[25]
A numerous Faction with pretended frights,
In Sanhedrins to plume the Regal Rights.
The true Successor from the Court remov'd:
The Plot, by hireling Witnesses improv'd.
These Ills they saw, and as their Duty bound,
They shew'd the King the danger of the Wound:
That no Concessions from the Throne woud please;
But Lenitives fomented the Disease:
That Absalom, ambitious of the Crown,
Was made the Lure to draw the People down:
That false Achitophel's pernitious Hate,
Had turn'd the Plot to ruine Church and State:
The Council violent, the Rabble worse:
That Shimei taught Jerusalem to Curse.
In Sanhedrins to plume the Regal Rights.
The true Successor from the Court remov'd:
The Plot, by hireling Witnesses improv'd.
These Ills they saw, and as their Duty bound,
They shew'd the King the danger of the Wound:
That no Concessions from the Throne woud please;
But Lenitives fomented the Disease:
That Absalom, ambitious of the Crown,
Was made the Lure to draw the People down:
That false Achitophel's pernitious Hate,
Had turn'd the Plot to ruine Church and State:
The Council violent, the Rabble worse:
That Shimei taught Jerusalem to Curse.
With all these loads of Injuries opprest,
And long revolving in his careful Breast,
Th'event of things; at last his patience tir'd,
Thus from his Royal Throne, by Heav'n inspir'd,
The God-like David spoke; with awful fear
His Train their Maker in their Master hear.
And long revolving in his careful Breast,
Th'event of things; at last his patience tir'd,
Thus from his Royal Throne, by Heav'n inspir'd,
The God-like David spoke; with awful fear
His Train their Maker in their Master hear.
Thus long have I by Native Mercy sway'd,
My Wrongs dissembl'd, my Revenge delay'd:
So willing to forgive th'Offending Age;
So much the Father did the King asswage.
But now so far my Clemency they slight,
Th' Offenders question my Forgiving Right.
That one was made for many, they contend:
But 'tis to Rule, for that's a Monarch's End.
They call my tenderness of Blood, my Fear:
Though Manly tempers can the longest bear.
Yet, since they will divert my Native course,
'Tis time to shew I am not Good by Force.
Those heap'd Affronts that haughty Subjects bring,
Are burthens for a Camel, not a King:
Kings are the publick Pillars of the State,
Born to sustain and prop the Nations weight:
If my young Sampson will pretend a Call
To shake the Column, let him share the Fall:
My Wrongs dissembl'd, my Revenge delay'd:
So willing to forgive th'Offending Age;
So much the Father did the King asswage.
But now so far my Clemency they slight,
Th' Offenders question my Forgiving Right.
That one was made for many, they contend:
But 'tis to Rule, for that's a Monarch's End.
They call my tenderness of Blood, my Fear:
Though Manly tempers can the longest bear.
Yet, since they will divert my Native course,
'Tis time to shew I am not Good by Force.
Those heap'd Affronts that haughty Subjects bring,
Are burthens for a Camel, not a King:
Kings are the publick Pillars of the State,
Born to sustain and prop the Nations weight:
If my young Sampson will pretend a Call
To shake the Column, let him share the Fall:
But
