The sword's hilt in my grasp: and that your court
Snatch eagerly at this pretence, and use
The Spanish title, to drain off my forces,
To lead into the empire a new army
Unsubjected to my controul. To throw me
Plumply aside,-—I am still too powerful for you
To venture that. My stipulation runs,
That all the Imperial forces shall obey me
Where-e'er the German is the native language.
Of Spanish troops and of Prince Cardinals
That take their route, as visitors, thro' the empire,
There stands no syllable in my stipulation.
No syllable! And so the politic court
Steals in a tiptoe, and creeps round behind it:
First makes me weaker, then to be dispens'd with,
Till it dares strike at length a bolder blow
And make short work with me.
What need of all these crooked ways, Lord Envoy?
Straight-forward, man! His compact with me pinches
The Emperor. He would that I mov'd off!—
Well!—I will gratify him!
(Here there commences an agitation among th
generals which increases continually.)
I see not yet, by what means they will come at
The moneys they have advanced, or how obtain
The recompence their services demand.
Still a new leader brings new claimants forward,
And prior merit superannuates quickly.
There serve here many foreigners in th' army,
