How probable do the turns of thought, “captious and intenible sieve,” “the waters of my love,” render the supposition that Perriere’s Emblem of Love and the Sieve had been seen by our dramatist. Cupid appears patient and passive, but the Lover in very evident surprise sees “the rings and rich _array_” flow through “le crible d’amours.” Cupid’s eyes, in the device, are bound, and the method of binding them corresponds with the lines, _Romeo and Juliet_(act i. sc. 4, l. 4, vol. vii. p. 23),— “We’ll have no Cupid hoodwink’d with a scarf, Bearing a Tartar’s painted bow of lath, Scaring the ladies like a crow-keeper.” Again, though not in reference to the same subject, there is in _Much Ado About Nothing_ (act v. sc. 1, l. 1, vol. ii. p. 69), the comparison of the sieve to labour in vain. Antonio is giving advice to Leonato when overwhelmed with sorrows,— “_Ant._ If you go on thus you will kill yourself; And ’tis not wisdom thus to second grief Against yourself. _Leon._ I pray thee, cease thy counsel, Which falls into mine ears as profitless As water in a sieve: give not me counsel; Nor let no comforter delight mine ear But such a one whose wrongs do suit with mine.” By way of variation we consult Paradin’s treatment of the same thought (fol. 88_v_), in which he is followed by Whitney (p. 12), with the motto _Frustrà_. Hac illac perfluo. [Illustration: _Paradin, 1562._] “The Poëttes faine, that DANAVS daughters deare, Inioyned are to fill the fatall tonne: Where, thowghe they toile, yet are they not the neare, But as they powre, the water forthe dothe runne: No paine will serue, to fill it to the toppe, For, still at holes the same doth runne, and droppe.” “Every rose has its thorn,” or “No pleasure without pain,” receives exemplification from several sources. Perriere (Emb. 30) and Whitney (p. 165) present us with a motto implying _No bitter without its sweet_, but giving the gathering of a rose in illustration; thus the former writer,— “_Post amara dulcia._” “Qvi veult la ros[e/] au vert buysson saisir Esmerueiller ne se doibt s’il se poinct. Grãd biẽ na’uõs, sãs quelque desplaisir, Plaisir ne vient sans douleur, si apoint. Conclusion sommaire, c’est le point, Qu’ apres douleur, on ha plaisir: souuẽt Beau tẽps se voit, tost apres le grãt vẽt, Grãd biẽ suruiẽt apres quelque maleur. Parquoy pẽser doibt tout hõme scauãt, Que volupté n’est iamais sans douleur.” So Whitney (p. 165),— [Illustration: _Whitney, 1586._]