Social Commentaries

MY Mall, the former verses this may teach you

by Sir John Harington 1560–1612

From The Most Elegant and Witty Epigrams (1618), Book 1

Social Commentaries

MY Mall, the former verses this may teach you,
That som deceiue, some are deceiu'd by showes.
For this verse in your praise, so smooth that goes,
With one false point and stop, did ouer-reach you,
And turne the praise to scorne, the rimes to prose,
By which you may be slanderd all as Shrowes:
And some, perhaps, may say, and speake no treason,
The verses had more rime, the prose more reason.

✦ ✦ ✦

Book 1, Epigram 36

MLA

Harington, John. “MY Mall, the former verses this may teach you.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/harington/26/.

Chicago

Harington, John. “MY Mall, the former verses this may teach you.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/harington/26/.

Read this poem with the Codex →

More by Sir John Harington