Yet this we see, though ordered for the best, The bad exalted, and the good oppressed; Permitted laurels grace the lawless brow; The unworthy raised, the worthy cast below. But leaving that: search we the secret springs, And backward trace the principles of things; There shall we find, that, when the world began, One common mass composed the mould of man; One paste of flesh on all degrees bestowed, And kneaded up alike with moistening blood. The same Almighty Power inspired the frame With kindled life, and formed the souls the same: The faculties of intellect and will } Dispensed with equal hand, disposed with equal skill, } Like liberty indulged, with choice of good or ill. } Thus born alike, from virtue first began The difference that distinguished man from man: He claimed no title from descent of blood, But that which made him noble made him good. Warmed with more particles of heavenly flame, } He winged his upward flight, and soared to fame; } The rest remained below, a tribe without a name. } This law, though custom now diverts the course, As nature's institute, is yet in force; Uncancelled, though disused: and he, whose mind Is virtuous, is alone of noble kind; Though poor in fortune, of celestial race; And he commits the crime, who calls him base. Now lay the line, and measure all thy court By inward virtue, not external port, And find whom justly to prefer above The man on whom my judgment placed my love; So shalt thou see his parts and person shine, And, thus compared, the rest a base degenerate line. Nor took I, when I first surveyed thy court, His valour or his virtues on report; But trusted what I ought to trust alone, Relying on thy eyes, and not my own; Thy praise (and thine was then the public voice) First recommended Guiscard to my choice: Directed thus by thee, I looked, and found A man I thought deserving to be crowned; First by my father pointed to my sight, Nor less conspicuous by his native light; His mind, his mien, the features of his face, Excelling all the rest of human race: These were thy thoughts, and thou couldst judge aright, Till interest made a jaundice in thy sight. Or should I grant thou didst not rightly see, Then thou wert first deceived, and I deceived by thee. But if thou shalt allege, through pride of mind, Thy blood with one of base condition joined, 'Tis false; for 'tis not baseness to be poor: His poverty augments thy crime the more; Upbraids thy justice with the scant regard Of worth; whom princes praise, they should reward. Are these the kings entrusted by the crowd With wealth, to be dispensed for common good? The people sweat not for their king's delight, To enrich a pimp, or raise a parasite; Theirs is the toil; and he, who well has served His country, has his country's wealth deserved. Even mighty monarchs oft are meanly born,