ABSALOM

AND

ACHITOPHEL.

PART I.

-Si proprius stes

Te capiet magis

THE following poem has been uniformly and universally admired, not only as one of Dryden's most excellent performances, but as indisputably the best and most nervous political satire that ever was written. It is said to have been undertaken at the command of Charles; and if so, no king was ever better obeyed. The general state of parties in England during the last years of the reign of Charles II. has been often noticed, particularly in the notes on "The Duke of Guise," Vol. VI. Shaftesbury, dismissed from the administration, had bent his whole genius for intrigue, to effect the exclusion of the Duke of York from the crown of England, even at the risque of a civil war. Monmouth had thrown himself into the arms of the same party, flattered by the prospect of occupying that place from which his uncle was to be excluded. Every thing seemed to flatter his ambition. The pretensions of the Duke's daughters must necessarily have been compromised by the exclusion of their father. At any rate, they were not likely to be supported by a powerful party, while Monmouth, by his own personal influence, and that of Shaftesbury, was at the head of all, whom zeal for religion, disappointed ambition, restlessness of temper, love of liberty, or desire of licentiousness, had united in opposition to the measures of the court. Every engine which judgement or wit could dictate, was employed by either party to place their cause in the most favourable light, and prejudice that of their adversaries. Among these, the poem which follows was the most powerful, and the most successful. The time of its appearance was chosen with as much art, as the poem displays genius. Shaftesbury had been committed to the Tower on a charge of high treason on the 2d July, and the poem was published a few days before a bill of indictment was presented against him. The sensation excited by such a poem, at such a time, was intense and universal.

It has been hitherto generally supposed, that the idea of applying to Charles and Monmouth the apt characters and story of Absalom and Achitophel, and indeed the general plan of drawing a

poetical parallel from scriptural history to modern times, was exclusively our author's. This appears to be a mistake. So far back as 1679, some favourer of Lord Stafford and of the Catholic cause ventured to paraphrase the story of Naboth's vineyard, and to apply it to the condemnation of that unfortunate nobleman for the Catholic plot. In that piece, the scripture names and characters are given to the objects of the poet's satire, precisely on the plan adopted by Dryden in " Absalom and Achitophel,"

as the

"Naboth's Vineyard, or the Innocent Traitor, copied from the original Holy Scriptures, in Heroic Verse, printed for C. R. 1679."

"Since holy scripture itself is not exempt from being tortured and abused by the strainings and perversions of evil men, no great wonder were it if this small poem, which is but an ilustration of a single, yet remarkable, passage thereof, be also subject to the like distortions and misapplications of the overprying and underwitted of one side, and of the malicious on the other. But all ingenious aud ingenuous men (to whose divertisement only this poem offers itself) will be guarantees for the author, that neither any honourable and just judge can be thought concerned in the character of Arod, nor any honest and veracious witness in that of Malchus: And as, by the singular care and royal goodness of his Majesty, whom God-long preserve, our benches in this nation are turnished with persons of such eminent integrity and ability, that no character of a corrupt judge can, with the least shadow of resemblance, belong to them; so it is to be wished, that also, in all our courts of judicature, a proportionable honesty and veracity were to be found in all witnesses, that so justice and peace might close in a happy kiss."

In this piece, Scroggs is described under the character of Arod, an ambitious judge and statesman :

The chief was Arod, whose corrupted youth
Had made his soul an enemy to truth;
But nature furnished him with parts and wit
For bold attempts, and deep intriguing fit.
Small was his learning, and his eloquence
Did please the rabble, nauseate men of sense;
Bold was his spirit, nimble and loud his tongue,
Which more than law or reason takes the throng.
Him, part by money, partly by her grace,
The covetous queen raised to a judge's place;
And as he bought his place, he justice sold,
Weighing his causes, not by law, but gold.
He made the justice-seat a common mart;
Well skilled was he in the mysterious art
Ot finding varnish for an unsound cause,
And for the sound, imaginary flaws.

MALCHUS OATES.

Malchus, a puny Levite, void of sense

And grace, but stuff'd with nois and impudence,

Was his prime tool; so venomous a brute,

That every place he lived in spued him out.

reader will perceive from the extracts in the note. Not only had the scheme of a similar poem been conceived, but the very passage of Scripture, adopted by Dryden as the foundation of his parable, had been already applied to Charles and his undutiful son. There appeared, in 1680, a small tract, called " Absalom's Conspiracy, or the Tragedy of Treason," which, as it seems to have furnished the general argument of Dryden's poem, and has been unnoticed by any former commentator, I have subjoined to these introductory remarks. (See p 205.)

In a "Letter also to his grace the duke of Monmouth, this 15 July 1680, by a true lover of his person and the peace of the kingdom," the same adaptation is thus warmly urged.

"These are the men (speaking of Monmouth's advisers) that would, with Joab, send for the wise woman to persuade king David to admit of a return for Absalom his son; and when they had effected it, leave him to himself, till anger and passion had set fire to the field of Joab. These are the men, that would have advised Absalom to make chariots, and to take fifty men to run before him, and appoint his time and station beside the way of the gate, to enquire of the tribes of Israel, that came up to the king for justice, what their controversies and matters were, These are

the

men, that would have advised young Absalom, that since David had appointed no one to hear their grieveances (which was a political lye), and relieve their oppressions, to wish, "Oh that I were made judge in the land, that every man that hath any suit or cause might come to me, and I would do him justice!" In short, these unprincipled men were they that set on Absalom to steal away the hearts of the people from the king; these are they, that advised

Lies in his mouth, and malice in his heart,
By nature grew, and were improved by art;
Mischief his pleasure was, and all his joy,
To see his thriving calumny destroy

Those, whom his double heart, and forked tongue,
Surer than vipers' teeth, to death had stung.

NABOTH STAFFORD.

Naboth, among the tribes, the foremost place,
Did, with his riches, birth, and virtue grace;
A man, whose wealth was the poor's common stock;
The hungry found their market in his flock.

His justice made all law contentions cease;

He was his neighbours' safeguard, and their peace :
The rich by him were in due bounds contained;

The poor, if strong, employed; if weak, maintained.
Well had he served his country and his king,
And the best troops in all their wars did bring;
Nor with less bravery did he lead them on,
Warding his country's danger with his own.