Vex all my policies, overthrow my plans,

And make of our political affairs

The kind of stew the French call bouillabaisse.

The Crowd (murmuring): We’ll have none of that. None of that. We’ll rise and storm their strongholds. We’ll burn down their castles to the ground.

King David:

Peace, peace, my friends, and hear me out. They say

(Insolent curs), these Younger statesmen say,

They’d have my leadership because they know,

Perchance, that I have prowess in the field.

But in the Council Chamber I’ll be nought,