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And the dark jealous mind annoy

That hears with pain another's joy.

But unsubdued by envious hate,

(For pity were a lower state,)

Still be thine honest actions sung;

With steady hand direct the helm,

Protector of the peopled realm,

And on truth's whetstone edge thy tongue.

For know, a fault of lightest blame

Would brand a king with flagrant shame.

Since be thy bearing good or ill,

Unnumber'd eyes survey thee still.

Then tarnish not thy generous mind,

If thy delighted ear rejoice

In honest fame's applauding voice,

Be all thy bounties unconfined.

Like the skill'd pilot, spread thy sail

Before the free and liberal gale.

Nor, friend, let flattery's specious wile

Thy better judgment e'er beguile.

When life's brief span is past away,

And closed the transitory scene,

The storied page or poet's lay

Declares how bright that life has been.

Still Crœsus' philanthropic virtue lives;

While Phalaris, who made his victims flame

Within the brazen bull's ignited frame,

To everlasting infamy survives: