account it was customary for those who were forsaken in love to wear a
garland made of willow. Thus in "Othello," Desdemona (Act iv. sc. 3)
anticipating her death, says:--

"My mother had a maid called Barbara:
She was in love; and he she loved proved mad,
And did forsake her: she had a song of willow;
An old thing 'twas, but it expressed her fortune,
And she died singing it: that song to-night
Will not go from my mind."

According to another adage:--

"Willows are weak, yet they bind other wood,"

The significance of which is clear. Then, again, there is the not very
complimentary proverbial saying, of which there are several versions:--

"A spaniel, a woman, and a walnut-tree,
The more they're beaten, the better they be."

Another variation, given by Moor in his "Suffolk Words" (p. 465), is
this:--

"Three things by beating better prove:
A nut, an ass, a woman;
The cudgel from their back remove,
And they'll be good for no man."

A curious phrase current in Devonshire for a young lady who jilts a man