What Cato then meant, tho' 'tis so long ago,
Even we in the present times pretty well know;
Having soothsayers also, who--sooth to say, John--
Are no better in some points than those of days gone,
And a pair of whom, meeting (between you and me),
Might laugh in their sleeves, too--all lawn tho' they be.
But this, by the way--my intention being chiefly
In this, my first letter, to hint to you briefly,
That, seeing how fond you of _Tuum_[1] must be,
While _Meum's_ at all times the main point with me,
We scarce could do better than form an alliance,
To set these sad Anti-Church times at defiance:
You, John, recollect, being still to embark,
With no share in the firm but your title and _mark_;
Or even should you feel in your grandeur inclined
To call yourself Pope, why, I shouldn't much mind;
While _my_ church as usual holds fast by your Tuum,
And every one else's, to make it all Suum.
Thus allied, I've no doubt we shall nicely agree,
As no twins can be liker, in most points, than we;
Both, specimens choice of that mixt sort of beast,
(See Rev. xiii. I) a political priest:
Both mettlesome _chargers_, both brisk pamphleteers,
Ripe and ready for all that sets men by the ears;
And I, at least one, who would scorn to stick longer
By any given cause than I found it the stronger,
And who, smooth in my turnings, as if on a swivel,
When the tone ecclesiastic won't do, try the _civil_.
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