Is there, for honest Poverty | ||
That hings his head, and a' that; | ||
The coward-slave, we pass him by, | ||
We dare be poor for a' that! | ||
For a' that, and a' that, | ||
Our toils obscure, and a' that, | ||
The rank is but the guinea's stamp, | ||
The Man's the gowd for a' that.-- | gold | 8 |
What tho' on hamely fare we dine, | ||
Wear holiin gray, an' a' that; | coarse grey cloth | |
Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine, | ||
A Man's a Man for a' that. | ||
For a' that, and a' that, | ||
Their tinsel show, and a' that; | ||
The honest man, though e'er sae poor | ||
Is king o' men for a' that.-- | 16 | |
Ye see yon birkie ca'd, a lord, | young fellow | |
Wha struts, and stares, and a' that; | ||
Though hundreds worship at his word | ||
He's but a coof for a' that: | fool, clown | |
For a' that, and a' that, | ||
His ribband, star and a' that, | ribbon | |
The man of independent mind, | ||
He looks and laughs at a' that.-- | 24 | |
A prince can mak a belted knight | ||
A marquis, duke, and a' that; | ||
But an honest man's aboon his might, | above | |
Gude faith he mauna fa' that! | cannot lay claim to | |
For a' that, and a' that, | ||
Their dignities, and a' that, | ||
The pith o' sense, and pride o' Worth | ||
Are higher rank than a' that.-- | 32 | |
Then let us pray that come it may, | ||
As come it will for a' that | ||
That Sense and Worth, o'er a' the earth | ||
May bear the gree, and a' that. | prize, supremacy | |
For a' that, and a' that, | ||
It's coming yet for a' that, | ||
That Man to Man the warld o'er, | ||
Shall brothers be for a' that. | 40 |
Thomas Paine. The
Rights
of Man. 1792.
Titles are but nicknames, and every nickname is a title. The thing is perfectly harmless in itself, but it marks a sort of foppery in the human character, which degrades it. It reduces man into the diminutive of man in things which are great, and the counterfeit of women in things which are little. It talks about its fine blue ribbon like a girl, and shows its new garter like a child. A certain writer, of some antiquity, says: "When I was a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things." It is, properly, from the elevated mind of France that the folly of titles has fallen. It has outgrown the baby clothes of Count and Duke, and breeched itself in manhood. France has not levelled, it has exalted. It has put down the dwarf, to set up the man. The punyism of a senseless word like Duke, Count or Earl has ceased to please. |
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