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[98] Nature, that hateth emptiness,
     Allows of penetration less,
And therefore must make room
     Where greater spirits come.

What field of all the civil war,
     Where his were not the deepest scar P
And Hampton shows what part
     He had of wiser art;

Where, twining subtle fears with hope,
    
He wove a net of such a scope,
     That Charles himself might chase
To Carisbrook's narrow case;

That hence the royal actor borne,
    
The tragic scaffold might adorn,
     While round the armed bands
Did clap their bloody hands.

he nothing common did or mean
     Upon that memorable scene,
But with his keener eye
     The axe's edge did try:

Nor called the gods, with vulgar spite,
     To vindicate his helpless right!
But bowed his comely head,
     Down, as upon a bed.

This was that memorable hour,
     Which first assured the forced power;
So when they did design
     The Capitol's first line,

A bleeding head, where they begun,
     Did fright the architects to run;
And yet in that the state
     Foresaw its happy fate.

And now the Irish are ashamed
     To see themselves in one year tamed;
So much one man can do,
     That does best act and know.


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