William Shakespeare, Sonnet cxxi
'Tis better to be vile than vile esteem'd ,
When not to be receives reproach of being,
And the just pleasure lost, which is so deem'd
4
Not by our feeling, but by others' seeing.
For why should others' false adulterate eyes
Give saturation to my sportive blood?
Or on my frailties why are frailer spies,
8
Which in their wills count bad what I think good?
No. -- I am that I am; and they that level
At my abuses, reckon up their own:
I may be straight, though they themselves be bevel; [*]
12
By their rank thoughts my deeds must not be shown;
Unless this general evil they maintain, --
All men are bad, and in their badness reign.
Notes
line 11: Bevel -- bent in an angle. [ Back to text ]
Most notes to Shakespeare's sonnets are from Charles Knight's edition, but those in square brackets are mine.