God were not fafe, his thunder could they fhun; 215 He should be forc'd to crown another fon.
Thus when the heir was from the vineyard thrown, The rich poffeffion was the mard'rers' own.
In vain to sophistry they have recourfe;
By proving theirs no plot, they prove 'tis worse,
Unmask'd rebellion, and audacious force;221.
Which tho' not actual, yet all eyes may fee
'Tis working, in th' immediate power to be;
For from pretended grievances they rife,
First to dislike, and after to defpife,
Then, Cyclop-like, in human Adhi to deal, la lu
Chop up a minister at every meat, amely
Perhaps not wholly to melt down the King,
But clip his regal rights within the ring;
From thence t' affume the pow'r of peace and war,
And eafe him, by degrees, of public care :
Yet, to confult his dignity and fame, ';
He should have leave to exercife the name,
Andhold the cards, whileCommonsplay'dthegame.
For what can pow'r give more than food and drink,
To live at eafe, and not be bound to think?
These are the cooler methods of their crime,
But their hot zealots think 'tis lofs of time;
On utmost bounds of loyalty they stand,
And grin and whet like a Croatian band,
That waits impatient for the laft command.
Thus outlaws open villany maintain;
They steal not, but in squadrons fcour the plain;
And if their pow'r the paffengers fubdue,
The most have right, the wrong is in the few.
Such impious axioms foolishly they fhow,
For in fome foils republics will not grow;
Our temp'rate ifle will no extremes sustain
Of pop'lar fway or arbitrary reign,
But flides between them both into the beft,
Secure in freedom, in a monarch bleft:
And tho' the climate, vex'd with various winds,
Works thro' our yielding bodies on our minds,
The wholesome tempeft purges what it breeds,
To recommend the calmness that succeeds.
But thou, the pander of the people's hearts,
O crooked foul, and serpentine in arts!
Whose blandishments a loyal land have whor'd,
And broke the bonds the plighted to her lord;
What curfes on thy blafted name will fall!
Which age to age their legacy fhall call ?
For all muft curfe the woes that must descend on all.
Religion thou haft none; thy Mercury
Haft past thro' ev'ry fect, or theirs thro' thee;
But what thou giv'st, that venom still remains, 265 And the pox'd nation feels thee in their brains. What else inspires the tongues and swells the breasts Of all thy bellowing renegado priefts,
That preach up thee for God, difpenfe thy laws,
And with thy ftum ferment their fainting cause; 270
Fresh fumes of madness raise, and toil and fweat
To make the formidable cripple great?
Yet should thy crimes succeed, should lawless pow'r
Compass those ends thy greedy hopes devour,
Thy canting friends thy mortal foes would be; 275
Thy god and theirs will never long agree;
For thine (if thou hast any) must be one
That lets the world and human-kind alone;
A jolly god, that paffes hours too well
To promise heav'n, or threaten us with hell; 'That unconcern'd can at rebellion fit,
And wink at crimes he did himself commit.
A tyrant theirs; the heav'n their priesthood paints A conventicle of gloomy fullen faints;
A heav'n, like Bedlam, flovenly and fad,
Foredoom'd for fouls with false religion mad.
Without a vision poets can foreshow
What all but fools by common fense may know.
If true fucceffion from our ifle should fail,
And crowds profane with impious arms prevail, 290
Not thou, nor thofe thy faftious arts engage,
Shall reap that harvest of rebellious rage,
With which thou flatter'ft thy decrepit age.
The fwelling poison of the fev'ral fects,
Which, wanting vent, the nation's health infects,
Shall burst its bag; and, fighting out their way,
The various venoms on each other prey.
The Presbyter, pust up with sp’ritual pride,
Shall on the necks of the lewd nobles ride,
His brethren damn, the Civil pow'r defy,
And parcel out republic Prelacy :
But short shall be his reign; his rigid yoke
And tyrant pow'r will puny fects provoke,
And frogs and toads, and all the tadpole train, 3C4
WillcroaktoHeav'n for helpfrom thisdevouring crane.
The cut-throat Sword and clam'rous Gown shall jar
In fharing their ill-gotten spoils of war:
Chiefs fhall be grudg'd the part which they pretend,
Lords envy lords, and friends with ev'ry friend
About their impious merit fhall contend.
The furly Commons shall refpe&t deny,
And joftle Peerage out with property:
Their Gen'ral either shall his trust betray:
And force the crowd to arbitrary sway,
Or they, fufpecting his ambitious aim,
In hate of kings shall caft anew the frame,
And thrust out Collatine that bore their name.
Thus inborn broils the factions would engage,
Or wars of exil'd heirs, or foreign rage,
Till halting Vengeance overtook our age;
And our wild labours, wearied into rest,
Reclin'd us on a rightful monarch's breast.
-------Pudet haec opprobria vobis
Et dici potuiffe, et non potuiffe refelti.
IN HONOUR OF ST. CECILIA'S DAY.
'Twas at the royal feast, for Persia won
By Philip's warlike fon :
Aloft in awful state
The godlike hero fate
On his imperial throne:
His valiant peers were plac'd around,
Their brows with roses and with myrtles bound,
(So fhould defert in arms be crown'd)
The lovely Thais by his fide
State like a blooming Eastern bride,
In flow'r of youth and beauty's pride.
Happy, happy, happy pair!
"None but the brave,
"None but the brave deferves the fair."
Timotheus, plac'd on high
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