Upon the first step of the papal throne,
And vacant left the Vatican, may look
With eye undazzled on the chair of Lambeth.”
Then he accepts, and presently the queen observes:
“I have long thought it strange that you refused
The greater honor though the heavier burden:
The proffered crown of Rome.
Cardinal [after much agitation]. Look not alarmed. [A pause.
You touch the mind’s immedicable wound.
O God! that I had died before I knew thee!