Whose peace one sole expedient could create,
Which yet the extremest virtue did require,
E'en of that prince whose downfall they conspire!
His absence David does with tears advise
Undaunted he complies. Thus he, who, prodigal of blood and ease, A royal life expos'd to winds and seas, At once contending with the waves and fire, And heading danger in the wars of Tyre, Inglorious now forsakes his native sand, And like an exile quits the promis'd land! Our monarch scarce from pressing tears refrains, And painfully his royal state maintains, Who now embracing on the extremest shore Almost revokes what he enjoin'd before: Concludes at last more trust to be allow'd
To storms and seas than to the raging crowd! 605
Forbear, rash muse, the parting scene to draw,
With silence charm'd as deep as theirs that saw !
Not only our attending nobles weep,
But hardy sailors swell with tears the deep!
The tide restrain'd her course, and, more amaz'd,
The twin-stars on the royal brothers gaz’d:
Does trouble to our suffering hero bring,
Lest next the popular rage oppress the king!
V. 592. His absence David does with tears advise] This alludes to the Duke of York's quitting the court, and retiring to Brussels, and afterwards to Scotland. D.
Thus parting, each for the other's danger griev'd,
The shore the king, and seas the prince receiv'd.
Go, injur❜d hero, while propitious gales,
Soft as thy consort's breath, inspire thy sails;
Well may she trust her beauties on a flood,
Where thy triumphant fleets so oft have rode! 620
Safe on thy breast reclin'd, her rest be deep,
Rock'd like a Nereid by the waves asleep;
While happiest dreams her fancy entertain,
And to Elysian fields convert the main !
Go, injur'd hero, while the shores of Tyre
At thy approach so silent shall admire,
Who on thy thunder still their thoughts employ,
And greet thy landing with a trembling joy.
On heroes thus the prophet's fate was thrown, Admir'd by every nation but their own; Yet while our factious Jews his worth deny, Their aching conscience gives their tongue the lie. E'en in the worst of men the noblest parts Confess him, and he triumphs in their hearts, Whom to his king the best respects commend 635 Of subject, soldier, kinsman, prince, and friend; All sacred names of most divine esteem, And to perfection all sustain'd by him, Wise, just, and constant, courtly without art, Swift to discern and to reward desert; No hour of his in fruitless ease destroy'd, But on the noblest subjects still employ'd; Whose steady soul ne'er learnt to separate Between his monarch's interest and the state,
But heaps those blessings on the royal head, 645 Which he well knows must be on subjects shed.
On what pretence could then the vulgar rage Against his worth and native rights engage? Religious fears their argument are made, Religious fears his sacred rights invade! Of future superstition they complain, And Jebusitic worship in his reign: With such alarms his foes the crowd deceive, With dangers fright which not themselves believe. Since nothing can our sacred rites remove, Whate'er the faith of the successor 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 conscience, but their lands; They grudge God's tythes, how therefore shall they yield
An idol full possession of the field?
Grant such a prince enthron'd, we must confess
The people's sufferings than that monarch's less,
Who must to hard conditions still be bound,
And for his quiet with the crowd compound;
Or should his thoughts to tyranny incline,
Where are the means to compass the design?
Our crown's revenues are too short a store,
And jealous Sanhedrims would give no more. 670
As vain our fears of Egypt's potent aid.
Not so has Pharaoh learnt ambition's trade,
Nor ever with such measures can comply,
As shock the common rules of policy;
None dread like him the growth of Israel's king,
And he alone sufficient aids can bring;
Who knows that prince to Egypt can give law,
That on our stubborn tribes his yoke could draw ;
At such profound expense he has not stood,
Nor dy'd for this his hands so deep in blood;
Would ne'er through wrong and right his progress
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 conquests cheaply to despoil, 685
And reap the harvest of his crimes and toil.
We grant his wealth vast as our ocean's sand,
And curse its fatal influence on our land,
Which our brib'd Jews so numerously partake,
That e'en an host his pensioners would make; 690
From these deceivers our divisions spring,
Our weakness, and the growth of Egypt's king;
These with pretended friendship to the state,
Our crowd's suspicion of their prince create,
Both pleas'd and frighten'd with the specious cry,
To guard their sacred rites and property.
To ruin, thus the chosen flock are sold,
While wolves are ta’en for guardians of the fold;
Seduc'd by these 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 reasoning prophets preach
To those whom sad experience ne'er could teach,
Who can commence new broils in bleeding scars,
And fresh remembrance of intestine wars;
When the same household mortal foes did yield,
And brothers stain'd with brothers' blood the field;
When sons' curst steel the fathers' gore did stain,
And mothers mourn'd for sons by fathers slain!
When thick as Egypt's locusts on the sand,
Our tribes lay slaughter'd thro' the promis'd land,
Whose few survivors with worse fate remain,
To drag the bondage of a tyrant's reign:
Which scene of woes, unknowing, we renew,
And madly, even those ills we fear, pursue;
While Pharaoh laughs at our domestic broils,
And safely crowds his tents with nations' spoils.
Yet our fierce Sanhedrim in restless rage,
Against our absent hero still engage,
And chiefly urge, such did their frenzy prove,
The only suit their prince forbids to move,
Which till obtain'd they cease affairs of state,
And real dangers wave for groundless hate.
Long David's patience waits relief to bring,
With all the indulgence of a lawful king,
Expecting till the troubled waves would cease,
But found the raging billows still increase.
The crowd, whose insolence forbearance swells,
While he forgives too far, almost rebels.
At last his deep resentments silence broke,
Th' imperial palace shook, while thus he spoke :
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