She comes! a milk-white steed,
Mixture of Perfia's and Arabia's breed,
Suftains the nymph: her garments flying loofe,
(As the Sydonian maids or Thracian use)
And half her knee and half her breast appear,
By art, like negligence, difclos'd, and bare.
Her left-hand guides the hunting courfer's flight,
A filver bow fhe carries in her right,
And from the golden quiver at her fide,
Ruftles the ebon arrow's feather'd pride;
Saphires and diamonds on her front display
An artificial moon's increasing ray.
Diana, huntrefs, miftrefs of the groves,
The fav'rite Abra speaks, and looks, and moves,
Her, as the prefent goddefs, I obey;
Beneath her feet the captive game I lay:
The mingled Chorus fing Diana's fame ;
Clarions and horns in louder peals proclaim
Her myftick praise; the vocal triumphs bound
Against the hills; the hills reflect the found.
If, tir'd this ev'ning with the hunted woods,
To the large fish-pools or the glaffy floods
Her mind to-morrow points, a thousand hands,
To-night employ'd, obey the king's commands.
Upon the wat❜ry beach an artful pile
Of planks is join'd, and forms a moving ifle;
A golden chariot in the midft is fet,
And filver cygnets feem to feel it's weight.
Abra, bright queen! afcends her gaudy throne,
In femblance of the Grecian Venus known;
Tritons and fea-green Naïads round her move,
And fing in moving ftrains the force of love;'
Whilft, as th' approaching pageant does appear,
And echoing crowds speak mighty Venus near,
I, her adorer, too, devoutly ftand
Fast on the utmost margin of the land,
With arms and hopes extended, to receive
The fancy'd goddefs rifing from the wave.
O fübject Reafon! O imperious Love!
Whither yet farther would my folly rove?
Is it enough that Abra should be great
In the wall'd palace or the rural feat;
That masking habits, and a borrow'd name,
Contrive to hide my plenitude of fhame?
No, no: Jerufalem combin'd must fee
My open fault and regal infamy.
Solemn a month is deftin'd for the feaft:
Abra invites; the nation is the guest!
To have the honour of each day fuftain'd,
The woods are travers'd, and the lakes are drain'd;
Arabia's wilds and Egypt's are explor'd ;
The edible creation decks the board.
Hardly the phoenix 'scapes
The men their lyres, the maids their voices raife,
To fing my happiness and Abra's praise,
And flavish bards our mutal loves rehearse
In lying trains and ignominious verse;
While from the banque: leading forth the bride,
Whom prudent Love from publick eyes fhould hide,
I fhow her to the world, confess'd and known
Queen of my heart, and partner of my throne.
And now her friends and flatt'rers fill the court;
From Dan and from Beersheba they refort;
They barter places and dispose of grants,
Whole provinces unequal to their wants;
They teach her to recede or to debate ;
With toys of love to mix affairs of state;
By practis'd rules her empire to secure,
And in my pleasure make my ruin fure.
They gave, and the transferr'd the curs'd advice,
That monarchs fhould their inward soul disguise,
Diffemble and command, be false and wife;
By ignominious arts, for fervile ends,
Should compliment their foes, and fhun their friends.
And now I leave the true and juft fupports
Of legal princes and of honeft courts;
Barzillai's and the fierce Benaiah's heirs,
Whofe fires, great parners in my father's cares,
Saluted their young king, at Hebron crown'd,
Great by their toil, and glorious by their wound:
And now, unhappy counfel! I prefer
Those whom my follies only made me fear ;
Old Corah's brood and taunting Shimei's race,
Mifcreants! who ow'd their lives to David's grace,
Tho' they had fpurn'd his rule, and curs'd him to his face.
Still Abra's pow'r, my fcandal fill increas'd;
Juftice fubmitted to what Abra pleas'd:
Her will alone could fettle or revoke,
And law was fix'd by what she latest spoke.
Ifrael neglected, Abra was my care;
I only acted, thought, and liv'd for her.
I durft not reafon with my wounded heart :
Abra poffefs'd; the was it's better part.
O had I now review'd the famous caufe
Which gave my righteous youth fo just applaufe
In vain on the diffembled mother's tongue
Had cunning art and fly persuasion hùng,
And real care in vain, and native love,
In the true parent's panting breaft had ftrove,
While both deceiv'd had feen the deftin'd child
Or flain or fav'd, as Abra frown'd or fmil'd.
Unknowing to command, proud to obey,
A lifeless king, a royal fhade I lay.
Unheard, the injur'd orphans now complain
The widows' cries addrefs the throne in vain.
Caufes unjudg'd difgrace the loaded file,
And fleeping laws the king's neglect revile.
No more the elders throng'd around my throne,
To hear my maxims and reform their own:
No more the young nobility were taught
How Mofes govern'd and how David fought.
Loofe and undifciplin❜d the foldier lay,
Or loft in drink and game the folid day;
Porches and schools, defign'd for publick good,
Uncover'd, and with fcaffolds cumber'd ftood,
Or nodded, threat'ning ruin-
Half pillars wanted their expected height,
And roofs imperfect prejudic'd the fight.
The artifts grieve; the lab'ring people droop :
My father's legacy, my country's hope,
God's temples, lie unfinish'd-
The wife and grave deplor'd their monarch's fate,
And future mischiefs of a finking state.
Is this,' the ferious faid, is this the man • Whose active foul thro' ev'ry science ran? Who by just rule and elevated skill,
• Prefcrib'd the dubious bounds of good and ill?
Whofe golden fayings, and immortal wit,
On large phylacteries expreflive writ,
Were to the forehead of the Rabbins ty'd,
'Our youth's inftruction, and our age's pride?
• Could not the wife his wild defires reftrain ?
Then was our hearing, and his preaching vain!
What from his life and letters were we taught,
But that his knowledge aggravates his fault?'
In lighter mood, the hum'rous and the gay,
(As crown'd with roses at their feafts they lay)
Sent the full goblet charg'd with Abra's name,
And charms fuperior to their master's fame.
Laughing, fome praife the king, who let 'em fee
How aptly luxe and empire might agree:
Some glofs'd how Love and Wisdom were at strife,
And brought my Proverbs to confront my life.
However, friend, here's to the king!' one cries.
To him who was the king the friend replies.
The king, for Judah's and for Wisdom's curfe
To Abra yields: could I or thou do worse?
Our loofer lives let Chance or Folly steer,
If thus the prudent and determin'd err.
• Let Dinah bind with flow'rs her flowing hair, • And touch the lute, and found the wanton air Let us the blifs without the fting receive,
< Free as we will, or to enjoy or leave.
• Pleasures on Levity's fmooth furface flow;
Thought brings the weight that finks the foul to woes
Now be this maxim to the king convey'd,
And added to the thousand he has made."
Sadly, O Reafon ! is thy pow'r exprefs'd,
Thou gloomy tyrant of the frighted breast!
And harsh the rules which we from thee receive,
If for our wifdom we our pleasure give,
And more to think be only more to grieve;
If Judah's king, at thy tribunal try'd,
Forfakes his joy to vindicate his pride,
• And, changing forrows, I am only found
< Loos'd from the chains of Love, in thine more strictly bound. But, do I call thee tyrant, or complain
How hard thy laws, how abfolute thy reign?
While thou, alas! art but an empty name,
To no two men, who e'er difcours'd, the fame;
The idle product of a troubled thought,
In borrow'd fhapes and airy colours wrought;
A fancy'd line, and a reflected shade;
• A chain which man to fetter man has made,
By artifice impos'd, by fear obey'd.
Yet, wretched name, or arbitrary thing,
Whence-ever I thy crucl effence bring,
I own thy influence, for I feel thy fting.
Reluctant I perceive thee in my foul,
• Form'd to command, and deftin'd to controul,
Yes, thy infulting dictates fhall be heard;
Virtue for once fhall be her own reward.
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