And true, but for the time; 'tis hard to know
How long we please it shall continue so.
This side to-day, and that to-morrow burns;
So all are God-a'mighties in their turns.
A tempting doctrine, plausible and new;
What fools our fathers were, if this be true
Who, to destroy the seeds of Civil war,
Inherent right in monarchs did declare;
And, that a lawful pow'r might never cease,
Secur'd succession to secure our peace.
Thus property and sov'reign sway, at last,
In equal balances were justly cast:
But this new Jehu spurs the hot-mouth'd horse,
Instructs the beast to know his native force, 120
To take the bit between his teeth, and fly
To the next headlong step of anarchy.
Too happy England, if our good we knew,
Would we possess the freedom we pursue!
The lavish government can give no more:
Yet we repine, and plenty makes us poor.
God tried us once; our rebel fathers fought;
He glutted them with all the pow'r they sought;
Till master'd by their own usurping brave,
The free-born subject sunk into a slave.
We lothe our manna, and we long for quails ; Ah, what is man when his own wish prevails! How rash, how swift to plunge himself in ill! Proud of his pow'r, and boundless in his will! That kings can do no wrong we must believe: None can they do; and must they all receive?
Help, Heav'n! or sadly we shall see an hour
When neither wrong nor right are in their
Already they have lost their best defence, [pow'r!
The benefit of laws which they dispense; 140
No justice to their righteous cause allow'd,
But baffled by an arbitrary crowd;
And Medals grav'd, their conquest to record,
The stamp and coin of their adopted lord.
The man who laugh'd but once, to see an ass Mumbling, to make the cross-grain❜d thistles pass, Might laugh again to see a jury chaw
The prickles of unpalatable law
The witnesses that, leech like, liv'd on blood,
Sucking for them was med'cinally good;
But when they fasten'd on the fester'd sore, ́
Then justice and religion they forswore ;
Their maiden'd oaths debauch'd into a whore.
Thus men are rais'd by factions, and decry'd;
And rogue and saint distinguish'd by their side.`
They rack e'en Scripture to confess their cause,
And plead a call to preach in spite of laws."
But that's no news to the poor injur'd page;
It has been us'd as ill in every age:
And is constrain'd, with patience, all to take: 160
For what defence can Greek and Hebrew make?
Happy who can this talking trumpet seize ;
They make it speak whatever sense they please.
'Twas fram'd, at first, our oracle t' inquire;
But since our sects in prophecy grow higher, -
The text inspires not them, but they the text
inspire.
London thou great emporium of our isle, O thou too bounteous, thou too fruitful Nile! How shall I praise or curse to thy desert? Or separate thy sound, from thy corrupted part? I call'd thee Nile; the parallel will stand: 171 Thy tides of wealth o'erflow the fatten❜d land; Yet monsters from thy large increase we find, Engender'd on the slime thou leav'st behind. Sedition has not wholly seiz'd on thee; Thy nobler parts are from infection free: Of Israel's tribes thou hast a num'rous band, But still the Canaanite is in the land.
Thy military chiefs are brave and true;
Nor are thy disinchanted burghers few.
The head is loyal which thy heart commands,
But what's a head with two such gouty hands?
The wise and wealthy love the surest way,
And are content to thrive and to obey :
But wisdom is to sloth too great a slave;
None are so busy as the fool and knave.
Those let me curse; what vengeance will they urge,
Whose ordures neither plague nor fire can purge!
Nor sharp experience can to duty bring ;
Nor, angry Heav'n; nor, a forgiving King! 190
In gospel-phrase their chapmen they betray;
Their shops are dens, the buyer is the prey :
The knack of trades is living on the spoil;
They boast e'en when each other they beguile.
Customs to steal is such a trivial thing,
That 'tis their charter to defraud their king.
DRYDEN. VOL. III.
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