* It is remarkable, that a king scarcely ever exercised tyran-nical power over the people, but it was mingled with ungoverned vice in himself. Men of virtue and moderation seldom, if ever, turn tyrants. Despotic rule gives the reins to lust, and makes the errors of government, and the crimes of life, mix together. It is the high road to cruelty and brutalizing selfishness.--A king of France took out his watch when he guessed that the axe was cutting off the head of his favoritè, and said; 'My dear friend must make a sad figure just now!'--A hill in Richmond Park is still shewn as remarkable for having been the station from whence Henry VIII. eagerly looked out for the ascent of a rocket at London, announcing to the impatient tyrant the precise moment when one of his wives was suffering death on the scaffold! And is a Tyrant King your early choice? "_Be Kings your plague!_" said the Eternal's voice; And with this mighty curse he gave the crown, And Saul, to Israel's terror, mounts the throne! Now, Muse, the parallel with caution bring, On what condition was this man their King? {155} Tho' Heaven declar'd him, heaven itself set down The sacred _Postulata_ of the crown; Samuel examin'd first the high record, Then dedicates the substance to the Lord. This is the _coronation-oath_, the bond, The steps on which the throne and kingdom stand; For which, by future Kings unjustly broke, God, and the People, mighty vengeance took! *