7. THE KING OF SWEDEN.
Reading edition
The Voice of Song from distant lands shall call To that great King; shall hail the crowned Youth Who, taking counsel of unbending Truth, By one example hath set forth to all How they with dignity may stand; or fall, If fall they must. Now, whither doth it tend? And what to him and his shall be the end? That thought is one which neither can appal Nor chear him; for the illustrious Swede hath done The thing which ought to be: He stands above All consequences: work he hath begun Of fortitude, and piety, and love, Which all his glorious Ancestors approve: The Heroes bless him, him their rightful Son.