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On the Young Statesmen

WRITTEN IN 1680.

   1 CLARENDON had law and sense,
       Clifford was fierce and brave;
     Bennet's grave look was a pretence,
     And Danby's matchless impudence
       Help'd to support the knave.
   2 But Sunderland, Godolphin, Lory[42],
     These will appear such chits in story,
       'Twill turn all politics to jests,
     To be repeated like John Dory,
       When fiddlers sing at feasts.
   3 Protect us, mighty Providence!
       What would these madmen have?
     First, they would bribe us without pence,
     Deceive us without common sense,
       And without power enslave.
   4 Shall free-torn men, in humble awe,
       Submit to servile shame;
     Who from consent and custom draw
     The same right to be ruled by law,
       Which kings pretend to reign?
   5 The duke shall wield his conquering sword,
       The chancellor make a speech,
     The king shall pass his honest word,
     The pawn'd revenue sums afford,
       And then, come kiss my breech.
   6 So have I seen a king on chess
       (His rooks and knights withdrawn,
     His queen and bishops in distress)
     Shifting about, grow less and less,
       With here and there a pawn.
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FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 42: 'Laurence Hyde,' afterwards Earl of Rochester, is the person here called Lory.]

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Literature Network » John Dryden » The Poetical Works of John Dryden, Vol II » On the Young Statesmen