One of the books I recently added to Godfrey's Bookshelf is John Maynard's XII. Wonders of the World, a cycle of twelve extremely sarcastic songs about various professions.
One of my favorites is the first one, The Courtier, which portrays such people as a little less noble than Baldassare Castiglione would have had his readers believe. Upon first encountering it, I was immediately put in mind of certain people I've had the misfortune to encounter in the SCA.
Long have I lived in Court, yet learned not all this while
To sell poor suitors smoke, nor where I hate to smile:
Superiors to adore, inferiors to despise:
To fly from such as fall, to follow such as rise.
To cloak a poor desire under a rich array,
Nor to aspire by vice though 'twere the quicker way.