In pious times, ere priestcraft did begin,
Before polygamy was made a sin;
When man on many multiplied his kind,
Ere one to one was cursedly confined!
When nature prompted, and no law denied
Promiscuous use of concubine and bride;
Then Israel's monarch, after Heaven's own
heart,

His vigorous warmth did variously impart
To wives and slaves; and wide as his com-
mand,

Scatter'd his Maker's image thro' the land.
Michal, of royal blood, the crown did wear;
A soil ungrateful to the tiller's care;
Not so the rest; for several mothers bore
To godlike David several sons before.

But since, like slaves, his bed they did ascend,
No true succession could their seed attend.
Of all the numerous progeny was none
So beautiful, so brave, as Absalom :
Whether inspired by some diviner lust,
His father got kim with a greater gust;
Or that his conscious destiny made way,
By manly beauty to imperial sway,
Early in foreign fields he won renown,
With kings and states allied to Israel's crown:
In peace the thoughts of war he could remove,
And seem'd as he were only born for love.
Whate'er he did was done with so much ease,
Ju him alone 'twas natural to please:
His motions all accompanied with grace;
And paradise was open'd in his face.
With secret joy indulgent David view'd
His youthful image in his son renew'd:
To all his wishes nothing he denied ;
And made the charming Annabel his bride.
What faults he had (for who from faults is
free?)

His father could not, or he would not see.
Some warm excesses which the law forbore,
Were construed youth that purg'd by boiling

o'er,

Gods they had tried of every shape and size, That godsmiths could produce, or priests devise :

These Adam-wits too fortunately free,
Began to dream they wanted liberty;
And when no rule, no precedent was found
Of men by laws less circumscrib'd and bound,
They led their wild desires to woods and caves,
And thought that all but savages were slaves.
They who, when Saul was dead, without a
blow,

Made foolish Ishbosheth the crown forego;
Who banish'd David did from Hebron bring,
And with a gen'ral shout proclaim'd him king:
Those very Jews, who at their very best
Their humour more than loyalty express'd,
Now wonder'd why so long they had obey'd
An idol monarch which their hands had made;
Thought they might ruin him they could create,
Or melt him to that golden calf of state.

But these were random bolts: no form'd de

sign,

Nor int'rest made the factious crowd to join:
The sober part of Israel, free from stain,
Well knew the value of a peaceful reign;
And looking backward with a wise affright,
Saw seams of wounds dishonest to the sight:
In contemplation of whose ugly scars,
They curs'd the memory of civil wars.
The moderate sort of meu thus qualified,
Inclin'd the balance to the better side:
And David's mildness manag'd it so well,
The bad found no occasion to rebel.
But when to sin our biass'd nature leans,
The careful devil is still at hand with means;
And providently pimps for ill desires :
The good old cause reviv'd a plot requires.
Plots true or false are necessary things
To raise up commonwealths, and ruin kings.
Th' inhabitants of old Jerusalem

Were Jebusites; the town so call'd from them;
And theirs the native right-

But when the chosen people grew more strong, The rightful cause at length became the

wrong;

And ev'ry loss the men of Jebus bore,

They still were thought God's enemies the

more.

Thus worn or weaken'd, well or ill content,
Submit they must to David's government;
Impoverish'd, and depriv'd of all command,
Their taxes doubled as they lost their land;
And what was harder yet to flesh and blood,
Their gods disgrac'd, and burnt like common
wood.
R

This set the heathen priesthood in a flame;
For priests of all religions are the same.
Of whatsoe'er descent their godhead be,
Stock stone, or other homely pedigree,
In his defence his servants are as bold
As if he had been born of beaten gold.
The Jewish rabbins, though their enemies,
In this conclude them honest men aud wise:
For 'twas their duty, all the learned think,
T' espouse his cause by whom they eat and
[curse,
From bence began that plot, the nation's
Bad in itself, but represented worse;
Rais'd in extremes, and in extremes decried;
With oaths affirin'd, with dying vows denied;
Not weigh'd nor winuow'd by the multitude;
But swallow'd in the mass, unchew'd and
crude.

driuk.

Were rais'd in pow'r and public office high: Strong bands, if bands ungrateful men could

tie.

Of these the false Achitophel was first; A name to all succeeding ages curst: For close designs and crooked counsels fit; Sagacious, bold, and turbulent of wit; Restless, unfix'd in principles and place; In pow'r unpleas'd, impatient of disgrace: A fiery soul, which, working out its way, Fretted the pigmy body to decay, And o'er-inform'd the tenement of clay. A daring pilot in extremity ; Pleas'd with the danger when the waves went high,

He sought the storms; but, for a calm unfit, Would steer too nigh the sands to boast his wit. Great wits are sure to madness near allied,

with lies;

To please the fools, and puzzle all the wise.
Succeeding times did equal folly call,
Believing nothing, or believing all.
Th' Egyptian rites the Jebusites embrac'd;
Where gods were recommended by their taste.
Such savoury deities must needs be good,
As serv'd at once for worship and for food.
By force they could not introduce these gods;
For ten to one in former days was odds;
So fraud was us'd the sacrificer's trade:
Fools are more hard to conquer than persuade.
Their busy teachers mingled with the Jews,
And rak'd for converts ev'n the court and
stews:

Which Hebrew priests the more unkindly took,||
Because the fleece accompanies the flock.
Some thought they God's auointed meant to
slay

By guns, invented since full many a day :
Our author swears it not; but who can know
How far the devil and Jebusites may go?
This plot, which fail'd for want of common
scuse,

Had yet a deep and dangerous consequence:
For as, wheu raging fevers boil the blood;
The standing lake soon floats into a flood,
And every hostile humour, which before
Slept quiet in its channels, bubbles o'er ;
So several factions from this first ferment,
Work up to foam, and threat the government.
Some by their friends, more by themselves
thought wise,

Else why should he, with wealth and honour

blest,

Refuse his age the needful hours of rest?
Punish a body which he could not please;
Bankrupt of life, yet prodigal of esse
And all to leave what with his toil he won
To that unfeather'd two.legg'd thing, a son;
Got while his soul did huddled notions try;
And born a shapeless lump, like anarchy.
In friendship false, implacable in bate;
Rosolv'd to ruin or to rule the state.
To compass this the triple bond he broke;
The pillars of the public safety shook;
And fitted Israel for a foreign yoke :
Then, seiz'd with fear, yet still affecting fame,
Usurp'd a patriot's all-atoning name.
So easy still it proves, in factious times,
With public zeal to cancel private crimes.
How safe is treason, and how sacred ill,
Where none can sin against the people's will!
Where crowds can wink, and no offence be
kuown,

Since in another's guilt they find their own!
Yet fame deserv'd no enemy can grudge:
The statesman we abhor, but praise the judge.
In Israel's courts ne'er sat an Abethdin
With more discerning eyes, or hauds more
clean,

Unbrib'd, unsought, the wretched to redress,
Swift of dispatch, and easy of access.
Oh! had he been content to serve the crown
With virtues only proper to the gown;
Or had the rankness of the soil been free'd

rise.

Some had in courts been great; and thrown from thence

Like fiends, were harden'd in impenitence. Some, by their monarch's fatal mercy, grown From pardon'd rebels kinsmen to the throne,

David for him his tuneful harp had strung,
And heaven had wanted one immortal song.
But wild ambition loves to slide not stand:
And fortune's ice prefers to virtue's land.
Achitophel, grown weary to possess
A lawful fame, and lazy happiness,

Th' ambitious youth, too covetous of fame, Too full of angel's metal in his frame, Unwarily was led from virtue's ways,

praise..

Half loath, and half consenting to the ill,
For royal blood within him struggled still,
He thus replied:-And what pretence have I
To take up arms for public liberty?

My father goverus with unquestion'd right;
The faith's defender, and mankind's delight:
Good, gracious, just, observant of the laws;
And Heaven by wonders has espous'd his cause.
Whom has he wrong'd in all his peaceful reign?
Who sues for justice to his throne in vain?
What millions has he pardou'd of his foes,
Whom just revenge did to his wrath expose!
Mild, easy, humble, studious of our good;
Inclin'd to mercy, and averse from blood.
If mildness ill with stubboru Israel suit,
His crime is God's beloved attribute.
What could be gain his people to betray,
Or change his right for arbitrary sway?
Let haughty Pharaoh curse with such a reign
His fruitful Nile, and yoke a servile train.
If David's rule Jerusalem displease,
The dog-star heats their brains to this disease.
Why theu should 1, encouraging the bad,
Turu rebel, and run popularly mad?
Were he the tyrant, who by lawless might
Oppress'd the Jews, and rais'd the Jebusite,
Well might I mourn; but nature's holy bands
Would curb my spirits, and restrain my hands:
The people might assert their liberty;

I find, I find my mounting spirits bold,
And David's part disdains my mother's mould.
Why am I scanted by a niggard birth?
My soul disclaims the kindred of her earth;
And, made for empire, whispers me within,
Desire of greatness is a godlike sin.
Him staggering so when hell's dire agent found,
While fainting virtue scarce maintain'd her
ground,

He pours fresh forces in, and thus replies:
Th' eternal God, supremely good and wise,
Imparts not these prodigious gifts in vain :
What wonders are reserv'd, to bless your reign!
Against your will your arguments have shewn,
Such virtue's only giv'n to guide a throne.
Not that your father's mildness I contemn;
But manly force becomes the diadem.

'Tis true, he grants the people all they crave; And more perhaps than subjects ought to bave:

For lavish grants suppose a monarch tame, And more his goodness than bis wit proclaim. But when should people strive their bonds to

break,

If not when kings are negligent or weak?
Let him give on till he can give no more,
The thrifty sanhedrim shall keep him poor;
And ev'ry shekel which he can receive
Shall cost a limb of his prerogative.
To ply him with new plots shall be my care,

me.

His favour leaves me nothing to require,
Prevents my wishes, and outruns desire;
What more can I expect while David lives?
All but his kingly diadem he gives:

And that-but here he paus'd; then, sighing, said

Is justly destin'd for a worthier head.
For when my father from his toils shall rest,
And late augment the number of the blest,
His lawful issue shall the throne ascend,
Or the collateral line, where that shall end.
His brother, though oppress'd with vulgar
spite,

Yet dauntless, and secure of native right,
Of ev'ry royal virtue stands possest;
Still dear to all the bravest and the best.
His courage foes, his friends his truth pro-
claim,

His loyalty the king, the world his fame.
His mercy e'en th' offending crowd will find;
For sure he comes of a forgiving kind.
Why should I then repine at Heaven's decree,
Which gives me no pretence to royalty?

Which when his treasure can no more sup

ply,

He must, with the remains of kingship, buy.
His faithful friends, our jealousies and fears
Call Jebusites, and Pharaoh's pensioners;
Whom when our fury from his aid has torn,
He shall be naked left to public scorn.
The next successor, whom I fear and hate,
My arts have made obnoxious to the state;
Turn'd all his virtues fo his overthrow,
And gain'd our elders to pronounce a foe.
His right, for sums of necessary gold,
Shall first be pawn'd, and afterwards be sold;
Till time shall ever-wanting David draw
To pass your doubtful title into law:
If not, the people have a right supreme
To make their kings; for kings are made for
them.

All empire is no more than pow'r in trust,
Which, when resum'd, can be no longer just.
Succession, for the general good design'd,
In its own wrong a nation cannot bind;
If alt'ring that the people can relieve,
Better one suffer than a nation grieve.