Britain ... - Blue-Lite

326 THE VARANGIAN. [Act II.
What sins have I committed, thus to be
Severely punished ? Brave Northumberland,
You look disturbed and tristful. I intrude.
WALTHEOF.
Not so, my lord of Dorset. I did feel
Somewhat concerned to see how little truth,
Honour, or is
honesty,
to be found
In this dark, iron age.
I deem the world
Grows every day more base.
OSMOND.
So thought our sires :
But from the few traditions I have gleaned
Of other times, the world progresses still
In all that renders it a goodly place
For man's abode, at least, I count it so.
Nor has it reached that period when 'tis doomed,
If such a doom there be, to sink in years,
And totter with the feebleness of age.
WALTHEOF.
I speak of men
OSMOND,
If all were good, one half mankind must starve,
Lacking employment. The whole priesthood live
By Sin and Death, and soon their craft would cease
But for old Beelzebub ; yet do they still
Ungratefully revile him, heaping all
Man's villainy on his o'erladen back,
And our first parents' disobedience mourn,
Although that evil was the cause which gave
Their wealthy office being.
The judge on the tribunal, let him smite
The criminal, or won by bribery, set
The guilty free, still doth he thrive by crime.