He'd undertake to prove, by force
Of argument, a man's no horse.
He'd prove a buzzard is no fowl,
And that a Lord may be an owl,
A calf an Alderman, a goose a Justice,
And rooks, Committee-men or Trustees.
Hudibras, Pt. I. Canto I. S. BUTLER.
Reproachful speech from either side
The want of argument supplied:
They rail, reviled; as often ends
The contests of disputing friends.
Fables: Sexton and Earth Worm. J. GAY.
Be calm in arguing; for fierceness makes
Error a fault, and truth discourtesy.
The Temple: The Church Porch. C. HERBERT.
In argument
Similes are like songs in love;
They must describe; they nothing prove.
Alma, Canto III. M. PRIOR.
One single positive weighs more,
You know, than negatives a score.
Epistle to Fleetwood Shepherd. M. PRIOR.
Who shall decide, when doctors disagree,
And soundest casuists doubt, like you and me?
Moral Essays, Epistle III. A. POPE.
ARISTOCRACY.
How vain are all hereditary honors,
Those poor possessions from another's deeds.
Parricide. J. SHIRLEY.
He lives to build, not boast, a generous race;
No tenth transmitter of a foolish face.
The Bastard. R. SAVAGE.
Let wealth and commerce, laws and learning die,
But leave us still our old nobility.
England's Trust, Pt. III. LORD J. MANNERS.