But, in the course of one revolving mʊon,
Was chymist, fiddler, statesman, and buffoon:
Then all for women, painting, rhyming, drinking,
Besides ten thousand freaks that dy'd in thinking.
Blest madman! who could every hour employ
With something new to wish or to enjoy!
Railing and praising were his usual themes,
And both (to show his judgment) in extremes;
So over violent, or over civil,
That every man, with him, was god or devil.
In squand'ring wealth was his peculiar art:
Nothing went unrewarded but desert.
Beggar'd by fools, whom still he found too late;
He had his jest, and they had his estate.
He laugh'd himself from Court; then sought relief
By forming parties, but could ne'er be chief:
For, spite of him, the weight of bus'ness fell 565
On Absalom, and wise Achithophel :
Thus, wicked but in will, of means bereft,
He left not faction, but of that was left.
Titles and names 'twere tedious to rehearse
Of lords below the dignity of verse:
Wits, warrior's, Commonwealth's-men, were the best;
Kind husbands, and mere nobles, all the rest.
And, therefore, in the name of Dulness, be
The well-hung Balaam and cold Caleb free;
And canting Nadab let oblivion damn,
Who made new porridge for the paschal lamb.
Let friendship's holy bands some names assure,
Some their own worth, and some let scorn secure.
Nor shall the rascal rabble here have place,
Whom kings no titles gave, and God no grace: 580
Not bull-fac'd Jonas, who could statutes draw
To mean rebellion, and make treason law.
But he, though bad, is follow'd by a worse,
The wretch who Heav'n's anointed dar'd to curse,
Shimei, whose youth did early promise bring 585
Of zeal to God, and hatred to his king,
Did wisely from expensive sins refrain,
And never broke the Sabbath but for gain;
Nor ever was he known an oath to vent,
Or curse, unless against the government.
Thus, heaping wealth, by the most ready way
Among the Jews, which was to cheat and pray,
The City, to reward his pious hate,
Against his master chose him magistrate.
His hand a vase of justice did uphold;
His neck was loaded with a chain of gold.
During his office treason was no crime;
The sons of Belial had a glorious time:
For Shimei, though not prodigal of pelf,
Yet lov'd his wicked neighbour as himself.
When two or three were gather'd to declaim
Against the Monarch of Jerusalem,
Shimei was always in the midst of them;
And if they curs'd the king when he was by,
Would rather curse than break good company. 605
If any durst his factious friends accuse,
He pack'd a jury of dissenting Jews,
Whose fellow-feeling in the godly cause
Would free the suff'ring saint from human laws :
For laws are only made to punish those
Who serve the king, and to protect his foes,
If any leisure time he had from pow'r,
(Because 'tis sin to misemploy an hour)
His bus'ness was, by writing, to persuade
That kings were useless, and a clog to trade :
And, that his noble style he might refine,
No Rechabite more shunn'd the fumes of wine.
Chaste were his cellars, and his shrieval board,
The grossness of a City-feast abhorr'd:
His cooks, with long disuse, their trade forgot, 620 Cool was his kitchen, though his brains were hot. Such frugal virtue malice may accuse,
But sure 'twas necessary to the Jews:
For towns, once burnt, such magistrates require,
As dare not tempt God's providence by fire.
With sp'ritual food he fed his servants well,
But free from flesh, that made the Jews rebel;
And Moses' laws he held in more account,
For forty days of fasting in the Mount.
To speak the rest, who better are forgot,
Would tire a well-breath'd witness of the plot :
Yet Corah, thou shalt from oblivion pass;
Erect thyself, thou monumental brass,
High as the serpent of thy metal made,
While nations stand secure beneath thy shade. 635
What though his birth were base, yet comets rise
From earthly vapours ere they shine in skies.
Prodigious actions may as well be done
By weaver's issue as by prince's son.
This arch attestor for the public good,
By that one deed ennobles all his blood.
Who ever asks the witnesses' high race,
Whose oath with martyrdom did Stephen grace?
Our's was a Levite, and, as times went then,
His tribe were God Almighty's gentlemen.
Sunk were his eyes, his voice was harsh and loud,
Sure signs he ncither chol'ric was nor proud;
His long chin prov'd his wit; his saint-like grace
A church vermilion, and a Moses' face.
His mem'ry, miraculously great,
Could plots exceeding man's belief repeat,
Which therefore cannot be accounted lies,
For human wit could never such devise.
Some future truths are mingled in his book,
But where the witness fair'd, the prophet spoke:
Some things like visionary flight appear,
The Spirit caught him up the Lord knows where,
And gave him his Rabbinical degree,
Unknown to foreign university:
His judgment yet his mem'ry did excel,
Which piec'd his wondrous evidence so well,
And suited to the temper of the times,
Then groaning under Jebusitic crimes.
Let Isr'el's foes suspect his heav'nly call,
And rashly judge his writ apocryphal;
Our laws for such affronts have forfeits made;
He takes his life who takes away his trade.
Were I myself in Witness Corah's place,
The wretch who did me such a dire disgrace
Should whet my memory, though once forgot, 670
To make him an appendix of my plot.
His zeal to heav'n made him his prince despise,
And load his person with indignities:
But zeal peculiar privilege affcrds,
Indulging latitude to deeds and words;
And Corah might for Agag's murder call,
In terms as coarse as Samuel us'd to Saul.
What others in his evidence did join,
(The best that could be had for love or coin)
In Corah's own predicament will fall,
For Witness is a common name to all.
Surrounded thus with friends of ev'ry sort,
Deluded Absalom forsakes the Court,
Impatient of high hopes, urg'd with renown,
And fir'd with near possession of a crown.
Th' admiring crowd are dazzled with surprize,
And on his goodly person feed their eyes,
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