Social Customs — Chapter 31

Yes, I am proud; I must be proud to seeMen not afraid of God, afraid of me:Safe from the bar, the pulpit, and the throne,Yet touch'd and sham'd by ridicule alone.O sacred weapon! left for truth's defence,Sole dread of folly, vice, and insolence!To all but heav'n-directed hands deny'd,The Muse may give thee, but the gods must guide.Pope: Epilogue to the Satires.

"Poor Jack, farewell!I could have better spared a better man,"

He.

O Bell, my wiffe, why dost thou floute?Now is nowe, and then was then:Seeke now all the world throughoutThou kenst not clownes from gentlemen,They are cladd in blacke, greane, yellowe, or gray,Soe far above their owne degree:Once in my life Ile doe as they;For Ile have a new cloake about mee.

She.

King Stephen was a worthy peere,His breeches cost him but a crowne;He held them sixpence all too deere,Therefore he calld the taylor lowne.He was a wight of high renowne,And thouse but of a low degree,Itts pride that putts the countrye downe,Man, take thine old cloake about thee.