Monarchs should have some check-strings; but he had

No curb upon his will—no, not a bit

Wherefore he did not reign well—and full glad

His slaves had been to hang him—but they falter'd

And let him live unhang'd—and still unalter'd,

IV.

Until he got a sage-bush of a beard,

Wherein an Attic owl might roost—a trail

Of bristly hair—that, honor'd and unshear'd,

Grew downward like old women and cow's tail;