If those who gave the Scepter, coud not tie By their own Deed their own Posterity, 770 How then coud Adam bind his future Race? How coud his Forfeit on Mankind take place?

Or how coud heavenly Justice damn us all
Who ne'r consented to our Fathers Fall?
Then Kings are Slaves to those whom they
command,

And Tenants to their Peoples pleasure stand.
Add that the Pow'r, for Property allow'd,
Is mischievously seated in the Croud;
For who can be secure of private Right,
If Sovereign Sway may be dissolv'd by
Might?
780
Nor is the Peoples Judgment always true:
The Most may err as grosly as the Few.
And faultless Kings run down, by Common
Cry,

For Vice, Oppression, and for Tyranny.
What Standard is there in a fickle rout,
Which, flowing to the Mark, runs faster out?
Nor onely crouds, but Sanhedrins may be
Infected with this publick Lunacy :
And Share the madness of Rebellious Times,
To Murther Monarchs for Imagin'd crimes.
If they may Give and Take when e'r they
please,
791

Not Kings alone, (the Godheads Images,)
But Government it self at length must fall
To Natures state, where all have Right to
all.

Yet, grant our Lords the People, Kings can make,

What prudent men a setled Throne woud shake?

For whatsoe'r their Sufferings were before, That Change they Covet makes them suffer

At once Divine and Humane Laws controul, And mend the Parts by ruine of the Whole. The tamp'ring World is subject to this Curse, To Physick their Disease into a Worse. 810

Now what Relief can Righteous David bring?

How Fatal 'tis to be too good a King! Friends he has few, so high the madness grows;

Who dare be such, must be the People's Foes:

Yet some there were ev'n in the worst of days;

Some let me name, and Naming is to praise.

In this short File Barzillai first appears; | Barzillai crown'd with Ilonour and with Years:

Long since, the rising Rebels he withstood In Regions Waste, beyond the Jordans Flood: Unfortunately Brave to buoy the State; 821 But sinking underneath his Master's Fate: In Exile with his God-like Prince he Mourn'd, For him he Suffer'd, and with him Return'd. The Court he practis'd, not the Courtier's Art:

Large was his Wealth, but larger was his Heart:

Which, well the Noblest Objects knew to chuse,

The Fighting Warriour, and Recording Muse. His Bed coud once a Fruitful Issue boast: Now more than half a Father's Name is lost. His Eldest Hope, with every Grace adorn'd, By me (so Heav'n will have it) always Mourn'd

And always honour'd, snatch'd in manhoods prime

B' unequal Fates and Providences crime: Yet not before the Goal of Honour won, All Parts fulfill'd of Subject and of Son; Swift was the Race, but short the Time to

Oh Ancient Honour, Oh unconquered Hand, Whom Foes unpunish'd never coud withstand!

But Israel was unworthy of thy Name: Short is the date of all Immoderate Fame. It looks as Heav'n our Ruine had design'd, And durst not trust thy Fortune and thy Mind.

Now, free from Earth, thy disencumbred Soul 850 Mounts up, and leaves behind the Clouds and Starry Pole :

From thence thy kindred Legions maist thou bring,

To aid the Guardian Angel of thy King. Here stop my Muse, here cease thy painful flight;

No pinions can pursue Immortal height:
Tell good Barzillai thou canst sing no more,
And tell thy Soul she should have fled before;
Or fled she with his life, and left this Verse
To hang on her departed Patron's Herse?
Now take thy steepy flight from Heav'n,
and see
860

If thou canst find on Earth another He;
Another he would be too hard to find;
See then whom thou canst see not far be-
hind.

Zadock the priest, whom, shunning Pow'r and
Place,

His lowly mind advanc'd to David's Grace:
With him the Sagan of Jerusalem,
Of hospitable Soul and noble Stem ;
Him of the Western dome, whose weighty

sense

Flows in fit words and heavenly eloquence.
The Prophets Sons, by such Example led,
To Learning and to Loyalty were bred: 871
For Colleges on bounteous Kings depend,
And never Rebel was to Arts a Friend.
To these succeed the Pillars of the Laws,
Who best coud plead, and best can judge
a Cause.

Next them a train of Loyal Peers ascend:
Sharp judging Adriel, the Muses Friend,
Himself a Muse :-In Sanhedrins debate
True to his Prince, but not a Slave of State.
Whom David's love with Honours did adorn,
That from his disobedient Son were torn. 881

846 thy] Many editors give his Name] Birth ed. 1.

847 Fame] Worth ed. 1.

875 can] Many editors absurdly give could

Jotham of piercing Wit and pregnant Thought,

Endew'd by nature and by learning taught
To move Assemblies, who but onely tri'd
The worse a while, then chose the better
side;

Nor chose alone, but turned the Balance too;
So much the weight of one brave man can do.
Hushai the friend of David in distress,
In publick storms of manly stedfastness; 889
By Foreign Treaties he inform'd his Youth;
And join'd Experience to his Native Truth.
His frugal care suppli'd the wanting Throne ;
Frugal for that, but bounteous of his own:
'Tis easie Conduct when Exchequers flow;
But hard the task to manage well the low:
For Sovereign Power is too deprest or high,
When Kings are forced to sell, or Crouds to
buy.

Indulge one labour more, my weary Muse,
For Amiel; who can Amiel's praise refuse
Of ancient race by birth, but nobler yet 900
In his own worth, and without Title great :
The Sanhedrin long time as Chief he rul'd,
Their Reason guided, and their Passion
cool d:

So dextrous was he in the Crown's defence,
So form'd to speak a Loyal Nations Sense,
That, as their Band was Israels Tribes in
small,

So fit was he to represent them all.
Now rasher Charioteers the Seat ascend,
Whose loose Carriers his steady Skill com-
mend:

They, like th' unequal Ruler of the Day, 910
Misguide the Seasons, and mistake the Way;
While he withdrawn at their mad Labour
smiles

And safe enjoys the Sabbath of his Toils.

These were the chief; a small but faithful Band

Of Worthies in the Breach whodar'd tostand
And tempt th' united Fury of the Land.
With grief they view'd such powerful Engines
bent

To batter down the lawful Government.
A numerous Faction with pretended (rights,
In Sanhedrins to plume the Regal Rights. 920
The true Successor from the Court removed:
The plot, by hireling Witnesses improv'd.

88 piercing] ready ed. 1.

Thus long have I by Native Mercy sway'd, My Wrongs dissembl'd, my Revenge delay'd; So willing to forgive th' Offending Age; 941 So much the Father did the King asswage. But now so far my Clemency they slight, Th' Offenders question 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, Though Manly tempers can the longest bear. Yet since they will divert my Native course, 'Tis time to show I am not Good by Force. Those heap'd Affronts that haughty Subjects bring, 951

Are burdens for a Camel, not a King:
Kings are the publick Pillars of the State,
Born to sustain and prop the Nations weight:
If my young Sampson will pretend a Call
To shake the Column, let him share the Fall :
But oh that yet he woud repent and live!
How easie 'tis for Parents to forgive!
With how few Tears a Pardon might be won
From Nature, pleading for a Darling Son!
Poor pitied youth, by my Paternal care, 961
Rais'd up to all the Height his Frame coud
bear:

Had God ordain'd his Fate for Empire born,
He woud have giv'n his Soul another turn:

957-60 Not in ed. 1.

Gull'd with a Patriot's name, whose Modern

sense

Is one that woud by Law supplant his Prince:

The Peoples Brave, the Politicians Tool Never was Patriot yet, but was a Fool. Whence comes it that Religion and the Laws Should more be Absalom's than David's Cause ? 970

His old Instructor, e'r he lost his Place, Was never thought indu'd with so much Grace.

Good heav'ns, how Faction can a Patriot
Paint!

My Rebel ever proves my Peoples Saint:
Woud They impose an Heir upon the Throne?
Let Sanhedrins be taught to give their Own.
A king's at least a part of Government;
And mine as requisite as their Consent:
Without my leave a future King to choose,
Infers a Right the present to Depose: 980!
True, they petition me t' approve their

Choice:

But Esau's Hands suit ill with Jacob's Voice. My Pious Subjects for my Safety pray, Which to Secure, they take my Pow'r away. From Plots and Treasons Heav'n preserve iny Years,

But save me most from my Petitioners. Unsatiate as the barren Womb or Grave; God cannot Grant so much as they can Crave. What then is left but with a Jealous Eye To guard the Small remains of Royalty? 990 The Law shall still direct my peaceful Sway, And the same Law teach Rebels to obey : Votes shall no more Established Pow'r controul,

Such Votes as make a Part exceed the Whole: No groundless Clamours shall my Friends

How ill my Fear they by my Mercy scan,
Beware the Fury of a Patient Man.
Law they require, let Law then shew her
Face;

They could not be content to look on
Grace,
1007
Her hinder parts, but with a daring Eye
To tempt the terror of her Front, and Die.
By their own Arts 'tis Righteously decreed,
Those dire Artificers of Death shall bleed.
Against themselves their Witnesses will
Swear,

Till, Viper-like, their Mother Plot they tear,
And suck for Nutriment that bloudy gore
Which was their Principle of Life before.
Their Belial with their Belzebub will fight;
Thus on my Foes, my Foes shall do me Right.

1007 Grace,] Some editors omit the comma and thereby destroy the sense.