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PART II.*

---Si quis tamen haec quoque, Si quis captus amore leget.

SINCE

INCE men like beasts each other's prey were made, Since trade began, and priesthood grew a trade,

Since realms were form'd, none sure so curst as those
That madly their own happiness oppose;

There Heav'n itself, and god-like kings, in vain
Show'r down the manna of a gentle reign,
While pamper'd crowds to mad sedition run,
And monarchs by indulgence are undone :
Thus David's clemency was fatal grown,
While wealthy Faction aw'd the wanting Throne. ro
For now their sov'reign's orders to contemn
Was held the charter of Jerusalem;

In the year 1680 Mr. Dryden undertook the Poem of Absalom and Achithophel, upon the desire of King Charles II. The performance was applauded by every one; and several persons pressing him to write a second Part, he, upon declining it himself, spoke to Mr. Tate to write one, and gave his advice in the direction of it; and that part, beginning p. 62, 1. 21.

Next these a troop of busy spirits press,"

and ending p. 69, 1. 26.

"To talk like Doeg, and to write like thee." containing near two hundred verses, were entirely Mr. Dryden's composition, besides some touches in other places. The preceding lines, upwards of 300 in number, were wrote by Mr. Tate. The Poem is here printed entire.

His rights t' invade, his tributes to refuse,
A privilege peculiar to the Jews;
As if from Heav'nly call this licence fell,
And Jacob's seed were chosen to rebel!

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Achithophel with triumph sees his crimes
Thus suited to the madness of the times;
And Absalom, to make his hopes succeed,
Of flattering charms no longer stands in need;
While fond of change, tho' ne'er so dearly bought,
Our tribes outstrip the youth's ambitious thought:
His swiftest hopes with swifter homage meet,
And crowd their servile necks beneath his feet.
Thus to his aid, while pressing tides repair,
He mounts and spreads his streamers in the air.
The charms of empire might his youth mislead,
But what can our besotted Is'rel plead?
Sway'd by a monarch whose serene command
Seems half the blessing of our Promis'd land;
Whose only grievance is excess of ease,
Freedom our pain, and plenty our disease!
Yet as all folly would lay claim to sense,
And wickedness ne'er wanted a pretence,
With arguments they'd make their treason good,
And righteous David's self with slanders load:
That arts of foreign sway he did affect,

And guilty Jebusites from law protect,
Whose very chiefs, convict, were never freed,
Nay we have seen their sacrifices bleed!

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40

Accusers' infamy is urg'd in vain,

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While in the bounds of sense they did contain,
But soon they launch'd into th' unfathom'd tide,
And in the depths they knew disdain'd to ride:
For probable discov'ries to dispense,
Was thought below a pension'd evidence;
Mere truth was dull, nor suited with the port
Of pamper'd Corah when advanc'd to court.
No less than wonders now they will impose,
And projects void of grace or sense disclose.
Such was the change on pious Michal brought
Michal, that ne'er was cruel e'en in thought,
The best of queens, and most obedient wife,
Impeach'd of curs'd designs on David's life!
His life, the theme of her eternal pray❜r.
'Tis scarce so much his guardian angel's care.
Not summer morns such mildness can disclose,
The Hermon lily, nor the Sharon rose.
Neglecting each vain pomp of majesty,
Transported Michal feeds her thoughts on high;
She lives with angels, and, as angels do,
Quits heav'n sometimes to bless the world below;
Where, cherish'd by her bounty's plenteous spring,
Reviving widows smile, and orphans sing.
Oh! when rebellious Is'rel's crimes at height,
Are threaten'd with her Lord's approaching fate,
The pieties of Michal then remain

In Heav'n's remembrance, and prolong his reign.
Volume 11.

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60

Less desolation did the pest pursue,
That from Dan's limits to Beersheba slew;
Less fatal the repeated wars of Tyre,
And less Jerusalem's avenging fire:
With gentler terror these our state o'er-ran,
Than since our Evidencing days began!
On ev'ry cheek a pale confusion sate,
Continu'd fear beyond the worst of fate!
Trust was no more, art, science, useless made,
All occupations lost but Corah's trade.
Mean while a guard on modest Corah wait,

If not for safety, needful yet for state.

Well might he deem each peer and prince his slave,
And lord it o'er the tribes which he could save:
E'en vice in him was virtue---what sad fate,
But for his honesty, had seiz'd our state?
And with what tyranny had we been curst,
Had Corah never prov'd a villain first?

T' have told his knowledge of th' intrigue in gross
Had been, alas! to our deponent's loss:
The travell'd Levite had th' experience got

To husband well, and make the best of's plot;
And therefore, like an evidence of skill,
With wise reserves secur'd his passion still :
Nor quite of future pow'r himself bereft,
But limboes large for unbelievers left.
And now his writ such reverence had got,
'Twas worse than plotting to suspect his plot.

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99

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Some were so well convinc'd, they made no doubt
Themselves to help the founder'd swearers out;
Some had their sense impos'd on by their fear,
But more for int'rest's sake believe and swear:
E'en to that height with some the frenzy grew,
They rag'd to find their danger not prove true.

Yet than all these a viler crew remain,
Who with Achithophel the cry maintain;
Not urg'd by fear, nor thro' misguided sense;
Blind zeal and starving need had some pretence;
But for the good old cause that did excite

Th' orig'nal rebels' wiles, revenge and spite.
These raise the plot to have the scandal thrown
Upon the bright successor of the crown,
Whose virtue with such wrongs they had pursu'd,
As seem'd all hope of pardon to exclude.
Thus, while on private ends their zeal is built,
The cheated crowd applaud and share their guilt.
Such practices as these, too gross to lie
Long unobserv'd by each discerning eye,
The more judicious Isr'elites unspell'd,
Tho' still the charm the giddy rabble held:
E'en Absalom, amidst the dazzling beams
Of empire, and ambition's flatt'ring dreams,
Perceives the plot too foul to be excus'd,
To aid designs no less pernicious us'd;
And, filial sense, yet striving in his breast,
Thus to Achithophel his doubts exprest.
Dryden.]

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