Monarchy Unmasked.
When History’s pen hereafter shall relate1
The deeds that influence now a nation’s fate ;2
When truly picturing those gaudy things,3
Which nations feed, clothe, pay, and christen kings ;4
When despots, dolts, and debauchees arrayed,5
Shall make Truth blush at what she has pourtrayed,6
The meanest, vilest of this damned crew,7
******* *** ****** will stand confessed to view !8
Charles was a daring tyrant, and he kept9
Some manliness about him ; Pity wept10
When Justice, and a nation’s will, decreed11
His death, lest other tyrants should succeed.12
James we can almost name without a sneer,13
And the third George—to doating humbug dear,14
A foolish bigot—was at least sincere.15
The fourth alone, and only in degree,16
Thou regal hypocrite, approaches thee.17
He lost in age the love he earned in youth,18
Exchanged for ease and lust, desert and truth,19
Dressed, dined, and lounged with peeresses and peers,20
Dragged an unwieldly bulk through languid years,21
And died without one claim on England’s tears.22
But thou, domestic, affable, and kind,23
Hast won with fairest show the general mind,24
And masked, with seeming care for England’s weal,25
A heart too stupid or too cold to feel ;26
And from a height which Alfred’s self alone27
Attained,—from something loftier than a throne,28
Even from a kingdom’s heart—thou fall’st ; and shame,29
The scorn of millions, brands thy blighted name !30