Grocott & Ward, comps. Grocott’s Familiar Quotations, 6th ed. 189-?.
Nettle
Tender-handed, stroke a nettle,
And it stings you for your pains;
Grasp it like a man of mettle,
And it soft as silk remains.
’Tis the same with common natures;
Use ’em kindly, they rebel;
But be rough as nutmeg-graters,
And the rogues obey you well.
Aaron Hill.—On Window in Scotland.
I have touch’d a nettle, and stung myself.
Tuke.—Adventures of Five Hours, Act I. Scene 1.
The earth produces wholesome and unwholesome plants; the rose is found often next to the nettle.
Ovid.—Remedy of Love, Line 45.