Is there a parson much bemused in beer,

A maudlin poetess, a rhyming peer,

A clerk foredoom'd his father's soul to cross,

Who pens a stanza when he should engross?

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 15.

There goes the parson, O illustrious spark!

And there, scarce less illustrious, goes the clerk.

William Cowper (1731-1800): On observing some Names of Little Note.

A Clerk ther was of Oxenforde also.

Geoffrey Chaucer (1328-1400): Canterbury Tales. Prologue. Line 287.