Whether, infpir'd by fome diviner Luft,
His Father got him with a greater Guft;
Or that his confcious Destiny made way,
By manly Beauty to Imperial Sway.
Early in foreign Fields he won Renown,
With Kings and States Ally'd to Ifrael's Crown:
In Peace the thoughts of War he cou'd remove,
And feem'd as he were only born for Love.
What e'er he did, was done with fo much ease,
In him alone, 'twas Natural to please :
His motions all accompany'd with grace;
And Paradife was open'd in his face.
With fecret Joy, indulgent David view'd
His youthful Image in his Son renew'd :
To all his wishes nothing he deny'd ;
And made the Charming Annabel his Bride.
What faults he had (for who from faults is free?)
His Father cou'd not, or he wou'd not fee.
Some warm exceffes, which the Law forbore,
Were conftru'd Youth that purg'd by boiling o'er:
And Amnon's Murther by a fpecious Name,
Was call'd a juft Revenge for injur'd Fame.
Thus prais'd, and lov'd, the noble Youth remain'd,
While David, undisturb'd in Sion reign'd.
But life can never be fincerely bleft:
Heav'n punishes the bad, and proves the best.
The Jews a Headftrong, Moody, Murm'ring race,
As ever try'd th' extent and ftretch of grace;
God's pamper'd People, whom, debauch'd with ease,
No King cou'd govern, nor no God cou'd pleafe ;
(Gods they had try'd of every shape and size,
That God-finiths cou'd produce, or Priefts devife :)
Thefe Adam-wits, too fortunately free,
Began to dream they wanted Liberty,
And when no rule, no precedent was found,
Of Men, by Laws lefs circumfcrib'd and bound;
They led their wild defires to Woods and Caves à
And thought that all but Savages were Slaves.
They who, when Saul was dead, without a blow,
Made foolish Ishbofheth the Crown forego;
Who banisht David did from Hebron bring,
And with a general fhout, proclaim'd him King:
Thofe very Jews, who, at their very best,
Their Humour more than Loyalty expreft,
Now, wondred why, fo long, they had obey'd
An Idol-Monarch which their hands had made:
Thought they might ruin him they cou'd create ;
Or melt him to that Golden Calf, a State.
But these were random bolts: No form'd Defign,
Nor Intereft made the Factious Croud to joyn:
The fober part of Ifrael, free from stain,
Well knew the value of a peaceful Reign;
And, looking backward with a wife afright,
Saw feams of wounds, difhoneft to the fight:
In contemplation of whofe ugly Scars,
They curft the memory of Civil Wars,
The Moderate fort of Men, thus qualify'd,'
Inclin'd the Ballance to the better fide :
And David's mildness manag'd it fo well,
The bad found no occafion to Rebel.
But, when to Sin our byaft Nature leans,
The careful Devil is ftill at hand with means ;
And providently Pimps for ill defires;
The Good Old Caufe reviv'd, a Plot requires.
Plots, true or falfe, are neceffary things,
To raife up Common-wealths, and ruin Kings.
Th' Inhabitants of Old Jerufalem
Were Jebusites: the Town fo call'd from them;
And their's the Native right----
But when the chofen People grew more ftrong, The rightful Cause at length became the wrong: And every lofs the Men of Jeous bore,
They ftill were thought, God's Enemies the more. Thus, worn and weaken'd, well or ill content, Submit they must to David's Government :
Impoverisht and depriv'd of all Command,
Their Taxes doubled as they loft their Land;
And, what was harder yet to flesh and blood,
Their Gods difgrac'd, and burnt like common wood.
This fet the Heathen Priefthood in a flame;
For Priests of all Religions are the fame.
Of whatfoe'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 honeft Men and wife:
For 'twas their Duty, all the Learned think,
T'espouse his Cause by whom they eat and drink.
From hence began that Plot, the Nation's Curse,
Bad in it felf, but represented worse.
Rais'd in extremes, and in extremes decry'd;
With Oaths affirm'd, with dying Vows deny'd.
Not weigh'd, or winnow'd by the Multitude;
But fwallow'd in the Mafs, unchew'd and crude.
Some Truth there was, but dafht and brew'd with Lies,
To please the Fools, and puzzle all the Wife.
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 fav'ry Deities must needs be good,
As ferv'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 perfwade.
Their bufie Teachers mingled with the Jews;
And rak'd for Converts, even the Court and Stews:
Which Hebrew Priests the more unkindly took,
Because the Fleece accompanies the Flock.
Some thought they God's Anointed meant to flay
By Guns, invented fince full many a day :
Our Author fwears it not, but who can know
How far the Devil and Jebusites may go
This Plot, which fail'd for want of common Sense,
Had yet a deep and dangerous Confequence :
For as when raging Feavers boil the Blood,
The ftanding Lake foon floats into a Flood;
And ev'ry hoftile Humour, which before
Slept quiet in its Chanels, bubbles o'er :
So, feveral Factions, from this firft Ferment,
Work up to Foam, and threat the Government. `
Some by their Friends, more by themselves thought
wife,
Oppos'd the Power, to which they could not 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;
Were rais'd in Pow'r and Publick Office high:
Strong Bands, if Bands ungrateful men cou'd tye.
Of these the falfe Achitophel was firft:
A Name to all fucceeding Ages curft.
For close Designs, and crooked Counsels fit ;
Sagacious, Bold, and Turbulent of Wit:
Restless, unfixt in Principles and Place ;
In Pow'r unpleas'd, impatient of Difgrace.
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;
[high:
Pleas'd with the Danger, when the Waves went
He fought the Storms: But for a Calm unfit,
Would fteer too nigh the Sands, to boast his wit.
Great Wits are fure to madness near ally'd;
And thin Partitions do their Bounds divide ;
Elfe, why should he, with Wealth and Honour bleft,
Refuse his Age the needful Hours of Reft?
Punish a Body which he cou'd not please ;
Bankrupt of Life, yet Prodigal of ease?
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 huddl'd Notions try;
And born a shapeless Lump, like Anarchy.
In Friendship false, implacable in Hate :
Refolv'd to Ruin or to Rule the State.
To compafs this, the Triple Bond he broke:
The Pillars of the Publick Safety shook:
And fitted Ifrael for a Foreign Yoke..
Then, feiz'd with Fear, yet still affecting Fame,
Ufurp'd a Patriot's All-attoning Name.
So eafy ftill it proves in Factious Times,
With publick Zeal to cancel private Crimes:
How fafe is Treafon, and how facred Ill,
Where none can fin against the Peoples Will!
Where Crouds can wink; and no offence be known,
Since in another's Guilt they find their own.
Yet, Fame deferv'd, no Enemy can grudge;
The Statefman we abhor, but praise the Judge.
In Ifrael's Courts ne'er fat an Abbethdin
With more difcerning Eyes, or Hands more clean;
Unbrib'd, unfought, the wretched to redrefs;
Swift of Difpatch, and easy of Accefs.
Oh, had he been content to ferve the Crown,
With Virtues only proper to the Gown;
Or, had the rankness of the Soil been freed
From Cockle, that oppreft the Noble Seed:
David, for him his tuneful Harp had ftrung,
And Heav'n had wanted one Immortal Song.
But wild Ambition loves to flide, not ftand;
And Fortune's Ice prefers to Virtue's Land:
Achitophel, grown weary to poffefs
A lawful Fame, and lazy Happiness;
Difdain'd the Golden Fruit to gather free,
And lent the Croud his Arm to shake the Tree.
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