Here have I feen the King, when great affairs
Gave leave to flacken and unbend his cares,
Attended to the chace by all the flow'r
Of youth, whofe hopes a nobler prey devour:
Pleasure with praise, and danger they would buy,
And with a foe that would not only fly.
The flag, now confcious of his fatal growth,
At once indulgent to his fear and floth,
To fome dark covert his retreat had made,
Where nor man's eye nor heaven's fhould invade
His foft repofe; when th'unexpected found
Of dogs, and men, his wakeful ear does wound :
Rous'd with the noife, he fcarce believes his ear,
Willing to think th' illufions of his fear
Had given, this falfe alarm, but ftraight his view.
Confirms, that more than all he fears is true.
Betray'd in all his ftrengths, the wood befet;
All inftruments, all arts of ruin met;
He calls to mind his ftrength, and then his fpeed,
His winged heels, and then his armed head;
With thefe t' avoid, with that his fate to meet
But fear prevails, and bids him trust his feet.
So faft he flies, that his reviewing eye
Has loft the chacers, and his car the cry;
Exulting, till he finds their nobler sense
Their difproportion'd fpeed doth recompenfe;
Then curfes his confpiring feet, whofe fcent
Betrays that fafety which their fwiftnefs lent.
Then tries his friends; among the bafer herd,
Where he fo lately was obey'd and fear'd,
His fafety feeks: the herd, unkindly wife,
Or chufes him from thence, or from him flics;
Like a declining flatefman, left forlorn
To his friends pity, and purfuers fcorn;
With fhame remembers, while himself was one
Of the fame herd, himself the fame had done.
Thence to the coverts and the conscious groves,
The scenes of his past triumphs and his loves;
Sadly furveying where he rang'd alone
Prince of the foil, aud all the herd his own;
And, like a bold knight-errant, did proclaim
Combat to all, and bore away the dame;
And taught the woods to echo to the stream
His dreadful challenge and his clafhing beam.
Yet faintly now declines the fatal ftrife,
So much his love was dearer than his life.
Nor ev'ry leaf and ev'ry moving breath
Presents a foe, and ev'ry foe a death.
Wearied, forsaken, and pursued, at last
All fafety in defpair of safety plac'd,
Courage he thence refumes, refolv'd to bear
All their affaults, fince 'tis in vain to fear.
And now, too late, he wishes for the fight
That ftrength he wafted in ignoble flight.
But when he fees the eager chace renew'd,
Himself by dogs, the dogs by men pursued,
He ftraight revokes his bold refolve, and more
Repents his courage than his fear before;
Finds that uncertain ways unfafeft are,
And doubt a greater mischief than despair.
Then to the ftream, when neither friends, nor force,
Nor speed, nor art avail, he shapes his course';
Thinks not their rage fo defp'rate to effay
An element more mercilefs than they.
But fearless they pursue, nor can the flood
Quench their dire thirft; alas, they thirft for blood!
So towards a fhip the oar-finn'd gallies ply,
Which wanting fea to ride, or wind to fly.
Stands but to fall reveng'd on those that dare
Tempt the laft fury of extreme defpair.
So fares the ftag among th' enraged hounds,
Repels their force, and wounds returns for wounds.
And as a hero, whom his bafer foes
In troops furround, now thefe affails, now those;
Though prodigal of life, difdains to die
By common hands; but if he can defery
Some nobler foe approach, to him he calls,
And begs his fate, and then contented falls:
So when the king a mortal fhaft lets fly
From his unerring hand, then glad to die,
Proud of the wound, to it refigns his blood,
And flains the cryftal with a purple flood.
This a more innocent and happy chace,
Than when of old, but in the felf-fame place,
Fair liberty purfued*, and meant a prey
To lawless pow'r, here turn'd and flood at bay.
When in that remedy all hope was plac'd,
Which was, or fhould have been at leaft, the last,
Here was that charter feal'd, wherein the crown
All marks of arbitrary pow'r lays down:
Tyrant and flave, those names of hate and fear,
The happier flyle of king and subject bear:
Happy, when both to the fame centre move,
When kings give liberty, and fubjects love.
Therefore not long in force this charter flood;
Wanting that feal, it must be feal'd in blood.
The fubjects arm'd, the more their princes gave,
Th' advantage only took the more to crave:
Till kings by giving give themselves away.
And ev'n that pow'r that fhould deny betray.
"Who gives conflrain'd, but his own fear reviles;
"Not thank'd, but fcorn'd; nor are they gifts, but spoils"
Thus kings, by grafping more than they could hold,
Firft made their fubjects by oppreffion bold;
And pop'lar fway, by forcing kings to give
More than was fit for fubjects to receive,
Ran to the fame extremes: and one excess
Made both, by ftriving to be greater, lefs.
Vol. IV. 15.
When a calm river, rais'd with fudden rains,
Or fnows diffolv'd, o'erflows th' adjoining plains,
The hufbandmen with high-rais'd banks fecure
Their greedy hopes; and this he can endure.
But if with bays and dams they ftrive to force
His channel to a new or narrow courfe,
No longer then within his banks he dwells;
First to a torrent, then a deluge fwells :
Stronger and fiercer by reftraint he roars,
And knows no bound, but makes his pow'r his fhores.
DAM alone could not be easy,
So he must have a wife, an' please ye
And how did he procure this wife.
To cheer his folitary life?
Out of a rib, Sir, from his fide,
Was form'd this neceffary bride.
But how did he the pain beguile ?
How ?-He flept fweetly all the while.
And when the rib was re-applied.
In woman's form, to Adam's fide,
How then, I pray you, did it anfwer?
"He never flept so sweet again, Sir”
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