Take the worst pupil; and produce a reign

More drench'd with gore, more cumber'd with the slain.

"He ever warr'd with freedom and the free:

Nations as men, home subjects, foreign foes,

So that they utter'd the word 'Liberty!' Found George the Third their first opponent. Whose

History was ever stain'd as his will be
With national and individual woes?
I grant his household abstinence; I grant
His neutral virtues, which most mon-
archs want;

"I know he was a constant consort; own He was a decent sire, and middling lord.

Here Michael interposed: "Good saint! and devil!

Pray, not so fast; you both outrun discretion.

Saint Peter! you were wont to be more civil!

Satan, excuse this warmth of his expression,

And condescension to the vulgar's level: Even saints sometimes forget themselves in session.

Have you got more to say?”—“ No.”— "If you please,

I'll trouble you to call your witnesses."

Then Satan turn'd and waved his swarthy hand,

Which stirr'd with its electric qualities

Clouds farther off than we can understand,

Although we find him sometimes in our skies:

Infernal thunder shook both sea and land In all the planets, and hell's batteries Let off the artillery, which Milton mentions

As one of Satan's most sublime inventions.

This was a signal unto such damned souls As have the privilege of their damnation

Extended far beyond the mere controls Of worlds past, present, or to come; no station

Is theirs particularly in the rolls

Of hell assign'd; but where their inclination

Or business carries them in search of game,

They may range freely-being damn'd

the same.

They're proud of this-as very well they may,

It being a sort of knighthood, or gilt key

Our different parties make us fight so

shy,

I ne'er mistake you for a personal foe; Our difference is political, and I

Trust that, whatever may occur below, You know my great respect for you: and this

Makes me regret whate'er you do amiss

"Why, my dear Lucifer, would you abuse

My call for witnesses? I did not mean That you should half of earth and hell produce;

'Tis even superfluous, since two honest, clean,

True testimonies are enough: we lose

Our time, nay, our eternity, between The accusation and defence: if we Hear both, 'twill stretch our immor tality."

Satan replied, "To me the matter is Indifferent, in a personal point of view :

I can have fifty better souls than this With far less trouble than we have gone through

Already; and I merely argued his Late Majesty of Britain's case with you

Upon a point of form: you may dispose Of him; I've kings enough below, God knows!"

All the costumes since Adam's, right or wrong,

From Eve's fig leaf down to the petticoat,

Almost as scanty, of days less remote.

The spirit look'd around upon the crowds Assembled, and exclaim'd, "My

friends of all The spheres, we shall catch cold amongst

these clouds;

So let's to business: why this general call?

If those are freeholders I see in shrouds,

And 'tis for an election that they bawl, Behold a candidate with unturn'd coat! Saint Peter, may I count upon your vote?"

"Sir," replied Michael, "you mistake; these things

Are of a former life, and what we do Above is more august; to judge of kings Is the tribunal met: so now you

know." "Then I presume those gentlemen with wings,"

Said Wilkes, "are cherubs; and that soul below

Looks much like George the Third, but to my mind

A good deal older-Bless me! is he blind?"

"He is what you behold him, and his doom

Depends upon his deeds," the Angel said;

"If you have aught to arraign in him, the tomb

Gives license to the humblest beggar's head

To lift itself against the loftiest."

"Some,"

Said] Wilkes, "don't wait to see them

laid in lead,

For such a liberty-and I, for one, Have told them what I thought beneath the sun."

"Above the sun repeat, then, what thou hast

To urge against him," said the Archangel. Why," Replied the spirit, "since old scores are past,

Must I turn evidence? In faith, not I. Besides, I beat him hollow at the last, With all his Lords and Commons: in the sky

I don't like ripping up old stories, since His conduct was but natural in a prince.

"Foolish, no doubt, and wicked, to oppress

A poor unlucky devil without a shilling ; But then I blame the man himself much less

Than Bute and Grafton, and shall be unwilling

To see him punish'd here for their excess, Since they were both damn'd long ago, and still in

Their place below : for me, I have forgiven,

And vote his 'habeas corpus' into heaven."

"Wilkes," said the Devil, "I understand all this:

You turn'd to half a courtier ere you died,

And seem to think it would not be amiss To grow a whole one on the other side Of Charon's ferry; you forget that his

Reign is concluded; whatsoe'er betide, He won't be sovereign more: you've lost your labor,

For at the best he will but be your neighbor.

"However, knew what to think of it. When I beheld you in your jesting way, Flitting and whispering round about the spit the day,

Where Belial, upon duty With Fox's lard was basting

foliam Pitt,

His pupil; I knew what to think, I say: That fellow even in hell breeds farther ills;

I'll have him gagg'd-'twas one of his

own bills.