All thought (the poor themselves) that he was one

Of gentle blood, some noble sinner’s son,

Who had, belike, deceived some humble maid,

Whom he had first seduced and then betray’d: -

However this, he seem’d a gracious lad,

In grief submissive, and with patience sad.

Passive he labour’d, till his slender frame

Bent with his loads, and he at length was lame:

Strange that a frame so weak could bear so long

The grossest insult and the foulest wrong;