Some royal mastiff panting at their heels,
With all the savage thirst a tyger feels;
Then view him, self-proclaim'd in a gazette
Chief monster that has plagu'd the nations yet:
The globe and sceptre in such hands misplac'd,
Those ensigns of dominion, how disgrac'd!

The glass that bids man mark the fleeting hour,
And death's own scythe, would better speak his

Then

pow'r;

grace the bony phantom in their stead

With the king's shoulder-knot and gay cockade; Clothe the twin brethren in each other's dress, The same their occupation and success.

A. 'Tis your belief the world was made for

man;

Kings do but reason on the self-same plan: Maintaining your's, you cannot their's condemn, Who

think, or seem to think, man made for them.

B. Seldom, alas! the pow'r of logic reigns With much sufficiency in royal brains;

Such reas'ning falls like an inverted cone,

Wanting its proper base to stand upon.
Man made for kings! those optics are but dim
That tell you so-say, rather, they for him.
That were indeed a king-ennobling thought,
Could they, or would they, reason as they ought.
The diadem, with mighty projects lin❜d,
To catch renown by ruining mankind,

Is worth, with all its gold and glitt'ring store,
Just what the toy will sell for, and no more.

Oh! bright occasions of dispensing good,
How seldom us'd, how little understood!
Το pour in virtue's lap her just reward,
Keep vice restrain'd behind a double guard;
To quell the faction that affronts the throne
By silent magnanimity alone;

To nurse with tender care the thriving arts,

Watch ev'ry beam philosophy imparts;
To give religion her unbridled scope,
Nor judge by statute a believer's hope;

With close fidelity and love unfeign'd,

To keep the matrimonial bond unstain'd;
Covetous only of a virtuous praise;

His life a lesson to the land he sways;

To touch the sword with conscientious awe,
Nor draw it but when duty bids him draw;
To sheath it in the peace-restoring close

With joy beyond what victory bestows;
Blest country, where these kingly glories shine;
Blest England, if this happiness be thine!

A. Guard what you say; the patriotic tribe Will sneer and charge you with a bribe.-B. A bribe?

The worth of his three kingdoms I defy,

To lure me to the baseness of a lie.

And, of all lies, (be that one poet's boast)

The lie that flatters I. abhor the most.

Those arts be their's who hate his gentle

reign,

But he that loves him has no need to feign.

A. Your smooth eulogium, to one crown ad

dress'd,

Seems to imply a censure on the rest.

B. Quevedo, as he tells his sober tale, Ask'd, when in hell, to see the royal jail; Approv'd their method in all other things;

But where, good sir, do you confine your kings?

There―said his guide-the group is full in view.
Indeed?—replied the Don-there are but few.
His black interpreter the charge disdain'd—
Few, fellow?-there are all that ever reign'd.
Wit, undistinguishing, is apt to strike
The guilty and not guilty, both alike.

I grant the sarcasm is too severe,

And we can readily refute it here;

While Alfred's name, the father of his age,

And the Sixth Edward's grace th' historic page.

A. Kings then at last have but the lot of

all.

By their own conduct they must stand or fall.

B. True. While they live, the courtly laureat pays His quit-rent ode, his pepper-corn of praise;

And many a dunce, whose fingers itch to write, Adds, as he can, his tributary mite:

A subject's faults a subject may proclaim,

A monarch's errors are forbidden game!
Thus, free from censure, over-aw'd by fear,
And prais'd for virtues that they scorn to wear,
The fleeting forms of majesty engage

Respect, while stalking o'er life's narrow stage;
Then leave their crimes for history to scan,
And ask with busy scorn, Was this the man?

I pity kings whom worship waits upon,
Obsequious, from the cradle to the throne;
Before whose infant eyes the flatt'rer bows,
And binds a wreath about their baby brows;
Whom education stiffens into state,

And death awakens from that dream too late.

Oh! if servility with supple knees,

Whose trade it is to smile, to crouch, to please;