Poem by Charles Lamb

Neatness in Apparel

In your garb and outward clothing
 A reservëd plainness use;
By their neatness more distinguished
 Than the brightness of their hues.

All the colours in the rainbow
 Serve to spread the peacock's train;
Half the lustre of his feathers
 Would turn twenty coxcombs vain.

Yet the swan that swims in rivers,
 Pleases the judicious sight;
Who, of brighter colours heedless,
 Trusts alone to simple white.

Yet all other hues, comparëd
 With his whiteness, show amiss;
And the peacock's coat of colours
 Like a fool's coat looks by his.

1. The Offer
2. As When a Child on Some Long Winter's Night
3. The Force of Habit
4. The Reaper's Child
5. The Duty of a Brother

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