breach
“than the observance—More honour'd in the,”
HAMLET, i. 4. 16.
Samuel Rogers used to maintain that this line, though it has passed into a sort of
proverbial expression, is essentially nonsense:“how,” he would ask, “can a custom be honour'd in the breach?” Compare the following line of a
play which has been printed as a joint production of Jonson, Fletcher, and Middleton:
“He keeps his promise best that breaks with hell.”
The Widow, act iii. sc. 2.
The Widow, act iii. sc. 2.
