Harrison, Description of England, I

2. « For what preuayleth it to be borne of worshipfull progenie, and to be destitute of all vertue, which deserueth true worship ? what is it els then to carie a golden Swoorde in a Leaden Scabbarde ? Is it any thyng els then a golden Coffyn or painted Sepuichre, makyng a fayre showe outwardly, but inwardly is full of all stinche & lothsomnes ? I remember once I red a certaine storie of one, a Gentleman by byrth and parentage, who greatly reproched, and withall disdayned an other, for that he was come to great authorytie onely by vertue, being but a poore mans child by byrthe : « What! saith the Gentleman by birth, arte thou so lustie? Thou arte but a coblers sonne, and wilt thou compare with me, being a Gentleman by byrth and calling ? » To whome the other answeared, « thou arte no Gentleman, for thy gentilitie endeth in thee, and I am a Gentleman, in that my gentilitie beginneth in me » (Stubbes, Anatomy of Abuses (1583), 42-43). Cf. p. 493, note 3.