quote · Legacy record
“When shall our prayers end?” I tell thee, priest, when shoemakers make shoes, That are well sewed, with never a stitch amiss, And use no craft in uttering of the same; When tinkers make no more holes than they found, When thatchers think their wages worth their work, When Davie Diker digs and dallies not, When horsecorsers beguile no friends with jades, When printers pass no errors in their books, When pewterers infect no tin with lead, When silver sticks not on the Teller’s fingers, When sycophants can find no place in Court, ... When Laïs lives not like a lady’s peer Nor useth art in dyeing of her hair....
“When shall our prayers end?” I tell thee, priest, when shoemakers make shoes, That are well sewed, with never a stitch amiss, And use no craft in uttering of the same; When tinkers make no more holes than they found, When thatchers think their wages worth their work, When Davie Diker digs and dallies not, When horsecorsers beguile no friends with jades, When printers pass no errors in their books, When pewterers infect no tin with lead, When silver sticks not on the Teller’s fingers, When sycophants can find no place in Court, ... When Laïs lives not like a lady’s peer Nor useth art in dyeing of her hair....
In print by 1921 AD · modern
Recorded in a printed collection by this date; the original date of these words is still unknown.
Meaning not yet available
An individual explanation has not yet been added. We do not substitute a generic description for an interpretation of these particular words.
Begin with source-checked readings and explanations ↗Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- George Gascoigne (identity unresolved)
Attribution: unknown - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- In print by 1921 AD · modern
In print by 1921: recorded in My Commonplace Book (third English edition,1921). Collection publication is an upper bound for this wording, not its earliest origin, composition date or the author's lifetime.
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken. - Recorded source
- My Commonplace Book (third English edition,1921) (1921 AD)
Page 321 · printed citation: George Gascoigne (1525?-1577) (The Steele Glas). · compiler notes excluded
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.