Begin we then with Edward; first let him
At his own high tribunal undergo
The rigid inquisition — I for this
Have left my lucid star-encircled throne:
For this, immortal sages have requir'd
Your wise and prudent ministry, well skill'd
In various science and the human heart.
Search Edward's to the bottom: sound the depths
And shallows of his soul; if he possess
That first of regal talents, to discern
With quick-ey'd penetration, thro' the veil
Of art, each character's intrinsick worth,
And all the labyrinths of the human mind.
Nor blush for this good end yourselves to wear
Fallacious forms to plead the cause of false
But specious merit; at his throne appear
In borrow'd shapes, and there with artful guile,
When the shrill trumpet cites the candidates,
Urge your pretensions: all the pow'r employ
Of wit and eloquence: Edward, I trust,
The trial shall abide; which shall but tend
To manifest, that not from arrogance,
But conscious virtue, hath he thus assum'd
Above all other kings, to be the judge
And great rewarder of heroic deeds.
Nor wholly unassisted will I leave
My royal charge, but with blest influence clear
His intellectual eye from the dim mists
It haply hath contracted from a long
Unebbing current of felicity,
Unhop'd, unequall'd triumphs, from the view
Of captive monarchs, and the glitt'ring throng,
Who at his summons from all climates come,
To take, as from their sov'reign, honours new.
When heav'n tries mortals in unusual ways,
'Tis fit it should afford unusual aid.