For present anger, and for future gold—
And buying others' grief at any price.[1]
And thus once entered into crooked ways,
The early truth, which was thy proper praise,[2]
Did not still walk beside thee—but at times,
And with a breast unknowing its own crimes,
Deceit, averments incompatible,
Equivocations, and the thoughts which dwell
In Janus-spirits—the significant eye
Which learns to lie with silence—the pretext[3]
Of prudence, with advantages annexed—
The acquiescence in all things which tend,
No matter how, to the desired end—
All found a place in thy philosophy.
The means were worthy, and the end is won—
I would not do by thee as thou hast done!
[First published, New Monthly Magazine,
August, 1832, vol. xxxv. pp. 142, 143.]
- ↑ [Compare—
"By thy delight in others' pain."
Manfred, act i. sc. 1, line 248, vide post, p. 93.] - ↑ [Compare—
"... but that high Soul secured the heart,
And panted for the truth it could not hear."A Sketch, lines 18, 19, Poetical Works, 1900, iii. 541.] - ↑ [Compare Childe Harold, Canto IV. stanza cxxxvi lines 6-9, Poetical Works, 1899, ii. 430.]
