Ez fer war, I call it murder,—

There you hev it plain an' flat;

I don't want to go no furder

Than my Testyment fer that.

 .   .   .   .   .

An' you 've gut to git up airly

Ef you want to take in God.

James Russell Lowell (1819-1891): The Biglow Papers. First Series. No. i.

When love begins to sicken and decay,

It useth an enforced ceremony.

There are no tricks in plain and simple faith.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Julius Caesar. Act iv. Sc. 2.

A flat case as plain as a pack-staff.

Thomas Middleton (1580-1627): The Family of Love. Act v. Sc. 3.

The point is plain as a pike-staff.

John Byrom (1691-1763): Epistle to a Friend.

Plain as a pike-staff.

Alain René Le Sage (1668-1747): Gil Blas. Book xii. Chap. viii.

The "why" is plain as way to parish church.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): As You Like It. Act ii. Sc. 7.

I come not, friends, to steal away your hearts:

I am no orator, as Brutus is;

But, as you know me all, a plain blunt man.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Julius Caesar. Act iii. Sc. 2.

Soft is the strain when zephyr gently blows,

And the smooth stream in smoother numbers flows;

But when loud surges lash the sounding shore,

The hoarse rough verse should like the torrent roar.

When Ajax strives some rock's vast weight to throw,

The line too labours, and the words move slow:

Not so when swift Camilla scours the plain,

Flies o'er th' unbending corn, and skims along the main.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Essay on Criticism. Part ii. Line 166.

Be plain in dress, and sober in your diet;

In short, my deary, kiss me, and be quiet.

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1690-1762): A Summary of Lord Lyttelton's Advice.

A gentle knight was pricking on the plaine.

Edmund Spenser (1553-1599): Faerie Queene. Book i. Canto i. St. 1.

Plain living and high thinking are no more.

The homely beauty of the good old cause

Is gone; our peace, our fearful innocence,

And pure religion breathing household laws.

William Wordsworth (1770-1850): O Friend! I know not which way I must look.

Sweet Auburn! loveliest village of the plain.

Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774): The Deserted Village. Line 1.

Autumn nodding o'er the yellow plain.

James Thomson (1700-1748): The Seasons. Autumn. Line 2.

So the struck eagle, stretch'd upon the plain,

No more through rolling clouds to soar again,

View'd his own feather on the fatal dart,

And wing'd the shaft that quiver'd in his heart.

Lord Byron 1788-1824: English Bards and Scotch Reviewers. Line 826.

Mark now, how a plain tale shall put you down.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): King Henry IV. Part I. Act ii. Sc. 4.