Since the worst comes to the worst.

The phrase “since the worst comes to the worst” is an early form of the still-common idiom “if/when worst comes to worst,” meaning “if the most unfavorable outcome happens” or “in the last resort.” In Middleton’s dramatic milieu, such phrasing typically introduces a contingency plan or a hard-nosed acceptance that events may deteriorate beyond control. The repetition of “worst” intensifies the sense of extremity: not merely a bad turn, but the final limit of misfortune. As a standalone quotation, it functions less as a philosophical maxim than as a pragmatic pivot—language used to steel oneself for necessity and to justify decisive action under pressure.