Page:The Mysterious Mother - Walpole (1781).djvu/61
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A TRAGEDY.
53
MARTIN.
Still does thy genius soar above mankind!
How many fathers of our holy church
In Benedict I view!
Still does thy genius soar above mankind!
How many fathers of our holy church
In Benedict I view!
BENEDICT.
No flattery, brother.
'Tis true the church owes Benedict some thanks,
For her, I have forgot I am a man.
For her, each virtue from my breast I banish.
No laws I know but her prosperity;
No country, but her boundless acquisitions.
Who dares be true to country, king, or friend,
If enemies to Rome, are Benedict's foes.
No flattery, brother.
'Tis true the church owes Benedict some thanks,
For her, I have forgot I am a man.
For her, each virtue from my breast I banish.
No laws I know but her prosperity;
No country, but her boundless acquisitions.
Who dares be true to country, king, or friend,
If enemies to Rome, are Benedict's foes.
MARTIN.
Has it then gone so far? Does she speak out?
Is Edmund too infected with like errors?
Has it then gone so far? Does she speak out?
Is Edmund too infected with like errors?
BENEDICT.
Both, brother, both are thinking heretics.
I could forgive them, did some upstart sect
With sharper rigours charm their headlong zeal.
But they, in sooth, must reason—curses light
On the proud talent! 'twill at last undo us.
When men are gorged with each absurdity
Their subtle wits can frame, or we adopt;
For very novelty they will fly to sense,
And we shall fall before that idol, fashion.
Both, brother, both are thinking heretics.
I could forgive them, did some upstart sect
With sharper rigours charm their headlong zeal.
But they, in sooth, must reason—curses light
On the proud talent! 'twill at last undo us.
When men are gorged with each absurdity
Their subtle wits can frame, or we adopt;
For very novelty they will fly to sense,
And we shall fall before that idol, fashion.
MARTIN.
Fear not a reign so transient. Statesmen too
Will join to stem the torrent: or new follies
Replace the old. Each chieftain that attacks us
Must grow the pope of his own heresy.
E'en stern philosophy, if once triumphant,
Shall frame some jargon, and exact obedience
Fear not a reign so transient. Statesmen too
Will join to stem the torrent: or new follies
Replace the old. Each chieftain that attacks us
Must grow the pope of his own heresy.
E'en stern philosophy, if once triumphant,
Shall frame some jargon, and exact obedience
To