While the chief vizier eased his lord of cares,

And bore himself the burden of affairs:

No dangers could from such alliance flow,

But from that law that changes all below.

When wintry winds with leaves bestrew’d the ground,

And men were coughing all the village round;

When public papers of invasion told,

Diseases, famines, perils new and old;

When philosophic writers fail’d to clear

The mind of gloom, and lighter works to cheer;