Short lived the right the conquering king enjoy'd, Treason and crime his new-crown'd race destroy'd; As if the crimson hand of Power pursued The very crown, and fated it to blood, Richard by lust of government allured, By double murders, next that crown procured; For silent records trumpet-tongued proclaim The jails and graves of princes are the same. At Bosworth field, the crookback was dethroned; Slain in the fight, and then the victor own'd! **** * Richard II. ** Edward IV. *** Henry VI. **** Richard III. was succeeded by Henry VII. who had clearly no claim to the crown from blood. After him it still devolved with irregularity, although uuder the Tudors, the doctrine of hereditary right was as vaguely maintained as before. Thus, a Parliament granted to Henry VIII. the power of regulating the succession by will, and it was by pretending to exercise a similar power under an alleged will of Edward VI. that the unprincipled Northumberland sought the establishment of Lady Jane Grey. Elizabeth, on the same ground, was importuned to appoint a suc-cessor, at intervals, during the last twenty years of her reign; and finally, named the King of Scotland in her last moments. These are strange incidents for the advocates of Divine Right! The fact is, this wretched theory was never formally advocated until the days of James I.; and it may be considered to be one of the precions fruits of that settled connexion between Church and State, of which the Despot, Henry VIII., laid the foun-dation. Yet no Despot ever supported himself steadily on an English throne; and what is there to prove, that such men ever can? Look at King Richard II., he was a finished gentle-man, possessed some taste for literature, and shewed himself as. fond of finery as need be; but he waged war with the common sense of the realm and the rights of the people,--and finally, by entrusting his power to weak, inefficient, and corrupt ministers, roused the anger of a distressed and overtaxed community. Moral--They were beheaded, and he was dethroned. {184} So men of blood, incited by its taste, By lust of rule urged on, laid England waste; Oppression then upon oppression grew, One royal wretch another overthrew; They made a football of the People's crown, And brother-tyrant brother-king pull'd down, Succeeding robberies revenged the past, And every age of crime outdid the last. Look on once more--the tangled line survey, By which kings claim to bind men to obey.