QUOTES FROM THE BARD

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 3
ACT/SCENE: 5.6
SPEAKER: Gloucester
CONTEXT:
GLOUCESTER
Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind;
The thief doth fear each bush an officer.
KING HENRY VI
The bird that hath been limed in a bush,
With trembling wings misdoubteth every bush;
And I, the hapless male to one sweet bird,
Have now the fatal object in my eye
Where my poor young was limed, was caught and kill’d.

DUTCH:
Argwaan waart in het schuldig hart steeds om;
De dief vermoedt in elke ruigte een rakker.

MORE:

Proverb: Birds once snared (limed) fear all bushes
Proverb: The escaped mouse ever feels the taste of the bait

Birdlime=Sticky substance put on trees to catch small birds
To lime=To smear with birdlime, seek to catch
Misdoubt=To suspect, be apprehensive about; have dounts as to
Hapless=Unfortunate

Compleat:
Bird-lime=Vogellym
Misdoubt=’t Onrecht twyffelen

Topics: proverbs and idioms, suspicion, guilt