Benaiah....... .....General Sackville.

Ben Jochanan .......Rev. Samuel Johnson.

Bezaliel..

Caleb........

Corah...

David..

Doeg.

Egypt...

Eliab

Ethnic-plot.....

Gath..

Hebron.......

.Duke of Beaufort.

..Ford, Lord Grey of Werk.

.Dr. Titus Oates.

..King Charles II.

.Elkanah Settle, the City poet.
..France.

.Sir Henry Bennet, Earl of Ar-
lington.

.The Popish-plot.

.The Land of Exile, more parti-
cularly Brussels, where King
Charles II. long resided.
..Scotland.

Hebrew Priests .....The Church of England Clergy.
Helon..................Earl of Feversham, a French-

man by birth, and nephew to

Marshal Turenne.

.Hyde, Earl of Rochester.

· Hushai..... Jebusites...

....Papists.

Jonas....

Jordan......

Jotham...

.English.

.Sir Wm. Jones, a great Lawyer.
.Dover.

.Saville, Marquis of Halifax.

Jothran ....... ......Lord Dartmouth.
Ishbosheth....... Richard Cromwell.

Israel...
Issachar..

..............

Judas............

England.

....Thomas Thynne, Esq. who was shot in his Coach.

.Mr. Ferguson,

Teacher.

a canting

.......Forbes.

Phaleg.....
Pharaoh....

Rabsheka........

..King of France.

..Sir Thomas Player, one of the
City Members.

Sagan of Jerusalem. Dr. Compton, Bishop of Lon

Sanhedrim......

Saul..........

Shimei

don, youngest Son to the Earl of Northampton.

.Parliament.

.....Oliver Cromwell.

.Slingsby Bethel, Sheriff of Lon

don in 1680.

Sheva..................Sir Roger L'Estrange.
Sion............................... England.

ABSALOM AND ACHITOPHEL.

PART I.

Si propius stes,
Te capiet magis-

HOR.

In pious times, ere priestcraft did begin,
Before polygamy was made a sin;
When man on many multiplied his kind,
Ere one to one was cursedly confin'd,
When Nature prompted, and no law denied
Promiscuous use of concubine and bride;
Then Israel's monarch, after Heaven's own heart,
His vigorous warmth did variously impart

To wives and slaves; and, wide as his command,
Scatter'd his Maker's image through the land.
Michal, of royal blood, the crown did wear,
A soil ungrateful to the tiller's care:
Not so the rest; for several mothers bore
To god-like David several sons before:
But since like slaves his bed they did ascend,
No true succession could their seed attend.
Of all the numerous progeny was none
So beautiful, so brave, as Absalom:
Whether, inspir'd by some diviner lust,
His father got him with a greater gust,

Or that his conscious destiny made way,
By manly beauty, to imperial sway;
Early in foreign fields he won renown,

With kings and states allied to Israel's crown:
In peace the thoughts of war he could remove,
And seem'd as he were only born for love.
Whate'er he did, was done with so much ease,
In him alone 'twas natural to please;
His motions all accompanied with grace,
And Paradise was open'd in his face.
With secret joy indulgent David view'd
His youthful image in his son renew'd;
To all his wishes 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 see.
Some warm excesses, which the law forebore,
Were construed youth, that purg'd by boiling o'er;
And Amnon's murder, by a specious name,

Was call'd a just revenge for injur'd fame.
Thus prais'd, and lov'd, the noble youth remain'd,
While David undisturb'd in Sion reign'd.
But life can never be sincerely blest,

Heav'n punishes the bad, and proves the best.
The Jews, a headstrong, moody, murmuring race,
As ever tried the' extent and stretch of grace:
God's pamper'd people, whom, debauch'd with ease,
No king could govern, nor no God could please;
(Gods they had tried of every shape and size
That god-smiths could produce, or priests devise:)
These Adam-wits, too fortunately free,

Began to dream they wanted liberty;

And when no rule, no precedent, was found

Of men by laws less circumscrib'd and bound,