I will be hanged if some eternal villain,
Some busy and insinuating rogue,
Some cogging, cozening slave, read more

I will be hanged if some eternal villain,
Some busy and insinuating rogue,
Some cogging, cozening slave, to get some office,
Have not devised this slander.

Soft-buzzing Slander; silly moths that eat
An honest name.

Soft-buzzing Slander; silly moths that eat
An honest name.

The worthiest people are the most injured by slander, as is the best fruit which the birds have been pecking read more

The worthiest people are the most injured by slander, as is the best fruit which the birds have been pecking at.

. . . For slander lives upon succession,
For ever housed where it gets possession.

. . . For slander lives upon succession,
For ever housed where it gets possession.

Never throw mud. You may miss your mark, but you will have dirty hands.

Never throw mud. You may miss your mark, but you will have dirty hands.

God knows I loved my niece,
And she is dead, slandered to death by villains,
That dare read more

God knows I loved my niece,
And she is dead, slandered to death by villains,
That dare as well answer a man indeed
As I dare take a serpent by the tongue.
Boys, apes, braggarts, Jacks, milksops!

Slanders are like flies, that pass all over a man's good parts to light on his sores.

Slanders are like flies, that pass all over a man's good parts to light on his sores.

A generous heart repairs a slanderous tongue.

A generous heart repairs a slanderous tongue.

For enemies carry about slander not in the form in which it took
its rise. . . . The read more

For enemies carry about slander not in the form in which it took
its rise. . . . The scandal of men is everlasting; even then does
it survive when you would suppose it to be dead.