Or melt him to that Golden Calf, a State. But these were random Bolts: No form'd Design

Nor Interest made the Factious Croud to join:

The sober part of Israel, free from stain,
Well knew the value of a peaceful reign; 70
And, looking backward with a wise afright,
Saw Seams of wounds, dishonest to the
sight:

In contemplation of whose ugly Scars,
They curst the memory of Civil Wars.
The moderate sort of Men, thus qualifi'd,
Inclin'd the Ballance to the better side;
And David's mildness manag'd it so well,
The bad found no occasion to Rebel.
But, when to Sin our byast Nature leans,
The careful Devil is still at hand with means;
And providently Pimps for ill desires: 81
The Good Old Cause, reviv'd, a Plot requires,
Plots, true or false, are necessary things,
To raise up Common-wealths and ruin Kings.

Th' inhabitants of old Jerusalem, Were Jebusites; the Town so call'd from them;

And their's the Native right

But when the chosen People grew more strong,

The rightful cause at length became the

wrong;

And every loss the men of Jebus bore, 90 They still were thought God's enemies the

more.

Thus, worn and weaken'd, well or ill content,
Submit they must to David's Government:
Impoverish't and depriv'd of all Command,
Their Taxes doubled as they lost their Land;
And, what was harder yet to flesh and blood,
Their Gods disgrac'd, and burnt like common
Wood.

This set the Heathen Priesthood in a flame,
For Priests of all Religions are the same:
Of whatsoe'er descent their Godhead be, 100
Stock, Stone, or other homely Pedigree,
In his defence his Servants are as bold,
As if he had been born of beaten Gold.
The Jewish Rabbins, though their Enemies,
In this conclude them honest men and wise:
For 'twas their duty, all the Learned think,
T' espouse his Cause by whom they eat and
drink.

From hence began that Plot, the Nations
Curse,

Their busie Teachers mingled with the Jews And rak'd for Converts even 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 slay 130

By Guns, invented since full many a day: Our Author swears it not; but who can know

How far the Devil and Jebusites may go?
This Plot, which fail'd for want of common
Sense,

Had yet a deep and dangerous Consequence;
For as, when raging Fevers boil the Blood
The standing Lake soon floats into a Floud;
And ev'ry hostile Humour which before
Slept quiet in its Channels bubbles o're:
So, several Factions from this first Ferment
Work up to Foam, and threat the Govern-
141
Some by their Friends, more by themselves
thought wise,

ment.

Oppos'd the Pow'r to which they could not rise.

Some had in Courts been Great and, thrown from thence,

Like Fiends were hardened in Impenitence. Some, by their Monarch's fatal mercy grown, From Pardon'd Rebels, Kinsmen to the Throne

Were raised in Pow'r and Publick Office high;

Strong Bands, if Bands ungrateful men coud

tie.

Of these the false Achitophel was first, 150
A Name to all succeeding Ages curst.
For close Designs and crooked Counsels fit,
Sagacious, Bold, and Turbulent of wit,
Restless, unfixt in Principles and Place,
In Pow'r unpleased, impatient of Disgrace;
A fiery Soul, which working out its way,
Fretted the Pigmy Body to decay:
And o'r informed the Tenement of Clay.
A daring Pilot in extremity;
Pleas'd with the Danger, when the Waves
went high

160 He sought the Storms; but, for a Calm unfit,

Great Wits are sure to Madness near alli'd And thin Partitions do their Bounds divide; Else, why should he, with Wealth and Honour blest,

Refuse his Age the needful hours of Rest?
Punish a Body which he coud not please,
Bankrupt of Life, yet Prodigal of Ease?
And all to leave what with his Toil be won
To that unfeather'd two-legg'd thing, a
Son :
170

Got, while his Soul did huddled Notions trie;
And born a shapeless Lump, like Anarchy.
In Friendship false, implacable in Ilate,
Resolv'd to Ruine or to Rule the State;
To Compass this the Triple Bond he broke ;)
The Pillars of the Publick Safety shook,
And fitted Israel for a Foreign Yoke;
Then, seiz'd with Fear, yet still affecting
Fame,

Usurp'd a Patriot's All-attoning Name.
So casie still it proves in Factious Times 18
With publick Zeai to cancel private Crimes
How safe is Treason and how sacred ill,
Where none can sin against the Peoples Will,
Where Crouds can wink; and no offence be
known,

Since in anothers guilt they find their own.
Yet, Fame deserv'd, no Enemy can grudge;
The Statesman we abhor, but praise the
Judge.

In Israels courts ne'er sat an Abbelhdin * With more discerning Eyes or Hands more clean,

Unbrib'd, unsought, the Wretched to redress;

190

Swift of Dispatch and easie of Access.
Oh, had he been content to serve the Crown
With Vertues onely proper to the Gown,
Or had the rankness of the Soil been freed
From Cockle that opprest the Noble Seed,
David for him his tuneful Harp had strung,
And Heav'n had wanted one Immortal Song.
But wild Ambition loves to slide, not stand,
And Fortunes Ice prefers to Vertues Land.
Achitophel, grown weary to possess
A lawful Fame, and lazie Happiness,
Disdain'd the Golden Fruit to gather free
And lent the Crowd his Arm to shake the
Tree.

200

Wit.

152 Counsels] Counsel ed. 1.

154 Principles] Principle ed. 1.

He stood at bold Defiance with his Prince:

179 Usurp'd] Assum'd ed. 1. 180-91 Not in ed. 1.

And once in twenty Years, their Scribes record,

By natural Instinct they change their Lord.
Achitophel still wants a Chief, and none 220
Was found so fit as Warlike Absalon :
Not, that he wish'd his Greatness to create,
(For Polititians neither love nor hate :)
But, for he knew his Title not allow'd,
Would keep him still depending on the Croud,
That Kingly pow'r, thus ebbing out, might be
Drawn to the Dregs of a Democracie.
Him he attempts with studied Arts to please
And sheds his Venome in such words as
these.

Auspicious Prince! at whose Nativity 230 Some Royal Planet rul'd the Southern Sky; Thy longing Countries Darling and Desire, Their cloudy Pillar, and their guardian Fire, Their second Moses, whose extended Wand Divides the Seas and shows the promis'd Land,

Whose dawning Day, in every distant Age, Has exercised the Sacred Prophets rage, The Peoples Pray'r, the glad Diviners Theam,

The Young mens Vision and the Old mens Dream!

Thee, Saviour, Thee the Nations Vows confess; 240

And, never satisfi'd with seeing, bless: Swift, unbespoken Pomps, thy steps proclaim,

And stammering Babes are taught to lisp thy Name.

235 Divides] Shuts up ed. 1.

How long wilt thou the general Joy detain ; Starve, and defraud the People of thy Reign?

Content ingloriously to pass thy days,

Like one of Vertues Fools that Feeds on Praise ;

Till thy fresh Glories, which now shine so bright,

Grow Stale and Tarnish with our dayly sight. Believe me, Royal Youth, thy Fruit must be Or gather'd Ripe, or rot upon the Tree. 251 Heav'n has to all allotted, soon or late, Some lucky Revolution of their Fate: Whose Motions, if we watch and guide with Skill,

(For humane Good depends on humane Will,)

Our Fortune rolls as from a smooth Descent
And, from the first impression, takes the
Bent;

But, if unseiz'd, she glides away like wind;
And leaves repenting Folly far behind.
Now, now she meets you with a glorious
prize

260

And spreads her Locks before her as she flies.

Had thus Old David, from whose Loins you spring,

Not dar'd, when Fortune call'd him, to be
King,

At Gath an Exile he might still remain,
And Heavens Anointing Oil had been in vain.
Let his successful Youth your hopes engage,
But shun th' example of Declining Age.
Behold him setting in his Western Skies,
The Shadows lengthening as the Vapours

rise.

269

He is not now, as when, on Jordan's Sand, The Joyful People throng'd tosee him Land, Cov'ring the Beach and blackning 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 publick Scorn, (Our onely blessing since his curst Return,) Those heaps of People which one Sheaf did bind,

Blown off and scatter'd by a puff of Wind. What strength can he to your Designs oppose,

Naked of Friends, and round beset with Foes? 280