rtower the gold
And thus perforce attract attention from
The ones who guide their party to success?
_(Bonset doublingly)_
Perhaps, my Liege. But in the outer hall
A deputation waits to greeting give
And tokens of respectful homage show
On the behalf of Briton's col'ny here.
_(Enter Quezox)_
_Francos:_ But Bonset, list! 'Twere well to let them wait:
To quick respond will lower dignity.
The British mind doth breed a rev'rence deep
For form and etiquette which swift cognition
Might debase, and thus we on their mental
Vision might mayhap but feeble impress
Make as envoys by most noble Caesar sent
To rule these Isles with gravity and state.
_Quezox:_ Most noble Sire! If I might but suggest,
'Twere well for Bonset to inquire each name
And mental picture stamp upon his mind
That he may fluent be when he presents
Each sev'ral person as he shall proceed
To pass before thee and his greeting voice,
And when the proper waiting hath an end,
I will speed forth and beck the conclave in.
_Francos:_ 'Tis well! And in the intervining time
'Twere wise important matters to discuss.
_(Enter Carpen)_
Ha! Carpen, thou hast long experience had
In dealings intricate with this proud race,
And thee alone from out the anchored host
I trust to honest voice conditions here.
_Carpen:_ Sire! dost thou seek a true, unvarnished tale,
Or rather wouldst a colored picture please?
_Francos:_ Truth is so hidden in her various garbs
That nakedness alone presents her fair;
Hence ornament and furbelow disdain,
And Hebe-like unbedecked let her stand forth.
_Carpen:_ It were indeed a most stupendous mind
Which, as the argonaut with mining pan
Doth sift pure gold from ever present dross,
Can Truth unmesh from Error's well spread net.
Conditions intricate with taunting smile
Of Fate's stern irony, have faced us here;
But now the seething problem must be solved
And vague uncertainty be swept aside.
Shall the mestizos, as the ruling class,
Be firm entrenched by our assisting hand,
Or must we i