Natalion can excite, [write. This ancient Rome and elder Athens found, Bhey feel tranfport them when they Before mistaken ftops debauch'd the found. Hve been led through the Cumean cave, When, by impulfe from Heaven, Tyrtæus fung, the impatient maid divinely rave? In drooping foldiers a new courage sprung; her now; I fee her rolling eyes: Reviving Sparta now the flight maintain'd, ming, Lo! the god! the god! the cries; And what two generals loft, a poet gain'd. rothers,and more than human found, By fecret influence of indulgent fkies, thopedient ghofts peep trembling Empire and poefy together rife.

17 the ground.

Bemuff obey when Heaven commands,
Avain the facred call withstands,

pirit rages in your breaft; Fd, ten thousand are poffet.

the proper ute of each extreme, with fury, but correct with phlegm. #te carerful hours too freely pais, sung wine files in the tempting glafs, Radviles, and begins to beat

gery fwelling vein a loud retreat: amale propitioufly invites, ***Der favours, and indulge her flights; Swan you find that vigorous heat abate, , and for another fummons wait. radunt fun a glimmering lamp, tete metals to the fterling lamp,

A

t meaner than mere human lines, d with those whofe infpiration fhines: o, bold; thofe languid and remifs; cod Glutes; but here a lover's kifs. ave I feen a rapid headlong tide azing waves the paffive Soane divide; zy waters without motion lay,

with enger force, urg'd his impetuous

ege that ancient poets claim, d to licence by too juft a name, none but an eftablish'd fame,

- tas to take it——

tarretions, crude abortive thoughts,
ad legion of exploded faults,
es, to that asylum fly,

ws with infolence defy.

its cur Leroes of the former days

ad gun'd their never-rading bays; Iritike, or fir the greatest part *Brue cail neglect, was ftudy's art. Vil feems to trifle in a line,

a warning-piece, which gives the fign e your fancy, and prepare your fight, the noble height of fome unufual flight. zy patience when, with faucy pride, and ears I hear his numbers tried. ef nature; fhall fuch copies then ath originals of Maro's pen; the rule notions of pedantic fchools here the facred founder of our rules? To delicacy of the niceft ear

True poets are the guardians of the state,
And, when they fail, portend approaching fate.
For that which Rome to conqueft did infpire,
Was not the veftal, but the mufe's fire;
Heaven joins the bleflings: no declining age
E'er felt the raptures of poetic rage.

Of many faults rhyme is perhaps the cause;
Too ftrict to rhyme, we flight more useful laws;
For that, in Greece or Rome, was never known,
Till by barbarian deluges o'erflown:
Subdu'd, undone, they did at last obey,
And change their own for their invader's way.
I grant that, from fome mofly idol oak,
In double rhymes our Thor and Woden fpoke;
And by fucceffion of unlearned times,
As bards began, fo monks rung on the chimes.

But now that Phoebus and the facred Nine
With all their beams on our bleft illand thine,
Why thould not we their ancient rights rettore,
And be what Rome or Athens were before?
*Haveyouforgot how Raphael'snumerousprofe
Led our exalted fouls thro' heavenly camps,
And mark'd the ground where proud apoitaté

'thrones

Defied Jehovah! here, 'twixt hoft and hoft,
(A narrow, but a dreadful interval)
Portentous fight! before the cloudy van
Satan with valt and haughty ftrides advanc'd,
Came tow'ring arm'd in adamant and gold.
There bellowing engines, with their fiery tubes,
Difpers'd ethereal forms, and down they fell
By thoufands, angels on archangels roll'd;
Recover'd, to the hills they ran, they flew,
Which (with their ponderous load, rocks,
waters, woods),

From their firm feats torn by the fhaggy tops,
They bore like thields before them through the

'air,

[foes.
Till more incens'd they hurled them at their
All was confufion, heaven's foundation fhook,
Threat'ning no lefs than univerfal wreck;
For Michael's arm main promontories flung,
And over-prefs'd whole legions weak with fin.
Yet they blafphem'd and itruggled as they lay,
Till the great enfign of Meffiah blaz`d,
And (arm'd with vengeance) God's victorious
(Effulgence of paternal deity!)
[Son
Grafping ten thousand thunders in his hand,
Drove th' old original rebels headlong down,
And fent them flaming to the vast abyss.'
O may I live to hail the glorious day,
And fing loud peans through the crowded way,
When in triumphant ftate the British Mufe,
True to herfelf, fhall barbarous aid refuse,
U 3
• An Effay on Blank Verfe, out of Paradife Loft, B. VI.

thing harsh or out of order there. me or low, unbended or intenfe, head is still a comment to the fenfe. Akful car in numbers fhould prefide, And all di putes without appeal decide.

And

And in the Roman majesty appear,
Which none know better, and none come fo And with a gen'ral fhout proclaim'd him kin

[near. Who banish'd David did from Hebron bring

Thofe very Jews, who at their very best
Their humour more than loyalty exprefs'd.
Now wonder'd why fo long they had obey
An idol monarch, which their hands had m
Thought they might ruin him they could cre
Or melt him to that golden calf of state.
But thefe were random bolts: no form'd defi
Nor int'reft made the factious crowd to joi
The fober part of Ifrael, free from stain,
Well knew the value of a peaceful reign;
And looking backward with a wife affright,
Saw feams of wounds dishonest to the fight:
In contemplation of whofe ugly scars,
They curs'd the memory of civil wars.
The moderate fort of men thus qualified,
Inclined the balance to the better fide:
And David's mildnefs manag'd it fo well,
The bad found no occafion to rebel.
But when to fin our biafs'd nature leans,
The careful devil is ftill at hand with mean
And providently pimps for ill defires:
The good old caule reviv'd a plot requires.
Plots true or falfe are neceffary things
To raife up commonwealths, and ruin king
Th' inhabitants of old Jerufalem
Were Jebufites; the town fo call'd from the
And theirs the native right-
But when the chofen people grew more ftro
The rightful caufe at length became the wro
And ev'ry lofs the men of Jebus bore,
They ftill were thought God's enemies the m
Thus worn or weaken'd, well or ill content
Submit they must to David's government;
Impoverish'd, and depriv'd of all command
Their taxes doubled as they loft their land
And what was harder yet to flesh and blood
Their gods difgrac'd, and burnt like comm
wood.

IN pious times, ere priestcraft did begin,
Before polygamy was made a fin;
When man on many multiplied his kind,
Ere one to one was curfedly confined!
When nature prompted, and no law denied
Promifcuous ufe of concubine and bride;
Then Ifrael's monarch,after Heaven's own heart,
His vigorous warmth did variously impart
To wives and flaves; and wide as his command,
Scatter'd his Maker's image thro' the land.
Michal, of royal blood, the crown did wear;
A foil ungrateful to the tiller's care;
Not fo the reft; for feveral mothers bore
To godlike David feveral fons before.
But fince, like flaves, his bed they did afcend,
No true fucceffion could their feed attend.
Of all the numerous progeny, was none
So beautiful, fo brave, as Abfalom:
Whether infpired by fome diviner luft,
His father got him with a greater guft;
Or that his confcious deftiny made way,
By manly beauty, to imperial fway,
Early in foreign fields he won renown,
With kings and states allied to Ifrael's crown:
In peace the thoughts of war he could remove,
And feem'd as he were only born for love.
Whate'er he did was done with fo much ease,
In him alone 'twas natural to please:
His motions all accompanied with grace;
And paradife was open'd in his face.
With fecret joy indulgent David view'd
His youthful image in his fon renew'd:
To all his wifes nothing he denied;
And made the charming Annabel his bride.
What faults he had (for who from faults is free?)
His father could not, or he would not fee.
Some warm exceffes which the law forbore,
Were conftruedyouth that purg'd by boilingo'er,
And Ammon's murder, by a fpecious name,
Was call'd a just revenge for injur'd fame.
Thus prais'dand lov'd the noble youth remain'd,
While David undisturb'd in Sion reign'd;
But life can never be fincerely bleft:
Heaven punishes the bad, and proves the beft.
The Jews, a headstrong, moody,murmuring race,
As ever tried th'extent and itretch of grace;
God's pamper'd people, whom, debauched with

This fet the heathen, pricfthood in a flame;
For priests of all religions are the fame.
Of whatfoe'er defcent their godhead be,
Stock, ftone, or other homely pedigree,
In his defence his fervants are as bold
As if he had been born of beaten gold.
The Jewish rabbins, though their enemies,
In this conclude them honeft men and wife
For 'twas their duty, all the learned think,
T' efpoufe his caufe by whom they eat and dra
From hence began that plot, the nation's cur
Bad in it lf, but reprefented worse;
Rais'd in extremes, and in extremes decried
No king could govern, nor no God could pleafe. With oaths affirm'd, with dying vows denie
Gods they had tried of every thape and fize, Not weigh'd not winnow'd by the multitu
That godfmiths conid produce, or priests devife: But swallow'd in the mafs, unchew'd and crus
Thefe Adam-wits, too fortunately free, Some truth there was, but dafh'd and brew'd wa
Began to dream they wanted liberty;
To pleafe the fools, and puzzle all the wife. [le
And when no rule, no precedent was found Succeeding times did equal folly call,
Of men by laws lefs circumfcrib'd and bound, Believing nothing, or believing all.
They led their wild defires to woods and caves, Th' Egyptian rites the Jebusites embrac'd;
And thought that all but Savages were flaves. Where gods were recommended by their tal
They who, when Saul was dead, without a blow, Such favoury deities muft needs be good,
Made foolish Ishbotheth the crown forego; As ferv'd at once for worthip and for food.

eafe,

B

By for they could not introduce thefe gods;
Fertate in former days was odds;
& as us'd, the facrificer's trade:
For more hard to conquer than perfuade.
Teachers mingled with the Jews,

for converts even the court and stews: Hebrew priefts the more unkindly took, the fleece accompanies the flock. ght they God's anointed meant to flay greated fince full many a day:

e wears it not; but who can know homdevil and Jebufites may go? torch fail'd for want of commonfenfe, hp and dangerous confequence: amaraging fevers boil the blood, Tag like foon floats into a flood, any botile humour, which before in its channels, bubbles o'er; fictions from this first ferment, to foun, and threat the government. their friends, more by themselves gat wife,

Yet fime deferv'd no enemy can grudge:
The state finan we abhor, but praife the judge.
In Ifrael's courts ne'er fat an Abethdin
With more difcerning eyes, or hands more
clean,

Unbrib'd, unfought, the wretched to redress,
Swift of dispatch, and eafy of access.
Oh! had he been content to ferve the crown
With virtues only proper to the gown;

Or had the rankness of the foil been freed
From cockle, that opprefs'd the noble teed;
David for him his tuneful harp had strung,
And heaven had wanted one immortal (ong.
But wild ambition loves to flide, not itand:
And fortune's ice prefers to virtue's land.
Achitophel, grown weary to poffefs
A lawful fame, and lazy happiness,
Difdain'd the golden fruit to gather free,
And lent the crowd his arm to shake the tree.
Now, manifeft of crimes contriv'd long fince,
He stood at bold defiance with his prince;
Held up the buckler of the people's caufe
the pow'r to which they could not rife. Against the crown, and fculk'd behind the laws.
tacourts been great; and thrown from The wish'd occation of the plot he takes;
**wereharden'dinimpenitence.[thence Some circumftances finds, but more he makes

by their monarch's fatal mercy, grown pardon'd rebels kinfmen to the throne, s'd in pow'r and public office high: Fonds, if bands ungrateful men could tie. te the falfe Achitophel was first; A race to all fucceeding ages curit : defigns and crocked counfels fit; , bold, and turbulent of wit; fix'd in principles and place; unpleas'd, impatient of difgrace: *ka, which, working out its way, the pigmy-body to decay,

*

form'd the tenement of clay.

A pilot in extremity; rhthe dangerwhenthewaves went high, the torms; but, for a calm unfit, 4eer too nigh the fands to boaft his wit. As are fure to madnefs near allied, partitions do their boun's divide; fould he,with wealth and honour bleft, sage the needful hours of reft? babody which he could not please; pt of life, yet prodigal of eafe? A to leave what with his toil he won unfeather'd two-legg'd thing, a Son; 4te his foul did huddled notions try; or a fhapelets lump, like anarchy. hip falfe, implacable in hate,

to ruin or to rule the ftate.

pals this, the triple bond he broke;

s of the public fafety fhook; red lirael for a foreign yoke: ed with fear, yet fill affecting fame, da patriot's all-atoning name.

it proves, in factious times, zeal to cancel private crimes. tis treafon, and how facred ill, fet one can fin against the people's will! Wads can wink, and no offence beknown, kuce in mother's guilt they find their own!

By buzzing emiffaries fills the ears
Of lift'ning crowds with jealoufies and fears
Of arbitrary counfels brought to light,
And proves the King himself a Jebufite.
Weak arguments! which yet, he knew full well,
Were ftrong with people easy to rebel.
For, govern'd by the moon, the giddy Jews
Tread the fame track when the the prime renews;
And once in twenty years, their fcribes record,
By natural inftin&t they change their lord.
Achitophel ftill wants a chief, and none
Was found fo fit as warlike Abfalom.
Not that he with'd his greatnefs to create,
For politicians neither love nor hate:
But, for he knew his title not allow'd
Would keep him still depending on the crowd:
That kingly pow'r, thus ebbing out, might be
Drawn to the dregs of a democracy.
Him he attempts with studied arts to please,
And fheds his venom in fuch words as thefe:

Aufpicious prince! at whofe nativity
Some royal planet rul'd the fouthern sky;
Thy longing country's darling and defire;
Their cloudy pillar and their guardian fire;
Their fecond Mofes, whote extended wand
Divides the leas, and fhews the promis'd land;
Whole dawning day, in ev'ry diftant age,
Has exercis'd the facred prophet's rage;
The people's prayer, the glad diviner's theme,
The young men's vifion, and the old men's

dream!

Thee, Saviour, thee the nation's vows confefs,
And, never fatisfied with feeing, bless:
Swift unbefpoken pomps thy fte ps proclaim,
And ftamm'ring babes are taught to lip thy

name.

How long wilt thou the gen'ral joy detain,
Starve and defraud the people of thy reign;
Content inglorioufly to pats thy days,
Like one of Virtue's fools that feed on praife;

Till thy freh glories, which now fhine fo bright, | Unwarily was led from virtue's ways,

Grow tale, and tarnish with our daily fight?
Believe me, royal youth, thy fruit must be
Or gather'd ripe, or rot upon the tree.
Heaven has to all allotted, foon or late,
Some lucky revolution of their fate;
Whofe motions if we watch and guide with skill,
For human good depends on human will,
Our fortune rolls as from a fimooth defcent,
And from the first impreffion takes the bent:
But, if unfeiz'd, fhe glides away like wind,
And leaves repenting folly far behind.
Now, now the meets you with a glorious prize,
And spreads her locks before you as the flies.
Had thus cid David,from whofe loins you fpring,
Not dar'd when fortune call'd him to be king,
At Gath an exile he might fill remain,
And Heaven's anointing oil had been in vain.
Let his fuccefsful youth your hopes engage;
But fhun th' example of declining age:
Behold him fetting in his western skies,
The fhadows length'ning as the vapours rife.
He is not now, as when on Jordan's fand
The joyful people throng'd to fee him land,
Covering the beach, and blackening all the
ftrand;

But, like the prince of angels, from his height,
Come tumbling downwardwithdiminish'dlight;
Betray'd by one poor plot to public fcorn;
Our only bleffing fince his curs'd return:
Thofe heaps of people which one fheaf did bind,
Blown off and fcatter'd by a puff of wind,
What ftrength can he to your defigns oppofe,
Naked of friends, and round befet with foes?
If Pharaoh's doubtful fuccour he fhould use,
A foreign aid would more incenfe the Jews:
Proud Egypt would diflembled fi iendhipbring;
Foment the war, but not fupport the king:
Nor would the royal party e'er unite
With Pharaoh's aims t aiift the Jebufite ;
Or,if they fhould,their int'reft foon would break,
And with fuch odious aid make David weak.
All forts of men, by my fuccefiful arts,
Abhorring king, cftrange the ir altered hearts
From David's rule; and 'tis their general 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 Ifrael hope, and what applaufe
Might fuch a gen'ral gain by fuch a caufe?
Not barren praife alone, that gaudy flow'r
Fair only to the fight, but fold pow'r;
And nobler is a limited command,
Given by the love of all your native land,
Than a fucceffive title, long and dark,
Drawn from the mouldy rolls of Noah's ark.
What cannot praife cffect in mighty minds,
When flatt'ry fooths, and when ambition blinds?
Desire of powr, on earth a vicious weed,
Yet ip ung from high, is of celestial feed:
In God 'tis glory; and when men afpire,
'Tis but a park too much of heavenly fire.
Th' ambitious youth, too covetous of fame,
Teo full of anger's metal in his frame,

Made drunk with honour, and debauch'd

praife.

Half loth, and half confenting to the ill,
For royal blood within him ftruggled ftill,
He thus replied:-And what pretence hav
To take up arms for public liberty?
My father governs with unquestioned righ
The faith's defender, and mankind's deligh
Good, gracious, juft, obferv int of the laws
And Heaven by wonders has efpous'd his ca
Whom has he wrong'd in all his peaceful re
Who fues for juftice to his throne in vain
What millions has he pardon'd of his fues,
Whom just revenge did to his wrath expo
Mild, cafy, humble, studious of our good;
Inclin'd to mercy, and averie from biond.
If mildness ill with Rubborn Ifrael fuit,
His crime is God's beloved attribute.

What could he gain his people to betray,
Or change his right for arbitrary fway?
Let haughty Pharaoh curfe with fuch a re
His fruitful Nile, and yoke a fervile train.
If David's rule Jerufalem difpleafe,
The dog-ftar heats their brains to this die
Why then fhould I, encouraging the bad,
Turn rebel, and run popularly mad
Were he the tyrant, who by lawless might
Opprefs'd the Jews, and rais'd the Jebul
Well might I mourn; but nature's holy o
Would curb my fpirits, and reftrain my id
The people might affert their liberty;
But what was right in them were crime in
His favour leaves me nothing to require,
Prevents my wifhes, and outruns defire;
What more can I expect while David live
All but his kingly diatom he gives:
And that-but here he paus'd; then, f ̧

faid

Is juftly deftin'd for a worthier head.
For when my father from his toils fhall re
And iate augment the number of the bla
His lawful ilite (hall the throne afcend,
or the collateral line, where that thail end.
Bisbrother, though oppreis'd with vulgaris
Yet dauntless, and fecure of native right,
Of ev'ry royal virtue ftands poffeft;
Still dear to all the brave and the best.
His courage foes, his friends his truth proda
His loyalty the king, the world his fame.
His mercy e'en th' offending crowd will fin
For fure he comes of a forgiving kind.
Why thould I then repine at Heaven's decr
Which gives me no pretence to royalty?
Yet, oh that fate, propitiously inclin'd,
Had rais'd my birth, or had debas'd my min
To my large foul not all her treasure lent,
And then betray'd it to a mean descent!
I find, I find my mounting fpirits bold,
And David's part difdains my mother's mou
Why am I fcanted by a niggard birth?
My foul difclaims the kindred of her earth;
And, made for empire, whispers me within,
Defire of greatness is a godlike fin.