and ending with

SINCE 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 cursed as
those

That madly their own happiness oppose;
There Heaven itself and god-like kings in vain
Shower 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 awed the wanting throne.
For now their sovereign's orders to contemn
Was held the charter of Jerusalem;
His rights to invade, his tributes to refuse,
A privilege peculiar to the Jews;

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11

This second part was written by Mr. Nahum Tate, and is by no means equal to the first, though Dryden corrected it throughout, and added above two hundred lines, very easily distinguishable from the lame numbers of Tate. The characters introduced are fewer and of less importance, and require not so much illustration. Few authors have been friends, and wrote in conjunction; but Mr. Dryden did so with Lee and D'Avenant; Colman with Thornton and Garrick; Gray with West; Lloyd with Churchill; and Boileau with Racine. Dr. J. WARTON.

Ver. 9. Thus David's clemency was fatal grown,] In the first edition we find:

Thus David's goodness was e'en fatal grown.

DERRICK

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 Israel plead?
Sway'd by a monarch, whose serene command
Seems half the blessing of our promised 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,

25

Ver. 20. Of flattering charms] First edition: flatterie's. Ver. 33. Yet as all folly] First edition: Yet since all folly.

With arguments they'd make their treason good,
And righteous David's self with slanders load: 36
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 sacrificers bleed!
Accusers' infamy is urged in vain,

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50

While in the bounds of sense they did contain;
But soon they launch'd into the unfathom'd tide,
And in the depths they knew disdain'd to ride.
For probable discoveries to dispense,
Was thought below a pension'd evidence;
Mere truth was dull, nor suited with the port
Of pamper'd Corah when advanced to court.
No less than wonders now they will impose,
And projects void of grace or sense disclose.
Such was the charge on pious Michal brought,
Michal that ne'er was cruel even in thought,
The best of queens, and most obedient wife,
Impeach'd of cursed designs on David's life!
His life, the theme of her eternal prayer,
'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. 60
She lives with angels, and, as angels do,

55

Quits heaven sometimes to bless the world below; Where, cherish'd by her bounties' plenteous spring,

Reviving widows smile, and orphans sing.

Oh! when rebellious Israel's crimes at height 65 Are threaten'd with her lord's approaching fate, The piety of Michal then remain

70

In Heaven's remembrance, and prolong his reign!
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 every cheek a pale confusion sat,
Continued fear beyond the worst of fate!
Trust was no more; art, science, useless made;

All occupations lost but Corah's trade.

Meanwhile a guard on modest Corah wait, If not for safety, needful yet for state.

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95

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104

With wise reserves secured his pension still;
Nor quite of future power himself bereft,
But limbos large for unbelievers left.
And now his writ such reverence had got,
'Twas worse than plotting to suspect his plot.
Some were so well convinced, they made no doubt
Themselves to help the founder'd swearers out.
Some had their sense imposed on by their fear,
But more for interest sake believe and swear:
Even to that height with some the frenzy grew,
They raged to find their danger not prove true.
Yet, than all these a viler crew remain,
Who with Achitophel the cry maintain;
Not urged by fear, nor through misguided sense,
Blind zeal and starving need had some pretence,
But for the good old cause, that did excite
The original 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 pursued,
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 unobserved by each discerning eye,
The more judicious Israelites unspell'd,
Though still the charm the giddy rabble held.
Even Absalom, amidst the dazzling beams
Of empire, and ambition's flattering dreams,
Perceives the plot, too foul to be excused,
To aid designs, no less pernicious, used.
And, filial sense yet striving in his breast,
Thus to Achitophel his doubts expressed :-

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120

Ver.51. Such was the charge on pious Michal brought,] First edition. Derrick incorrectly has change.

Ver. 53. The best of queens,] Of all the nations in Europe, the Portuguese were, and still are, the most ignorant and most bigotted. Of all persons that could be imagined, Catharine of Portugal was the most improper wife for a gay and spirited prince. At her very first appearance at court, she retained and showed a strong tincture of the convent. She even rejected the English dress, and the usual attendance of the English ladies, and was only fond of her stiff, reserved, and formal duennas, who were the scorn and the jest of the whole court. When she was married at Winchester, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, she would not repeat after him the words of the matrimonial service, nor endure the sight of the archbishop. She proved, says Burnet, a barren wife, and was a woman of a mean appearance, and of no agreeable temper; so that the king never considered her much, and she made ever after but a very mean figure. I cannot forbear adding, that Charles II. bad the merit of not listening to some proposals basely made to him, either of a divorce, or of sending her away to Another country. Dr. J. WARTON.

When I myself have scarce my own consent? 130
Give me a son's unblemish'd truth again,
Or quench the sparks of duty that remain.
How slight to force a throne that legions guard
The task to me; to prove unjust, how hard! 134
And if the imagined guilt thus wound my thought,
What will it when the tragic scene is wrought?
Dire war must first be conjured from below,
The realm we'd rule we first must overthrow;

Ver. 96. 'Twas worse than plotting to suspect his plot.] The tide of prejudice ran so strongly in favour of Oates and the other witnesses, after the death of Sir Godfrey, that to speak slightingly of them, or their deposition, was as much as a man's life was worth; and even the king himself, who saw the trick from the beginning, did not dare to speak his sentiments freely. He did his utmost to keep as private as possible such discoveries of the supposed plot as were communicated to him, the intention of which his perspicuity soon canvassed; and he was very angry when Lord Danby, without his leave, laid them before the parliament: "Now," said he, "you have laid the foundation of your own ruin, and of much perplexity for me." The sequel proved his majesty a prophet. DERRICK.

And, when the civil furies are on wing
That blind and undistinguish'd slaughters fling, 140
Who knows what impious chance may reach the
king?

Oh! rather let me perish in the strife,
Than have my crown the price of David's life!
Or if the tempest of the war he stand,
In peace, some vile officious villain's hand
His soul's anointed temple may invade,

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155

Or, press'd by clamorous crowds, myself be made
His murtherer; rebellious crowds, whose guilt
Shall dread his vengeance till his blood be spilt;
Which if my filial tenderness oppose,
Since to the empire by their arms I rose,
Those very arms on me shall be employ'd,
A new usurper crown'd, and I destroy'd:
The same pretence of public good will hold,
And new Achitophels be found as bold
To urge the needful change, perhaps the old.
He said. The statesman with a smile replies,
A smile that did his rising spleen disguise
My thoughts presumed our labours at an end,
And are we still with conscience to contend? 160
Whose want in kings as needful is allow'd,
As 'tis for them to find it in the crowd.
Far in the doubtful passage you are gone,
And only can be safe by pressing on.
The crown's true heir, a prince severe and wise, 165
Has view'd your motions long with jealous eyes:
Your person's charms, your more prevailing arts,
And mark'd your progress in the people's hearts,
Whose patience is the effect of stinted power,
But treasures vengeance for the fatal hour:
And if remote the peril he can bring,
Your present danger's greater from the king.
Let not a parent's name deceive your sense,
Nor trust the father in a jealous prince!
Your trivial faults if he could so resent,
To doom you little less than banishment,
What rage must your presumption since inspire?
Against his orders you return from Tyre;
Nor only so, but with a pomp more high,
And open court of popularity,

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175

180

205

210

214

I not dispute, the royal youth replies, The known perfection of your policies; Nor in Achitophel yet grudge or blame The privilege that statesmen ever claim; Who private interest never yet pursued, But still pretended 'twas for others' good. What politician yet e'er 'scaped his fate, Who saving his own neck not saved the state? From hence, on every humorous wind that veer'd, With shifted sails a several course you steer'd. What form of sway did David e'er pursue, That seem'd like absolute, but sprung from you? Who at your instance quash'd each penal law, That kept dissenting factious Jews in awe; And who suspends fix'd laws, may abrogate; That done, form new, and so enslave the state. Even property, whose champion now you stand, And seem for this the idol of the land, Did ne'er sustain such violence before, As when your counsel shut the royal store; Advice, that ruin to whole tribes procured, But secret kept till your own banks secured. Recount with this the triple covenant broke, And Israel fitted for a foreign yoke; Nor here your counsels' fatal progress staid, But sent our levied powers to Pharaoh's aid. Hence Tyre and Israel, low in ruins laid, And Egypt, once their scorn, their common terror made.

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225

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235

Even yet of such a season can we dream,
When royal rights you made your darling theme;
For power unlimited could reasons draw,
And place prerogative above the law;
Which, on your fall from office, grew unjust,
The laws made king, the king a slave in trust:
Whom with state-craft, to interest only true,
You now accuse of ills contrived by you.

To this Hell's agent-Royal youth, fix here; **
Let interest be the star by which I steer.
Hence to repose your trust in me was wise,
Whose interest most in your advancement lies,
A tie so firm as always will avail,
When friendship, nature, and religion fail;
On ours the safety of the crowd depends,
Secure the crowd, and we obtain our ends,
Whom I will cause so far our guilt to share,
Till they are made our champions by their fear.

245

Ver. 214. What form of sway did David e'er pursue,] So the first edition. Derrick absurdly has,

What from a sway, &c.

Ver. 216. Who at your instance quash'd each penal law,] Suspending the penal laws, and granting liberty of conscience, was owing to the advice of our Achitophel; and was an affair of dangerous tendency, as being one great step towards enslaving the state. DERRICK.

Ver.223. shut the royal store;] Or the exchequer, in the beginning of 1672, he being in great want of money; a transaction that occasioned much confusion, for there being thereby a stagnation of all public payments, the banks also stopped; but the king having assured the bankers and merchants that the present deficiencies should be soon made good, matters flowed again in their proper channel, though it was a stretch of power not easily forgotten or digested. DERRICK.

Ver. 232. Even yet of such a season can we dream,] First edition: Ev'n yet of such a season we can dream.

Ver. 241. Let interest be the star by which I steer.] 80 the first edition. A reading evidently required by the context. Compare ver. 238 and 243. Derrick has,

Let interest be the star by which you steer

250

255

What opposition can your rival bring,
While Sanhedrims are jealous of the king?
His strength as yet in David's friendship lies,
And what can David's self without supplies?
Who with exclusive bills must now dispense,
Debar the heir, or starve in his defence;
Conditions which our elders ne'er will quit,
And David's justice never can admit.
Or forced by wants his brother to betray,
To your ambition next he clears the way;
For if succession once to nought they bring,
Their next advance removes the present king:
Persisting else his senates to dissolve,
In equal hazard shall his reign involve.
Our tribes, whom Pharaoh's power so much
alarms,

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266

270

Shall rise without their prince to oppose his arms;
Nor boots it on what cause at first they join,
Their troops, once up, are tools for our design.
At least such subtle covenants shall be made,
Till peace itself is war in masquerade.
Associations of mysterious sense,
Against, but seeming for, the king's defence:
Even on their courts of justice fetters draw,
And from our agents muzzle up their law.
By which a conquest, if we fail to make,
'Tis a drawn game at worst, and we secure our
stake.

275

He said, and for the dire success depends
On various sects, by common guilt made friends.
Whose heads, though ne'er so differing in their
creed,

I the point of treason yet were well agreed.
'Mongst these, extorting Ishban first appears,
Pursued by a meagre troop of bankrupt heirs.
Blest times, when Ishban, he whose occupation
So long has been to cheat, reforms the nation!
Ishban of conscience suited to his trade,
As good a saint as usurer ever made.
Yet Mammon has not so engross'd him quite,
But Belial lays as large a claim of spite;

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290

Who, for those pardons from his prince he draws,
Returns reproaches, and cries up the cause.
That year in which the city he did sway,
He left rebellion in a hopeful way.

Yet his ambition once was found so bold, To offer talents of extorted gold;

Ver.280.

extorting Ishban first appears, Pursued by a meagre troop of bankrupt heirs.] Sir Robert Clayton, an alderman of the city, and one of its members, who remarkably opposed the court. Though he was very avaricious, he had offered a large sum to be made a peer; and those who consider the king's wants will believe with me, he was sorry the alderman's money was not tangible. DERRICK.

Ver. 298. railing Rabsheka] Sir Thomas Player, one of the city representatives in Parliament; a factious blundering malecontent; one of the chief supporters of the Whigs in the city; declared enemy of the Duke of York, and strongly for the bill of exclusion. When he was rechosen in 1680-1, together with Sir Robert Clayton, Thomas Pilkington, and William Love, esqrs., many of the Whig citizens, in common hall assembled, drew up and presented to him and them an extraordinary paper, "giving them thanks for their former good services, more especially for their zeal in promoting the bill for excluding the Duke of

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300

305

A saint that can both flesh and spirit use,
Alike haunt conventicles and the stews :
Of whom the question difficult appears,
If most i' the preachers' or the bawds' arrears.
What caution could appear too much in him
That keeps the treasure of Jerusalem!
Let David's brother but approach the town,
Double our guards, he cries, we are undone.
Protesting that he dares not sleep in 's bed,
Lest he should rise next morn without his head.
Next these, a troop of busy spirits press, 31.
Of little fortunes, and of conscience less;
With them the tribe, whose luxury had drain'd
Their banks, in former sequestrations gain'd;
Who rich and great by past rebellions grew,
And long to fish the troubled streams anew.
Some future hopes, some present payment draws,
To sell their conscience and espouse the cause.
Such stipends those vile hirelings best befit,
Priests without grace, and poets without wit.
Shall that false Hebronite escape our curse,
Judas, that keeps the rebels' pension-purse;

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320

York from the succession, and recommending that they would still literally pursue the same measures, and grant no supplies to the crown, till they saw themselves effectually secured from Popery and arbitrary power." And in pursuit of these measures, the subscribing persons promised to stand by them with their lives and fortunes.

Indeed, addresses of the same nature were forwarded to their representatives from many other parts of the kingdom, which gave great uneasiness to the court, and occasioned these lines, put into Achitophel's mouth, line 253:

what can David's self without supplies? Who with exclusive bills must now dispense, Debar the heir, or starve in his defence. DERRICK. Ver. 301. conventicles) He accents the word again on the third syllable, in the Medal, line 285. Thus, in a Collection of Loyal Songs, written between 1639 and 1661, vol. ii. p. 16.

"But all the parish see it plain,

Since thou art in this pickle,
Thou art an Independent quean,
And lov'st a conventícle." Todd.

Ver. 310. Next these] This was not the only poem written on the political transactions of those times. Duke wrote one also, entitled The Review, the best and most vigorous, perhaps, of his compositions. He begins with the Restoration, and passes on through great part of Charles II.'s reign, but left it unfinished. The characters of Shaftesbury and Villiers are particularly laboured, but very inferior to those given by Dryden.-He is particularly, and I think blameably, severe on Lord Clarendon, whom he calls Byrsa, accusing him of taking bribes to procure the pardon of many notorious rebels, and of being privy to, and promoting the marriage of his daughter with the Duke of York, which the chancellor always denied in the most solemn and most unequivocal terms. Dr. J. WARTON. Ver. 315. And long to fish the troubled streams anew.] First edition: troubled waves.

Ver. 320. Shall that false Hebronite escape our curse,] Robert Ferguson, a Scotch Independent preacher, subtle, plausible, bold, and daring, had for many years preached and writ against the government with great animosity; had weight among the Whigs in the city, and was a very proper instrument to stir up sedition. Shaftesbury knew his excellencies, made use of them by confiding in him, and he contributed much to the success of his designs.

Ferguson was one of the main springs that animated the Rye-house plot, for which he was outlawed both in England and France, a reward of five hundred pistoles being offered for taking him. He had openly approved of the conspirators' intention to murder the king and his brother; and a day being appointed for that parricide, which some of the assassins objected to as being Sunday, he told them, "The sanctity of the deed fitted the sanctity of the day." He was described thus remarkably:-"A tall thin man, dark brown hair, a great Roman nose, thin jawed, heat in his face, speaks in the Scotch tone, a sharp piercing eye, stoops a little in the shoulders, hath a shuffling gait that differs

325

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Judas, that pays the treason-writer's fee,
Judas, that well deserves his namesake's tree;
Who at Jerusalem's own gates erects
His college for a nursery of sects;
Young prophets with an early care secures,
And with the dung of his own arts manures?
What have the men of Hebron here to do?
What part in Israel's promised land have you?
Here Phaleg, the lay Hebronite, is come,
'Cause, like the rest, he could not live at home;
Who from his own possessions could not drain
An omer even of Hebronitish grain;
Here struts it like a patriot, and talks high
Of injured subjects, alter'd property:
An emblem of that buzzing insect just,
That mounts the wheel, and thinks she raises dust.
Can dry bones live? or skeletons produce
The vital warmth of cuckoldising juice?
Slim Phaleg could, and, at the table fed,
Return'd the grateful product to the bed.
A waiting-man to travelling nobles chose,
He his own laws would saucily impose,
Till bastinado'd back again he went,

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340

from all men, wears his perriwig down almost over his eyes, and about forty-five years of age." He escaped to Holland, returned with Monmouth in 1685, had the good luck again to secure his retreat, and was rewarded with a good post on the Revolution; but being of a turbulent uneasy disposition, he turned tail, became a strenuous advocate for Jacobitism both in the reigns of King William and Queen Anne; appeared more than once a champion for the banished king, and engaged in schemes for his restoration. DERRICK.

Robert Ferguson, here meant, says Mr. Granger, was a great dealer in plots, and a prostitute political writer for different parties, and particularly for the Earl of Shaftesbury. He approached nearer to a parallel character with Oates than any of his contemporaries; and was rewarded with a place in the reign of William, though it was well known he merited a halter. Dr. J. WARTON.

Ver. 324. Who at Jerusalem's own gates erects
His college for a nursery of sects;]
Ferguson had a chapel near Moorfields. DERRICK,
Ver. 334. Here struts it like a patriot, and talks high
Of injured subjects, alter'd property:
An emblem of that buzzing insect just,
That mounts the wheel, and thinks she raises dust.]
"MUSCA, TROCHILUS, ET TROSSULUS.

"Estate media concitati sex equi,
Currum trahentes, putre quatiebant solum,
Claramque denso pulvere tegebant diem.
Temone in ipso tenuis interea sedens,

O quantus, inquit Musca, premit equos labor,
Quantusque sudor irrigat, dum me trahunt!
Sic prævalenti cum sedere vult trabe,
Quae quinque opimos facilè sustineat boves,
Pusillus ille, ex alitum gente infimâ,
Prætentat illam Trochilus, et supersilit
Similis timenti, ferre ne se non queat.
Sic impudenti Trossulorum de grege
Aliquis, ineptus, administris imperi
Multum exhibere se negotii putat,
Qui, vivat ille an mortuus sit, nesciunt."
Desbillon's Fab. Es. Lib. iv. Fab. 14.
JOHN WARTON.

Ver. 353. So made for mischief] Ben-Jochanan was Samuel Johnson, author of the famous pamphlet entitled

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380

Inspired by want, was made a factious tool;
They got a villain, and we lost a fool.
Still violent, whatever cause he took,
But most against the party he forsook.
For renegadoes, who ne'er turn by halves,
Are bound in conscience to be double knaves.
So this prose prophet took most monstrous pains
To let his master see he earn'd his gains.
But as the devil owes all his imps a shame,
He chose the apostate for his proper theme;
With little pains he made the picture true,
And from reflection took the rogue he drew.
A wondrous work, to prove the Jewish nation
In every age a murmuring generation;
To trace 'em from their infancy of sinning,
And show 'em factious from their first beginning;
To prove they could rebel, and rail, and mock,
Much to the credit of the chosen flock;
A strong authority, which must convince
That saints own no allegiance to their prince.
As 'tis a leading-card to make a whore,
To prove her mother had turn'd up before.
But, tell me, did the drunken patriarch bless
The son that show'd his father's nakedness?
Such thanks the present church thy pen will give,
Which proves rebellion was so primitive.
Must ancient failings be examples made?
Then murtherers from Cain may learn their trade.
As thou the heathen and the saint hast drawn,
Methinks the apostate was the better man :
And thy hot father, waiving my respect,
Not of a mother-church, but of a sect.
And such he needs must be of thy inditing;
This comes of drinking asses' milk and writing.
If Balak should be call'd to leave his place,
As profit is the loudest call of grace,
His temple, dispossess'd of one, would be
Replenish'd with seven devils more by thee.

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Levi, thou art a load; I'll lay thee down, And show rebellion bare, without a gown; Poor slaves in metre, dull and addle-pated, Who rhyme below even David's Psalms translated; Some in my speedy pace I must outrun, As lame Mephibosheth, the wizard's son; To make quick way, I'll leap o'er heavy blocks, Shun rotten Uzza, as I would the pox; And hasten Og and Doeg to rehearse,

406

Two fools that crutch their feeble sense on verse;

Julian, in which he drew a parallel betwixt that apostate and James II. And also of another still more offen sive, called An Address to the English Protestants in King | James's Army. For which he was sentenced to stand in the pillory three several times, at Westminster, Charing cross, and the Royal Exchange, to pay a fine of five hundred marks, and be whipped from Newgate to Tyburn. The last part of the punishment was mildly executed, and he was degraded from his ecclesiastical functions before it was inflicted. Of all the seditious writers here proscribed by Dryden, he was a man of the greatest learning and best morals. Dr. J. WARTON.

Ver.384. But, tell me, did the drunken patriarch Mess] The first edition, by a strange error of the press, has patriot.