Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown,

And put a barren sceptre in my gripe,

Thence to be wrench'd with an unlineal hand,

No son of mine succeeding.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Macbeth. Act iii. Sc. 1.

No man e'er felt the halter draw,

With good opinion of the law.

John Trumbull (1750-1831): McFingal. Canto iii. Line 489.