John Dryden

“ If those who gave the Scepter, coud not tie
By their own Deed their own Posterity,
How then coud Adam bind his future Race?
How coud his Forfeit on Mankind take place?
Or how coud heavenly Justice damn us all,
Who ne'r consented to our Fathers Fall?
Then Kings are Slaves to those whom they command,
And Tenants to their Peoples pleasure stand.
Add, that the Pow'r for Property allow'd,
Is mischievously seated in the Croud:
For who can be secure of private Right,
If Sovereign Sway may be dissolved by Might?
Nor is the Peoples Judgment always true:
The Most may err as grosly as the Few. ”

“ And seem'd but Pomp, did other Ends disguise:
Achitophel had form'd it, with intent
To sound the depths, and fathom where it went,
The Peoples hearts; distinguish Friends from Foes;
And trie their strength, before they came to Blows. ”

“ But, if men are not to be judg'd by their Professions, God forgive you Common-wealths-men, for professing so plausibly for the Government. You cannot be so Unconscionable, as to charge me for not Subscribing of my Name; for that woud reflect too grosly upon your own Party, who never dare; though they have the advantage of a Jury to secure them. If you like not my Poem, the fault may, possibly, be in my Writing: (though 'tis hard for an Author to judge against himself;) But, more probably, 'tis in your Morals, which cannot bear the truth of it. ”

“ Yet if a Poem have a Genius, it will force its own reception in the World. For there's a sweetness in good Verse, which Tickles even while it Hurts: And no man can be heartily angry with him, who pleases him against his will. ”

“ The Sons of Belial had a Glorious Time:
For Shimei, though not prodigal of pelf,
Yet lov'd his wicked Neighbour as himself:
When two or three were gather'd to declaim
Against the Monarch of Jerusalem,
Shimei was always in the midst of them.
And, if they Curst the King when he was by,
Would rather Curse, than break good Company.
If any durst his Factious Friends accuse,
He pack'd a Jury of dissenting Jews:
Whose fellow feeling, in the godly Cause,
Woud free the suffring Saint from Humane Laws.
For Laws are onely made to Punish those
Who serve the King, and to protect his Foes. ”

“ READER.
'TIs not my intention to make an apology for my Poem: Some will think it needs no Excuse; and others will receive none. The Design, I am sure, is honest: but he who draws his Pen for one party, must expect to make enemies of the other. For Wit and Fool are Consequents of Whig and Tory: And every man is a Knave or an Ass to the contrary side. ”

“ Desire of Greatness is a God-like Sin.
Him Staggering so when Hells dire Agent found,
While fainting Vertue scarce maintain'd her Ground,
He pours fresh Forces in, and thus Replies:
Th' Eternal God, Supreamly Good and Wise,
Imparts not these Prodigious Gifts in vain;
What Wonders are Reserv'd to bless your Reign?
Against your will your Arguments have shown,
Such Vertue's only given to guide a Throne.
Not that your Father's Mildness I contemn;
But manly Force becomes the Diadem.
'Tis true, he grants the People all they crave ”

“ Oh Narrow Circle, but of Pow'r Divine,
Scanted in Space, but perfect in thy Line!
By Sea, by Land, thy matchless Worth was known;
Arms thy Delight, and War was all thy Own:
Thy force, infus'd, the fainting Tyrians prop'd:
And haughty Pharaoh found his Fortune stop'd.
Oh Ancient Honour, Oh unconquer'd Hand,
Whom Foes unpunish'd never coud withstand! ”

“ And safe enjoys the Sabbath of his Toils.
⁠These were the chief; a small but faithful Band
Of Worthies, in the Breach who dar'd to stand,
And tempt th'united Fury of the Land.
With grief they view'd such powerful Engines bent,
To batter down the lawful Government. ”

“ Yet oh! that I alone coud be undone,
Cut off from Empire, and no more a Son!
Now all your Liberties a Spoil are made;
Ægypt and Tyrus intercept your Trade,
And Jebusites your Sacred Rites invade.
My Father, whom with Reverence yet I name,
Charm'd into Ease, is careless of his Fame:
And brib'd with petty sums of Foreign Gold,
Is grown in Bathsheba's Embraces old:
Exalts his Enemies, his Friends destroys:
And all his pow'r against himself imploys. ”

“ But, since the most excellent Natures are always the most easie; and, as being such, are the soonest perverted by ill Counsels, especially when baited with Fame and Glory; 'tis no more a wonder that he withstood not the temptation of Achitophel, than it was for Adam not to have resisted the two Devils, the Serpent and the Woman. ”

“ A daring Pilot in extremity;
Pleas'd with the Danger, when the Waves went high
He sought the Storms; but for a Calm unfit,
Would Steer too nigh the Sands, to boast his Wit.
Great Wits are sure to Madness near alli'd;
And thin Partitions do their Bounds divide:
Else, why should he, with Wealth and Honour blest,
Refuse his Age the needful hours of Rest?
Punish a Body which he cou'd not please;
Bankrupt of Life, yet Prodigal of Ease?
And all to leave, what with his Toil he won,
To that unfeather'd, two-legg'd thing, a Son:
Got, while his Soul did huddled Notions try;
And born a shapeless Lump, like Anarchy. ”

“ Were constru'd Youth that purg'd by boiling o're:
And Amnon's Murther, by a specious Name,
Was call'd a Just Revenge for injur'd Fame.
Thus Prais'd, and Lov'd, the Noble Youth remain'd,
While David, undisturb'd, in Sion reign'd.
But Life can never be sincerely blest:
Heav'n punishes the bad, and proves the best.
The Jews, a Head-strong, Moody, Murm'ring race,
As ever tri'd th' extent and stretch of grace;
God's pamper'd People whom, debauch'd with ease,
No King could govern, nor no God could please ”

“ If not; the People have a Right Supreme
To make their Kings; for Kings are made for them.
All Empire is no more than Pow'r in Trust:
Which when resum'd, can be no longer Just.
Succession, for the general Good design'd,
In its own wrong a Nation cannot bind:
If altering that, the People can relieve,
Better one suffer, than a Nation grieve.
The Jews well know their pow'r: e'r Saul they chose,
God was their King, and God they durst Depose. ”

“ God cannot Grant so much as they can Crave.
What then is left but with a Jealous Eye
To guard the Small remains of Royalty?
The Law shall still direct my peaceful Sway,
And the same Law teach Rebels to obey:
Votes shall no more Establish'd Pow'r controul,
Such Votes as make a Part exceed the Whole:
No groundless Clamours shall my Friends remove,
Nor Crouds have pow'r to Punish e'r they Prove:
For Gods, and God-like Kings their Care express,
Still to defend their Servants in distress. ”

“ The tamp'ring World is subject to this Curse,
To Physick their Disease into a Worse.
Now what Relief can Righteous David bring?
How Fatal 'tis to be too good a King!
Friends he has few, so high the madness grows ”

“ Retire and Traverse, and Delude their Force:
But when they stand all Breathless, urge the fight,
And rise upon 'em with redoubled might:
For Lawful Pow'r is still Superiour found,
When long driv'n back, at length it stands the ground. ”

“ Take then my tears (with that he wip'd his Eyes)
'Tis all the Aid my present pow'r supplies:
No Court-Informer can these Arms accuse;
These Arms may Sons against their Fathers use;
And, 'tis my wish, the next Successor's Reign
May make no other Israelite complain.
Youth, Beauty, Graceful Action, seldom fail:
But Common Interest always will prevail:
And pity never Ceases to be shown
To him, who makes the Peoples wrongs his own. ”

“ To conclude all, If the Body Politique have any Analogy to the Natural, in my weak judgment, an Act of Oblivion were as necessary in a Hot, Distemper'd State, as an Opiate woud be in a Raging Feavour. ”

“ ⁠Auspicious Prince! at whose Nativity
Some Royal Planet rul'd the Southern Sky;
Thy longing Countries Darling and Desire;
Their cloudy Pillar, and their guardian Fire:
Their second Moses, whose extended Wand
Divides the Seas, and shews the promis'd Land:
Whose dawning Day, in every distant Age,
Has exercis'd the Sacred Prophets rage:
The Peoples Pray'r, the glad Diviner's Theam,
The Young mens Vision, and the Old mens Dream! ”

“ Of the true Enthusiastick Breed:
'Gainst Form and Order they their Pow'r imploy;
Nothing to Build, and all things to Destroy.
But far more numerous was the Herd of such,
Who think too little, and who talk too much. ”

“ And Peace it self is War in Masquerade. ”

“ The true end of Satyre, is the amendment of Vices by correction. And he who writes Honestly, is no more an Enemy to the Offender, than the Physician to the Patient, when he prescribes harsh Remedies to an inveterate Disease ”

“ His joy conceal'd, he sets himself to show;
On each side bowing popularly low:
His looks, his gestures, and his words he frames,
And with familiar ease repeats their Names. ”

“ Rais'd uр to all the Height his Frame coud bear:
Had God ordain'd his Fate for Empire born,
He woud have giv'n his Soul another turn:
Gull'd with a Patriot's name, whose Modern sense
Is one that woud by Law supplant his Prince:
The Peoples Brave, the Politicians Tool ”

“ Slept quiet in its Channels, bubbles o're:
So, several Factions from this first Ferment,
Work up to Foam, and threat the Government.
Some by their Friends, more by themselves thought wise,
Oppos'd the Pow'r, to which they could not rise.
Some had in Courts been Great, and thrown from thence,
Like Fiends, were harden'd in Impenitence.
Some, by their Monarch's fatal mercy grown,
From Pardon'd Rebels, Kinsmen to the Throne;
Were rais'd in Pow'r and publick Office high:
Strong Bands, if Bands ungrateful men cou'd tie. ”

“ He left not Faction; but of that was left.
Titles and names 'twere tedious to rehearse
Of Lords, below the dignity of Verse.
Wits, Warriers, Commonwealths-men, were the best:
Kind Husbands and meer Nobles all the rest. ”