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FULKE GREVILLE. LORD BROOKE
God and the World they worship still together,
Draw not their lawes to him, but his to theirs,
Untrue to both, so prosperous in neither,
Amid their owne desires still raising feares;
'Unwise, as all distracted powers be; 5
Strangers to God, fooles in humanitie.'
Too good for great things, and too great for good;
Their Princes serve their Priest, &c.
A Treatie of Warres, st. lxvi-vii.
Motto To 'A Lay Sermon', 1817
God and the World we worship still together,
Draw not our Laws to Him, but His to ours;
Untrue to both, so prosperous in neither,
The imperfect Will brings forth but barren Flowers!
Unwise as all distracted Interests be, 5
Strangers to God, fools in Humanity:
Too good for great things and too great for good,
While still 'I dare not' waits upon 'I wou'd'!
S. T. C.
The same quotation from Lord Brooke is used to illustrate Aphorism xvii, 'Inconsistency,' Aids to Reflection, 1825, p. 93 (with the word 'both', substituted for 'still' in line 1). Line 8 is from Macbeth, Act I, Sc. vii, 'Letting I dare not,' &c. The reference to Lord Brooke was first given in N. and Q., Series VIII, Vol. ii, p. 18.
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[Vide ante, p. [403]]
Sonnet XCIV [Coelica]
The Augurs we of all the world admir'd
Flatter'd by Consulls, honour'd by the State,
Because the event of all that was desir'd
They seem'd to know, and keepe the books of Fate:
Yet though abroad they thus did boast their wit, 5
Alone among themselves they scornèd it.
Mankind that with his wit doth gild his heart
Strong in his Passions, but in Goodnesse weake,
Making great vices o're the lesse an Art,
Breeds wonder, and mouves Ignorance to speake, 10
Yet when his fame is to the highest borne,
We know enough to laugh his praise to scorne.
Lines on a King and Emperor-Making-King altered from the 93rd Sonnet of Fulke Greville, the friend of Sir Philip Sydney.
ll. 1-4 The augurs, &c.
l. 5 Abroad they thus did boast each other's wit.
l. 7 Behold yon Corsican with dropsied heart
l. 9 He wonder breeds, makes ignorance to speak
l. 12 Talleyrand will laugh his Creature's praise to scorn.
First published in the Courier, Sept. 12, 1806. See Editor's note, Athenæum, April 25, 1903, p. 531.