To leave the parties to themselves, forsooth,

At least as far as bienseance allows:

That time would temper Juan's faults of youth ;

That young men rarely made monastic vows;That opposition only more attaches —

But here a messenger brought in dispatches :

LXVIII.

And being of the Council called «the Privy,”Lord Henry walk'd into his Cabinet,

To furnish matter for some future LivyTo tell how he reduced the nation's debt;And if their full contents I do *not give ye,

It is because I do not know them yet,

But I shall add them in a brief appendix,

To come between mine epic and its index.

LXIX.

But ere lie went, he added a slight hint,Another gentle common-place or two,