### Clue: Sheath for poet following evidence of the pox? (8)
### Answer: SCABBARD 
 ### Explanation: Definition: Sheath
  BARD(poet, eg. Shakespeare) **placed after**(following) SCAB(encrustation over a healing pustule,evidence of having suffered a disease like smallpox or chickenpox, or even worse).  The poet should have been advised that wearing a sheath in the first place would have prevented the pox.