X. 1. SICK, am I sick of a jealous dread ? Was not one of the two at her side This new-made lord, whose splendour plucks The slavish hat from the villager's head? Whose old grand-father has lately died, Gone to a blacker pit, for whom Grimy nakedness dragging his trucks And laying his trams in a poison'd gloom Wrought, till he crept from a gutted mine Master of half a servile shire, And left his coal all turn'd into gold To a grandson, first of his noble line, Rich in the grace all women desire, And soften as if to a girl, and hold New as his title, built last year, There amid perky larches and pine, And over the sullen-purple moor (Look at it) pricking a cockney ear. 2. What, has he found my jewel out? For one of the two that rode at her side A bought commission, a waxen face, Bought? what is it he cannot buy? 3. Last week came one to the county town, Tho' the state has done it and thrice as well: Whose ear is stuft with his cotton, and rings Even in dreams to the chink of his pence, This huckster put down war! can he tell Whether war be a cause or a consequence? Put down the passions that make earth Hell! Down with ambition, avarice, pride, Jealousy, down! cut off from the mind The bitter springs of anger and fear; Down too, down at your own fireside, With the evil tongue and the evil ear, For each is at war with mankind. 4. Ah God, for a man with heart, head, hand, One still strong man in a blatant land, Who can rule and dare not lie. |