 | The Poetical Works of the Ingenious and Learned William Meston
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By tricks of state had he a crown obtain'd,
By faction or by fraud his title gain'd;
Had he usurp'd another's rightful throne,
First rob'd, and then proclaim'd the prize his own,
And, like a bloody varlet, sought to slay
The rightful owner to secure the prey;
Had he profan'd the sceptre which he bore,
Or stain'd the purple with the subjects gore,
Consum'd their wealth, and shed their purest blood,
To make his lame and groundless title good;
Or, as some courtiers do, if his but had
Worship'd the idol which their hands had made,
A thoughtless, dull, and meer precarious thing,
The faction's tool, a titulary king,
Drowned in lux'ry and ignoble ease,
Whom masques and balls, and vicious shows could please;
Then would the thinking world with joy relate
The monster's fall, the object of their hate,
And none bad mourn'd his too too early fate.
| The Poetical Works of the Ingenious and Learned William Meston
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