IV.
If, when good men are to be slain, Thou hear’st them plead, nor plead in vain; Or, when thou answerest, if it be With one jot of humanity,— Know this, Thou think’st amiss; And to think true, Must pardon leave to fools, and think anew.
Poetry of the Anti-Jacobin: Comprising the Celebrated Political and Satirical Poems, of the Rt. Hons. G. Canning, John Hookham Frere, W. Pitt, the Marquis Wellesley, G. Ellis, W. Gifford, the Earl of Carlisle, and Others.
If, when good men are to be slain, Thou hear’st them plead, nor plead in vain; Or, when thou answerest, if it be With one jot of humanity,— Know this, Thou think’st amiss; And to think true, Must pardon leave to fools, and think anew.