Slander
FITCH:
“All vices you’ve exhausted, friend;
So all the papers say.”
PICKERING:
“Ah, what vile calumnies are penned!—
’Tis just the other way.”
James L. Flood
As oft it happens in the youth of day
That mists obscure the sun’s imperfect ray,
Who, as he’s mounting to the dome’s extreme,
Smites and dispels them with a steeper beam,
So you the vapors that begirt your birth
Consumed, and manifested all your worth.
But still one early vice obstructs the light
And sullies all the visible and bright
Display of mind and character. You write.