Rapacious, fell, and fearless of control:
A harlot’s favour rais’d him from the dust,
To rise the pander of tyrannic lust:
Graced with successive gifts, at length he shone
With wondering Trollio on the sacred throne.
With pleasure’s arts, and sophistry’s refined,
Alike he pleas’d the body and the mind;
Skilful alike to cheat the wandering soul,
Or mix luxurious pleasure’s midnight bowl.
All these, and more, at Christiern’s sudden call,
(A shining conclave) fill the towering hall.
Ere yet they enter’d,
Trollio left the rest,
Th’ advancing monarch
met, and thus address’d:
“Hear, Christiern,
hear! th’ unwelcome news attend,
Forced from the lips of an
unwilling friend.
Nor think ’tis from
a mean suspicious heart
I speak my message from our
friends apart;
I know their general worth,
in duty tried,
Yet in one man I tremble to
confide:
False to his country, to himself,
and thee,
Sick of success, and tired
of infamy,
Ernestus now prepares to burst
your yoke,
And win his freedom by some
glorious stroke.
I know him well; his ever-varying
soul
Now searches earth, now looks
beyond the pole;
Successive schemes usurp his
changeful breast,
That seeks for toil, and languishes
in rest:
Like a frail bark, the sport
of every breeze,
That floats unguided on the
boundless seas.
E’en now I mark’d
him—struggling passions play’d
On his pale forehead, and
alternate sway’d.
Of this no more.—Our
friends, dread prince, have sent
Advices, that concern your
government.
The factious souls, that late,
o’eraw’d by you,
Their inward rancour hid from
open view,
Are rous’d afresh, and
gathering all their power,
Beneath the smiles of this
auspicious hour.
Reports and whispers, toss’d
about, ferment
With ceaseless breath the
tide of discontent.
Each vile complainer casts
his grievance in, }
The common clamours to augment,
and win }
His share of future spoils,
reward of clamorous din. }
The torrent of sedition swells
amain,
Disloyalty invades the firmest
Dane;
And Christiern’s arm,
outstretch’d without delay,
Alone has power to prop his
tottering sway.
Haste, while in momentary
bounds is kept,
The struggling flood, which
else may intercept
Your passage; haste! your
new dominions quit;
Their care to some experienced
chief commit;
Haste, and by speediest means
secure your crown
Ere violence and treason tear
it down!”