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A HINT TO PREMIERS AND FIRST CONSULS

FROM AN OLD TRAGEDY, VIZ. AGATHA TO KING ARCHELAUS

Three truths should make thee often think and pause;
The first is, that thou govern'st over men;
The second, that thy power is from the laws;
And this the third, that thou must die!—and then?—

First published in Morning Post, Sept. 27, 1802. Included in Essays, &c., iii. 992. First collected P. and D. W., 1877, ii. 162.