Let firm, well hammer'd soles protect thy feet
Through freezing snows, and rains, and soaking sleet;
Should read more

Let firm, well hammer'd soles protect thy feet
Through freezing snows, and rains, and soaking sleet;
Should the big last extend the shoe too wide,
Each stone will wrench the unwary step aside;
The sudden turn may stretch the swelling vein,
The cracking joint unhinge, or ankle sprain;
And when too short the modish shoes are worn,
You'll judge the seasons by your shooting corn.

I can tell where my own shoe pinches me.

I can tell where my own shoe pinches me.

A cobbler, . . . produced several new grins of his own invention,
having been used to cut faces read more

A cobbler, . . . produced several new grins of his own invention,
having been used to cut faces for many years together over his
last.

Shoemaker, stick to your last.
[Lat., Ne supra crepidam judicaret.]

Shoemaker, stick to your last.
[Lat., Ne supra crepidam judicaret.]

Cinderella's lefts and rights
To Geraldine's were frights,
And I trow
The damsel, deftly read more

Cinderella's lefts and rights
To Geraldine's were frights,
And I trow
The damsel, deftly shod,
Has dutifully trod
Until now.

If you had taken off the shoe then, at length you would feel in
what part it pinched you.
read more

If you had taken off the shoe then, at length you would feel in
what part it pinched you.
[Lat., Si calceum induisses, tum demum sentires qua parte te
urgeret.]

Ye tuneful cobblers! still your notes prolong,
Compose at once a slipper and a song;
So shall read more

Ye tuneful cobblers! still your notes prolong,
Compose at once a slipper and a song;
So shall the fair your handiwork peruse,
Your sonnets sure shall please--perhaps your shoes.

As he cobbled and hammered from morning till dark,
With the footgear to mend on his knees,
read more

As he cobbled and hammered from morning till dark,
With the footgear to mend on his knees,
Stitching patches, or pegging on soles as he sang,
Out of tune, ancient catches and glees.

A careless shoe string, in whose tie
I see a wilde civility.

A careless shoe string, in whose tie
I see a wilde civility.