Whose forward fame should ev'ry muse engage, 660
Whose youth boasts skill deny'd to other's age:
Men, manners, language, books of noblest kind,
Already are the conquest of his mind:

Whose loyalty before its date was prime,
Nor waited the dull course of rolling time;
The monster Faction early he dismay'd,
And David's cause long since confess'd his aid.
Brave Abdaal o'er the prophet's school was plac'd,
Abdaal, with all his father's virtue grac'd;
A hero who, while stars look'd wond'ring down,
Without one Hebrew's blood restor❜d the crown.
That praise was his; what therefore did remain
For foll'wing chiefs, but boldly to maintain
That crown restor'd; and in this rank of fame,
Brave Abdaal with the first a place must claim.
Proceed, illustrious, happy Chief, proceed,
Foreseize the garlands for thy brow decreed,
While th' inspir'd tribe attend with noblest train
To register the glories thou shalt gain ;
For sure the dew shall Gilboah's hills forsake,
And Jordan mix his stream with Sodom's lake,
Or seas retir'd their secret stores disclose,
And to the son their scaly brood expose,
Or swell'd above the cliffs their billows raise,
Before the Muses leave their patron's praise.

Eliab our next labour does invite,

And hard the task to do Eliab right:

980

Long with the Royal wanderer he rov'd,
And firm in all the turns of fortune prov'd,
Such ancient service, and desert so large,
Well claim'd the royal household for his charge.
His age with only one mild heiress blest,
In all the bloom of smiling Nature drest,
And blest again to see his flow'r ally'd

999

To David's stock, and made young Othniel's bride!
The bright restorer of his father's youth,
Devoted to a son's and subject's truth;
Resolv'd to bear that prize of duty home,
So bravely sought while sought by Absalom.
A prince! the illustrious planet of thy birth,
And thy more pow'rful virtue guard thy worth,
That no Achithophel thy ruin boast;
Isr'el too much in one such wreck has lost.

E'en envy must consent to Helon's worth,
Whose soul, though Egypt glories in its birth,
Could for our captive ark its zeal retain,
And Pharaoh's altars in their pomp disdain:
To slight his gods was small; with nobler pride
He all th' allurements of his court defy'd;
Whom profit nor example could betray,
But Isr'el's friend, and true to David's sway:
What acts of favour in his province fall,
On merit he confers, and freely all.

1000

Our list of nobles next let Amri grace,
Whose merits claim'd the Abethdins' high place;

1010

Who with a loyalty that did excel,

1020

1030

Brought all the endowments of Achithophel. Sincere was Amri, and not only knew, But Isr'el's sanctions into practice drew; Our laws, that did a boundless ocean seem, Were coasted all, and fathom'd all by him: No Rabbin speaks like him their mystic sense So just, and with such charms of eloquence; To whom the double blessing does belong, With Moses' inspiration, Aaron's tongue. Than Sheva none more loyal zeal have shown, Wakeful as Judah's Lion for the Crown; Who for that cause still combats in his age, For which his youth with danger did engage. In vain our factious priests the cant revive, In vain seditious scribes with libel strive T'enflame the crowd, while he, with watchful eye, Observes, and shoots their treasons as they fly; Their weekly frauds his keen replies detect; He undeceives more fast than they infect. So Moses, when the pest on legends prey'd, Advanc'd his signal, and the plague was stay'd. Once more, my fainting Muse, thy pinions try, And strength's exhausted store let love supply. What tribute, Asaph, shall we render thee? We'll crown thee with a wreath from thy own tree! Thy laurel grove no envy's flash can blast; The song of Asaph shall for ever last.

1040

With wonder late posterity shall dwell

On Absalom and false Achithophel;

Thy strains shall be our slumb'ring prophets' dream,
And when our Sion virgins sing their theme,
Our jubilees shall with thy verse be grac'd;
The song of Asaph shall for ever last.

How fierce his satire loos'd! restrain'd, how tame!
How tender of th' offending young man's fame! 1051
How well his worth and brave adventures stil'd,
Just to his virtues, to his error mild.

No page of thine that fears the strictest view,
But teems with just reproof, or praise as due;
Not Eden could a fairer prospect yield,
All Paradise without one barren field;
Whose wit the censure of his foes has past;
The song of Asaph shall for ever last.

What praise for such rich strains shall we allow ?
What just rewards the grateful Crown bestow? 16
While bees in flow'rs rejoice, and flow'rs in dew,
While stars and fountains to their course are true;
While Judah's throne and Sion's rock stand fast,
The song of Asaph, and the fame, shall last.
Still Hebron's honour'd, happy soil, retains
Our Royal Hero's beauteous dear remains,
Who now sails off with winds nor wishes slack,
To bring his suff'rings' bright companion back;
But e'er such transport can our sense employ,
A bitter grief must poison half our joy;

Volume II.

H

10,0

Nor can our coasts restor❜d those blessings see,
Without a bribe to envious Destiny!

Curs'd Sodom's doom for ever fix the tide
Where, by inglorious Chance, the valiant dy'd,¡
Give not insulting Askalon to know,

Nor let Gath's daughters triumph in our woe!
No sailor with the news swell Egypt's pride,
By what inglorious fate our valiant dy'd!
Weep, Arnon! Jordan, weep thy fountains dry, 1080
While Zion's rock dissolves for a supply.

Calm were th' elements, Night's silence deep, The waves scarce murm'ring, and the winds asleep; Yet Fate for ruin takes so still an hour,

And treach'rous sands the princely bark deyour;
Then Death unworthy seiz'd a gen'rous race,
To virtue's scandal, and the star's disgrace!
Oh! had th' indulgent pow'rs vouchsaf'd to yield,
Instead of faithless shelves, à listed field,

A listed field of Heav'n's and David's foes,
Fierce as the troops that did his youth oppose,
Each life had on his slaughter'd heap retir'd,
Not tamely, and unconqu❜ring, thus expir'd;
But Destiny is now their only foe,

And dying, e'en o'er that they triumph too;

With loud last breaths their master's 'scape applaud,
Of whom kind Force could scarce the Fates defraud;
Who for such foll'wers lost, O matchless mind!
At his own safety now almost repin'd!