University of Virginia Library

When, thunder-struck, that eagle, Wolsey, fell;
When royal favour, as an ebbing sea,
Like a leviathan, his grandeur left,
His gasping grandeur, naked on the strand,
Naked of human, doubtful of Divine,
Assistance; no more wallowing in his wealth,
Spouting proud foams of insolence no more;
On what then smote his heart, uncardinall'd,
And sunk beneath the level of a man?
On the grand article, the sum of things,
The point of the first magnitude! that point
Tubes mounted in a court but rarely reach;
Some painted cloud still intercepts their sight.
First right to judge; then choose; then persevere,
Steadfast, as if a crown or mistress call'd:—
These, these are politics will stand the test,
When finer politics their masters sting,
And statesmen fain would shrink to common men.
These, these are politics will answer now,
(When common men would fain to statesmen swell,)
Beyond a Machiavel's or Tencin's scheme.
All safety rests on honest counsels: these
Immortalize the statesman, bless the state,
Make the prince triumph, and the people smile;
In peace revered, or terrible in arms,
Close-leagued with an Invincible Ally,
Whom honest counsels never fail to fix
In favour of an unabandon'd land;
A land that—starts at such a land as this.
A parliament, so principled, will sink
All ancient schools of empire in disgrace;
And Britain's Glory, rising from the dead,
Will fill the world, loud Fame's superior song.