Too much, humanity sheds tears of grief,
Wipes her wet eyes, and turns the sprinkl❜d leaf
To much, for liberty, with grief oppress'd,
Deplores the wrongs which rob her sons of rest;
Looks mournful o'er her faithful patriots slain,
And sighs for thousands, scatter'd o'er the plain.
If those who paint the ruin kings have made,
Through towns of fire, and seas of blood could wade.
They might pourtray, as far as words can show,
The dreadful evils which from monarchs flow.
But fancy fails, and language seems too weak ;
And mind itself must feel asham'd to speak
What kings have done; and what they still will do,
As long as many stoop to serve the few.
From ancient Nimrod, down to present time,
Trace ev'ry king, of every age and clime,
Search ev'ry line and nation, race and throne;
And find a monarch, virtue deigns to own:
For I have search'd, but search'd, alas, in vain
To find a king, without a spot or stain. (54)
But few, indeed, of all the kingly race
Have justly liv'd, or died without disgrace.
For kings are worse than others here on earth;
And always have been even from their birth.
For proofs of this, attend while I relate
The cause of this most wretched regal state.
By wrongs, at first, all royal thrones appear;
And grow more vicious each succeeding year.
Would any one invest a man with power,
To cut his throat, the next or present hour?
Would man, for money, want a bond or note;
And ask no surety (55) to protect his throat?
No mind, if sound, would act this stupid part,
Unless deceiv'd by some perfidious art:
And, if deceiv'd, consent could give no right,
To take from nations, all that gives delight:
Because, by law, no wilful frauds create,
A legal title to the least estate.
If one unbias'd, ask a king to reign,
It proves unsoundness in his mind or brain;
And one, non compos, is by law restrain'd
From granting that, which he has justly gain'd:
And surely ideots, (56) who could not create
A private deed, could not transfer a state :
And hence, consent could give no royal stirp,
A right to powers, which regal knaves usurp.
Thus royal stocks, at first, incur disgrace,
And send their sins, augmenting, down each race:
For, though some better, some much worse may reign,
Each last half line, are most deprav'd or vain.
In other words, as royal stocks are curst,
Their last descendants still out-knave the first.
The reason is, their great excesses end
In some distempers, which to sons descend.
And thus, their sons receiv'd from sottish sires,
Imperfect organs, fill'd with vile desires.
Because, that kings are free from all restrainsts,
They yield to causes which produce complaints :
They yield to fear, excess, and idle pains;
These cause distempers, and impair their brains.
Inaction, fear, excess, and care would bring
The worst diseases on the stoutest king.
The body wastes, by mental pain or care;
And pain of body, must the mind impair.
They are, indeed, by ties so close combin'd,
Mind wastes the system, system wastes the mind.
Like mutual friends, they feel each other's pain;
And both will go the moment one is slain.
The smallest wounds, in some degree, will grieve;
And though we can't, their small effects perceive,
Yet more or less, they irritate the man,
Affect his mind, and cut his vital span.
If mind and body, are so closely join'd,
That wounds and scratches must effect the mind;
Then how much more would fierce distemper's pain,
Impair the texture of the human brain ;
Exhaust the spirits, send through ev'ry part,
The morbid humors through the human heart;
To make men peevish, cruel, weak, or dull,
A savage monster, or a sickly gull.
From want of checks, the first distemper springs,
And flows increasing, down the line of kings:
Until at length, a race of kings are seen,
With shapes as ugly as their minds are mean.
With small exceptions, parents always find
Their children like them, both in form and mind;
That is to say, like male or female line;
Or mixt with both, if both their natures join.
But lest this truth should raise a single doubt,
Permit me here, to point the causes out:
The parent's blood must surely form the child,
And if corrupt, the infant is defil'd.
For through their blood, the vicious humours flow;
And therefore, children like their parents grow. `
A second cause, to aid the cause above,
May spring from hatred, or may rise from love.
The strong impressions, on the mother's mind,
With fancy's busy, secret powers combin'd.
May lend the mother their mysterious aid,
To mould the clay, with which the child is made;
And form the brain and person like the sire;
And fill that person with a like desire.
For mark this truth, nor smile at what you hear;
where children's persons, like their sires appear,
An equal likeness in their minds will lie,
Although unseen by ev'ry vulgar eye.
But that resemblance, form'd in minds ally'd,
Instruction, habit, place, or chance may hide.
A monarch's yices, hence, to heirs must flow,
And run, increasing, like a ball of snow.
For weak and checkless princes gravitate,
To all the follies, vicious men create.
Besides the vice, to which by nature prone;
They add the habits which surround a throne.
First dipp'd in sin, before their reason rules,
Then, led to crimes, amid the shouts of fools,
The sickly food of morbid debauchee,
With inbred vices, from restraint set free.
Young princes hear the servile knaves at court,
And think all men were made to give them sport.
They show in youth, the ill effects of birth,
And hurl their slaughters, round the troubl'd earth.
Their father's madness fills their youthful veins;
Guides all their steps, and even boyhood stains.
Hence, princes rise, to take their parents lives,
Or murder brothers, sisters, friends, or wives.
!f sires and mothers can't their wrath assuage,
Then how can others hope to shun their rage?
If, by their wrath, their nearest kindred fall,
On kings for mercy, 'tis in vain to call.
An act, which others would be shock'd to hear,
|