"Perfection of a kind was what he was after"

[Retrograde]

This short poem by WH Auden has been stuck in my head today:

"Perfection, of a kind, was what he was after,
And the poetry he invented was easy to understand;
He knew human folly like the back of his hand,
And was greatly interested in armies and fleets;
When he laughed, respectable senators burst with laughter,
And when he cried the little children died in the streets"

Mr. Retrograde insists the last line refers to "The Rise of the Dutch Republic" by Motley.