But, Sir, 'twou'd wrong your valour much,
To say it needs, or fears a crutch.
Great conqu'rors greater glory gain1065
By foes in triumph led, than slain:
The laurels that adorn their brows
Are pull'd from living, not dead boughs,
And living foes: the greatest fame
Of cripple slain can be but lame:1070
One half of him's already slain.
The other is not worth your pain;
Th' honour can but on one side light,
As worship did, when y' were dubb'd Knight.
Wherefore I think it better far 1075
To keep him prisoner of war;
And let him fast in bonds abide,
At court of justice to be try'd;
Where, if h' appear so bold or crafty,
There may be danger in his safety:[1]1080
If any member there dislike
His face, or to his beard have pike;[2]
Or if his death will save, or yield
Revenge or fright, it is reveal'd;[3]
Tho' he has quarter, ne'ertheless1085
T' have pow'r to hang him when you please.[4]
This has been often done by some
Of our great conqu'rors, you know whom:
- ↑ The conduct of Cromwell in the case of Lord Capel will explain this line. After pronouncing high encomiums on him, and when every one expected he would vote to save his life, he took the opposite course, because of his firm loyalty! See Clarendon.
- ↑ That is, pique.
- ↑ One of the most objectionable of all the cant religious phrases of the time, as it involved the pretence of supernatural instruction. In some cases, after the Rebels had taken a prisoner, upon the promise of quarter, they would say that it had since been revealed to such a one that he should die, whereupon they would hang him. Dr South observes of Harrison, the regicide, a butcher by profession and a preaching Colonel in the Parliament army, "That he was notable for having killed several after quarter given by others, using these words in doing it: 'Cursed be he who doeth the work of the Lord negligently.'"
- ↑ The arbitrary proceedings of the Long Parliament and the Committees appointed by it, in respect of the lives and property of royalists, and of any who had enemies to call them royalists, are here referred to. A contemporary MS. note in our copy of the first edition states that this line refers to Sir Charles Lucas and Sir George Lisle, who were executed "after quarter given them by General Fairfax."
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