His joy conceal'd, he sets himself to show,
On each side bowing popularly low :
His looks, his gestures, and his words he frames,
And with familiar ease repeats their names. 691
Thus form'd by Nature, furnish'd out with arts,
He glides unfelt into their secret hearts :
Then with a kind compassionating look,
And sighs, bespeaking pity ere he spoke,
Few words he said: but easy those and fit,
More slow than Hybla drops, and far more sweet.
I mourn, my Countrymen, your lost estate,
Though far unable to prevent your
Behold a banish'd
man, for your dear cause
Expos'd a prey to arbitrary laws!
Yet, oh! that I alone could be undone,
Cut off from empire, and no more a son!
Now all your liberties a spoil are made,
Egypt and Tyrus intercept your trade,
And Jebusites your sacred rites invade.
My father, whom with rev'rence yet I name,
Charm'd into ease, is careless of his fame,
And, brib'd with petty sums of foreign gold,
Is grown in Bathsheba's embraces old,
Exalts his enemies, his friends destroys,
And all his pow'r against himself employs.
He gives, and let him give, my right away;
But why should he his own and yours betray?
He, only he, can make the nation bleed,
And he alone from my revenge is freed.
Take then my tears, (with that he wip'd his eyes) 'Tis all the aid my present pow'r supplies:
No court-informer can these arms accuse;
These arms may sons against their fathers use; 720
And 'tis my wish the next successor's reign
May make no other Isarelite complain.
Youth, beauty, graceful action, seldom fail;
But common int'rest always will prevail :
And pity never ceases to be shown
To him who makes the people's wrongs
The crowd, that still believe their kings oppress,
With lifted hands their young Messiah bless;
Who now begins his progress to ordain
With chariots, horsemen, and a num'rous train: 730
From east to west his glories he displays,
And, like the sun, the Promis'd land surveys.
Fame runs before him as the morning-star,
And shouts of joy salute him from afar:
Each house receives him as a guardian god,
And consecrates the place of his abode.
But hospitable treats did most commend
Wise Issachar, his wealthy western friend.
This moving court, that caught the people's eyes,
And seem'd but pomp, did other ends disguise:
Achithophel had form'd it with intent
To sound the depths, and fathom where it went
The people's hearts, distinguish friends from foes,
And try their strength before they came to blows.
Yet all was colour'd with a smooth pretence
Of specious love, and duty to their prince.
Religion, and redress of grievances,
Two names that always cheat and always please,
Are often urg'd; and good King David's life
Endanger'd by a brother and a wife.
Thus in a pageant shew a plot is made,
And peace itself is war in masquerade.
Oh foolish Isr'el never warn'd by ill!
Still the same bait, and circumvented still!
Did ever men forsake their present ease,
In midst of health imagine a disease;
Take pains contingent mischiefs to foresee,
Make heirs for monarchs, and for God decree ?
What shall we think ? can people give away,
Both for themselves and sons, their native sway?
Then they are left defenceless to the sword
Of each unbounded arbitrary lord;
And laws are vain, by which we right enjoy,
If kings unquestion'd can those laws destroy.
Yet if the crowd be judge of fit and just,
And kings are only officers in trust,
Then this resuming cov'nant was declar'd
When kings were made, or is for ever barr'd,
If those who gave the sceptre could not tie,
By their own deed, their own posterity,
How then could Adam bind his future race ?
How could his forfeit on mankind take place?
Or how could heav'nly justice damn us all,
Who ne'er consented to our father's fall ?
Then kings are slaves to those whom they command,
And tenants to their people's pleasure stand;
Add, that the pow'r for property allow'd,
Is mischievously seated in the crowd;
For who can be secure of private right,
If sov'reign sway my be dissolv'd by might ? 780
Nor is the people's judgment always true;
The most may err as grossly as the few:
And faultless kings run down by common cry,
For vice, oppression, and for tyranny.
What standard is there in a fickle rout,
Which, flowing to the mark, runs faster out !
Nor only crowds, but sanhedrims may be
Infected with this public lunacy,
And share the madness of rebellious times,
To murder monarchs for imagin'd crimes.
If they may give and take whene'er they please,
Not kings alone, the Godhead's images,
But government itself at length must fall
To Nature's state, where all have right to all.
Yet, grant our lords the People kings can make, 795
What prudent men a settled throne would shake?
For whatsoe'er their suff'rings were before,
That change they covet makes them suffer more.
All other errors but disturb a state,
But innovation is the blow of Fate.
If ancient fabrics nod, and threat to fall,
To patch their flaws and buttress up the wall,
Thus far 'tis duty: but here fix the mark;
For all beyond it is to touch the ark.
To change foundations, cast the frame anew
Is work for rebels, who base ends pursue;
At once divine and human laws control,
And mend the parts by ruin of the whole.
The tamp'ring world is subject to this curse,
To physic their disease into a worse.
Now what relief can righteous David bring?
How fatal 'tis too be too good a king!
Friends he has few, so high the madness grows;
Who dare be such must be the people's foes.
Yet some there were, e'en in the worst of days;
Some let me name, and naming is to praise.
In this short file Barzillai first appears,
Barzillai! crown'd with honour and with years.
Long since the rising rebels he withstood
In regions waste beyond the Jordan's flood;
Unfortunately brave, to buoy the state,
But sinking underneath his master's fate :
In exile with his godlike prince he mourn'd,
For him he suffer'd, and with him return'd.
The Court he practis'd, not the courtier's art,
Large was his wealth, but larger was his heart,
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