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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 frankincense ascends to Baal.
To each new harlot I new altars dress ;

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And ferve her god, whose person I caress.

Where the high majefty of David's throne,

Where, my deluded fenfe, was Reason flown,

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,
Beaftly 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 shade
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?

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Through these fad fhades, this chaos in my foul, 925

Some feeds of light at length began to roll.

The

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 disgrace.
The father, whilst he warn'd his erring fon
The fad examples which he ought to fhun,
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.

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O'er Judah's King ten thousand tyrants reign;

Legions of luft, and various powers of ill,

Infult the master's tributary will :

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And he, from whom the nations fhould receive

Juftice and freedom, lies himself a flave,

Tortur'd by cruel change of wild defires,

Lafh'd by mad rage, and scorch'd by brutal fires.
O Reason once again to thee I call;
Accept my forrow, and retrieve my fall.

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Wisdom,

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 restless Paffion by rebellious fway
Compels the weak ufurper to obey.

O troubled, weak, and coward, as thou art;

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Without thy poor advice, the labouring heart

To worse extremes with swifter steps would run,

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Not fav'd by virtue, yet by vice undone.

Oft' have I faid, the praise of doing well
Is to the ear, as ointment to the smell.
Now, if fome flies perchance, however small,
Into the alabaster urn should fall,

The odours of the fweets inclos'd would die,

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And stench corrupt (fad change!) their place fupply.

So the leaft faults, if mix'd with fairest deed,

Of future ill become the fatal feed;

Into the balm of pureft virtue cast,
Annoy all life with one contagious blast.

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Loft Solomon! pursue this thought no more;

Of thy paft errors recollect the store;

And filent weep, that, while the deathless Mufe
Shall fing the juft, fhall o'er their heads diffuse
Perfumes with lavish hand; the fhall proclaim
Thy crimes alone, and, to thy evil fame
Impartial, fcatter damps and poifons on thy name.
Awaking therefore, as who long had dream'd,
Much of my women and their gods asham'd;

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From this abyfs of exemplary vice

Resolv'd, as time might aid my thought, to rife;
Again I bid the mournful goddess write

The fond purfuit of fugitive delight;

Bid her exalt her melancholy wing,

And, rais'd from earth, and fav'd from paffion, fing

Of human hope by cross event destroy'd,

Of useless wealth and greatness unenjoy'd,

Of luft and love, with their fantastic train,

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Their wishes, fmiles, and looks, deceitful all, and vain.

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TEXTS CHIEFLY ALLUDED TO IN BOOK III.

"Or ever the filver cord be loofed, or the golden bow! "be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, "or the wheel broken at the ciftern." Eccl. xii. 6. "The fun arifeth, and the fun goeth down, and hafteth "to his place where he arose," Ch. i. 5.

"The wind goeth towards the south, and turneth about "unto the north. It whirleth about continually;

"and the wind returneth again, according to his cir"cuit." Ver. 6.

"All the rivers run into the fea: yet the fea is not full. "Unto the place from whence the rivers come, thi

"ther they return again." Ver. 7.

"Then fhall the duft return to the earth, as it was: and "the fpirit fhall return unto GOD who gave it."

Ch. xii. 7.

"Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the "fire came down from Heaven, and confumed the "burnt-offering, and the facrifices; and the glory of "the LORD filled the houfe." 2 Chron. vii. 1.

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By the rivers of Babylon, there we fat down; yea we wept, when we remembered Sion," &c. Pfalm cxxxvii. 1.

"I faid of laughter, it is mad; and of mirth, what "doth it?" Ecc ef. ii. 2.

"No man can find out the work that God maketh, "from the beginning to the end." Ch. iii. 11. "Whatsoever GOD doeth, it fhall be for ever; nothing

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can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and GOD "doeth it, that men fhould fear before him." Ver. 14. "Let us hear the conclufion of the whole matter; fear "GOD, and keep his commandments; for this is the "whole duty of man.” Ch. xii. 13.

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