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Till thy fresh glories, which now shine so bright,
Grow stale, and tarnish with our daily sight?
Believe me, royal youth, thy fruit must be
Or gather'd ripe, or rot upon the tree.
Heaven has to all allotted, soon or late,
Some lucky revolution of their fate;
Whose motions if we watch and guidewith skill,
For human good depends on human will,
Our fortune rolls as from a smooth descent,
And from the first impression takes the bent:
But, if unscis'd, she glides away like wind,
And leaves repenting folly far behind.
Now, now she meets you with a glorious prize,
And spreads her locks before you as she flies.
Had thus old David, from whose loins you spring,
Not dar'd when fortune call'd him to be king,
At Gath an exile he might still remain,
And Heaven's anointing oil had been in vain.
Let his successful youth your hopes engage ;
But shun the example of declining age:
Behold him setting in his western skies,
The shadows length'ning as the vapors rise.
He is not now, as when on Jordan's sand
The joyful people throng'd to see him land,
Covering the beach, and blackening all the
strand;

But, like the prince of angels, from his height,
Come tumbling downward with diminish'd light;
Betray'd by one poor plot to public scorn;
Our only blessing since his curs'd return:
Those heaps of people which one sheaf did bind,
Blown off and scatter'd by a puff of wind,
What strength can he to your designs oppose,
Naked of friends, and round beset with foes?
If Pharaoh's doubtful succour he should use,
A foreign aid would more incense the Jews:
Proud Egypt would dissembled friendship bring;
Foment the war, but not support the King:
Nor would the royal party ere unite
With Pharaoh's arms to assist the Jebusite;
Or, if they should, their intrest soon would break,
And with such odious aid make David weak.
All sorts of men, by my successful arts,
Abhorring kings, estrange their alter'd hearts
From David's rule; and 'tis their gen'ral cry,
Religion, commonwealth, and liberty.
If you, as champion of the public good,
Add to their arms a chief of royal blood,
What may not Isreal hope, and what applause
Might such a gen'ral gain by such a cause?
Not barren praise alone, that gaudy flow'r,
Fair only to the sight, but solid pow'r;
And nobler is a limited conmand,
Given by the love of all your native land,
Than a successive title, long and dark,
Drawn from the mouldy rolls of Noah's ark.

What cannot praise effect in mighty minds,
When flatt'ry sooths, and when ambition blinds?
Desire of pow'r, on earth a vicious weed,
Yet sprung from high, is of celestial seed:
In God 'tis glory; and when mea aspire,
Tis but a spark too much of heavenly fire.
Th' ambitious youth, too covetous of fame,
Too full of angel's metal in his fraine,

Unwarily was led from virtue's ways,
Made drunk with honor, and debauch'd with
praise.

Half loth, and half consenting to the ill,
For royal blood within him struggled still,
He thus replied:-And what pretence.have I
To take up arms for public liberty?
My father governs with unquestioned right;
The faith's defender, and mankind's delight:
Good, gracious, just, observant of the laws;
And Heaven by wonders has espous'd his cause.
Whom has he wrong'd in all his peaceful reign?
Who sues for justice to his throne in vain ?
What millions has he pardon'd of his foes,
Whom just revenge did to his wrath expose!
Mild, easy, humble, studious of our good;
Inclin'd to mercy, and averse from blood.
If mildness ill with stubborn Israel suit,
His crime is God's belov'd attribute.
What could he gain his people to betray,
Or change his right for arbitrary sway?
Let haughty Pharaoh curse with such a reign
His fruitful Nile, and yoke a servile train.
If David's rule Jerusalem displease,
The dog-star heats their brains to this disease.
Why then should 1, encouraging the bad,
Turn rebel, and run popularly mad? -
Were he the tyrant, who by lawless might
Oppress'd the Jews, and rais'd the Jebusite,
Well might I mourn; but nature's holy bands
Would curb my spirits, and restrain my hands:
The people might assert their liberty;
But what was right in them were crime in me.
His favor leaves ine nothing to require,
Prevents my wishes, and outruns desire;
What more can I expect while David lives?
All but his kingly diadem he gives :

And that- but here he paus'd; then, sighing,

said

--

Is justly destin'd for a worthier head.
For when my father from his toils shall rest,
And late augment the number of the blest,
His lawful issue shall the throne ascend,
Or the collateral line, where that shall end.
His brother, though oppress'd with vulgar spite,
Yet dauntless, and secure of native right,
Of ev'ry royal virtue stands possest;

Still dear to all the bravest and the best.
His courage foes, his friends his truth proclaim,
His loyalty the king, the world his fame.
His mercy e'en th' offending crowd will find;
For sure he comes of a forgiving kind.
Why should I then repine at Heaven's decrce,
Which gives me no pretence to royalty?
Yet, oh that fate, propitiously inclin'd,
Had rais'd my birth, or had debas'd my mind!
To my large soul not all her treasure lent,
And then betray'd it to a mean descent!
I find, I find my mounting spirits bold,
And David's part disdains my mother's mould.
Why am I scanted by a niggard birth ?
My soul disclaims the kindred of her earth;
And, made for empire, whispers me within,
Desire of greatness is a godlike sin.

Him

Him staggering so when hell's dire agent found, While fainting virtue scarce maintain'd her ground,

He

pours fresh forces in, and thus replies:
Th'eternal God, supremely good and wise,
Imparts not these prodigious gifts in vain :
What wonders are reserv'd, to bless your reign!
Against your will your arguments have shown,
Such virtue's only giv'n to guide a throne.
Not that your father's mildness I contemn;
But manly force becomes the diadem.
"Tis truc, he grants the people all they crave;
And more perhaps than subjects ought to have:
For lavish grants suppose a monarch tame,
And more his goodness than his wit proclaim.
But when should people strive their bonds to
If not when kings are negligent or weak? break,
Let him give on till he can give no more,
The thrifty sanhedrim shall keep him poor:
And ev'ry shekel which he can receive
Shall cost a limb of his prerogative.
To ply him with new plots shall be my care,
Or plunge him deep in some expensive war;
Which when his treasure can no more supply,
He must, with the remains of kingship, buy.
His faithful friends, his jealousies and fears'
Call Jebusites, and Pharaoh's pensioners;
Whom when our fury from his aid has torn,
He shall be naked left to public scorn.
The next successor, whom I fear and hate,
My arts have made obnoxious to the state;
Turn'd all his virtues to his overthrow,
And gain'd our elders to pronounce a foe.
His right, for sums of necessary gold,
Shall first be pawn'd, and afterwards be sold;
Till time shall ever-wanting David draw
To pass your doubtful title into law:
If not, the people have a right supreme
To make their kings; for kings are made for them.
All empire is no more than pow'r in trust,
Which, when resum'd, can be no longer just.
Succession, for the general good design'd,"
In its own wrong a nation cannot bind.;
If alt'ring that the people can relieve,
Better one suffer than the nation grieve.
The Jews well know their pow'r: "ere Sanl they
choose,

God was their king, and God they durst depose.
Urge now your piety, your filial name,
A father's right, and fear of future fame ;
The public good, that universal call,
To which e'en Heaven submitted, answers all
Nor let his love enchant your gen'rous mind;
'Tis nature's trick to propagate her kind.
Our fond begetters, who would never die,
Love but themselves in their posterity.
Or let his kindness by th' effects be tried,
Or let him lay his vain pretence aside.
God said, he lov'd your father; could he bring
A better proof than to anoint him king?
It surely show'd, he lov'd the shepherd well,
Who gave so fair a flock as Israel.

Would David have you thought his darling son,
What means he then to alienate the crown?

prey,

The name of Godly he may blush to bear;
Is 't after God's own heart to cheat his heir?
He to his brother gives supreme command,
To you a legacy of barren land;
Perhaps th'old harp on which he thumps his lays,
Or some dull Hebrew ballad in your praise.
Then the next heir, a prince severe and wise,
Already looks on you with jealous eyes;
Sces through the thin disguises of your arts,
And marks your progress in the people's hearts;
Though now his mighty soul his grief contains;
He meditates revenge who least complains:
And like aliop, sluiub'ring in the way,
Or sleep dissembling, while he waits his
llis fearless foes within his distance draws,
Constrains his roaring, and contracts his paws;
Till at the last, his time for fury found,
Heshoots with sudden vengeance frontheground;
The prostrate vulgar passes o'er and spares,
But with a lordly rage his hunters tears.
Your case no tamne expedients will afford :
Resolve on death, or conquest by the sword,
Which for no less a stake than life you draw;
And self-defence is nature's eldest law.
Leave the warm people no considering time;
For then rebellion may be thought a crime.
Avail yourself of what occasion gives,
But try your title while your father lives:
And, that your arms may have a fair pretence,
Proclain you take them in the king's defence;
Whose sacred life each moment would expose
To plots, from seeming friends and secret foes
And, who can sound the depth of David's soul?
Perhaps his fear his kindness may control,
He fears his brother, though he loves his son,
For plighted vows too late to be undone.
If so, by force he wishes to be gain'd ;
Like women's lechery to seem constrain'd.
Doubt not: but, when he most affects the frown,
Commit a pleasing rape upon the crown.
Secure his person to secure your cause:
They who possess the prince possess the laws,

He said and this advice above the rest,
With Absalom's mild nature suited best ;
Unblam'd of life, ambition set aside,
Not stain'd with cruelty, nor puff'd with pride.
How happy had he been, if destiny
Had higher plac'd his birth, or not so high!
His kingly virtues might have claim'd a throne,
And bless'd all other countries but his own.
But charming greatness since so few refuse,
"Tis juster to lament him than accuse.
Strong were his hopes a rival to remove,
With blandishments to gain the public love:
To head the faction while their zeal was hot,
And popularly prosecute the plot.
To further this, Achitophel unites
The malcontents of all the Israelites ;
Whose diff'ring parties he could wisely join,
For several ends, to serve the same design.
The best, and of the princes some were such,
Who thought the pow'r of monarchy too much;
Mistaken men, and patriots in their hearts;
Not wicked, but seduc'd by impious arts;

By

By these the springs of property were bent, He laugh'd himselffrom court; then sought relief
And wound so high, they crack'd the government. By forming parties, but could ne'er be chief;
The next for int'rest sought t' embroil the state,For, spite of him, the weight of business fell
To sell their duty at a dearer rate,

And make their Jewish markets of the throne; Pretending public good to serve their own. Others thought kings an useless heavy load, Who cost too much, and did too little good. These were for laying honest David by, On principles of pure good husbandry. With them join'd all th' haranguers of the throng, That thought to get preferment by the tongue. Who follow next, a double danger bring, Not only hating David, but the king, The Solymaan rout; well vers'd of old In godly faction, and in treason bold; Cow'ring and quaking at a conqu'ror's sword, But lofty to a lawful prince restor❜d; Saw with disdain an Ethnic plot begun, And scorn'd by Jebusites to be outdone. Hot Levites headed these; who pull'd before From th'ark, which in the judge's days they bore. Resum'd their cant, and with a zealous cry Pursued their old belov'd theocracy : When sanhedrim and priest enslav'd the nation, And justified their spoils by inspiration : For who so fit to reign as Aaron's race, If once dominion they could found in grace? These led the pack, though not of surest scent, Yet deepest month'd against the government. A num'rous host of dreaming saints succeed, Of the true old enthusiastic breed ; Gainst form and order they their pow'r employ, Nothing to build, and all things to destroy. But far more num'rous was the herd of such Who think too little, and who talk too much, These out of mere instinet, they knew not why, Ador'd their fathers' God, and property; And, by the same blind benefit of fate, The devil and the Jebusite did hate : Born to be sav'd, ev'n in their own despite, Because they could not help believing right. Such were the tools: but a whole Hydra more Remains of sprouting heads too long to score. Some of their chiefs were princes of the land: In the first rank of these did Zimri stand; A man so various that he seem'd to be Not one, but all mankind's epitome: Stiff in opinions, always in the wrong; Was ev'ry thing by starts, and nothing long ; But in the course of one revolving moon Was chemist, fiddler, statesman, and buffoon; Then all for women, painting, rhyming, drinking, Besides ten thousand freaks that died in thinking. Blest madman! who could ev'ry hour employ, With something new to wish, or to enjoy. Railing and praising were his usual thenies. And both, to show his judgement, in extremes: So over-violent, or over-civil,

That ev'ry may with him was God or Devil. In squandering wealth was his peculiar art : Nothing went unrewarded but desert ;* Beggar'd by fools, whom still he found too late; He had his jest, and they had his estate:

On Absalom and wise Achitophel:

Thus, wicked but in will, of means bereft,
He left not faction, but of that was left.

Titles and names 't were tedious to rehearse,
Of lords, below the dignity of verse.
Wits, warriors, commonwealths-men, were the
best:

Kind husbands and mere nobles all the rest.
And therefore, in the name of dulness, be
The well-hung Balaam and cold Caleb free:
And canting Nadab let obliviou damu,
Who made new porridge for the pascal lamb.
Let friendship's holy band some names assure;
Some their own worth, and some let scorn secure.
Nor shall the rascal rabble here have place,
Whom kings no title gave, and God no grace:
Not bull-fac'd Jonas, who could statutes draw
To mean rebellion, and make treason law.
But he, though bad, is follow'd by a worse,
The wretch who heaven's anointed dar'd to curse;
Shimei, whose youth did early promise bring
| Of zeal to God and hatred to his king,
Did wisely from expensive sins refrain,
And never broke the Sabbath but for gain:
Nor ever was he known an oath to vent,
Or curse, unless against the government.
Thus heaping wealth by the most ready way
Among the Jews, which was to cheat and pray,
The city, to reward his pious hate
Against his master, chose him magistrate.
His hand a vase of justice did uphold ;
His neck was loaded with a chain of gold;
During his office treason was no crime;
The sons of Belial had a glorious time;
For Shimei, though not prodigal of pelf,
Yet lov'd his wicked neighbour as himself.
When two or three were gather'd to declaim
Against the monarch of Jerusalem,
Shimei was always in the midst of them ;
And, if they curs'd the king when he was by,
Would rather curse than break good company;
If any durst his factious friends accuse,
He pack'd a Jury of dissenting Jews;
Whose fellow-feeling in the godly cause
Would free the suff`ring saint from human laws.
For laws are only made to punish those
Who serve the king, and to protect his foes.
If any leisure time he had from pow'r,
Because 'tis sin to misemploy an hour,
His business was, by writing to persuade
That kings were useless, and a clog to trade :-
And, that his noble style he might refine,
No Rechabite more shuun'd the fumes of wine.
Chaste were his cellars, and his shrieval board
The grossness of a city feast abhorr'd;
His cooks, with long disguise, their trade forgot,
Cool was his kitchen, though his brains were hot.
Such frugal virtue malice may accuse;
But sure 'twas necessary to the Jews:
For towns once burnt, such magistrates require
As dare not tempt God's providence by fire.

With spiritual food he fed his servants well,
But free froin flesh that made the Jews rébel:
And Moses' laws he held is more account,
For forty days of fasting in the mount.
To speak the rest, who better are forgot,
Would tire a well-breath'd witness of the plot.
Yet, Corah, thou shalt from oblivion pass;
Erect thyself, thou monumental brass,
High as the serpent of thy metal made,
While nations stand secure beneath thy shade.
What though his birth were base, yet comets rise
From earthly vapors ere they shine in skies.
Prodigious actions may as well be done
By weaver's issue, as by prince's son.
This arch-attestor for the public good,
By that one deed, ennobles all his blood.
Who ever ask'd the witness's high race,
Whose oath with martyrdom did Stephen grace?
Ours was a Levite; and, as times went then,
His tribe were God Almighty's gentlemen.
Sunk were his eyes, his voice was harsh and loud;
Sure signs he neither choleric was, nor proud:
His long chin prov'd his wit; his saint-like grace
A church vermillion, and a Moses' face.
His memory, miraculously great,
Could plots, exceeding man's belief, repeat;
Which therefore cannot be accounted lies,
For human wit could never such devise.
Some future truths are mingled in his book;
But where the witness fail'd, the prophet spoke;
Some things like visionary flights appear;
The spirit caught him up the Lord knows where;
And gave him his rabinnical degree,
Unknown to foreign university.
His judgement yet his memory did excel;
Which pierc'd his wond'rons evidence so well,
And suited to the temper of the times,
Then groaning under Jebusitic crimes.
Let Israel's focs suspect his heavenly call,
And rashly judge his writ apocryphal;
Our laws for such affronts have forfeits made:
He takes his life who takes away his trade.
Were I myself in witness Corah's place,
The wretch who did me such a dire disgrace
Should whet my memory, though once forgot,
To make him an appendix of my plot.
His zeal to Heaven made him his prince despise,
And load his person with indignities.
But zeal peculiar privilege affords,
Indulging latitude to deeds and words :
And Corah might for Agag's murder call,
In terms as coarse as Samuel us'd to Saul.
What others in his evidence did join,
The best that could be had for love or coin,
In Corah's own predicament will fall;
For Witness is a common name to all.

Surrounded thus with friends of ev'ry sort,
Deluded Absalom forsakes the court:
Impatient of high hopes, urg'd with renown,
And fir'd with near possession of a crown,
Th' admiring crowd are dazzled with surprise,
And on his goodly person feed their eyes.
His joy conceal'd, he sets himself to show;
Qn each side bowing popularly low:

His looks, his gestures, and his words he frames
And with familiar ease repeats their names.
Thus form'd by nature, furnish'd out with arts,
He glides unfelt into their secret hearts.
Then with a kind compassionating look,
And sighs, bespeaking pity ere he spoke,
Few words he said; but easy those and fit,
Moreslow than Hybla-drops, and far more sweet.
I mourn, my countrymen, your lost estate;
Though far unable to prevent your fate :
Behold a banish'd man, for your dear cause
Expos'd a prey to arbitrary laws!

Yet oh! that I alone should be undone,
Cut off from empire, and no more a son!
Now all your liberties a spoil are made;
Egypt and Tyrus intercept your trade;
And Jebusites your sacred rights invade.
My father, whom with rev'rence yet I name,
Charm'd into ease, is careless of his fame;
And, brib'd with petty sums of foreign gold,
Is grown in Bathsheba's embraces old;
Exalts his enemies, his friends destroys ;
And all his power against himself employs.
He gives, and let him give my right away:
But why should he his own and yours betray?
He, only he, can make the nation bleed,
And he alone from my revenge is freed.
Take then my tears (with that he-wip'd bis
eves),

"Tis all the aid my present pow'r supplies;
No court-informer can these arms accuse;
These arms may sons against their fathers use:
And 'tis my wish the next successor's reign
May make no other Israelite complen.
Youth, beauty, graceful action, seldom fail;
But common int'rest always will prevail :
And pity never ceases to be shown

To him who makes the people's wrongs his own.
The crowd, that still believe their kings oppress,
With lifted hands their young Messiah bless :
Who now begins his progress to ordain
With chariots, horseinen, and a numerous train;
From east to west his glories he displays,
Aud, like the sun, the promis'd land surveys.
Fame runs before him as the morning star,
And shouts of joy salute him from afar :
Each house receives him as a guardian god,
And consecrates the place of his abode.
But hospitable treats did most commend
Wise Issachar, his wealthy western friend,
This moving court, that caught the people's eyes,
And scen'd but pomp, did other ends disguise;
Achitophel had form'd it, with intent

To sound the depths, and fathom where it went:
The people's hearts, distinguish friends from foes,
And try their strength before they came to blows.
Yet all was color'd with a smooth pretence
Of specious love and duty to their prince.
Religion, and redress of grievances,
Two names that always cheat and always please,
Are often urg'd; and good king David's life
Endanger'd by a brother and a wife:
Thus in a pageant show a plot is made;
And peace itself is war in masquerade.

Oh

Oh foolish Israel! never warn'd by il!

Still the same bait, and circumvented still!
Did ever men forsake the present case;
In midst of health imagine a disease;
Take pains contingent mischiefs to foresce;
Make heirs for monarchs, and for God decree?
What shall we think? Can people give away,
Both for themselves and sons, their native sway?
Then they are left defenceless to the sword
Of each unbounded arbitrary lord :

And laws are vain, by which we right enjoy,
If kings unquestion'd can those laws destroy.
Yet if the crowd be judge of fit and just,
And kings are only officers in trust,
Then this resuming cov'nant was declar'd
When kings were made, or is for ever barr'd.
If those who gave the sceptre could not tie
By their own deed their own posperity,
How then could Adam bind his future race?
How could his forfeit on mankind take place?
Or how could heavenly justice damn us all,
Who ne'er consented to our father's fall?
Then kings are slaves to those whom they com-
mand,

And tenants to their people's pleasure stand.
Add, that the pow'r for property allow'd
Is inischievously seated in the crowd:
For who can be secure of private right,
If sovereign sway may be dissolv'd by night?
Nor is the people's judgement always true:
The most may err as grossly as the few;
And faultless kings
run down by common cry,
For vice, oppression, and for tyranny,
What standard is there in a fickle rout,
Which, flowing to the mark, runs faster out?
Nor only crowds, but sanhedriins may be
Infected with this public lunacy,

And share the madness of rebellious times,
To murder monarchs for imagin'd crimes.
If they may give and take whene'er they please,
Not kings alone, the Godhead's images,
But governinent itself, at length must fall.
To nature's state, where all have right to all..
Yet, grant our lords the people kings can
make,

What prudent men a settled throne would shake?
For whatsoe'er their sufferings were before,
That change they covet makes them suffer more.
All other errors but disturb á state;
But innovation is the blow of fate.
If antient fabrics nod, and threat to fall,
To patch their flaws, and buttress up the wall,
Thus far 'tis duty: but here fix the mark;
For all beyond it, is to touch the ark.
To change foundations, cast the frame anew,.
Is work for rebels, who base ends pursue,
At once divine and human laws control,
And mend the parts by ruin of the whole.
The tamp ring world is subject to this curse,
To physic their disease into a worse.
Now what relief can righteous David bring?
How fatal 'tis to be too good a king!
Friends he has few, so high the madness grows;
Who dares be such must be the people's foes.

Yet some there were, ev'n in the worst of days;
Some let me name, and naming is to praise.
In this short file Barzillai first appears;
Barzillai, crown'd with honor and with years.
Long since, the rising rebels he withstood
In regions waste beyond the Jordan's flood:
Unfortunately brave to buoy the state;
But sinking underneath his master's fate :
In exile with his godlike prince he mourn'd;
For him he suffer'd, and with him return'd.
The court he practis'd, not the courtier's art :
Large was his wealth, but larger was his heart.
Which well the noblest objects knew to choose
The fighting warrior, and recording Muse.
His bed could once a fruitful issue boast;
Now more than half a father's name is lost.
His eldest hope, with ev'ry grace adorn'd,
By me (so Heaven will have it) always mourn'd
And always honor'd, snatch'd in manhood's
B'unequal fates, and providence's crime: [prime
Yet not before the goal of honor won,
All parts fullfill'd of subject and of son:
Swift was the race, but short the time to run.
Oh narrow circle, but of pow'r divine,
Scanted in space, but perfect in thy line!
By sea, by land, thy matchless worth was known,
Arms thy delight, and war was all thy own:
Thy force infus'd the fainting Tyrians propp'd;
And haughty Pharaoh found his fortune stopp'd.
Oh antient honor! 'oh unconquer'd hand,
Whom foes unpunish'd never could withstand!
But Israel was unworthy of his name:
Short is the date of all immod'rate fame.
It looks as Heaven our ruin had design'd,
And durst not trust thy fortune and thy mind.
Now, free from earth, thy disencumber'd soul
Mounts up, and leaves behind the clouds and
starry pole:

From thence thy kindred legions may'st thou bring,

To aid the guardian angel of thy king.
Here stop, my Muse, here cease thy painful flight:
No pinions can pursue immortal height:
Tell good Barzillai thou canst sing no more,
And tell thy soul she should have fled before :
Or fled she with his life, and left this verse
To hang on her departed patron's hearse?
Now take thy steepy flight from heaven, and see
If thou canst find on earth another be:
Another he would be too hard to find;
See then whom thou canst see not far behind.
Zadoc the priest, whom, shunning pow'r and
place,

's grace.

His lowly mind advanc'd to David's
With him the Sagan of Jerusalem,
Of hospitable soul, and noble stein;
Him of the western doine, whose weighty sense
Flows in fit words and heavenly eloquence.
The prophet's sons, by such example led,
To learning and to loyalty were bred:
For colleges on bounteous kings depend ;

And never rebel was to arts a friend.
To these succeed the pillars of the laws ;-
Who best can plead, and best can judge, a causes.

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