2.

For those that were, it is not square, to take,

On those that are, revenges: crimes, like lands,
Are not inherited.

T. A. v. 5.

How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds,
Makes ill deeds done!

K.J. iv. 2.

UNPUNISHED.

For we bid this be done,

When evil deeds have their permissive pass,
And not their punishment.

CRISIS.

Ha! is it come to this!

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.

M. M. i. 4.

K. L. i. 4.

Things at the worst will cease; or else climb upward
To what they were before.

CRITICAL.

I am nothing if not critical.

K. J. iii. 4.

M. iv. 2.

O. ii. 1.

CROAKER.

I would croak like a raven; I would bode, I would bode.

CROWN, REGAL (See also KINGS).

O polish'd perturbation! golden care!
That keeps the ports of slumber open wide
To many a watchful night! sleep with it now!
Yet not so sound, and half so deeply sweet
As he, whose brow with homely biggin bound,
Snores out the watch of night.

T.C. v. 2.

H. IV. PT. II. iv. 4.

A thousand flatteries sit within thy crown,
Whose compass is no bigger than thy head;
And, yet incaged in so small a verge,
The waste is no whit lesser than thy land.
Do but think

How sweet a thing it is to wear a crown;
Within whose circuit is Elysium,

R. II. ii. 1.

And all that poets feign of bliss and joy. H. IV. PT. III. i. 2.
Heaven knows, my son,

By what by-paths, and indirect crook'd ways,

I met this crown; and I myself know well,

How troublesome it sat upon my head. H. IV. PT. II. iv. 4.

I spake unto the crown as having sense,

And thus upbraided it: The care on thee depending,

Hath fed upon the body of my father ;

Therefore thou, best of gold, art worst of gold;

Other, less fine in carat, is more precious,

Preserving life in med'cine potable;

But thou, most fine, most honour'd, most renown'd,

Hast eat thy bearer up. Thus, my most royal liege,

Accusing it, I put it on my head;

To try with it, as with an enemy,

That had before my face murder'd my father,-
The quarrel of a true inheritor.

CRUELTY.

H. IV. PT. II. iv. 4.

O, be thou damn'd, inexorable dog!
And for thy life let justice be accus'd.
Thou almost mak'st me waver in my faith,
To hold opinion with Pythagoras,

That souls of animals infuse themselves
Into the trunks of men: thy currish spirit,

Govern'd a wolf; who, hang'd for human slaughter,
Even from the gallows did his fell soul fleet,
And whilst thou layest in thy unhallow'd dam,
Infus'd itself in thee; for thy desires

Are wolfish, bloody, starv'd, and ravenous.

M.V. iv. 1.

CRUELTY, continued.

I am sorry for thee; thou art come to answer
A stony adversary, an inhuman wretch,
Uncapable of pity, void and empty
From any dram of mercy.

M.V. iv. 1.

See, ruthless queen, a hapless father's tears;
This cloth thou dipp'dst in blood of my sweet boy,
And I with tears do wash the blood away,

Keep thou the napkin, and go boast of this:
And, if thou tell'st the heavy story right,
Upon my soul, the hearers will shed tears;

Yea, even my foes will shed fast-falling tears;

And say,-Alas, it was a piteous deed! H. VI. PT. III. i. 4.

She-wolf of France, but worse than wolves of France,

Whose tongue more poisons than the adder's tooth!
How ill-beseeming is it in thy sex,

To triumph like an Amazonian trull,

Upon their woes whom fortune captivates!

H. VI. PT. III. i. 4.

But neither bended knees, pure hands held up,
Sad sighs, deep groans, nor silver-shedding tears,
Could penetrate her uncompassionate sire.

CRUSADE.

Therefore, friends,

As far as to the sepulchre of Christ,

(Whose soldier now, under whose blessed cross
We are impressed and ingag'd to fight,)

Forthwith a power of English shall we levy;

T.G. iii. 1.

Whose arms were moulded in their mother's womb,
To chase these pagans, in those holy fields,
Over whose acres walk'd those blessed feet,

Which fourteen hundred years ago, were nail'd,
For our advantage, on the bitter cross.

CUCKOLD.

H. IV. PT. I. i. 1.

Amaimon sounds well; Lucifer, well; Barbason, well; yet they are devils' additions, the names of fiends; but cuckold wittol-cuckold! the devil himself hath not such M. W. ii. 2.

a name.

CUDGEL.

I'll have the cudgel hallow'd and hung o'er the altar: it hath done meritorious service. M. W. iv. 2.

CUPIDS.

Some Cupids kill with arrows, some with traps. M. A. iii. 1. CURIOSITIES.

I pray you, let us satisfy our eyes