Him ftaggering fo when hell's dire agent found, While fainting virtue fcarce maintain'd her

gio ground,

He pours freth forces in, and thus replies:
Th'eternal God, fupremely good and wife,
Imparts not these prodigious gifts in vain :
What wonders are referv'd to blefs your reign!
Against your will your arguments have fhewn,
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 true, he grants the people all they crave;
And more perhaps than fubjects ought to have:
For lavish grants fuppofe a monarch tame,
And more his goodness than his wit proclaim.
But when should people strive their bonds to break,
If not when kings are negligent or weak?
Let him give on till he can give no more,
The thrifty Sanhedrim thall keep him poor;
And ev'ry fhekel which he can receive
Shall coft a limb of his prerogative.
To ply him with new plots fhall be my care,
Or plunge him deep in fome expensive war;
Which when his treasure can no more fupply,
He muft, with the remains of kingship, buy
His faithful friends, our jealoufies and fears
Call Jebufites, and Pharaoh's penfioners;
Whom when our fury from his aid has torn,
He shall be naked left to public frorn.
The next fucceffor, 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 fums of neceflary gold,
Shall first be pawn'd, and afterwards be fold;
Till time fhall ever-wanting David draw
To pafs your doubtful title into law;
If not, the people have a right fupreme
To make their kings; for kings are made for them.
All empire is no more than pow'r in trust,
Which, when refum'd, can be no longer just.
Succeffion, for the gen'ral good defign'd,
In its own wrong a nation cannot bind;
If alt'ring that the people can relieve,
Better one fuffer than a nation grieve.
The Jews well know their pow'r: ere Saul they
chofe,

God was their king, and God they durft depofe.
Urge now your piety, your filial name,
A father's right, and fear of future fame;
The public good, that univerfal call,

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 fupreme command,
To you a legacy of barren land;

Perhaps th' old harp on which he thumps his lays,
Or fome dull Hebrew ballad in your praife.
Then the next heir, a prince fevere and wife,
Already looks on you with jealous eyes;
Sees through the thin difguifes of your arts,
And marks your progrefs in the people's hearts;
Though now his mighty foul its grief contains:
He meditates revenge who leaft complains:
And like a lion, flumb'ring in the way,
Or fleep diffembling while he waits his prey,
His fearle's foes within his diftance draws,
Conftrains ! is roaring, and contracts his paws;
Till at the laft, his time for fury found,
He fhoots with fudden vengeance from the ground;
The proftrate vulgar pafles o'er and spares,
But with a lordly rage his hunters tears.
Your cafe no tame expedients will afford :
Refolve on death, or conqueft by the sword,
Which for no lefs a ftake than life you draw;
And felf-defence is nature's eldeft law.
Leave the warm people no confidering time;
For then rebellion may be thought a crime.
Avail yourself of what occafion gives,
But try your title while your father lives:
And, that your arms may have a fair pretence,
Proclaim you take them in the king's defence;
Whofe facred life each minute would expofe
To plots, from feeming friends and fecret foes.
And who can found the depth of David's foul?
Perhaps his fear his kindness may controul.
He fears his brother, though he loves his fon,
For plighted vows too late to be undone.
If fo, by force he wishes to be gain'd:
Like women's lechery to feem constrain'd.
Doubt not; but, when he moft affects the frown,
Commit a pleafing rape upon the crowr.
Secure his perfon to fecure your caufe:
They who poflefs the prince poffefs the laws.

To which c'en Heaven fubmitted, anfwers 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 themfelves in their posterity.
Or let his kindnefs by th' effects be tried,
Or let him lay his vain pretence afide.
God faid, he lov'd your father; could he bring
A better proof than to anoint him king?
It furely fhew'd he lov'd the thepherd well,
Who gave fo fair a flock as Ifrael.
Would David have you thought his darling fon,
What means he then to alienate the crown?

He fail: and this advice, above the rest, With Abfalom's mild nature fuited beft; Unblam'd of life, ambition fet afide, Not ftain'd with cruelty, nor puff'd with pride. How happy had he been, if deftiny Had higher plac'd his birth, or not fo high! His kingly virtues might have claim'd a throne, And blefs'd all other countries but his own. But charming greatness since fo few refute, Tis jufter to lament him than accufe. 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 profecute the plot. To further this, Achitophel unites The malcontents of all the Ifraelites; Whose differing parties he could wifely join, For feveral ends, to ferve the fame defign. The best, and of the princes fome were fuch, Who thought the pow'r of monarchy too much; Mistaken men, and patriots in their hearts; Not wicked, but feduc'd by impious arts.

By

With fpiritual food he fed his fervants well,
But free from flesh that made the Jews rebel:
And Mofes' laws he held in more account,
For forty days of fafting in the mount.
To speak the rest, who better are forgot,
Would tire a well-breath'd witnefs of the plot.
Yet, Corah, thou fhalt from oblivion pafs;
Erect thyfelf, thou monumental urais,
High as the ferpent of thy metal made,
While nations itand fecure beneath thy fhade.
What though his birth were bafe, yet comets rife
From carthly vapours ere they fhine in skies.
Prodigious actions may as well be done
By weaver's inue, as by prince's fon.
This arch-atteftor for the public good,
By that one deed, ennobles all his blood.
Who ever afk'd the witnefs's high race,
Whole 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 harth and loud;
Sure figns he neither choleric was, nor proud:
His long chin prov'd his wit; his faint-like grace
A church vermilion, and a Moles' face.
His memory, miraculously great,
Could plots, exceeding man's belief, repeat:
Which therefore cannot be accounted lies,
For human wit could never fuch devife.
Some future truths are mingled in his book;
But where the witnefs fail'd, the prophet ipoke;
Some things like vifionary flights appear;
The fpirit caught him up the Lord knows where;
And gave him his rabbinical degree,
Unknown to foreign univerfity.

His judgment yet his memory did excel;
Which pierc'd his wondrous evidence to well,
And fuited to the temper of the times,
Then groaning under Jebufitic crimes.
Let Ifrael's foes fufpect his heavenly call,
And rafhly judge his writ apocryphal;
Our laws for fuch affronts have forfeits made:
He takes his life who takes away his trade.
Were I myself in witnefs Corah's place,
The wretch who did me fuch a dire difgrace
Should whet my memory, though once forgot,
To make him an appendix of my plot.
His zeal to Heaven made him his prince defpife,
And load his perfon with indignities.
But zeal peculiar privilege affords,
Indulging latitude to deeds and words :
And Corah might for Agag's murder call,
In terms as coarfe as Samuel us'd to Sul.
What others in his evidence did join,
The beft that could be had for love or coin,
In Corah's own predicament will fall:
For Witnefs is a common name to all.

Surrounded thus with friends of ev'ry fort,
Deluded Abfalom forfakes the court:
Impatient of high hopes, urg'd with renown,
And fir'd with near poffetion of a crown.
Th' admiring crowd are dazzled with forprife,
And on his goodly perion feed their eyes.
His joy conceal'd, he fets himself to show;
On each fide bowing popularly low :

His looks, his geftures, and his words he frames,
And with familiar cafe repeats their names.
Thus form'd by nature, furnish'd out with arts,
He glides unfelt into their fecret hearts.
Then with a kind compaffionating look,
And sighs, bespeaking pity cre he spoke,
few words he faid; but eafy those and fit,
More flow than Hybla-drops, and far more sweet.
I mourn, my countrymen, your lost estate;
Though far unable to prevent your fate:
Behold a banifh'd man for your dear caufe
Expos'd a prey to arbitrary laws!

Yet oh! that I alone could be undone,
Cut off from empire, and no more a fon!
Now all your liberties a fpoil are made;
Egypt and Tyrus intercept your trade,
And Jebufites your facred rites invade.
My father, whom with rev'rence yet I name,
Charm'd into eafe, is carelefs of his fame;
And, brib'd with petty fums of foreign gold,
Is grown in Bathfheba's embraces old;
Exalts his enemies, his friends deftroys;
And all his pow'r against himself employs.
He gives, and let him give, my right away:
But why fhould 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 his
eyes),

'Tis all the aid my prefent pow'r fupplies :
No court-informer can thefe arms accufe;
Thefe arms may fons against their fathers use:
And 'tis my with the next fucceffor's reign
May make no other Ifraelite complain.

Youth, beauty, graceful action, seldom fail;
But common int'. eft always will prevail :
And pity never ceafes to be shown
To him who makes the people's wrongs his own.
The crowd, that ftill believe their kings opprefs,
With lifted hands their young Meffiah bless:
Who now begins his progrefs to ordain
With chariots, horfemen, and a num'rous train.
From caft to weft his glories he difplays,
And, like the fun, the promis'd land furveys.
Faine runs before him as the morning ftar,
And fhouts of joy falute him from afar :
Each houfe receives him as a guardian god,
And confecrates the place of his abode.
But hofpitable treats did moft commend
Wife Ifachar, his wealthy western friend.
This moving court, that caught the people's eyes,
And feem'd but pomp, did other ends difguife;
Achitophel had form'd it, with intent

To found the depths, and fathom where it went,
The people's hearts diftinguith friends from foes,
And try their ftrength before they came to blows.
Yet all was colour'd with a fmooth pretence
Of fpecious love, and duty to their prince.
Religion, and redrefs 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 Ifrac!! never warn'd by ill!

Still the fame bait, and circumvented ftill!,
Did ever men forfake their prefent ease;
In midst of health imagine a difeafe;
Take pains contingent mifchiefs to foresee;
Make heirs for monarchs, and for God decree
What fhall we think? Can people give away,
Both for themselves and fons, their native fway?
Then they are left defenceless to the sword
Of each unbounded arbitrary lord:

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

And tenants to their people's pleasure ftand.
Add, that the pow'r for property allow'd
Is mifchievously feated in the crowd:
For who can be fecure of private right,
If fovereign fway may be diffolv'd by might?
Nor is the people's judgment always true:
The most may err as grofsly as the few;
And faultlefs kings run down by common cry,
For vice, opprellion, and for tyranny.
What ftandard is there in a fickle rout,
Which, flowing to the mark, runs fafter out?
Nor only crowds, but fanhedrims 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 government itself, at length must fall
To nature's fate, where all have right to all.
Yet, grant our lords the people kings
make,

can

What prudent men a fettled throne would fhake:
For whatfoe'er their fufferings were before,
That change they covet makes them fuffer more.
All other errors but difturb a state;
But innovation is the blow of fate.
If ancient 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, caft the frame anew,
Is work for rebels, who bafe ends purfue;
At once divine and human laws control,
And mend the parts by ruin of the whole.
The tamp'ring world is fubject to this curfe,
To phyfic their difcafe into a worse.

Now what reljef can righteous David bring?
How ftat 'tis to be too good a king!
Friends he has few, fo high the madnefs grows;
Who dare be fuch must be the people's focs.

Yet fome there were, ev'n in the worst of days;
Some let me name, and naming is to praife.
In this fhort file Barzillai firft appears;
Barzillai, crown'd with honour and with years.
Long fince, the rifing rebels he wishfood
In regions wafte beyond the Jordan's flood:
Unfortunately brave to buoy the ftate;
But finking underneath his mafter's fate :
In exile with his godlike prince he mourn'd;
For him he fuffer'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 nobleft objects knew to choofe,
The fighting warrior, and recording mufe.
His bed could once a fruitful iffue boaft;
Now more than half a father's name is loft.
His eldeft hope, with ev'ry grace adorn'd,
By me (fo Heaven will have it) always mourn'd
And always honour'd, fratch'd in manhood's
B'unequal fates, and providence's crime: [prime
Yet not before the goal of honour won,
All parts fulfill'd of fubject and of fon:
Swift was the race, but fhort the time to run.
Oh narrow circle, but of pow'r divine,
Scanted in fpace, but perfect in thy line!
By fea, by land, thy matchiefs worth was known,
Arms thy delight, and war was all thy own:
Thy force infus'd the fainting Tyrians propp'd:
And haughty Pharach round his fortune ftopp'd.
Oh ancient honour! ch unconquer'd hand,
Whom foes unpunish'd never could withstand!
But Ifrael was unworthy of his name:
Short is the date of all immoi'rate fame.
It looks as Heaven our ruin had defign'd,
And durft not truft thy fortune and thy mind.
Now, free from earth, thy difencumber'd foul
Mounts up, and leaves behind the clouds and
starry pole:

From thence thy kindred legions mayft thou

bring,

To aid the guardian angel of thy king.
Here ftop, my Mufe, here ceafe thy painful flight:
No pinions can purfue inmortal height:
Tell good Barzillai thou canft fing no more,
And tell thy foul the thould have fled before:
Or fled the with his life, and left this verse
To hang on her departed patron's hearfe?
Now take thy fteepy flight from heaven, and fee
If thou can't find on earth another he:
Another he would be too hard to find;
See then whom thou canft fee not far behind.

Zadoc the prieft, whom, fhunning pow'r and place,

His lowly mind advanc'd to David's grace.
With him the Sagan of Jerufalem,
Of hospitable foul, and noble ftem; \
Him of the western dome, whofe weighty fenfe
Flows in fit words and heavenly eloquence.
The prophet's fons, by fuch example led,
To learning and to loyalty were bred:
For colleges on bounteous kings depend;
And never rebel was to arts a friend.
To thefe fucceed the pillars of the laws;
Who beit can plead, and best can judge, a caufe.