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Which, if he jumbles to one line of sense,
Indict him of a capital offence.

In fire-works give him leave to vent his spite,
Those are the only serpents he can write;
The height of his ambition is, we know,
But to be master of a puppet-show;
On that one stage his works may yet appear :
And a month's harvest keeps him all the year.
Now stop your noses, readers, all and some,
For here's a turn of midnight-work to come,
Og from a treason-tavern rolling home.
Round as a globe, and liquor'd ev'ry chink,
Goodly and great he sails behind his link;
With all this bulk there's nothing lost in Og;
For every inch that is not fool, is rogue:
A moustrous mass of foul corrupted matter,
As all the devils had spew'd to make the batter.
When wine has given him courage to blaspheme,
He curses God, but God before curs'd him;
And, if man could have reason, none has more,
That made his paunch so rich, and him so poor.
With wealth he was not trusted, for Heaven knew
What 'twas of old to pamper up a Jew;
To what would he on quail and pheasant swell,
That e'en on tripe and carrion could rebel?
But tho' Heaven made him poor, with rev'rence
speaking,

He never was a poet of God's making;

The midwife laid her hand on his thick skull,
With this prophetic blessing-"Be thou dull;
Drink, swear, and roar; forbear no lewd delight
Fit for thy bulk; do any thing but write :
Thou art of lasting make, like thoughtless men;
A strong nativity-but for the pen!
Eat opium, mingle arsenic in thy drink,
Still thou may'st live, avoiding pen and ink:
I see, I see, 'tis counsel given in vain,
For treason botch'd in rhyme will be thy bane:
Rhyme is the rock on which thou art to wreck,
'Tis fatal to thy fame and to thy neck:
Why should thy metre good king David blast?
A psalm of his will surely be thy last.
Dar'st thou presume in verse to meet thy foes,
Thou whom the penny pamphlet foil'd in prose?
Doeg, whom God for mankind's mirth has made,
O'ertops thy talent in thy very trade:
Doeg to thee, thy paintings are so coarse,
A poet is, tho' he's the poet's horse.
A double noose thou on thy neck dost pull
For writing treason, and for writing dull :
To die for faction is a common evil;
But to be hang'd for nonsense is the devil.
Hadst thou the glories of thy king express'd,
Thy praises had been satire at the best;
But thou in clumsy verse, unlick'd, unpointed,
Hast shamefully defied the Lord's anointed:
I will not rake the dunghill of thy crimes,
For who would read thy life that reads thyrhymes?
But of king David's foes be this the doom,
May all be like the young man Absalom!
And for my foes, may this their blessing be,
To talk like Doeg, and to write like thee!
Achitophel each rank, degree, and age,
For various ends neglects not to engage

The wise and rich for purse and council brought,
The fools and beggars for their numbers sought:
Who yet not only on the town depends,
For ev'n in court the faction had its friends;
These thought the places they possess'd too small,
And in their hearts wish'd court and king to fall:
Whose name theMusedisdaining, holds i'th'dark,
Thrust in the villain herd without a mark;
With parasites and libel-spawning imps,
Intriguing fops, dull jesters, and worse pimps.
Disdain the rascal rabble to pursue ;
Their set cabals are yet a viler crew:
See where involv'd in common smoke they sit ;
Some for our mirth, some for our satire fit
These gloomy, thoughtful, and on mischief bent,
While for those mere good fellowship frequent
Th' appointed club, can let sedition pass,
Sense, no sense, any thing, t' employ the glass;
And who believe in their dull honest hearts,
The rest talk treason but to show their parts;
Who ne'er had wit or will for mischief yet,
But pleas'd to be reputed of a set.

But, in the sacred annals of our plot,
Industrious Arad never be forgot:
The labors of this midnight magistrate
May vie with Corah's to preserve the state,
In search of arms he fail'd not to lay hold
On war's most pow'rful, dangerous weapon, gold.
And last, to take from Jebusites all odds,
Their altars pillag'd, stole their very gods.
Oft would he cry, when treasure he surpris'd,
'Tis Baalish gold in David's coin disguis'd:
Which to his house with richer relics came,
While lumber idols only fed the flame:
For our wise rabble ne'er took pains to inquire
What 'twas he burut, so 't made a rousing fire.
With which our elder was enrich'd no more
Than false Gehazi with the Syrian's store;
So poor, that when our choosing tribes were met,
Ev'n for his stinking votes he ran in debt;
For meat the wicked, and, as authors think,
The saints he chous'd for his electing drink;
Thus ev'ry shift and subtle method past,
And all to be no Zaken at the last.

Now, rais'd on Tyre's sad ruins, Pharaoh's
pride

Soar'd high, his legions threat'ning far and wide.
As when a battering storm engender'd high,
By wings upheld, hangs hovering in the sky,
Is gaz'd upon by ev'ry trembling swain;
This for his vineyard fears, and that his grain;
For blooming plants, and flow'rs new opening,

these,

For lambs yean'd lately, and far-laboring bees:
To guard his stock each to the gods does call,
Uncertain where the fire-charg'd clouds will fall.
Ev'n so the doubtful nations watch his armis,
With terror each expecting his alarms.
Where, Judah, where was now the lion's roar,
Thou only could'st the captive lands restore :
But thou, with inbred broils and faction prest,
From Egypt need'st a guardian with the rest.
Thy prince from sanhedrims no trust allow'd,
Too much the representers of the crowd,
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Who for their own defence give no supply,
But what the crown's prerogative must buy:
As if their monarch's right to violate
More needful were, than to preserve the state!
From present 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 sentence, and ere crown'd depose,
Religion the pretence, but their decree

To bar his reign, whate'er his faith may be!
By sanhedrimis and clam'rous crowds thus prest,
What passions rent the righteous David's breast!
Who knows not how t' oppose or to comply,
Unjust to grant, and dang'rous to deny!
How near in this dark juncture Israel's fate,
Whose peace one sole expedient could create,
Which yet th' extremest virtue did require,
Ev'nofthat prince whose downfall they conspire!
His absence David does with tears advise
T'appease their rage: 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!
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:
While this sole fear-

Does trouble to our suffering hero bring,
Lest next the popular rage oppress the king!
Thus parting, cach for th' 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 soft have rode!
Safe on thy breast reclin'd her rest be deep,
Rock'd like a Nereid by 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 is thrown,
Admir'd by ev'ry nation but their own;
Yet while our factious Jews his worth deny,
Their aching conscience gives their tongue the

lie.

Ev'n in the worst of men the noblest parts
Confess him, and he triumphs in their hearts,
Who to his king the best respects commend
Of subject, soldier, kinsman, prince, and friend.

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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 int'rest and the state;
But heaps those blessings on the royal head,
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 arguments 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 themselvesbelieve.
Since nothing can our sacred rights 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 commande
Not only claim'd their conscience, but their lands;
Theygrudg'dGod's tithes, how therefore shall they
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.
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 priuce to Egypt can give law;
That on our stubborn tribes his yoke could draw,
At such profound expence he has not stood,
Nordyed for this his hands so deep in blood; [take,
Would ne'er thro' wrong and right his progress
Grudge his own rest, and keep the world awake,
To fix a lawless prince on Juda's throne,
First to invade our rights, and then his own:
His dear-gain'd conquests cheaply to despoil,
And reap the harvests 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 num'rously partake,
That ev'n an host his pensioners would make ;
From these deceivers our divisions spring,
Our weakness, and the growth of Egypt's king;
These, with pretended friendship to the state,
Our crowds suspicion of their prince create;
Both pleas'd and frighten'd with the specious cry,
To guard their sacred rights 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

Thus our forefathers' crooked paths are trod;
We trust our prince no more than they theirGod.
But all in vain our reas'ning prophets preach
To those whom sad experience ne er could teach,
Who can commence new broils inbleeding scars,
And fresh remembrance of intestine wars ;
When the same household mortal foes did yield,
And brothers stain'dwith brothers' blood the field,
When sons'enrst 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 reinain,
To drag the bondage of a tyrant's reign:
Which scene of woes, unknowing, we renew,
And madly, ev'n 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 phrenzy 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 th' 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 resentiment silence broke,
Th' imperial palace shook while thus he spoke:
Then Justice wake, and Rigor take her time,
For, lo! our merey is become our crime.
While halting Punishment her stroke delays,
Our soy reign right, heaven's sacred trust, decays!
For whose support ev'n subjects' interest calls,
Woe to that kingdom where the monarch falls!
That prince who yields the least of regal sway;
So far his people's freedom does betray.
Right lives by law, and law subsists by pow'r;
Disarm the shepherd, wolves the flock devour.
Hard lot of empire o'er a stubborn race,
Which Heaven itself in vain has tried with grace!
Whenwillour reason'slong-charm'd eyes unclose,
And Israel judge between her friends and foes?
When shall we see expired deceivers sway,
And credit what our God and monarchs say?
Dissembled patriots, brib'd with Egypt's gold,
Ev'n sanhedrims in blind obedience hold;
Those patriots falsehood in their actions see,
And judge by the pernicious fruit the tree;
If aught for which so loudly they declaim,
Religion, laws, and freedom, were their aim;
Our senates in due methods they had led,
Tavoid those mischiefs whichtheyseem'dtodread,
But first ere yet they propp'd the sinking state,
Timpeach and charge, as urg'd by private hate;
Proves that theyne'er beliey'dthe fearstheypress'd,
But barb'rously destroy'd the nation's rest!
O! whither will ungovern'd senates drive,
And to what bounds licentious votes arrive? .
When their injustice we are press'd to share,
The monarch urg'd t' exclude the lawful heir;

Are princes thus distinguish'd from the crowd,
And this the privilege of royal blood?
But grant we shouldconfirm the wrongstheypress,
His sufferings yet were than the people's less;
Condeinn'd forlife the murdering sword to wield,
And on their heirs entail a bloody field:
Thus madly their own freedom they betray,
And for th'oppression which they fear make way;
Succession fix'd by Heaven, the kingdom's bar,
Which once dissolv'd admits the flood of war:
Waste, rapine, spoil, without, th' assault begin;
And our mad tribes supplant the fence within.
Since then their good they will not understand,
'Tis time to take the monarch's pow'r in hand;
Authority and force to join with skill,
And save the lunatics against their will.
The same rough means that 'suage the crowd,
appease

Our senates raging with the crowd's disease.
Henceforth unbiass'd measures let them draw
From no false gloss, but genuine text of law;
Nor urge those crimes upon religion's score,
Themselves so much in Jebusites abhor.
Whom laws convict, and only they, shall bleed;
Nor Pharisees by Pharisees be freed.
Impartial justice from our throne shall show'r;
All shall have right, and we our sov'reign pow'r.

He said: th' attendants heard with awful joy,
And glad presages their fix'd thoughts employ;
From Hebron now the suffering heir return'd,
A realm that long with civil discord mourn'd;
Till his approach, like some arriving God,
Compos'd and heal'd the place of his abode ;
The deluge check'd that to Jucea spread,
And stopp'd sedition at the fountain's head.
Thus in forgiving David's paths he drives,
And, chas'd from Israel, Israel's peace contrives.
The field confess'd his pow'r in arms before,
And seas proclaim'd his triumphs to the shore;
As nobly has his sway in Hebron shown,
How fit t' inherit godlike David's throne.
Through Sion's streets his glad arrival's spread,
And conscious faction shrinks her smaky head
His train their sufferings think o'erpaid, to see
The crowd's applause with virtue once agree.
Success charms all, but zeal for worth distrest
A virtue proper to the brave and best;
'Mongst whom wasJothran, Jothran always bent
To serve the crown, and loyal by descent;
Whose constancy so firm, and conduct just,
Deserv'd at once two royal master's trust;
Who Tyre's proud arms had manfully withstood
On seas, and gather'd laurels from the flood;
Of learning yet no portion was denied,
Friend to the Muses, and the Muses' pride.
Nor can Benaiah's worth forgotten lie,
Of steady soul when public storms were high;
Whoseconduct, whilethe Moorfierce onsetsmade,
Secur'd at once our honor and our trade.
Such were the chiefs who most his sufferings
mourn'd,

And view'd with silent joy the prince return'd ;
While those that sought his absence to betray,
Press first their nauseous false respects to pay;

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Him still th' officious hypocrites molest,
And with malicious duty break his rest.

A prince so form'd with earth's and heaven applause

While real transports thus his friends employ,
And foes are loud in their dissembled joy,
His triumphs, so resounded far and near,
Miss'd not his young ambitious rival's ear;
And as when joyful hunter's clam'rous train
Some slumb'ring lion wakes in Moab's plain,
Who oft had forc'd the bold assailants yield,
And scatter'd his pursuers through the field,
Disdaining, furls his main and tears the ground,The pitied youth, with sceptres in his sight,

To triumph o'er crown'd heads in David's cause:
Or, grant him victor, still his hopes must fail,
Who conquering would not for himself prevail;
The faction whom he trusts 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,

His eyes inflaming all the desert round,
With roar of seas directs his chasers' way,
Provokes from far, and dares them to the fray:
Such rage storm'd now in Absalom's fair breast,
Such indignation his fir'd eyes confess'd ;
Where now was the instructor of his pride?
Slept the old pilot in so rough a tide ?
Whose wiles had from the happy shore betray'd,
And thus on shelves the credulous youthconvey'd.
In deep revolving thought he weighs his state,
Secure of craft, nor doubts to baffle fate:
At least, if his storm'd bark should go adrift,
To baulk his charge, and for himself to shift,
In which his dext'rous wit had oft been shown,
And in the wreck of kingdoms sav'd his own.
But now, with more than common danger prest,
Of various resolutions stands possest,
Perceives the crowd's unstable zeal decay,
Lest their recanting chief the cause betray:
Who on a father's grace his hopes may ground,
And for his pardon with their heads compound.
Him therefore, ere his fortune slip her time,
The statesman plots t' engage in some bold crime.
Past pardon, whether to attempt his bed,
Or threat with open arms the royal head,
Or other daring inethod, and unjust,
That may confirm him in the people's trust.
But failing thus t' ensnare him, nor secure
How long his foil'd ambition may endure,
Plots next to lay him by, as past his date,
And try some new pretender's luckier fate;
Whose hopes with equal toil he would pursue,
Nor cares what claimer's crown'd except the true.
Wake, Absalom, approaching ruin shun,
And see, oh see, for whom thou art undone !
How are thy honors and thy faine betray'd,
The property of desperate villain's made!
Lost pow'r and conscious fear their crimes create,
And guilt in them was little less than fate:
But why should'st thou, from ev'ry grievance
free,

Forsake thy vineyards for their stormy sea?
For thee did Canaan's milk and honey flow;
Love dress'd thy bow'rs, and laurels sought thy

brow;
Preferment, wealth, and pow'r, thy vassals were,
And of a monarch all things but the care.
Oh should our crimes again that curse draw down,
And rebel-arms once more attempt the crown,
Sure ruin waits unhappy Absalom,
Alike by conquest or defeat undone;
Who could relentless see such youth and charms
Expire with wretched fate in impious arms?

So have their cruel politics decreed,

Must, by that crew that made him guilty bleed!
For could their pride brook any prince's sway,
Whom but mild David would they choos t'obey?
Who once at such a gentle reign repine,
The fall of monarchy itself design;
From hate to that their reformations spring,
And David not the grievance, but the king.
Seis'd now with panic fear the faction lies,
Lest this clear truth strike Absalom's charm'd
eyes,

Lest he perceive, from long enchantment free,
What all beside the flatter'd youth must see.
But whate'er doubts his troubled bosom swell,
Fair carriage still became Achitophel;
Who now an envious festival installs,
And to survey their strength the faction calls,
Which fraud, religious worship too must gild;
But oh how weakly does sedition build!
For, lo! the royal mandate issues forth,
Dashing at once their treason, zeal, and mirth!
So have I seen disastrous chance invade,
Where careful emmets had their forage laid,
Whether fierce Vulcan's rage the furzy plain
Had seis'd, engender'd by some careless swain;
Or swelling Neptune lawless inroads made,
And to their cell of store his flood convey'd;
The commonwealth broke up, distracted
And in wild haste their loaded mates o'erthrow
Ev'n so our scatter'd mates confus'dly ineet,
With boil'd, bake, roast, all justling in the street;
Dejecting all, and ruefully dismay'd,
For shekel without treat or treason paid.

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Sedition's dark eclipse now fainter shows,
More bright each hour the royal planet grows,
Of force the clouds of envy to disperse,
In kind conjunction of assisting stars.
Here, lab'ring Muse, those glorious chiefs relate,
That turn'd the doubtful scale of David's fate;
The rest of that illustrious band rehearse,
Immortaliz'd in laurel'd Asaph's verse:
Hard task! yet will not I thy flight recall;
View heaven, and then enjoy thy glorious fall.

First write Bezaliel, whose illustrious name
Forestals our praise, and gives his poet faine.
The Kenites' rocky province his command,
A barren limb of fertile Canaan's land;
Which for its generous natives yet could be
Held worthy such a president as he!
Bezaliel with such grace and virtue fraught,
Serene his looks, serene his life and thought;
On whom so largely nature heap'd her store,
There scarce remain'd for arts to give him more!

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To aid the crown and state his greatest zeal,
His second care that service to conceal :
Of dues observant, firm to ev'ry trust,
And to the needy always more than just :
Who truth from specious falsehood can divide,
Has all the gownsmen's skill without their pride;
Thus crown'd with worth from heights of ho-

nor won,

See all his glories copied in his son,
Whose forward fame should ev'ry Muse engage,
Whose youth boasts skill denied to others age.
Men, manners, language, books of noblest kind,
Already are the conquest of his mind;
Whose loyalty before its date was prime,
Nor waited the dull course of rolling time:
The monster Faction early he dismay'd,
And David's cause long since confess'd his aid.
Brave Abdael o'er the prophet's school was
plac'd;

Abdael with all his father's virtue grac'd ;
A hero, who, while stars look'd wond'ring down,
Without one Hebrew's blood restor'd the crown.
That praise was his; what therefore did remain
For following chiefs, but boldly to maintain
That crown restor'd? and in this rank of fame,
Brave Abdael with the first a place must claim.
Proceed, illustrious, happy chief! proceed,
Foreseise the garlands for thy brow decreed,
While th' inspir'd tribe attend with noblest strain
To register the glories thou shalt gain :
For sure the dew shall Gilboah's hills forsake,
And Jordan mix his stream with Sodom's lake;
Or seas retir'd their secret stores disclose,
And to the sun their scaly brood expose ;
Or swell'd above the cliffs their billows raise,
Before the Muses leave their patron's praise.
Eliab our next labor does invite,
And hard the task to do Eliab right:
Long with the royal wanderer he rov'd,
And firm in all the turns of fortune prov'd!
Such antient service, and desert so large,
Well claim'd the royal household for his charge;
His age with only one mild heiress blest,
In all the bloom of smiling nature drest,
And blest again to see his flow'r allied
To David's stock,and made young Othniel's bride!
The bright restorer of his father's youth,
Devoted to a son's and subject's truth:
Resolv'd to bear that prize of beauty home,
So bravely sought, while sought by Absalom.
Ah prince! th' illustrious planet of thy birth,
And thy more pow'rful virtue, guard thy worth!
That no Achitophel thy ruin boast!

Israel too much in one such wreck has lost.

Een envy must consent to Helon's worth, Whose soul, though Egypt glories in his birth, Could for our captive ark its zeal retain, And Pharaoh's altars in their pomp disdain : To slight his goods was stall, with nobler pride, Hle all th' allurements of his court defied. Whom profit nor example bould betray, Bat Israel's friend, and true to David's sway. What acts of favor in his province fill, On merit he confers, and freely all.

Our list of nobles next let Amri grace, Whose merits claim'd the Abethdin's high place; Who, with a loyalty that did excel, Brought all th' endowments of Achitophel. Sincere was Amri, and not only knew, But Israel's sanctions into practice drew; Our laws, that did a boundless ocean scem, Were coasted all, and fathom'd all by him. No rabbin speaks like him their mystic sense, So just, and with such charms of eloquence: To whom the double blessing does belong, With Moses' inspiration, Aaron's tongue. Than Sheva none more loyal zeal have shown, Wakeful as Judah's lion for the crown, Who for that cause still combats in his age, For which his youth with danger did engage. In vain our factious priests the cant revive; In vain seditious scribes with libel strive Tinflame the crowd; while he with watchful eye Observes, and shoot, their treasons as they fly; Their weekly frauds his keen replies detect; He undeceives more fast than they infect. So Moses, when the pest on legions prey'd, Advanc'd his signal, and the plague was stay'd.

Once more, my fainting Muse,thy pinions try, And strength's exhausted store let love supply. What tribute, Asaph, shall we render thee? We'll crown thee with a wreath from thy own Thy laurel grove no envy's flash can blast: [tree! The song of Asaph shall for ever last. With wonder late posterity shall dwell On Absalom and false Achitophel : Thy strain shall be ourslumb'ringprophet'sdream, And when our Sion virgins sing their theme, Our jubilees shall with thy verse be grac'd; The song of Asaph shall for ever last.

[tame!

How fierce his satire loos'd! restrain'd, how How tender of th' offending young man's fame! How well his worth and brave adventures styl'd! Just to his virtues, to his error mild. No page of thine, that fears the strictest view, But teems with just reproof, or praise as true. Not Eden could a fairer prospect vield; All paradise without one barren field: Whose wit the censure of his foes has past, The song of Asaph shall for ever last.

What praise for such rich strains shall we allow? What just rewards the grateful crown bestow ? While bees in flow'rs rejoice, and flow'rs in dew, While stars and fountains to their course are true; While Judah's throne and Sion's rock stand fast, The song of Asaph and the fame shall last.

Still Hebron's honor'd happy soil retains Our royal hero's beauteous dear remains; Who now sails off with winds nor wishes slack, To bring his suff'rings' bright companion back, But ere such transport can our sense employ, A bitter grief must poison half our joy; Nor can our coasts restor'd those blessings seẻ Without a bribe to envious destiny! Curs'd Sodom's doom for ever fix the tide Where, by inglorious chance, the valiant died ! Give not insulting Askalon to know, Nor let Gath's daughters triumph in our wor!

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