pous times ere priestcraft did begin,
Before polygamy was made a fin;
When man on many multiply'd his kind,
Ere one to one was curfedly confin'd;
When nature prompted, and no law deny'd
Promifcuous ufe of concubine and bade;
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 through the land.
Michal, of royal blood, the crown did wear;
A foil ungrateful to the tiller's care:
Not fo the reft; for several mothers bore
To god-like David feveral fons before.
Who banith'd David did from Hebron bring,
And with a general hout proclaim'd him king!
Thofe very Jews, who at their very best
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 thefe 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 scars,
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 caufe reviv'd a plot requires.
Plots true or falfe are neceffary things,
To raife up commonwealths, and ruin kings.
Th' inhabitants of old Jerufalem
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 infpir'd 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 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 ease,
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 withes 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 purged by boiling o'er;
And Amnon's murder by a fpecious name,
Was call'd a juft revenge for injur'd fame.
Thus prais'd and lov'd, the noble youth remain'd,
While David undifturb'd in Sion reign'd.
But life can never be fincerely bleft:
Heav'n 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 debauchi'd with eafe,
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 devise:
Thefe Adam-wits too fortunately free,
Began to dream they wanted liberty;
And when no rule, no precedent was found,
Of men, by laws lefs circumfcrib'd and bound;
They led their wild defires to woods and caves,
And thought that all but favages were flaves.
They who, when Saul was dead, without a blow,
Made foolish Ithbotheth the crown forego;
Were Jebufites; the town fo call'd from them;
And theirs the native right-
But when the chofen people grew more strong,
The rightful cause 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 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 drink.
From hence began that plot, the nation's curfe,
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 mafs, unchew'd and crude.
Some truth there was, but dafh'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 Jebufites 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 these gods;
For ten to one in former days was odds.
So fraud was us'd, the facriticer'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 Cod's anointed meant to flay
By guns invented fince 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 fenfe,
Had yet a deep and dangerous confequence:
For as, when raging fevers boil the blood,
The ftanding 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
wife,
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 kinfmen 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 councils fit;
Sagacious, bold, and turbulent of wit;
Reftlefs, unfix'd in principles and place;
In power unpleas'd, impatient of difgrace:
A fiery foul, which, working out its way,
Fretted the pigmy-body to decay,
And o'er-inform'd the terement of clay.
A daring pilot in extremity;
Pleas'd with the dancer when the waves went high,
He fought the ftorms; but, for a calm unfit,
Would steer too nigh the fands to boat his wit.
Great wits are fure to madness near ally'd,
And thin partitions do their bounds divide;
Elfe why fhould he with wealth and honour Lleft,
Refufe his age the needful hours of reft?
Punish a body which he could not please;
Bankrupt of life, yet prodigal of eafe?
And all to leave what with his toil he won,
To that unfeather'd two-legg'd thing, a fon;
Got, while his foul did huddled notions try;
And born a shapeless lump, like anarchy.
In friendship falfe, implacable in hate;
Refolv'd to ruin, or to rule the flate.
To compafs this the triple bond he broke ;
The pillars of the public fafety fhook;
And fitted Ifrael for a foreign yoke:
Then, feiz'd with fear, yet ftill affecting fame,
Ufurp'd a patriot's all-atoning name.
So eafy ftill it proves in factious times,
With public zeal to cancel private crimes.
How fafe is treafon, and how facred ill,
Where none can fin against the people's will!
Where crouds can wink, and no offence be known,
Since in another's guilt they find their own?
Yet fame deferv'd no enemy can grudge;
The ftatefman we abhor, but praise the judge.
In Ifrael's court ne'er fat an Abethdin
With more difcerning eyes, or hands more clean,
Unbrib'd, unfought, the wetched to redress;
Swift of difpatch, and eafy of accefs.
Oh! had he been content to ferve the crown,
With virtues only proper to the gown;
Or had the ranknefs of the foil been freed
From cockle, that opprefs'd the roble feed;
David for him his tuneful harp had strung,
And heaven had wanted one immortal forg.
But wild ambition loves to flide, not stand,
And fortune's ice prefers to virtue's land.
Achitophel, grown weary to poffefs
A lawful fame, and lazy happinefs,
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 ftood at old defiance with his prince;
Held up the buckler of the people's caufe
Against the crown, and fculk'd behind the laws.
The wifh'd occafion of the plot he takes;
Some circumftances finds, but more he makes.
By buzzing emiffaries fill the ears
Of liftening crowds with jealoufies and fears
Of arbitrary courfels brought to light,
And proves the king himfelf a Jebusite.
Weak arguments! which yet he knew full well,
Were ftrong with people eafy 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 instinct they change their lord.
Achitophel ftill wants a chief, and none
Was found fo fit as warlike Abfalom.
Not that he with'd his greatness to create,
For politicians neither love nor hate :
But, for he knew his title not allow'd,
Would keep him ftill depending on the crowd:
That kingly power, thus ebbing out, might be
Drawn to the dregs of a democracy.
Him he attempts with ftudied arts to please,
And fheds his venom in fuch words as thefe.
Aufpicious prince, at whofe nativity
Some royal planet rul'd the fouthern fky;
Thy longing country's darling and defire:
Their cloudy pillar and their guardian fire:
Their fecond Mofes, whofe extended wand
Divides the feas, and fhews the promis'd land:
Whofe dawning day, in every 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 fatisfy'd with feeing, blefs:
Swift unbefpoken pomps thy fteps proclaim,
And ftammering babes are taught to lifp thy name.
How long wilt thou the general joy detain,
Starve and defraud the people of thy reign;
Content ingloriously to pafs thy days,
Like one of virtue's fools that feed on praife;
Till thy fresh glories, which row fhine fo bright,
Grow ftale 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, feon or late,
Some lucky revolution of their fate:
Whole motions if we watch and guide with skill,
For human good depends on human will,
Our fortune rolls as from a smooth descent,
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 fhe flies.
Had thus old David, from whofe loins you fpring,
Not dar'd when fortune call'd him to be king,
At Gath an exile he might ftill remain,
And heaven's arointing oil had been in vain.
Let his fuccefsful youth your hopes engage;
But fhun th' example of declining age:
Be bold him fetting in his western skies,
The fhadows lengthening 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 strand;
But like the prince of angels, from his height
Comes tumbling downward with diminish'd light:
Betray'd by one poor plot to public fcorn:
Our only bleffing fince his curft turn:
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 should ufe,
A foreign aid would more incenfe the Jews:
Proud Egypt would diffembled friend/hip bring;
Foment the war but not fupport the king:
Nor would the royal party e'er unite
With Pharaoh's arms t' affift the Jebufite;
Or if they fhould, their intereft foon would break,
And with fuch odious aid make David weak.
All forts of men by my fuccefsful arts,
Aboring kings, eftrange their alter'd 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 general gain by fuch a caufe?
Not barren praife alone, that gaudy flower
Fair only to the fight, but folid power:
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 effect in mighty minds,
When flattery fooths, and when ambition blinds?
Defire of power, on earth a vicious weed,
Yet fprung from high is of celeftial feed:
In God 'tis glory: and when men afpire,
'Tis but a fpark too much of heavenly fire.
Th' ambitious youth, too covetous of fame,
Too full of angel's metal in his frame,
Unwarily was led from virtue's ways,
My father governs with unquestion'd right;
The faith's defender, and mankind's delight;
Good, gracious, juft, obfervant of the laws;
And heaven by wonders has efpous'd his cause.
Whom has he wrong'd in all his peaceful reign?
Who fues for justice to his throne in vain ?
What millions has he pardon'd of his foes,
Whom juft revenge did to his wrath expofe!
Mild, eafy, humble, ftudious of our good;
Inclin'd to mercy, and averfe from blood.
If mildnefs ill with stubborn Ifrael fuit,
His crime is God's beloved attribute.
What could he gain his people to betray,
Or change his right for arbitrary sway?
Let haughty Pharaoh curfe with fuch a reign
His fruitful Nile, and yoke a fervile train..
If David's rule Jerufalem difplay,
The dog-flar heats their brains to this disease.
Why then should I, encouraging the bad,
Turn rebel, and run popularly mad?
Were he a tyrant, who by lawless might
Opprefs'd the Jews, and rais'd the Jebufite,
Well might I mourn; but nature's holy bands
Would curb my spirits and reftrain my hands :
The people might affert their liberty:
But what was right in them were crime in me.'
His favour leaves me nothing to require,
Prevents my wishes, and out-runs defire;
What more can I expect while David lives?
All but his kingly diadem he gives:
And that-But here he paus'd, then fighing, faid-
Is juftly deftin'd for a worthier head.
For when my father from his toils fhall reft,
And late augment the number of the bleft,
His lawful iffue fhall the throne afcend,
Or the collateral line, where that shall end.
His brother, though opprefs'd with vulgar fpite,
Yet dauntlefs and fecure of native right,
Of every royal virtue ftands poffeft;
Still dear to all the braveft and the Left.
His courage foes, his friends his truth proclaim;
His loyalty the king, the world his fame.
His mercy ev'n th' offending crowd will find;
For fure he comes of a forgiving kind.
Why should I then repine at heaven's decree,
Which gives me no pretence to royalty?
Yet oh that fate, propitiously inclin'd,
Had rais'd my birth, or had debas'd my mind;
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 mould.
Why am I fcanted by a niggard birth?
My foul difclaims the kindred of her earth;
And made for empire whifpers me within,
Defire of greatnefs is a god-like fin.
Him ftaggering fo, when heil's dire agent found,
While fainting virtue fcarce maintain'd her ground,
He pours fresh forces in, and thus replies
Th'eternal God, fupremely good and wife,
Imparts not these prodigious gifts in vain:
What wonders are referv'd to blefs your reign!
Made drunk with honour, and debauch'd with Against your will your arguments have shown,
Half loath, and half confenting to the ill,
For royal blood within him ftruggled ftill,
He thus reply'd.And what pretence have I
To take up arms for public liberty?
Such virtue's only given to guide a throne.
Not that your father's mildness I contemn;
But manly force becomes the diadem.
'Tis true he grants the people all they crave;
And more perhaps than fubjects ought to have;
For lavish grants fuppofe a monarch tame,
And more his goodness than his wit proclaim.
But when fhould people strive their bonds to
If rot when kings are negligent or weak?
Let him give on till he can give no more,
The thrifty fanhedrim shall keep him poor:
And every thekel, which he can receive,
Shall cost a limb of his prerogative.
To ply him with new plots shall be my care;
Or plunge him deep in fome expensive war;
Which when his treasure can no more supply,
He must, with the remains of kingship, buy
His faithful friends, our jealouties and fears
Call lebufites, and Pharaoh's penfiorers;
Whom when our fury from his aid has torn,
He shall be naked left to public fcorn.
The next fucceffor, whom I fear and hate,
My arts have made obnoxious to the state;
Turn'd all his virtues to his overt!now,
And gain'd our elders to pronounce a toe.
His right, for fums of neceifary gold,
Shall first be pawn'd, and afterwards be fold;
Till time thall ever-wanting David draw,
To pafs your doubtful title into law;
If not, the people have a right fupreme
The proftrate vulgar paffes o'er and sparés,
Put with a lordly rage his hunters tears.
break,Your cafe no tame expedients will afford:
Refolve on death, or corqueft by the fword,
Which for no lefs a itake than life you draw;
And felf-detence is nature's eldest law.
Leave the warm people no confidering time:
For then rebell.on may be thought a crime:
Avail yourself of what occafion gives,
But try your title while your father lives:
And that your arms may have a fair pretence,
Proclaim you take them in the king's defence;
Whofe facred life each minute would expofe
To plots, from feeming friends and fecret foes.
And who can found the depth of David's foul?
Perhaps his fear his kindnefs may controul.
He fears his brother, though he loves his fon,
For plighted vows too late to be undone.
If fo, by force he wishes to be gain'd:
Like women's lechery, to feem constrain'd.
¡Doubt not: but when he most affects the frown,
Commit a picafing rape upon the crown.
Secure his perfon te fecure your caufe:
They who poffefs the prince poffefs the laws.
He faid; and this advice above the rest,
To make their kings; for kings are made for them. With Abfalom's mild nature fuited best;
All empire is no more than power in trust,
Which, when resum'd, can be no longer just.
Succeffion, for the general good defign'd,
In its own wrong a nation cannot bind:
If altering that the people can relieve,
Better one fuffer than a nation grieve.
The jews well know their power: ere Saul they chofe,
God was their king, and God they durft depoie.
Urge row your piety, your filial name,
A father's right, and fear of future fame;
The public roo, that unive: fal call,
To which ev'n heaven fubmitted, anfwers all.
Nor let his love enchant your generous mind;
'Tis nature's trick to propagate her kind.
Our fond begetters, who would never die,
Love but themfelves in their pofterity.
Or let his kindness by th' effects be try'd,
Or let him lay his vain pretence afide.
God faid, he lov'd your father; could he bring
A better proof, than to anoint him king?
It furely fhew'd he lov'd the shepherd well,
Who gave fo fair a flock as Ifraei.
Would David have you thought his darling fon,
What means he then to al enate the crown?
The name of godly he may bluth to bear:
Is 't after God's own heart to cheat his heir?
He to his brother gives fupreme command,
To you a leracy of barren land;
Unblam'd of life, ambition fet afide,
Not ftain'd with cruelty, nor puft with pride.
How happy had he been, it deftiny
Had higher plac'd his birth, or not fo high!
His kingly virtues might have claim'd a throne,
And bleit all other countries but his own.
But charming g: eatnefs fince fo few refufe,
'Tis jufter to lament him than accuse.
Strong were his hopes a rival to remove,
With blandifhments to gain the public love:
To head the faction while their zeal was hot,
And popularly profecute the plot.
To further this, Achitophe! unites
The malcontents of all the Ifraelites:
Whofe differing parties he could wifely join,
For feveral ends, to ferve the fame defign.
The beft, and of the princes fome were fuch,
Who thought the power of monarchy too much;
Miftaken men, and patriots in their hearts;
Not wicked, but feduc'd by impious arts.
By thefe the fprings of property were bent,
And wound fo high, they crack'd the government.
The next for intereft fought to embroil the ftate,
To fell their duty at a dearer rate;
And make their Jewish markets of the throne;
P etending public good to ferve their own.
Others thought kings an ufelefs heavy load,
Who coft too much, and did too little good.
Perhaps th old harp, on which he thrums his lays, Thefe were for laying honeft David by,
Or fome dull Hebrew ballad in your praife.
Then the next heir, a prince fevere and wife,
Already looks on you with 'ealous eyes;
Sees through the thin difguifes of your arts,
And marks your progrefs in the people's hearts;
Though now his mighty foul its grief contains:
He meditates revenge who least complains:
And like a lion, flum' ering in the way,
Or fleep diffembling, while he waits his prey,
His fearless foes with n his distance draws,
Conftrains his roaring, and contracts his paws;
Till at the laft his time for fury found,
He shoots with fudden vengeance from the ground:
On principles of pure good husbandry.
With them join'd all th' haranguers of the throng
That thought to get preferment by the tongue
Who follow next a double danger bring,
Not only hating David, but the king;
The Solymaan rout; well vers`d of old,
In godly faction, and in treafon bold;
Cowring and quaking at a conqueror's fword,
But lofty to a lawful prince reftor'd;
Saw with difdain an Ethnic plot begun,
And fcorn'd by Jebufites to be outdone.
Hot Levites headed thefe; who pull'd before
From th' ark, which in the judges days they bore,
Refum'd their cant, and with a zealous cry,
Purfued their old belov'd theocracy:
Where fanhedrim and priest enflav'd the nation,
And juftify'd their spoils by inspiration:
For who fo fit to reign as Aaron's race,
It once dominion they could found in grace?
Thefe led the pack; though not of fureft scent,
Yet deepeft-mouth'd against the government.
A numerous hoft of dreaming faints fucceed,
Of the true old enthufiaftic b eed:
'Carft form and order they their power employ,
Noting to build, ard all things to destroy.
Eur for more numerous was the herd of fuch,
Who think too little, and who tal too much,
Thefe out of mere inftinét, they knew not why,
Ador'd their fathers God and property;
And by the fame blind benefit of fate,
The devil and the Jebufite did bate:
Porn to be fav'd ev`n in their own defpite,
Fecause they could not help believing right.
Such were the tools: but a whole Hydra more
Remairs of fprouting heads too long to fore,
Some of their chiefs were princes of the land;
In the first rank of thefe did Zimri ftand:
A man fo various, that he feem'd to be
Not one, but all mankind's epitome:
Stiff in opinions, always in the wrong;
Was every thing by ftarts, and nothing long;
But, in the courfe of one revolving moon,
Was chemift, fidler, statesman, and buffoon:
Then all for women, painting, rhyming, drinking,
Eeldes ten thousand freaks that dy'd in thinking.
beft madman, who could every hour employ,
With fomething new to with, or to enjoy!
Railing and praifing were his ufual themes;
And both, to fhew his judgment, in extremes:
So over-violent, or over-civil,
That every man with him was God or Devil,
In fquandring wealth was his peculiar art:
Nothing went unrewarded but defert.
Beggar'd by fools, whom still he found too late;
He had his jeft, and they had his estate.
He laugh'd himfelt from court, then fought relief
By forming parties, but could re'er be chief:
For fpite of him the weight of business fell
On Abfalom, and wife Achitophel:
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 verfe.
Wits, warriors, commonwealths-men, were the beft:
Kind hufbards, and mere nobles, all the reft,
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 porrige for the pafchal lamb.
Let friendship's holy band fome names affure :
Some their own worth, and fome let fcorn fecure.
Nor fhall the rafcal rabble here have place,
Whom kings no title gave, and God no grace:
Not bull-fac'd Jonas, who could ftatutes draw
To mean rebellion, and make treason law.
But he, though bad, is follow'd by a worse,
The wretch who heaven's anointed dar'd to curfe;
Shimei, whofe youth did early promise bring
Of zeal to God, and hatred to his king;
Did wifely from expenfive fins refrain,
And never broke the fabbath but for gain:
VOL. III.
Nor ever was he known an oath to vent,
Or curfe 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 mafter, chofe him magiftrate.
His hand a vafe of juftice did uphold;
His neck was loaded with a chain of gold.
During his office treafon was no crime;
The fons of Belial had a glorious time:
For Shimei, though not prodigal of pelf,
Yet lov'd his wi, ked neighbour as himself.
When two or three were gather'd to deciaim
Against the monarch of Jerufalem,
Shimei was always in the midst of them:
And if they curs'd the king when he was by,
Would rather curfe than break good company.
if any durft his factious triends accuse,
He pack'd a jury of diffenting Jews;
Whofe fellow-feeling in the godly caufe
Would free the fuffering faint from human laws.
For laws are only made to punith those
Who ferve the king, and to protect his foes.
If any leifure time he had from power,
Becaufe 'tis fin to mifemploy an hour:
His bufinefs was, by writing to perfuade,
That kings were felefs and a clog to trade:
And that his noble style he might refine,
No Rechabite more fhunn'd the fumes of wine.
Chafte were his cellars, and his shrieval board
The groffnefs of a city feast abhorr'd:
His cooks with long difufe their trade forgot;
Cool was his kitchen, though his brains were hot.
Such frugal virtue malice may accufe;
But fure 'twas neceffary to the Jews:
For towns, once burnt, fuch magiftrates require
As dare not tempt God's providence by fire.
With fpiritual food he fed his servants well,
But free from fleth that made the Jews rebel:
And Mofes' laws he held in more account,
For forty days of fafting in the mount.
To speak the reft, who better are forgot,
Would tire a well-breath'd witnefs of the plot.
Yet, Corah, thou fhalt from oblivion pass;
Erect thyfelf, thou monumental brass,
High as the ferpent of thy metal made,
While nations stand secure beneath thy fhade.
What though his birth were bafe, yet comets rife
From earthly vapours ere they fhine in skies.
Prodigious actions may as well be done
By weaver's iffue, as by prince's fon.
This arch-atteftor for the public good
By that one deed ennobles all his blood.
Who ever afk'd the witnefs's high race,
Whofe oath with martyrdom did Stephen grace?
Ours 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 figns he neither choleric was, nor proud:
His long chin prov'd his wit; his faint-like grace
A church vermilion, and a Mofes' face.
His memory, miraculously great,
Could plots, exceeding man's belief, repeat;
Which therefore cannot be accounted lies,
For human wit could never fuch devife.
Some future truths are mingled in his book;
But where the witnefs fail'd, the prophet spoke :
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