Of all the numerous progeny was none
So beautiful, fo brave, as Abfalom:
Whether inspir'd by fome diviner lust,
His father got him with a greater gust:
Or that his confcious deftiny made way,
By manly beauty to imperial fway.
Early in foreign fields he won renown,
With kings and ftates ally'd 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 eafe,
In him alone 'twas natural to please :
His motions all accompany'd 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 wishes nothing he deny'd;
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 conftrued youth that purg'd by boiling o'er ;
And Amnon's murder by a specious name,
Was call'd a juft 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 fincerely bleft:
Heaven punishes the bad, and proves the best.
The Jews, a headstrong, moody, murmuring race,
As ever try'd th' 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 try'd of every shape and fize,
That godfmiths could produce, or priests devife:
Thefe Adam-wits too fortunately free,
Began to dream they wanted liberty;
And when no rule, no precedent was found,
Of men, by laws less circumfcrib'd and bound;
They led their wild defires to woods and caves,
And thought that all but savages were flaves.
They who, when Saul was dead, without a blow,
Made foolish Ifhbofheth the crown forego;
Who banish'd David did from Hebron bring,
And with a general fhout proclaim'd him king:
Those very Jews, who at their very beft
Their humour more than loyalty expreft,
Now wonder'd why fo long they had obey'd
An idol monarch, which their hands had made;
Thought they might ruin him they could create,
Or melt him to that golden calf a state.
But these were random bolts: no form'd defign,
Nor intereft made the factious crowd to join:
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 fcars,
They curft the memory of civil wars.
The moderate fort of men thus qualify'd,
Inclin'd the balance to the better fide;
And David's mildness manag'd it fo well,
The bad found no occafion to rebel.
But when to fin our bias'd nature leans,
The careful devil is ftill at hand with means;
And providently pimps for ill defires :
The good old cause reviv'd a plot requires.
Plots true or falfe are neceffary things,
To raise up commonwealths, and ruin kings.
Th' inhabitants of old Jerufalem
Were Jebufites; the town fo call'd from them;
And theirs the native right-
But when the chofen people grew more strong,
The rightful caufe at length became the wrong;
And every lofs the men of Jebus bore,
They ftill were thought God's enemies the more.
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 common wood. ·
This fet the heathen priesthood in a flame;
For priests of all religions are the same.
Of whatfoe'er defcent their godhead be,
Stock, stone, 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 drink.
From hence began that plot, the nation's curse,
Bad in itself, but reprefented worse;
Rais'd in extremes, and in extremes decry'd;
With oaths affirm'd, with dying vows deny'd;
Not weigh'd nor winnow'd by the multitude;
But fwallow'd in the mass, unchew'd and crude.
Some truth there was, but dash'd and brew'd with lies,
To please the fools, and puzzle all the wife.
Succeeding times did equal folly call,
Believing nothing, or believing all.
Th' Egyptian rites the Jebusites embrac'd ;
Where gods were recommended by their taste.'
Such favoury deities must needs be good,
As ferv'd at once for worship and for food.
By force they could not introduce thefe gods;
For ten to one in former days was odds.
So fraud was us'd, the facrificer's trade:
Fools are more hard to conquer than perfuade.
Their bufy teachers mingled with the Jews,
And rak'd for converts ev'n the court and stews :
Which Hebrew priests the more unkindly took,
Because the fleece accompanies the flock.
Some thought they God's anointed meant to flay
By guns, invented since full many a day :
Our author fwears it not; but who can know
How far the devil and Jebufites may go?
This plot, which fail'd for want of common sense,
Had yet a deep and dangerous confequence:
For as, when raging fevers boil the blood,
The standing lake foon floats into a flood,
And every hoftile humour, which before
Slept quiet in its channels, bubbles o'er ;
So feveral factions from this first ferment,
Work up to foam and threat the government.
Some by their friends, more by themselves thought wise,
Oppos'd the power to which they could not rife.
Some had in courts been great, and thrown from thence,
Like fiends were harden'd in impenitence.
Some, by their monarch's fatal mercy, grown
From pardon'd rebels kinsmen to the throne,
Were rais'd in power and public office high;
Strong bands, if bands ungrateful men could tie.
Of these the falfe Achitophel was first;
A name to all fucceeding ages curft:
For clofe defigns, and crooked counfels fit;
Sagacious, bold, and turbulent of wit;
Restless, unfix'd in principles and place;
In power unpleas'd, impatient of disgrace :
A fiery foul, which, working out its way,
Fretted the pigmy-body to decay,
And o'er-inform'd the tenement of clay.
A daring pilot in extremity;
Pleas'd with the danger when the waves went high,
He fought the storms; but, for a calm unfit,
Would steer too nigh the fands to boast his wit.
Great wits are fure to madness near ally'd,
And thin partitions do their bounds divide;
Elfe why should he, with wealth and honour bleft,
Refuse his age the needful hours of rest?
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