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.

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.

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.

That thou art blamed shall not be thy defect,
For slander's mark was ever yet the fair;
read more

That thou art blamed shall not be thy defect,
For slander's mark was ever yet the fair;
The ornament of beauty is suspect,
A crow that flies in heaven's sweetest air.
So thou be good, slander doth but approve
Thy worth the greater, being wooed of time;
For canker vice the sweetest buds doth love,
And thou present'st a pure unstained prime.

A slander is like a hornet; if you can't kill it dead the first time, better not strike at it.

A slander is like a hornet; if you can't kill it dead the first time, better not strike at it.

Cut
Men's throats with whisperings.

Cut
Men's throats with whisperings.

A generous heart repairs a slanderous tongue.

A generous heart repairs a slanderous tongue.

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!

If I can do it
By aught that I can speak in his dispraise,
She shall not read more

If I can do it
By aught that I can speak in his dispraise,
She shall not long continue love to him.