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Born in the garret, in the kitchen bred.
Born in the garret, in the kitchen bred.
The man who has not anything to boast of but his illustrious
ancestors is like a potato,--the only good read more
The man who has not anything to boast of but his illustrious
ancestors is like a potato,--the only good belonging to him is
under ground.
The nobler the blood the less the pride
The nobler the blood the less the pride
Whoever serves his country well has no need of ancestors.
Whoever serves his country well has no need of ancestors.
Some decent regulated pre-eminence, some preference (not
exclusive appropriation) given to birth, is neither unnatural,
nor unjust, nor read more
Some decent regulated pre-eminence, some preference (not
exclusive appropriation) given to birth, is neither unnatural,
nor unjust, nor impolite.
He who boasts of his ancestry praises the merits of another
He who boasts of his ancestry praises the merits of another
Say, when the ground our father Adam till'd,
And mother Eve the humble distaff held,
Who then read more
Say, when the ground our father Adam till'd,
And mother Eve the humble distaff held,
Who then his pedigree presumed to trace,
Or challenged the prerogative of place?
[Lat., Primus Adam duro cum vertet arva ligone,
Pensaque de vili deceret Eva colo:
Ecquis in hoc poterat vir nobilis orbe videri?
Et modo quisquam alios ante locandue erir?
Born is a Cellar, . . . and living in a Garret.
Born is a Cellar, . . . and living in a Garret.
Great families of yesterday we show,
And lords whose parents were the Lord knows who.
Great families of yesterday we show,
And lords whose parents were the Lord knows who.
