His eldest hope, with every grace adorn'd,
By me, fo heaven will have it, always mourn'd,
And always honour'd, fnatch'd in manhood's prime
By unequal fates, and providence's crime:
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 space, but perfect in thy line!
By fea, by land, thy matchlefs worth was known,
Arms thy delight, and war was all thy own:
Thy force infus'd the fainting Tyrians prop'd;
And haughty Pharaoh found his fortune ftop'd.
Oh ancient honour! Oh unconquer'd hand,
Whom foes unpunish'd never cou'd withstand!
But Ifrael was unworthy of his name:
Short is the date of all immoderate 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 cease thy painful flight:
No pinions can purfue immortal height :
Tell good Barzillai thou canst fing no more,
And tell thy foul fhe should 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 heav'n, and feel
If thou canft find on earth another he:
Another he would be too hard to find;
See then whom thou canft fee not far behind.
Zadoc the priest, whom. fhunning pow'r and place, His lowly mind advanc'd to David's grace.
With him the Sagan of Jerufalem,
Of hof itable foul, and noble ftem;
Him 1 of the wefern dome, whofe weighty feafe
Flows in ft words and heavenly eloquence.
The prophets fous, by fach 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 beft can plead, and beft can judge a caufe,
Next them a train of loyal peers afcend;
Sharp-judging Adriel, the mufes friend,
Himself a mafe: in fanhedrims debate
Trae to his prince, but not a fave of fate :
Whops David's love with honours did adorn,
That from his disobedient fon were torn.
Jotbam of piercing wit, and pregnant thought;
Endued by nature, and by learning taught,
To more afemblies, who but only try'd
The warle a-while, then chofe the better ide:
Nor chofe alone, but turn'd the balance too;
So much the weight of one brave man can do,
Habai, the friend of David in diftrefs
In publick forms of manly fledfaltnefs:
By foreign treaties he inform'd his youth,
And join'd experience to his native truth.
His frugal care fupply'd the wanting throne;
Fragal for that, but bounteous of his own :
'Tis ealy condu& when exchequers flow;
But hard the talk to manage well the low :
For fovereign power is too deprefs'd or high,
When Kings are forc'd to fell, or cronds to buy.
1 Dr, Dolben, Bitkop of Rochester, and Dean of Weftminfır, an caly, good-natured, modeft, (pirited, elaquent, and learned man. 1683 he was raifed to the fee of York: he bore arass against the parlizment in King Charles the 18t's reign, who made him a major. When that monarch's affairs were ruined, he returned to Oxford, purfued his fludies, and entered into orders,
Indulge one labour more, my weary mufe,
For Amiel : who cao Amicl's praïfe refule ?
Of ancient race by birth, but aobler yet
Ia his own worth, and without title great :
The fanhedrin long time as chief he ral'd,
Their reafon guided, and their pathon cool'd:
So dextrous was be in the crown's defence,
So form'd to speak a loyal nation's feafe,
That, as their band was Ifrael's tribes in small,
So it was be to reprefent them all.
Now rather charioteers the feat altend,
Whole loofe careers his feady kill commend :
They, like th' unequal ruler of the day,
Milguide the feators, and mistake the way;
While he withdrawu at their mad labours failles,
And fafe enjoys the fabbath of his tolls.
Thefe were the chief, a fmall bat faithful band
Of worthies, ia the breach who dar3d to Bard,
And tempt th' united fury of the laud,
With grief they view'd fuch pow'rful engines bent,
To batter down the lawful government.
A numerous faction, with pretended frights,
Ia fanhedrims to plume the regal rights;
The true fucceffor from the court remov'd ;
The plot, by hireling witneffes, improv'd.
Thefe ills they faw, and, as their duty bound,
They fhew'd the King the danger of the wound z
That no conceffions from the throne wou'd pleate,
But lenitives fomented the difeafe:
That Abfalom, ambitious of the crown,
Was made the lure to draw the people down :
That falfe Achitophel's pernicious hate
Had turn'd the plot to ruin church and-ftate:
The council violent, the rabble worfe:
That Shimei taught Jerufalem to curfe.
With all thefe loads of injuries oppreft,
And long revolving in his careful breat
The event of things, at last his patience tir'd,
Thus, from his royal throne, by heaven infpir'd,
The god-like David fpoke; with awful fear
His train their Maker in their mafler hear.
Thus long have I by native mercy fway'd,
My wrongs diffembled, my revenge delay'd:
So willing to forgive th' offending age;
So much the father did the King affuage.
But now fo far my clemency they flight,
Th' offenders queftion my forgiving right,
That one was made for many, they contend;
But 'tis to rule; for that's a monarch's end.
They call my tenderness of blood, my fear:
Tho' manly tempers can the longest bear.
Yet fince they will divert my native course,
'Tis time to fhew I am not good by force.
Those heap'd affronts that haughty subjects bring,
Are burdens for a camel, not a King.
Kings are the public pillars of the ftate,.
Born to fuftain and prop the nation's weight:
if my young Sampfon will pretend a call
To shake the column, let him fhare the fall:
But oh, that yet he would repent and live!
How eafy 'tis for parents to forgive!
With how few tears a pardon might be won
From nature, pleading for a darling fon!
Poor, pitied youth, by my paternal care,
Rais'd up to all the height his frame could bear!
Had God ordain'd his fate for empire born,
He would have giv'n his foul another turn :
Gull'd with a patriot's name, whofe modern fenfe
Is one that would by law fupplant his prince;
The people's brave, the politician's tool;
Never was patriot yet, but was a fool.
Whence comes it, that religion and the laws
Should more be Abfalom's than David's caufe?
His old inftructor ere he loft his place,
Was never thought indu'd with so much grace.
Good heavens, how faction can a patriot paint!
My rebel ever proves my people's faint.
Would they impofe an heir upon the throne,
Let fanhedrims be taught to give their own.
A King's at least a part of government;
And mine as requifite as their confent:
Without my leave a future King to chufe,
Infers a right the prefent to depose.
True, they petition me t' approve their choice:
But Esau's hands fuit ill with Jacob's voice.
My pious fubjects for my safety pray ;
Which to fecure they take my pow'r away.
From plots and treafons heaven preserve my years,
But fave me most from my petitioners.
Unfatiate as the barren womb or grave;
God cannot grant fo much as they can crave.
What then is left, but with a jealous eye
To guard the fmall remains of royaltý?
The law fhall fill direct my peaceful fway,
And the fame law teach rebels to obey :
Votes fhall no more establish'd pow'r controul,
Such votes as make a part exceed the whole.
No groundless clamours fhall my friends remove,
Nor crouds have pow'r to punish ere they prove;
For Gods and god-like Kings their care exprefs,
Still to defend their fervants in diftrefs.
Oh, that my pow'r to faving were confin'd!
Why am I forc'd, like heav'n, against my mind,
To make examples of another kind?
Muft I at length the fword of juftice draw?
Oh curft effects of neceffary law!
How ill my fear they by my mercy scan!
Beware the fury of a patient man.
Law they require, let law then fhew her face;
They could not be content to look on grace,
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