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The meaning and origin of the expression: Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep

Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep

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What's the origin of the phrase 'Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep'?

From Shakespeare's Henry VI. Part II, 1592.

SUFFOLK: Well hath your highness seen into this duke;
And, had I first been put to speak my mind,
The meaning and origin of the phrase 'Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep'I think I should have told your grace's tale.
The duchess, by his subornation,
Upon my life, began her devilish practises:
Or, if he were not privy to those faults,
Yet, by reputing of his high descent,
As next the king he was successive heir,
And such high vaunts of his nobility,
Did instigate the bedlam brain-sick duchess
By wicked means to frame our sovereign's fall.
Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep;
And in his simple show he harbours treason.
The fox barks not when he would steal the lamb.
No, no, my sovereign; Gloucester is a man
Unsounded yet and full of deep deceit.

Gary Martin - the author of the phrases.org.uk website.

By Gary Martin

Gary Martin is a writer and researcher on the origins of phrases and the creator of the Phrase Finder website. Over the past 26 years more than 700 million of his pages have been downloaded by readers. He is one of the most popular and trusted sources of information on phrases and idioms.

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