The Stranger much of various life had seen,
Been poor, been rich, and in the state between;
Had much of kindness met, and much deceit,
And all that man who deals with men must meet.
Not much he read; but from his youth had thought,
And been by care and observation taught:
'Tis thus a man his own opinion makes;
He holds that fast, which he with trouble takes;
While one whose notions all from books arise,
Upon his authors, not himself, relies -
A borrowed wisdom this, that does not make us wise.

—George Crabbe, The Family of Love