How oft', with fighs, view'd ev'ry female face,
Where mimic fancy might her likeness trace ?
How oft' defir'd to fly from Ifrael's throne,
And live in fhades with her and Love alone?
How oft', all night, pursued her in my dreams,
O'er flowery vallies, and through crystal streams ?
And, waking, view'd with grief the rifing fun,
And fondly mourn'd the dear delufion gone?
When thus the gather'd storms of wretched Love, 845 In my fwoln bofom, with long war had strove;
At length they broke their bounds; at length their force
Bore down whatever met its ftronger course;
Laid all the civil bonds of manhood wafte;
And scatter'd ruin as the torrent past..
So from the hills, whofe hollow caves contain
The congregated fnow and fwelling rain,
Till the full ftores their ancient bounds difdain,
Precipitate the furious, torrent flows:
In vain would speed avoid, or strength oppose;
Towns, forefts, herds, and men, promifcuous drown'd,
With one great death deform the dreary ground:
The echoed woes from diftant rocks refound.
And now, what impious ways my wishes took,
How they the monarch and the man forfook ;.
And how I follow'd an abandon'd will,
Through crooked paths, and fad retreats of ill;
How Judah's daughters now, now foreign flaves,
By turns my prostituted bed receives ;
Through tribes of women how I loosely rang'd
Impatient; lik'd to-night, to-morrow chang'd;
And, by the inftinct of capricious luft,
Enjoy'd, difdain'd, was grateful, or unjust :
O, be these scenes from human eyes conceal'd,
In clouds of decent filence juftly veil'd!
O, be the wanton images convey'd
To black oblivion, and eternal shade !
Or let their fad epitome alone,
And outward lines, to future age be known,
Enough to propagate the fure belief,
That vice engenders fhame, and folly broods o'er grief!
Bury'd in floth, and loft in eafe, I lay;
The night I revel'd; and I flept the day.
New heaps of fewel damp'd my kindling fires ;
And daily change extinguifh'd young defires.
By its own force deftroy'd, fruition ceas'd;
And, always weary'd, I was never pleas'd.
No longer now does my neglected mind
Its wonted ftores and old ideas find.
Fix'd judgement there no longer does abide,
To take the true, or fet the false afide.
No longer does swift memory trace the cells,
Where springing wit, or young invention, dwells.
Frequent debauch to habitude prevails;
Patience of toil, and love of virtue, fails.
By fad degrees impair'd, my vigour dies;
Till I command no longer ev'n in vice.
They afk; I grant; they threaten; I obey.
The women on my dotage build their sway;
In regal garments now I gravely stride,
Aw'd by the Perfian damfel's haughty pride:
Now with the loofer Syrian dance and fing,
In robes tuck'd up, opprobrious to the king."
Charm'd by their eyes, their manners I acquire,
And shape my foolishness to their defire,
Seduc'd and aw'd by the Philiftine daine ;
At Dagon's fhrine I kindle impious flame.
With the Chaldean's charms her rites prevail;
And curling frankincenfe afcends to Baal.
To each new harlot I new altars dress ;
And ferve her god, whofe perfon I caress.
Where, my deluded sense, was Reason flown,
Where the high majesty of David's throne,
Where all the maxims of eternal truth,
With which the living GOD inform'd my youth; 910 When with the lewd Egyptian I adore
Vain idols, deities that ne'er before
In Ifrael's land had fix'd their dire abodes,
Beastly divinities, and droves of gods;
Ofiris, Apis, powers that chew the cud,
And dog Anubis, flatterer for his food;
When in the woody hills forbidden fhade
I carv'd the marble, and invok'd its aid;
When in the fens to fnakes and flies, with zeal
Unworthy human thought, I proftrate fell;
To fhrubs and plants my vile devotion paid;
And fet the bearded leek, to which I pray'd;
When to all beings facred rites were given,
Forgot the Arbiter of earth and heaven?
Through these sad shades, this chaos in my foul, 925
Some feeds of light at length began to roll.
The rifing motion of an infant ray
Shot glimmering through the cloud, and promis'd day.
And now, one moment able to reflect,
I found the King abandon'd to neglect,
Seen without awe, and ferv'd without respect.
I found my fubjects amicably join,
To leffen their defects by citing mine.
The priest with pity pray'd for David's race;
And left his text, to dwell on my difgrace.
The father, whilft he warn'd his erring fon
The fad examples which he ought to shun,
Defcrib'd, and only nam'd not, Solomon.
Each bard, each fire, did to his pupil fing,
A wife child better than a foolish King.
Into myself my Reason's eye I turn'd;
And, as I much reflected, much I mourn'd.
A mighty King I am, an earthly God;
Nations obey my word, and wait my nod;
I raise or fink, imprison or fet free ;
And life or death depends on my decree:
Fond the idea, and the thought is vain.
O'er Judah's King ten thousand tyrants reign;
Legions of luft, and various powers of ill,
Infult the mafter's tributary will:
And he, from whom the nations should receive
Juftice and freedom, lies himself a slave,
Tortur'd by cruel change of wild defires,
Lash'd by mad rage, and fcorch'd by brutal fires.
O Reafon once again to thee I call;
Accept my forrow, and retrieve my
VOL. II.
Wisdom, thou fay'ft, from Heaven receiv'd her birth,
Her beams tranfmitted to the fubject earth :
Yet this great emprefs of the human foul
Does only with imagin'd power control;
If reftlefs Paffion by rebellious sway
Compels the weak ufurper to obey.
O troubled, weak, and coward, as thou art;
Without thy poor advice, the labouring heart
To worse extremes with swifter steps would run,
Not fav'd by virtue, yet by vice undone.
Oft' have I said, the praise of doing well
Is to the ear, as ointment to the fmell.
Now, if fome flies perchance, however small,
Into the alabafter urn fhould fall,
The odours of the fweets inclos'd would die,
And stench corrupt (fad change!) their place fupply.
So the leaft faults, if mix'd with faireft deed,
Of future ill become the fatal feed;
Into the balm of pureft virtue caft,
Annoy all life with one contagious blast.
Loft Solomon! pursue this thought no more ;
Of thy paft errors recollect the store;
And filent weep, that, while the deathless Muse
Shall fing the juft, fhall o'er their heads diffuse
Perfumes with lavish hand; she shall proclaim
Thy crimes alone, and, to thy evil fame
Impartial, fcatter damps and poisons on thy name.
Awaking therefore, as who long had dream'd,
Much of my women and their gods asham'd;
|