תמונות בעמוד
PDF
ePub

Yes, rebel Ifrael, this unhappy maid
Shall be difmifs'd; the crowd fhall be obey'd;
The king his paffion and his rule shall leave,
No longer Abra's, but the people's flave:
My coward foul fhall bear it's wayward fate;
I will, alas! be wretched to be great,
And figh in royalty, and grieve in ftate.'
I faid, refolv'd to plunge into my grief
At once, fo far as to expect relief
From my defpair alone-

I chose to write the thing I durft not speak
To her I lov'd, to her I must forfake.
The harsh epiftle labour'd much to prove
How inconfiftent majesty and love.

I always fhould (it faid) efteem her well,
But never fee her more: it bid her feel
No future pain for me; but instant wed
A lover more proportion'd to her bed,
And quiet dedicate her remnant life
To the juft duties of an humble wife.

She read, and forth to me fhe wildly ran;

To me, the cafe of all her former pain.
She kneel'd, entreated, ftruggled, threaten'd, cry'd,
And with alternate paffion liv'd and dy'd;
Till now, deny'd the liberty to mourn,
And by rude Fury from my prefence torn,
This only object of my real care
Cut off from hope, abandon'd to despair,
In fome few posting fatal hours is hurl'd

From wealth, from pow'r, from love, and from the world.
'Here tell me, if thou dar'ft, my conscious foul,

• What diff'rent forrows did within thee roll?

What pangs, what fires, what racks, didft thou sustain ? • What fad viciffitudes of fmarting pain?

'How oft from pomp and state did I remove, ! To feed despair, and cherish hopeless love?

}

. How

How oft, all day, recall'd I Abra's charms, Her beauties prefs'd, and panting in my arms? How oft, with fighs, view'd ev'ry female face, • Where mimick 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, purfu'd her in my dreams,
O'er flow'ry vallies and thro' crystal streams;
And, waking, view'd with grief the rifing fun,
And fondly mourn'd the dear delufion gone?'
When thus the gather'd ftorms of wretched love,
In my fwoll'n bofom with long war had ftrove,
At length they broke their bounds; at length their force
Bore down whatever met it's stronger course

Laid all the civil bonds of manhood waste,
And scatter'd ruin as the torrent pass'd.

So from the hills, whofe hollow caves contain
The congregated fnow and fwelling rain,
Till the full ftores their ancient bounds disdain,
Precipitate the furious torrent flows:

In vain would speed avoid or ftrength oppofe;
Towns, forefts, herds, and men, promifcuous drown'd;
With one great death deform the dreary ground;
The echo'd 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,
Thro' crooked paths and fad retreats of ill;
How Judah's daughters now, now foreign flaves,
By turns my proftituted bed receives;

Thro' 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 unjuft.

• O, be these scenes from human eyes conceal'd,

In clouds of decent filence justly veil'd!

}

}

O, be

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
Enough to propagate the fure belief,

be known;

That vice engenders fhame, and folly broods o'er grief."
Bury'd in floth, and lost in case, I lay;

The night I revell'd, and I flept the day.
New heaps of fuel damp'd my kindling fires,
And daily change extinguish'd young defires.
By it's own force destroy'd, fruition ceas'd;
And always weary'd, I was never pleas'd.
No longer, now, does my neglected mind
It's wonted ftores and old ideas find:
Fix'd Judgment there no longer does abide,
To take the true, or fet the false aside.
No longer does fwift Mem'ry 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, e'en in vice.

The women on my dotage build their sway :
They afk, I grant; they threaten, I obey.
In regal garments now I gravely ftride,
Aw'd by the Perfian damfels' 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 dame,
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 carefs.

Where,

Where, my deluded Senfe, 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;
When with the lewd Egyptian I adore
Vain idols, deities that ne'er before

In Ifrael's land had fix'd their dire abodes,
Beaftly divinities, and droves of gods:
Ofiris, Apis, pow'rs that chew the cud;
And dog Anubis, flatt'rer for his food?
When in the woody hills' forbidden fhade
I carv'd the marble, and invok'd it's 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 giv❜n,
Forgot the Arbiter of earth and heav'n?

Thro' these fad fhades, this chaos in my foul,
Some feeds of light at length began to roll :
The rifing motion of an infant ray

Shot glimm'ring thro' 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 subjects 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 disgrace.
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

A mighty king I am, an earthly god;
Nations obey my word, and wait my nod:
I raise or fink, imprifon or fet free ;

⚫ And life or death depends on my decree.

[ocr errors]

Fond the idea, and the thought is vain ;

'O'er Judah's king ten thoufand tyrants reign:
Legions of luft, and various pow'rs of ill,
Infult the mafter's tributary will;

And he from whom the nations should receive
Juftice and freedom, lies himself a flave;
Tortur'd by cruel change of wild defires,

• Lash'd by mad rage, and scorch'd by brutal fires.

[ocr errors]

O Reason! once again to thee I call;

Accept my forrow, and retrieve my fall.

'Wisdom, thou fay'ft, from Heav'n receiv'd her birth,

• Her beams tranfmitted to the fubje& earth:

Yet this great emprefs of the human foul
Does only with imagin'd pow'r controul;
If reftlefs paffion, by rebellious fway,
• Compels the weak ufurper to obey.

' O troubled, weak, and coward, as thou art!

• Without thy poor advice the lab'ring heart
• To worse extremes with swifter fteps 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 fell.
"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 purest virtue cast,

[ocr errors]

Annoy all life with one contagious blast."

Loft Solomon! purfue this thought no more; Of thy paft errors recollect the ftore;

[blocks in formation]
« הקודםהמשך »