Virtuous she was—and had been, I believe;
Although the World has such an evil tongue
That—but my chaster ear will not receive
An echo of a syllable that's wrong:[LO]
In fact, there's nothing makes me so much grieve,
As that abominable tittle-tattle,
Which is the cud eschewed[633] by human cattle.
XLIV.
Moreover I've remarked (and I was once
A slight observer in a modest way),