Alone might kindle ; they are decked in weal&i,

Honour, and power, then are sent abroad

To do their work. The pestilence that stalks

In gloomy triumph through some eastern land

Is less destroyiug. They cajole with gold,

And promises of fame, the thoughtless youth

Already crushed whh servitude : he knows

His wretchedness too late, and chensbcpi ..
IT.] QUBBN XAB. 8S

Repentance Tor his rain, when bis dooai

Is sealed in sold and blood !

Those too the tyrant serve, who, skilled to snare

The feet of jasiice in the toils oflaw, ^

Stand, ready to oppress the weaker still ;

And, right or wrong, will vindieate for gold,

Sneering at public virtue, which beneath

Their pitiless trea^ lies lorn and trampled, whera

Honour sits smiling at the sale of truth.
Then grave and hoary-headed hypocrites,

Without a hope, a passion, or a love.
Who, through a life of luxury and lies,

Have crept by flattery to the seats of power.
Support the system whence their honours flow —

They have three words: — *vell tyrants know their use,

Well pay them for their loan, with usury

Torn from a bleeding world 1 — God, Hell, and HeaTtn.
A vengeful, pitiless, and almighty fiend,

Whose mercy is a nickname for the rage

Of tameless tiger? hungering for blood.
Hell, a red gulf of everl isting fire,

Where poisonous and undying worms prolong

Eternal misery to those hapless slaves

Whose life has been a penance for its crimes.
And Heaven, a meed for those who dare belie

Their human nature, quake, believe, and cringe

Before the mockeries of earthly power.
