At such profound expence he has not stood,
Nor dy'd for this his hands so deep in blood;
Would ne'er tho' wrong and right his progress take,
Grudge his own rest, and keep the world awake,
To fix a lawless Prince on Judah's throne,
First to invade our rights, and then his own:
His dear-gain'd conquests cheaply to despoil,
And reap the harvest of his crimes and toil.
We grant his wealth vast as our ocean's sand,
And curse its fatal influence on our land,
Which our brib'd Jews so num'rously partake,
That e'en an host his pensioners would make;
From these deceivers our divisions spring,
Our weakness, and the growth of Egypt's king;
These with pretended friendship to the state,
Our crowd's suspicion of their prince create,
Both pleas'd and frighten'd with the specious cry,
To guard their sacred rights and property:
To ruin thus the chosen flock are sold,
While wolves are ta'en for guardians of the fold;
Seduc'd by these we groundlessly complain,
And loath the manna of a gentle reign:
Thus our forefathers' crooked paths are trod,
We trust our prince no more than they their God.
But all in vain our reas'ning prophets preach
To those whom sad experience ne'er could teach,
Who can commence new broils in bleeding scars,
And fresh remembrance of intestine wars:
When the same household mortal foes did yield,
And brothers stain'd with brothers' blood the field;
When sons' curs'd steel the father's gore did stain,
And mothers mourn'd for sons by fathers slain!
When thick as Egypt's locusts on the sand,
Our tribes lay slaughter'd thro' the Promis'd land,
Whose few survivors with worse fate remain,
To drag the bondage of a tyrant's reign:
Which scenes of woes unknowing we renew,
And madly e'en those ills we fear pursue,
While Pharaoh laughs at our domestic broils,
And safely crowds his tents with nations' spoils;
Yet our fierce sanhedrim, in restless rage,
Against our absent hero still engage,
And chiefly urge, such did their phrenzy prove,
The only suit their prince forbids to move,
Which till obtain'd they cease affairs of state,
And real dangers wave for groundless hate.
Long David's patience waits relief to bring,
With all th' indulgence of a lawful king,
Expecting still the troubled waves would cease,
But found the raging billows still increase.
The crowd, whose insolence forbearance swells, 730
While he forgives too far, almost rebels:
At last his deep resentments silence broke,
Th' imperial palace shook, while thus he spoke.
Then Justice wake, and Rigour take her time,
For, lo! our mercy is become our crime.
While halting Punishment her stroke delays,
Our sov'reign right, Heav'n's sacred trust, decays!
For whose support e'n subjects' int'rest calls;
Woe to that kingdom where the monarch falls!
That priest who yields the least of regal sway,
So far his people's freedom does betray.
Right lives by law, and law subsists by pow'r;
Disarm the shepherd, wolves the flock devour.
Hard lot of empire o'er a stubborn race,
Which Heav'n itself in vain has try'd with grace!
When will our reason's long-charm'd eyes unclose,
And Isr'el judge between her friends and foes?
When shall we see expir'd deceiver's sway,
And credit what our God and monarchs say?
Dissembled patriots brib'd with Egypt's gold,
E'en sanhedrims in blind obedience hold;
Those patriots' falsehood in their actions see,
And judge by the pernicious fruit the tree;
If aught for which so loudly they declaim,
Religion, laws, and freedcm, were their aim;
Qur senates in due methods they had led,
T' avoid those mischiefs which they seem'd to dread;
But first ere yet they prop'd the sinking state,
T'impeach and charge, as urg'd by private hate,
Proves that they ne'er believ'd the fears they prest,
But barb'rously destroy'd the nation's rest!
O! whither will ungovern'd senates drive,
And to what bounds licenticus votes arrive,
When their injustice we are press'd to share,
The monarch urg'd t'exclude the lawful heir?
Are princes thus distinguish'd from the crowd,
And this the privilege of royal blood?
But grant we should confirm the wrongs they press,
His suff'rings yet were than the people's less;
Condemn'd for life the murd'ring sword to wield,
And on their heirs entail a bloody field:
Thus madly their own freedom they betray,
And for th' oppression which they fear make way;
Succession fix'd by Heav'n, the kingdom's bar,
Which, once dissolv'd, admits the flood of war;
Waste, rapine, spoil, without the assault begin,
And our mad tribes supplant the fence within.
Since then their good they will not understand,
'Tis time to take the monarch's power in hand,
Authority and force to join with skill,
And save the lunatics against their will.
The same rough means that 'swage the crowd appease
Our senate's, raging with the crowd's disease.
Henceforth unbias'd measures let them draw
From no false gloss, but genuine texts of law;
Nor urge those crimes upon religion's score,
Themselves so much in Jebusites abhor.
Whom laws convict, and only they, shall bleed,
Nor Pharisees by Pharisees be freed;
Impartial justice from our throne shall show'r,
All shall have right, and we our sov'reign pow'r.
Dryden.]
He said; th' attendants heard with awful joy,
And glad presages their fix'd thoughts employ.
From Hebron now the suff'ring heir return'd,
A realm that long with civil discord mourn'd,
Till his approach, like some arriving god,
Compos'd and heal'd the place of his abode,
The deluge check'd that to Judea spread,
And stop'd sedition at the fountain's head.
Thus in forgiving David's paths he drives,
And, chas'd from Isr'el, Isr'el's peace contrives:
The field confess'd his power in arms before,
And seas proclaim'd his triumphs to the shore;
As nobly has his sway in Hebron shown,
How fit t' inherit godlike David's throne.
Thro' Sion's streets his glad arrival's spread,
And conscious Faction shrink's her snaky head;
His train their suff'rings think o'erpaid, to see
The crowds applause with virtue once agree.
Success charms all, but zeal for worth distrest
A virtue proper to the brave and best;
'Mongst whom was Jothran, Jothran always bent
To serve the Crown, and loyal by descent,
Whose constancy so firm, and conduct just,
Deserv'd at once two royal masters' trust;
Who Tyre's proud arms had manfully withstood
On seas, and gather'd laurels from the flood;
Of learning yet no portion was deny'd,
Friend to the Muses, and the Muses' pride.
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