The longeſt daye, in time reſignes to nighte. The greateſt oke, in time to duſte doth turne: The Rauen dies, the Egle failes of flighte. The Phœnix rare, in time her ſelfe doth burne. The princelie stagge at lengthe his rave doth ronne. And all muſt ende, that euer was begonne. A sentiment this corresponding nearly with Hector’s words, in the _Troilus and Cressida_ (act iv. sc. 5, l. 223, vol. vi. p. 230),— “The fall of every Phrygian stone will cost A drop of Grecian blood: the end crowns all, And that old common arbitrator, Time, Will one day end it.” Prince Henry (_2 Henry IV._, act ii. sc. 2, l. 41, vol. iv. p. 392), in reply to Poins, gives yet another turn to the proverb: “By this hand, thou thinkest me as far in the devil’s books as thou and Falstaff for obduracy and persistency; let the end try the man.” In Whitney’s address “to the Reader,” he speaks of having collected “sondrie deuises” against several great faults which he names, “bycause they are growẽ so mightie that one bloe will not beate them downe, but newe headdes springe vp like _Hydra_, that _Hercules_ weare not able to subdue them.” “But,” he adds, using an old saying, “manie droppes pierce the stone, and with manie blowes the oke is ouerthrowen.” Near Mortimer’s Cross, in Herefordshire, a messenger relates how “the noble Duke of York was slain” (_3 Henry VI._, act ii. sc. 1, l. 50, vol. v. p. 252), and employs a similar, almost an identical, proverb,— “Environed he was with many foes, And stood against them, as the hope of Troy Against the Greeks that would have enter’d Troy. But Hercules himself must yield to odds; And many strokes, though with a little axe, Hew down and fell the hardest-timber’d oak.” This is almost the coincidence of the copyist, and but for the necessities of the metre, Whitney’s words might have been literally quoted. “Manie droppes pierce the stone,” has its parallel in the half-bantering, half-serious, conversation between King Edward and Lady Grey (_3 Henry VI._, act iii. sc. 2, l. 48, vol. v. p. 280). The lady prays the restoration of her children’s lands, and the king intimates he has a boon to ask in return,— “_King Edw._ Ay, but thou canst do what I mean to ask. _Grey._ Why then I will do what your grace commands. _Glou._ [_Aside to_ CLAR.] He plies her hard; and much rain wears the marble. _Clar._ [_Aside to_ GLOU.] As red as fire! nay, then her wax must melt.” In Otho Vænius (p. 210), where Cupid is bravely working at felling a tree, to the motto, “By continuance,” we find the stanza,— “Not with one stroke at first the great tree goes to grownd, But it by manie strokes is made to fall at last, The drop doth pierce the stone by falling long and fast, So by enduring long long sought-for loue is found.”