Note E423 — 67.
Reading edition
"As good a shrew is as a sheepe," etc. This proverb appears in Epistolæ Hoelianæ, ed. 1754, p. 177, in a letter dated 5th February, 1625-6, as "It is better to marry a shrew than a sheep." In Taylor's Pastorall, 1624, we have "A shrew is better than a sheep."