Heaven, and his friends, knew that a private life

Had ever been his sole and whole ambition;

But could he quit his King in times of strife,

Which threatened the whole country with perdition?

When demagogues would with a butcher's knife

Cut through and through (oh! damnable incision!)

The Gordian or the Geordi-an knot, whose strings

Have tied together Commons, Lords, and Kings.