Who from his own poffeffions could not drain
An omer even of Hebronitish grain,
Here ftruts it like a patriot, and talks high
Of injur'd fubjects, alter'd property:
An emblem of that buzzing infect just,

That mounts the wheel, and thinks fhe raises duft.
Can dry bones live or skeletons produce
The vital warmth of cuckoldiżing juice?
Slim Phaleg could, and at the table fed,
Return'd the grateful product to the bed.
A waiting-man to travelling nobles chofe,
He his own laws would faucily impose,
Till baftinadoed back again he went,

To learn thofe manners he to teach was fent.
Chaftis'd he ought to have retreated home,
But he reads politics to Abfalom.

For Lever Hebronite, though kick'd and scorn'd,
To his own country willingly return'd.
-But, leaving famifh'd Phaleg to be fed,
And to talk treafon for his daily bread,
Let Hebron, nay let Hell produce a man
So made for mifchief as Ben-Jochanan,
A Jew of humble parentage was he,
By trade a Levite, though of low degree:
His de no higher than the desk aspir'd,
But for the drudgery of priests was hir'd
To read and pray in linen ephod brave,
And pick up fingle fhekels from the grave.
Marry'd at last, but finding charge come tafter,
He could not live by God, but chang'd his master:
Infpir'd by want, was made a factious tool,
They got a villain, and we loft a fool.
Still violent, whatever caufe he took,
But most against the party he forfook.
For renegadoes, who ne'er turn by halves,
Are bound in confcience to be double knaves.
So this profe-prophet took most monstrous pains,
To let his masters fee he earn'd his gains.
But, as the devil owes all his imps a fhame,
He chofe th' apoftate for his proper theme;
With little pains he made the picture true,
And from reflexion took the rogue he drew.
A wondrous work, to prove the Jewish nation
In every age a murmuring generation;
To trace them from their infancy of finning,
And fhew them factious from their firft beginning.
To prove they could rebel, and rail, and mock,
Much to the credit of the chofen flock;
Aftrong authority, which muft convince,
That faints 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 blefs
The fon that fhew'd his father's nakednefs?
Such thanks the prefent church thy pen will give,
Which proves rebellion was fo primitive.
Muft ancient failings be examples made?
Then murtherers from Cain may learn their trade.
As thou the heathen and the faint haft drawn,
Methinks th` apoftate was the better man:
And thy hot father, waving my refpe&,
Not of a mother-church, but of a fect.
And fuch he needs must be of thy inditing,
This comes of drinking asses milk and writing.

If Balak fhould be call'd to ieave his place,
As profit is the loudest call of grace,
His temple, difpoffefs'd of one, would be
Replenish'd with seven devils more by thee.

Levi, thou art a load, I'll lay thee down,
And fhew rebellion bare, without a gown;
Poor flaves in metre, dull and addle-pated,
Who rhyme below ev'n David's Pfalms tranflated.
Some in my speedy pace I must out-run,
As lame Mephibofheth the wizard's fon :
To make quick way, I'll leap o'er heavy blocks,
Shun rotten Uzza as I would the pox;
And haften Og and Doeg to rehearse,
Two fools that crutch their feeble fenfe on verfe;
Who by my Mufe to all fucceeding times,
Shall live in fpight of their own doggrel rhymes.

Doeg, though without knowing how or why, Made ftill a blundering kind of melody; [thin, Spurr'd boldly on, and dafh'd through thick and Through fenfe and nonsense, never out nor in; Free from all meaning, whether good or bad, And in one word, heroically mad:

}

He was too warm on picking-work to dwell,
But fagotted his notions as they fell,
And if they rhym'd and rattled, all was well.
Spiteful he is not, though he wrote a fatyr,
For ftill there goes fome thinking to ill nature:
He needs no more than birds and beasts to think,
All his occafions are to eat and drink.

If he call rogue and rafcal from a garret,

He means you no more mischief than a parrot:
The words for friend and foe alike were made,
To fetter them in verfe is all his trade.
For almonds he'll cry whore to his own mother:
And call young Abfalom king David's brother.
Let him be gallows-free by my confent,
And nothing fuffer fince he nothing meant;
Hanging fuppofes human foul and reason,
This animal's below committing treafon :
Shall he be hang'd who never could rebel?
That's a prefernent for Achitophel.
The woman that committed buggery,
Was rightly fentenc'd by the law to die;
But 'twas hard fate that to the gallows led
The dog that never heard the ftatute read.
Railing in other men may be a crime,

But ought to pafs for mere inftinct in him:
Inftinct he follows and no farther knows,
For to write verfe with him is to transprose.
'Twere pity treafon at his door to lay,
Who makes heaven's gate a lock to its own key:
Let him rail on, let his invective Muse
Have four and twenty letters to abuse,
Which, if he jumbles to one line of sense,
Indict him of a capital offence,

In fire-works give him leave to vent his fpight,
Thofe are the only ferpents he can write;
The height of his ambition is, we know,
But to be mafter of a puppet-show,
On that one stage his works may yet appear,
And a month's harveft keeps him all the year.
Now ftop your noses, readers, all and fonie,
For here's a tun of midnight-work to come,
Og from a treafon-tavern rowling home.

Round as a globe, and liquor'd every chink,
Goodly and great he fails behind his link ; ·
With all his bulk there's nothing loft in Og,
For every inch that is not fool is rogue :
Amonftrous mafs of foul corrupted matter,
As all the devils had spew'd to make the batter,
When wine has given him courage to blaspheme,
He curfes God, but God before curst him;

And, if man could have reason, none has more,
That made his paunch fo rich, and him, fo poor.
With wealth he was not trufted, for heaven knew
What 'twas of old to pamper up a Jew;

To what would he on quail and pheasant swell,
That ev'n on tripe and carrion could rebel?
But tho' heaven made him poor, with reverence
speaking,

He never was a poet of God's making;

The midwife laid her hand on his thick skull,
Wrh this prophetic bleffing-Be thou dull:
Drink, (wear and roar, forbear no lewd delight
Fit for thy bulk, do any thing but write :
The art of lafting make, like thoughtless men,
A trong nativity-but for the pen !
Eat opium, mingle arfenic in thy drink,
Still thou mayft live, avoiding pen and ink.
I fee, I fee, 'tis counsel given in vain,
For treafon botcht in rhyme will be thy bane:
Rhyme is the rock on which thou art to wreck,
'Tis fatal to thy fare and to thy neck:
Why should thy merre good king David blast?
A pfalm of his will furely be thy laft.
Dar'it thou prefume in verfe to meet thy foes,
Thou whom the penny pamphlet foil'd in profe?
Doeg, whom God for mankind's mirth has niade,
O'er-tops thy talent in thy very trade;
Doeg to thee, thy paintings are fo coarse,
A pet is, though he's the poet's horse.
A double noofe thou on thy neck doft pull
For writing treafon, and for writing dull;
To die for faction is a common evil,
But to be hang'd for nonfenfe is the devil:
Had thou the glories of thy king expreft,
Thy praifes had been fatyr at the best;
But thou in clumsy verse, unlickt, unpointed,
Haft fhamefully defy'd the Lord's anointed:
I will not rake the dunghill for thy crimes,
For who would read thy life that reads thy
rhymes?

But of king David's foes be this the doom,
May all be like the young man Abfalom!
And for my foes, may this their bleffing be,
To talk like Doeg, and to write like thee!"

Achitophel, each rank, degree, and age,
For various ends neglects not to engage;
The wife and rich for purfe and counsel brought,
The fools and beggars for their number fought;
Who yet not only on the town depends,
For ev'n in court the faction had its friends;
These thought the places they possest too small,
And in their hearts wish'd court and king to fall:
Whofe names the Mufe difdaining, holds i' th' dark,
Thruft in the villain herd without a mark;
With parafites and libel-fpawning imps,
mriguing fops, dull jefters, and worfe pimps,

Difdain the rafcal rabble to purfue, Their fet cabals are yet a viler crew;

See where involv'd in common fmoak they fit;
Some for our mirth, fome for our fatyr fit;
Thefe gloomy, thoughtful, and on milchief bent,
While thofe for mere good fellowship frequent
Th' appointed club, can let fedition pass,
Senfe, nonfenfe, any thing t'employ the glass;
And who believe in their dull honeft hearts,
The reft talk treafon but to fhew their parts;
Who ne'er had wit or will for mifchief yet,
But pleas'd to be reputed of a fet.

But in the facred annals of our plot,
Induftrious Arod never be forgot:
The labours of this midnight-magistrate,
May vie with Corah's to preíerve the flate.
In fearch of arms he fail'd not to lay hold
On war's most powerful dangerous weapon, gold.
And last, to take from Jebufites all odds,
Their altars pillag'd, ftole their very gods;
Oft would he cry, when treasure he furpris'd,
'Tis Baalifh gold in David's coin difguis'd.
Which to his houfe with richer reliques came,
While lumber idols only fed the flame :
For our wife rabble ne'er took pains t' inquire,
What 'twas he burnt, fo't made a roufing fire.
With which our elder was enricht no more
Than falfe Gehazi with the Syrian's store;

So
poor, that when our chufing-tribes were met,
Ev'n for his flinking votes he ran in debt;
For meat the wicked, and as authors think,
The faints he chous'd for his electing drink;
Thus every fhift and subtle method past,
And all to be no Zaken at the laft.

Now, rais'd on Tyre's fad ruins, Pharaoh's pride
Soar'd high, his legions threatning far and wide;
As when a battering ftorm engender'd high,
By winds upheld, hangs hovering in the sky,
Is gaz'd upon by every trembling fwain,
This for his vineyard fears, and that his grain;
For blooming plants, and flowers new opening,

thefe,

For lambs yean'd lately, and for labouring bees:
To guard his ftock each to the gods does call,
Uncertain where the fire-charg'd clouds will fall:
Ev'n fo the doubtful nations watch his arms,
With terror each expecting his alarms.
Where, Judah, where was now thy lion's roar?
Thou only couldft the captive lands reftore:
But thou, with inbred broils and faction preft,
From Egypt need'ft a guardian with the rest.
Thy prince from fanhedrims no truft allow'd,
Too much the representers of the crowd,
Who for their own defence give no fupply,
But what the crown's prerogatives must buy:
As if their monarch's rights to violate
More needful were, than to preserve the state!
From prefent dangers they divert their care,
And all their fears are of the royal heir;
Whom now the reigning malice of his foes,
Unjudg'd would fentence, and ere crown de-
pofe.

Religion the pretence, but their decree
To bar his reign, whate'er his faith fhall be!
Dj

By fanhedrims and clamarous crowds thus preft,
What paffions rent the righteous David's breaft!
Who knows not how t' oppofe or to comply,
Unjust to grant and dangerous to deny!
How near in this dark juncture Ifrael's fate,
Whose peace one fole expedient could create,
Which yet th' extremeft virtue did require,
Ev'n of that prince whofe downfal they confpire!
His abfence David does with tears advife
T'appease their rage. Undaunted he complies;
Thus he who prodigal of blood and ease,
A royal life expos'd to winds and feas,
At once contending with the waves and fire,
And heading danger in the wars of Tyre,
Inglorious now forfakes his native fand,
And like an exile quits the promis'd land!
Our monarch fearce from proffing tears refrains,
And painfully his royal state maintains,
Who now embracing on th' extremeft fhore
Almost revokes what he enjoin'd before:
Concludes at last more trust to be allow'd
To ftorms and feas than to the raging crowd!
Forbear, rafh Mufe, the parting fcene to draw,
With filence charm'd as deep as their's that faw.
Not only our attending nobles weep,

But hardy failors fwell with tears the deep!
The tide reftrain'd her courfe, and more amaz'd,
The twin-ftars on the royal brothers gaz'd:
While this fole fear-

Does trouble to our fuffering hero bring,
Left next the popular rage opprefs the king!
Thus parting, each for th' others danger griev'd,
The fhore the king, and feas the prince receiv'd.
Go, injur'd hero, while propitious gales,
Soft as thy confort's breath, infpire thy fails;
Well may the truft her beauties on a flood,
Where thy triumphant fleets fo oft have rode !
Safe on thy breast reclin'd her reft be deep,
Rock'd like a Nereid by the waves afleep;
While happieft dreams her fancy entertain,
And to Elyfian fields convert the main!
Go, injur'd hero, while the thores of Tyre
At thy approach so filent fhall admire,
Who on thy thunder ftill their thoughts employ,
And greet thy landing with a trembling joy.

On heroes thus the prophet's fate is thrown,
'Admir'd by every nation but their own;
Yet while our factious Jews his worth deny,
Their aking confcience gives their tongue the lie.
Ev'n in the worst of men the nobleft parts
Confefs him, and he triumphs in their hearts,
Whom to his king the best respects commend
Of fubject, foldier, kinfman, prince, and friend;
All facred names of moft divine efteem,
And to perfection all fuftain'd by him,
Wife, juft, and conftant, courtly without art,
Swift to difcern and to reward defert;
No hour of his in fruitlefs eafe deftroy'd,
But on the nobleft fubjects ftill employ'd:
Whofe fteady foul ne'er learnt to feparate
Between his monarch's intereft and the state,
But heaps thofe bleflings on the royal head,
Which he well knows must be on fubjects fhed.

On what pretence could then the vulgar rage Against his worth and native rights engage?

Religious fears their argument are made,
Religious fears his facred rights invade
Of future fuperftition they complain,
And Jebufitic worship in his reign:
With fuch alarms his foes the crowd deceive,
With dangers fright which not themselves believe.
Since nothing can our facred rites remove,
Whate'er the faith of the fucceffor prove:
Our Jews their ark shall undisturb'd retain,
At least while their religion is their gain,
Who know by old experience Baal's commands
Not only claim'd their confcience but their lands;
They grudge Ged's titles, how therefore fhall they
An idol full poffeffion of the field? [yield
Grant fuch a prince enthron'd, we must contefs
The people's fufferings than that monarch's lefs,
Who must to hard conditions ftill be bound,
And for his quiet with the crowd compound;
Or should his thoughts to tyranny incline,
Where are the means to computs the defign?
Our crown's revenues are too short a store,
And jealous fanhedrims would give no more.
As vain our fears of Egypt's potent aid,
Not fo has Pharaoh learnt ambition's trade,
Nor ever with fuch measures can comply,
As fhock the common rules of policy;
None dread like him the growth of Ifrael's king,
And he alone fufficient aids can bring;
Who knows that prince to Egypt can give law,
That on our stubborn tribes his yoke could draw,
At fuch profound expence he has not flood,
Nor dy'd for this his hands fo deep in blood;
Would ne'er through 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 conquefts cheaply to defpoil,
And reap the harveft of his crimes and toil.
We grant his wealth vaft as our ocean's fand,
And curfe its fatal influence on our land,
Which our brib'd Jews so numerously partake,
That ev'n an hoft his penfioners would make;
From thefe deceivers our divifions spring,
Our weakness, and the growth of Egypt's king;
Thefe with pretended friendship to the state,
Our crowd's fufpicion of their prince create,
Both pleas'd and frighten'd with the specious cry,
To guard their facred rights and property;
To ruin, thus the chofen flock are fold,
While wolves are ta’en for guardians of the fold;
Seduc'd by thefe 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 reafoning prophets preach,
To those whom fad experience ne'er could teach,
Who can commence new broils in bleeding fcars,
And fresh remembrance of inteftine wars;
When the fame houshould mortal foes did yield,
And brothers ftain'd with brothers blood the field
When fons curft fteel the fathers gore did ftain,
And mothers mourn'd for fons by fathers flain!
When thick as Egypt's locufts on the fand, [land
Our tribes lay flaughter'd through the promis'd

Whole few furvivors with worfe fate remain,
To drag the bondage of a tyrant's reign:
Which fcene of woes, unknowing, we renew,
And madly, ev'n thofe ills we fear, purfue;
While Pharaoh laughs at our domeftic broils,
And fafely crowds his tents with nations spoils.
Yat our fierce fanhedrim in reftless rage,
Againft our abfent hero ftill engage,

And chiefly urge, fuch did their frenzy prove,
The only fuit their prince forbids to move,
Which till obtain'd they ceafe 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 till the troubled waves would cease,
But found the raging billows ftill increase.
The crowd, whofe infolence forbearance fwells,
While he forgives too far, almost rebels.
At lalt his deep refentments filence broke,
Th'imperial palace fhook, while thus he spoke,
Thea Juftice wake, and Rigor take her time,
For lo our mercy is become our crinie.
While halting Punishment her ftroke delays,
Our fovereign right, heaven's facred truft, decays!
For whofe fupport ev'n fubjects intereft calls,
Woe to that kingdom where the monarch falls!
That prince who yields the leaft of regal sway,
So far his people's freedom does betray.
Right lives by law, and law fubfifts by power;
Datarm the fhepherd, wolves the flock devour.
Hard lot of empire o'er a ftubborn race,
Which heaven itself in vain has try'd with grace!
When will our reafon's long-charm'd eyes unclofe,
And Ifrael judge between her friends and foes?
When fhall we fee expir'd deceivers sway,
And credit what our God and monarchs fay?
Dmbled patriots, brib'd with Egypt's gold,
Er'a fanhedrims in blind obedience hold;
Tie patriots falfhood in their actions fee,
And judge by the pernicious fruit the tree;
faught for which fo loudly they declaim,
digion, laws, and freedom, were their aim;
kaates in due methods they had led, [dread;
avoid thofe mifchiefs which they icem'd to
E firft ere yet they propt the finking ftate,
Timpeach and charge, as urg'd by private hate;
Proves that they ne'er believ'd the fears they preft,
But barbarously deftroy'd the nation's reft!
Of whither will ungovern'd lenates drive,
And to what bounds licentious votes arrive?
When their injuftice we are prefs'd to fhare,
The monarch urg'd t'exclude the lawful heir;
Are princes thus diftinguish'd from the crowd,
And this the privilege of royal blood?

Et grant we fhould confirm the wrongs they prefs,
His fufferings yet were than the people's lefs;
Condemn'd for life the murdering fword to wield,
And on their heirs entail a bloody field:
The madly their own freedom they betray,
And for th' oppreffion which they fear make way;
Secceffion fir'd by heaven, the kingdom's bar,
Which once diffolv'd, admits the flood of war;
Wate, rapine, fpoil, without, th' affault begin,
ALC our ad tribes lupplant 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 fave the lunatics against their will.
The fame rough means that fwage the crowd, ap-
peafe

Our fenates raging with the crowd's disease.
Henceforth unbiafs'd measures let them draw
From no falfe glofs, but genuine text of law;
Nor urge thofe crimes upon religion's score,
Themfelves fo much in Jebufites abhor.
Whom laws convict, and only they, shall bleed,
Nor pharifees by pharifces be freed.
Impartial justice from our throne shall shower,
All fhall have right, and we our fovereign power.

He faid, th' attendants heard with awful joy,
And glad prefages their fix'd thoughts employ;
From Hebron now the fuffering heir return'd,
A realm that long with civil difcord mourn'd;
Till his approach, like fome arriving God,
Compos'd and heal'd the place of his abode;
The deluge check'd that to Judea spread,
And ftopp'd fedition at the fountain's head.
Thus in forgiving David's paths he drives,
And, chas'd from Ifrael, Ifrael's peace contrives.
The field confefs'd his power in arms before,
And feas proclaim'd his triumphs to the shore;
As nobly has his fway in Hebron fhown,
How fit t' inherit godlike David's throne.
Through Sion's Greets his glad arrival's fpread,
And confcious faction fhrinks her fnaky head;
His train their fufferings think o'erpaid, to fee
The crowd's applause with virtue once agree.
Succefs charms all, but zeal for worth diftreft,
A virtue proper to the brave and best;
'Mongit whom was Jothran, Jothran always bent
To ferve the crown, and loyal by defcent,
Whofe conftancy fo firm, and conduct juft,
Deferv'd at once two royal masters trust;
Who Tyre's proud arms had manfully withflood
On feas, and gather'd laurels from the flood;
Of learning yet, no portion was deny'd,
Friend to the Mofes and the Mufes' pride.
Nor can Benaiah's worth forgotten lie,
Of fleady foul when public ftorms were high;
Whofe conduct, while the Moor fierce onfets made,
Secur'd at once our honour and our trade.
Such were the chiefs who most his sufferings
mourn'd,

And view'd with filent joy the prince return'd;
While thofe that fought his abfence to betray,
Prefs first their naufecus falfe refpects to pay;
Him ftill th' oflicious hypocrites moleft,
And with malicious duty break his rest.

While real transports thus his friends employ,
And foes are loud in their diffembled joy,
His triumhps fo refounded far and near,
Mifs'd not his young ambitious rival's ear;
And as when joyful hunters clamourous train
Some flumbering lion wakes in Moab's plain,
Who oft had fore'd the bold affailants yield,
And fcatter'd his purfuers through the field,
Ditdaining, furls his mane and tears the ground,
His eyes inflaming all the defert round,

Dj

With roar of feas dire&ts his chafers way,
Provokes from far, and dares them to the fray;
Such rage ftorm'd now in Abfalom's fierce breaft,
Such indignation his fir'd eyes confeft;
Where now was the inftructor of his pride?
Slept the old pilot in fo rough a tide?
Whofe wiles had from the happy fhore betray'd,
And thus on fhelves the credulous youth convey'd;
In deep revolving thoughts he weighs his flate,
Secure of craft, nor doubts to baffle fate,
At least, if his ftorm'd bark must go adrift,
To baulk his charge, and for himself to shift,
In which his dextrous wit had oft been fhewn,
And in the wreck of kingdoms tav'd his own;
But now with more than common danger preft,
Of various refolution ftands poffeft,
Perceives the crowd's unftable zeal decay,
Left their recanting chief the caufe betray,
Who on a father's grace his hopes may ground,
And for his pardon with their heads compound.
Him therefore, ere his fortune flip her time,
The ftatefman plots t' engage in fome bold crime
Paft 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 truft.
But failing thus t' enfnare him, nor fecure
How long his foil'd ambition may endure,
Plots next to lay him by as paft his date,
And try fome new pretender's luckier fate;
Whofe hopes with equal toil he would purfue,
Nor cares what claimer's crown'd, except the true.
Wake, Abfalom, approaching ruin fhun,
And fee, O fee, for whom thou art undone!
How are thy honours and thy fame betray'd,
'The property of defperate villains made?
Loft power and confcious fear their crimes create,
And guilt in them was little lefs than fate;
But why should't thou, from every grievance free,
Forfake thy vineyards for their ftormy fea?
For thee did Canaan's milk and honey flow,
Love drefs'd thy bowers, and laurels fought thy
brow,

Preferment, wealth, and power, thy vassals were,
And of a monarch all things but the care.
Oh should our crimes again that curfe draw down,
And rebel-arms once more attempt the crown,
Sure ruin waits unhappy Abfalom,
Alike by conqueft or defeat undone;
Who could relentlefs fee fuch youth and charms,
Expire with wretched fate in impious arms?

A prince fo form'd with earth's and heaven's applaufe,

To triumph o'er crown'd heads in David's cause:
Or grant him victor, ftill his hopes muft fail,
Who conquering would not for himself prevail;
The faction whom he trufts for future sway,
Him and the public would alike betray;
Amongst themselves divide the captive state,
And found their hydra-empire in his fate!
Thus having beat the clouds with painful flight,
The pity'd youth, with fcepters in his fight,
So have their cruel politics decreed,
Muft, by that crew that made him guilty, bleed!

For could their pride brook any prince's fway,
Whom but mild David would they chufc t' obey?
Who once at fuch a gen le reign repine,
The fall of morarchy itfelf defign;

From hate to that their reformations fpring,
And David not their grievance, but the king.
Seiz'd now with panic fear the faction lies,
Left this clear truth frike Abfalom's charm'e
eyes,

Left he perceive, from long enchantment free,
What all befide the flatter'd youth muft fee.
But whate'er doubts his troubled bofom fwell,
Fair carriage ftill became Achitophel.
Who now an envious festival instals,
And to furvey their ftrength the faction calls,
Which fraud, religious worfhip too muft gild;
But oh how weakly does fedition build?
For io! the royal mandate iflues forth,
Dafhing at once their treafon, zeal, and mirth!
So have I feen difaftrous chance invade,
Where careful enimets had their forage laid,
Whether fierce Vulcan's rage the furzy plain
Had feiz'd, engender'd by fome carelefs fwain;
Or fwelling Neptune lawlefs inroads made,
And to their cell of ftore his flood convey'd;
The commonwealth broke up, diftracted go,
And in wild hafte their loaded mates o'erthrow;
Ev'n fo our scatter'd guests confus'dly meet,
With boil'd, bak'd, roast, all juftling in the street;
Dejecting all, and ruefully difmay'd,
For fhekel without treat or treafon paid.

Sedition's dark eclipfe now fainter fhews,
More bright each hour the royal planet grows,
Of force the clouds of envy to difperfe,
In kind conjunction of affifting stars.
Here, labouring Mufe, thofe glorious chiefs relate,
That turn'd the doubtful fcale of David's fate;
The rest of that illuftrious band rehearse,.
Immortaliz'd in laurel'd Alaph's verfe:
Hard task! yet will not I thy flight recal,
View heaven, and then enjoy thy glorious fall,

First write Bezaliel, whofe illustrious name Foreftalls our praife, and gives his poet fame. The Kenites rocky province his command, A barren limb of fertile Canaan's land; Which for its generous natives yet could be Held worthy fuch a prefident as he! Bezaliel with each grace and virtue fraught, Serene his looks; ferene his life and thought On whom fo largely nature heap'd her store, There scarce remain'd for arts to give him more! To aid the crown and ftate his greatest zeal, His fecond care that fervice to conceal;

Of dues observant, firm to every trust,

And to the needy always more than just.

Who truth from fpecious falfhood can divide,
Has all the gownfmens skill without their pride;
Thus crown'd with worth from heights of honour

won,

Sees all his glories copy'd in his fon,

Whofe forward fame thould every Mufe engage: Whofe youth boafts fkill deny'd to others' age. Men, manners, language, books of nobleft kind, Already are the conqueft of his mind.