Classic Poem

After our Aesop's fable shown today,
I come to give the moral of the play.
Feigned Zeal, you saw, set out the speedier pace,
But, the last heat, Plain Dealing won the race.
Plain Dealing for a jewel has been known,
But ne'er till now the jewel of a crown.
When heaven made man, to show the work divine
Truth was his image stamped upon the coin,
And when a king is to a god refined,
On all he says and does he stamps his mind:
This proves a soul without allay and pure;
Kings, like their gold, should every touch endure.
To dare in fields is valour, but how few
Dare be so throughly valiant to be true!
The name of great let other kings affect,
He's great indeed, the prince that is direct.
His subjects know him now, and trust him more
Than all their kings and all their laws before.
What safety could their public Acts afford?
Those he can break, but cannot break his word.
So great a trust to him alone was due,
Well have they trusted whom so well they knew.
The saint who walked on waves securely trod
While he believed the beck'ning of his God;
But when his faith no longer bore him out
Began to sink, as he began to doubt.
Let us our native character maintain,
'Tis of our growth to be sincerely plain.
T' excel in truth we loyally may strive,
Set privilege against prerogative;
He plights his faith, and we believe him just;
His honour is to promise, ours to trust.
Thus Britain's basis on a word is laid,
As by a word the world itself was made.