I know that many clerks of great renown
Maintain that Christ, assisted by his saints,
Himself may reign; but He who doth ordain
The everlasting destinies is not
A king that can be seen of mortal eyes;
Terrestrial kingdoms must have mortal kings,—
Reges substantiales, as 'tis said.
These arguments cannot be overthrown.—
Of all the forms of government the worst
Is the republic; every people needs
A king in whom they may repose their trust;
For peoples, good my lord, are like the heron,
Which cannot sleep save standing on one foot.
Now, is the sleeping heron therefore maimed?
The nation is the heron. Is it fain
To avenge its wrongs—the army is its beak,
The Houses are its wings. But when at last
The ship of State at anchor safely lies,
Then let the people sleep upon one foot!
Stans pede in uno. The argument
Is clear, too clear to need development.
Now therefore, holding Judah's sword aloft,
And Aaron's rod, Your Highness, over Europe,
Be King of England, be the heron's foot!
We here invoke laws common to the world.
Dixi quid dicendum, speaking in the name
Of Parliament.
Cromwell. We will deliberate.
[General astonishment.
The Speaker [aside.
What do I hear?
