“There goes the parson, O illustrious spark!
And there, scarce less illustrious, goes the clerk.”

— William Cowper

On observing some Names of Little Note.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

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William Cowper 174

(1731–1800) English poet and hymnodist 1731–1800

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Part II, chapter 5.
Proverbs (1546), Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“There goes the parson, O illustrious spark!And there, scarce less illustrious, goes the clerk.”

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William Cowper 174

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“There goes the parson, O illustrious spark!
And there, scarce less illustrious, goes the clerk.”