SLANDER.
For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side: while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life.—Psalm xxxi. 13.
He that uttereth a slander, is a fool.—Proverbs, x. 18.
That thou art blamed shall not be thy defect;
For slander’s mark was ever yet the fair;
So thou be good, slander doth but approve
Thy worth the greater.
Shakspere.
’Tis slander,
Whose edge is sharper than the sword; whose tongue
Out-venoms all the worms of Nile; whose breath
Rides on the posting wind, and doth belie
All corners of the world; kings, queens, and states,
Maids, matrons, nay, the secrets of the grave,
The viperous slander enters.
Shakspere.
Slander lives upon succession,
For ever housed when once it gets possession.
Shakspere.
Imperfect mischief!
Thou, like an adder, venomous and deaf,
Hast stung the traveller, yet hear’st
Not his pursuing voice. E’en when thou think’st
To hide, the rustling leaves and bended grass
Confess and point the path where thou hast crept.
Congreve.
Forgot by those who in the grave abide,
And as a broken vessel past repair,
Slandered by many, fear on every side,
Who counsel take and would my life ensnare.
But Lord, my hopes on Thee are fixed: I said
Thou art my God, my days are in Thy hand;
Against my furious foes oppose thy aid,
And those, who prosecute my soul, withstand.
Sandys.
One who molests a harmless neighbour’s peace,
Insults fall’n worth or beauty in distress;
Who loves a lie, lame slander heaps about,
Who writes a libel, or who copies out.
Pope.