Britain ... - Blue-Lite

Scene II.] THE VARANGIAN. 275
Appointing who shall fill our vacant place
When we pass off the stage ! I hear thou hast
A splendid palace purchased at proud Rome,
Where thy chief agents bribe the cardinals ;( 12 )
Nor lack I knowledge of thy deep design
To quit the kingdom secretly, and waste
Thine ill-got riches in Italian climes,
Tempting our Barons from the British shores,
To seek, by war, dominion o'er the South.
But England no, nor Normandy, my lord,
Shall thus be robbed, or my poor people fleeced
To fill the coffers of intriguing priests,
And batten all the saucy scum of Rome.
ODO.
Be better, King, informed. But grant it true,
What right hast thou to meddle in this business ?
KING.
What right, saidst thou, to meddle in this business ?
That right which every king by right enjoys.
Placed like the sun amid the heavens, he sits
The radiance and the tempered heat to shower
Of honour and of justice on the worthy:
That right by which he from the spoiler guards
His people, as the shepherd keeps his flock
From the devouring wolf, making the laws
A terror unto those that evil do,
And to the good a blessing. Thou shalt find
That I have both the right and power to act
As doth become a king.
ODO.
Thy duty goes
No further, or thy power, than temporal rule :
The rest to Heaven's vicegerency belong.
T2