A prince commits without a sigh or tear:
Thus mean Caracalla, with vile desire,
Unsheath'd his sword, to slay his aged sire.
With stealthy pace, he walk'd along behind,
To give the stroke his cruel heart design'd:
But, guards beheld, and stopp'd the shameful blow,
which aim'd to lay the thoughtless father low.
Severus (57) knew what crimes this fiend had done;
Yet left his crown to this infernal son,

Who bath'd his hands within a brother's blood,
And drench'd the empire in a crimson flood.
See Chosroes, (58) Selim, (59) or Supurbus' wife, (60)
Prepensely take a scepter'd parent's life :

Not only these; see many more destroy'd,
By those assassins, whom their sons employ❜d.
Assyrians, Jews, Egyptians, Greeks, and Medes,
Had princes also, who perform'd like deeds;
Their fears and passions kindl'd such desires,
That sires slay sons, and sons destroy their sires;
Brothers slay brothers, sisters, sisters slay;
Uncles kill nephews, or became their pray;
Wives destroy husbands, husbands murder wives,
Mother with son, and sire with daughter strives.
witness a prince (61) of the Asmonæan race,
who starv'd his mother while he fill'd her place.
So Antipater, (62) Ninyas, (63) Physcon's (64) son,
And savage Herod, (65) show what crowns have done,
Three, slew the mothers who had brought them life;
The fourth, destroy'd his guiltless sons and wife.
And if we credit what historians wrote,

The monster, Physcon, (66) cut his infant's throat;
And sent it thus, without the least remorse,

To shock his consort by the mangl'd corse.
A box enclos'd it; and the mother queen

Grew dumb with horror when the sight was seen.
Monarchs extoll'd, and even surnam❜d great,
Have doom'd their children to as hard a fate.
Their children too, without a cause assign'd,
Or cause untrue, were to their fate resign'd.
This, Constantine, (67) and Russian Peter, (68) prove,
Whom no compassion for their sons could move.
By these, call'd great, and surely great in pride,
Their offspring, Crispus, and Alexci, died.
Some other surname suits such monsters best;
As other names which kings have borne attest.
Instead of great, infernal, if apply'd,

Would suit the matri, patri, fratricide.

So cruel, (69) bloody, Charles the weak, the blind,
Are names well suited to a princely mind.

And hence, though pious, great, or wise, were used,
It only shews, how names were then abus'd,
In scorn or fear, such names are given at first,
And," given (70) by God," denominates the worst.
Ironic names, it seems, were oft apply'd:
Thus Philadelphus (71) means a fratricide:
And Philopater, if I rightly ween,

Some princely parricide, was used to mean.

See Otho's (72) son, or Henry's (73)sons conspire. Against their country, and against their sire:

See hundreds more, with mad ambition's rage,

G

Against their sires, the bloody conflict wage,

་

So England's monarchs snatch'd the crown they wore,
with hands, still reeking in their kindred's gore.
This England saw, and yet so lost to shame,
Her sons supported an assassin's claim;
And, with a felon for their chief, could sing,
We fight for honor, and our gracious king.
But how absurd, is such an abject host;
As well might burglars of their honor boast:
As well might harlots prate of manners chaste,
As nations boast, when thus, by crimes disgrac'd.
If honour means a breach of other's right,
The thief pursues it, through the gloom of night.
If not in wrong, a nation's honor lies

In acts which prove them faithful, just, and wise
Just to themselves, and other nations too;
To freedom constant, and to conscience true;
In counsel wise, by reason ever led ;
In plenty frugal, and by crimes unfed
Not proud, yet brave, whenever foes appear,
Not rais'd by fortune, nor depress'd by fear.
we honor states, when thus through virtue bold;
Not those enrich'd by plunder'd heaps of gold;
Nor those too faithless for the smallest trust,

Whose wealth, though boundless, can't appease their

lust:

Who discontented, when with plenty fed;

And curst, when gold, throughout the realm has spread.

Foreseeing woes, which ev'ry monarch brings

The worst alone would ask the power of kings.

The wise and good despise the empty name;
They laugh at baubles, titles, pomp, and fame.
They never wish the many much oppress'd,
To see the few with pomp and wealth distress'd.
They never make their fellow creatures slaves,
Nor send them mangl'd to untimely graves.
But names and titles, little minds can please:
For them they barter safety, peace, and ease:
And still contentless, though with wealth possess'd,
For sounds or shadows rob a world of rest.
Alas what narrow, sordid minds they own!
Who love such toys, or for such baubles moan!
The wise commit no wrong, nor barter peace,
To make their troubles, fears, and wants increase :
But love their cottage more than public halls,
And rest in quiet, till their country calls.
To serve their country, they would not refuse,
Lest those in office should their power misuse.
But little minds, devoid of shame, obtrude, .....
And better men, by foul intrigue exclude.
Hence kings untaught in reason's peaceful bower,
Though cured with folly, rule with sovereign power.
Though savage, dull, or void of common sense,.
Yet ev'ry despot clairns omnipotence:

A man, scarce fit to have the care of swine,
Is dubb'd a king, and calls his power divine.
Can human fancy draw a stranger scene,

Or picture beings more absurd or mean,
Than men, who dance behind a monarch's heels!

Or run like dogs behind his chariot wheels!

Yet slavish crowds obey a fool's command,
And watch and wait to kiss the blockhead's hand;}
Run here, and there, as whim or folly drives,

To rob the state, or sport with human lives.

That crowds should run to please a knave or fool,
Or boy, unfit to act his part at school,

Is monstrous strange; and seems to abstract view,
An act of meanness, which no race would do.
For in the abstract, what is more abstruse,
Than nations yielding to the vile abuse

Of rogues or boys, whom nature scarcely made
With sense enough to learn the plainest trade:
Or made too hard to feed a herd of swine,
To drive a team, or tend the lowing kine.

A man may vainly think his talents great,
Because he heads the knaves who rob the state:
Yet low deceit, or chance may place him there,
With no more talents, than an ape or bear.
But though his work is all perform'd by tools,
Who meanly serve to gain estates by fools:
And though he differs from the crowd he leads,
In fortune merely, or more savage deeds;
Still minions think their master's talents shine,
If circumstances aid his base design;

And give success to plans, (74) which often show,
How little those, who execute them know,
When wealth and sceptres lead the dunce their aid
He takes the praise of plans, which others laid.
He keeps aloof, and shuns familiar ways,
And like the moon, appears in borrow'd rays.