| 1H6 V.iii.16 | [Pucelle to spirits] I'll lop a member off and give it you / In earnest of a further benefit |
| Cym I.vi.65 | [Queen to Pisanio, of her box] It is an earnest of a farther good / That I mean to thee |
| E3 IV.iv.3 | [Prince Edward to Audley] comfort have we none, save that to die / We pay sour earnest for a sweeter life [i.e. though death is bitter, it leads us to a sweeter life] |
| H5 II.ii.169 | [King Henry to traitors, of France] You have ... from his coffers / Received the golden earnest of our death |
| H5 V.i.60 | [Pistol to Fluellen] I take thy groat in earnest of revenge |
| KL I.iv.94 | [Lear to disguised Kent, giving him money] There's earnest of thy service |
| MA II.i.35 | [Beatrice to Leonato] I will even take sixpence in earnest of the bear-ward [F Berrord] |
| Mac I.iii.103 | [Ross to Macbeth, of the King] for an earnest of a greater honour, / He bade me from him call thee Thane of Cawdor |
| Mac I.iii.131 | [Macbeth to himself, of the Witches' prophecies] If ill, / Why hath it given me earnest of success / Commencing in a truth? |
| Per IV.ii.42 | [Boult to Bawd] I have lost my earnest |
| TG II.i.148 | [Speed to Valentine, of Silvia] did you perceive her earnest? [also: seriousness] |
| Tim IV.iii.169 | [Timon to Phrynia and Timandra, of receiving more gold] I have given you earnest |
| Tim IV.iii.48 | [Timon alone, as if to the gold] stay thou out for earnest |
| WT IV.iv.641 | [Autolycus to Florizel] I have had earnest, but I cannot with conscience take it |