Upon Over-Much Niceness

Tis much to see how over nice some are
About the body and household affair,

Tis much to see how over nice some are
About the body and household affair,
While what’s of worth they slightly pass it by,
Not doing, or doing it slovenly.

Their house must be well furnished, be in print,
Meanwhile their soul lies ley, has no good in’t.
Its outside also they must beautify,
When in it there’s scarce common honesty.

Their bodies they must have tricked up and trim,
Their inside full of filth up to the brim.
Upon their clothes there must not be a spot,
But is their lives more than one common blot.

How nice, how coy are some about their diet,
That can their crying souls with hogs’-meat quiet.
All drest must to a hair be, else ’tis naught,
While of the living bread they have no thought.

Thus for their outside they are clean and nice,
While their poor inside stinks with sin and vice.

John Bunyan