To quell the faction that affronts the throne,
By filent magnanimity alone;
To nurfe with tender care the thriving arts,
Watch every beam philofophy imparts;
To give religion her unbridled scope,
Nor judge by ftatute a believer's hope;
With clofe fidelity and love unfeign'd,
To keep the matrimonial bond unftain'd;
Covetous only of a virtuous praise,
His life a leffon to the land he sways;
To touch the fword with confcientious awe,
Nor draw it but when duty bids him draw,
To fheath it in the peace-reftoring close,
With joy, beyond what victory bestows,
Bleft country! where these kingly glories fhine,
Bleft England! if this happiness be thine.
A. Guard what you fay, the patriotic tribe
Will fneer 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 addrefs'd, Seems to imply a cenfure on the rest.
B. Quevedo, as he tells his fober tale,
Afk'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-faid his guide, the groupe 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.
While Alfred's name, the father of his age,
And the Sixth Edward's grace th' hiftoric page.
A. Kings then at laft 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 whofe fingers itch to write,
Adds, as he can, his tributary mite;
A fubject's faults, a fubject may proclaim,
A monarch's errors are forbidden game.
Thus free from cenfure, over-aw'd by fear,
And prais'd for virtues that they scorn to wear
The fleeting forms of majefty engage
Refpect, while stalking o'er life's narrow stage,
Then leave their crimes for hiftory to fcan,
And ask with busy scorn, Was this the man?
I pity kings whom worship waits upon
Obfequious, 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 fervility with fupple knees,
Whofe trade it is to fimile, to crouch, to pleafe;
If fmooth diffimulation, fkill'd to grace
A devil's purpose with an angel's face;
If fmiling peereffes and fimp'ring peers,
Incompaffing his throne a few fhort years;
If the gilt carriage and the pamper'd steed,
That wants no driving and difdains the lead;
If guards, mechanically form'd in ranks,
Playing, at beat of drum, their martial pranks;
Should'ring and standing as if ftuck to stone,
While condefcending majefty looks on;
If monarchy consist in such base things,
Sighing, I fay again, I pity kings!
To be fufpected, thwarted, and withstood,
Ev'n when he labours for his country's good,
To see a band call'd patriot for no cause,.
But that they catch at popular applause,
Careless of all th' anxiety he feels,
Hook disappointment on the public wheels,
With all their flippant fluency of tongue,
Moft confident, when palpably most wrong,
If this be kingly, then farewell for me
All kingship, and may I be poor and free.
To be the Table Talk of clubs up ftairs,
To which th' unwash'd artificer repairs,
T' indulge his genius after long fatigue,
By diving into cabinet intrigue,
(For what kings deem a toil, as well they may,
To him is relaxation and mere play)
To win no praise when well wrought plans prevail,
But to be rudely cenfur'd when they fail,
To doubt the love his fav'rites may pretend,
And in reality to find no friend;
If he indulge a cultivated taste,
His gall'ries with the works of art well grac'd,
To hear it call'd extravagance and waste;
If these attendants, and if fuch as thefe,
Muft follow royalty, then welcome eafe;
However humble and confin'd the sphere,
Happy the ftate that has not these to fear.
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