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 denied,
Friend to the muses, and the muses' pride.
Nor can Benaiah's worth forgotten lie,
Of steady soul when public storms were high; 820
Whose conduct while the Moor fierce onsets made,?
Secur❜d at once our honour and our trade.
Such were the chiefs who most his sufferings mourn'd,
And view'd with silent joy the prince return'd;
While those that sought his absence to betray, 825
Press first their nauseous false respects to pay;
Him still the officious hypocrites molest,
And with malicious duty break his rest.
While real transports thus his friends employ,
Jothran, the Lord Dartmouth, a nobleman of great honesty, who, though inviolably attached to the Duke of York, had always the courage to tell him freely when he disliked any of his proceedings; and his highness was discreet enough to take his representations as they were meant. D.
V. 819. Nor can Benaiah's worth forgotten lie] Benaiah, Colonel, afterwards General Sackville, a gentleman of tried courage, and known good sense; he was of the Dorset family; had served at Tangier with reputation, and on account of his having expressed a disbelief of the popish plot, was expelled the house of commons, and committed to the Tower. He obtained his liberty, rank, and command, in a very short time, but not his seat in the house.
And foes are loud in their dissembled joy,
His triumphs so resounded far and near,
Miss'd not his young ambitious rival's ear;
And as when joyful hunters' clam'rous train
Some slumb'ring lion wakes in Moab's plain,
Who oft had forc'd the bold assailants yield,
And scatter'd his pursuers through the field,
Disdaining, furls his mane and tears the ground,
His eyes enflaming all the desert round,
With roar of seas directs his chasers' way,
Provokes from far, and dares them to the fray;
Such rage storm'd now in Absalom's fierce breast,
Such indignation his fir'd eyes confest.
Where now was the instructor of his pride?
Slept the old pilot in so rough a tide?
Whose wiles had from the happy shore betray'd,
And thus on shelves the credulous youth convey'd,
In deep revolving thoughts he weighs his state,
Secure of craft, nor doubts to baffle fate,
At least, if his storm'd bark must go adrift,
To balk his charge, and for himself to shift.
In which his dexterous wit had oft been shown,
And in the wreck of kingdoms sav'd his own;
But now with more than common danger prest,
Of various resolutions stands possest,
Perceives the crowd's unstable zeal decay,
Lest their recanting chief the cause betray,
Who on a father's grace his hopes may ground,
And for his pardon with their heads compound.
Him therefore ere his fortune slip her time,
The statesman plots to engage in some bold crime
Past pardon, whether to attempt his bed,
Or threat with open arms the royal head,
Or other daring method, and unjust,
That may confirm him in the people's trust.
But failing thus to ensnare him, nor secure
How long his foil'd ambition may endure,
Plots next to lay him by as past his date,
And try some new pretender's luckier fate;
Whose hopes with equal toil he would pursue,
Nor cares what claimer 's crown'd, except the true.
Wake, Absalom, approaching ruin shun,
And see, O see, for whom thou art undone !
How are thy honours and thy fame betray'd,
The property of desperate villains made?
Lost power and conscious fears their crimes create,
And guilt in them was little less than fate;
But why shouldst thou, from every grievance free,
Forsake thy vineyards for their stormy sea?
For thee did Canaan's milk and honey flow,
Love dress'd thy bowers, and laurels sought thy
brow, Preferment, wealth, and power thy vassals were, And of a monarch all things but the care.
Oh should our crimes again that curse draw down, And rebel-arms once more attempt the crown, Sure ruin waits unhappy Absalon,
Alike by conquest or defeat undone.
Who could relentless see such youth and charms Expire with wretched fate in impious arms?
A prince so form'd, with earth's and heaven's ap
To triumph o'er crown'd heads in David's cause:
Or grant him victor, still his hopes must fail,
Who conquering would not for himself prevail;
The faction, whom he trusts for future sway,
Him and the public would alike betray;
Amongst themselves divide the captive state, 895
And found their hydra-empire in his fate!
Thus having beat the clouds with painful flight,
The pitied youth, with sceptres in his sight,
(So have their cruel politics decreed,)
Must by that crew, that made him guilty, bleed!
For, could their pride brook any prince's sway,
Whom but mild David would they choose to obey?
Who once at such a gentle reign repine,
The fall of monarchy itself design;
From hate to that their reformations spring,
And David not their grievance, but the king.
Seiz'd now with panic fear the faction lies,
Lest this clear truth strike Absalom's charm'd eyes,
Lest he perceive, from long enchantment free,
What all beside the flatter'd youth must see. 910
But whate'er doubts his troubled bosom swell,
Fair carriage still became Achitophel.
Who now an envious festival installs,
And to survey their strength the faction calls]
The Duke of York being invited to dine at Merchant Tay lors' Hall with the company of artillery, of which he was cap
Who now an envious festival installs,
And to survey their strength the faction calls,
Which fraud, religious worship too must gild; 915
But oh how weakly does sedition build?
For lo! the royal mandate issues forth,
Dashing at once their treason, zeal, and mirth!
So have I seen disastrous chance invade,
Where careful emmets had their forage laid,
Whether fierce Vulcan's rage the furzy plain
Had seiz'd, engender'd by some careless swain;
Or swelling Neptune lawless inroads made,
And to their cell of store his flood convey'd ;
The commonwealth broke up, distracted go,
And in wild haste their loaded mates o'erthrow:
Even so our scatter'd guests confusedly meet
With boil'd, bak'd, roast, all justling in the street;
Dejected all, and ruefully dismay'd,
For shekel, without treat, or treason paid.
tain-general, on the 21st of April, 1682, tickets were dispersed in opposition to, and contempt of, this meeting, inviting the nobility, gentry, and citizens, who wished well to the Protes tant religion, to convene the same day at St. Michael's church, Cornhill, and thence proceed to dine at Haberdashers' Hall; but this association was stopped by an order of council. D.
V. 917. lo! the royal mandate issues forth] The substance of which was, that the power of appointing public days of fasts and thanksgivings being vested in the crown, a particular meeting, pretended to that end, and advertised to be held on the 21st of April, 1682, at St. Michael's, Cornhill, must be of a seditious tendency, as not having the royal sanction; and therefore the lord mayor and aldermen of London are, at their peril, ordered to hinder it, as an unlawful assembly. D.
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