To the Emperor of the French

Pleas'd was I when yon told me how
In hat that buffeted the brow
And mason's loose habiliment
With masons thro' Ham's gate you went.

Heartily glad was I to see
A prisoner, though a prince, set free.

" Prince !" said I, " you've escaped two worst
Of evils."

" I have known a first,'
Said you, " but that is only one.
Tell me the other."

"'Tis a throne."

I could not add what now I might,
It keeps the worthy out of sight.
Nor lets the sitter sit upright.

Can there be pleasure to keep down.
In rusty chains a struggling town ?
Can there be any to hear boom
Your cannon o'er the walls of Rome ?
Or shows it strength to break a word.
As easily as girls a cord
Of flimsy cotton, when the bell
Calls them to dinner?... To rebel
Against rebellion in your eyes
Is criminal, to crouch is wise.
Louis ! your father thought not so ;
His scepter he disdain'd to owe
To falsehood ; all his cares he bent
To make the realm he ruled content.
He proved, what many people doubt
As often as they look about,
A wonderful unheard of thing...
An honest man may be a king.