Sofa, and couch, and high-built throne auguft.
The fame lubricity was found in all,
And all was moift to the warm touch, a fcene
Of evanefcent glory, once a ftream,
And foon to flide into a stream again.
Alas! 'twas but a mortifying stroke
Of undefign'd feverity, that glanc'd,
(Made by a monarch) on her own eftate,
On human grandeur, and the courts of kings.
'Twas tranfient in its nature, as in show
'Twas durable. As worthlefs as it seem'd
Intrinfically, precious. To the foot
Treach'rous and falfe, it fmil'd, and it was cold.
Great princes have great play-things. Some have
At hewing mountains into men, and some,
At building human wonders mountain high.
Some have amus'd the dull fad years of life,
Life fpent in indolence, and therefore fad,
With schemes of monumental fame, and fought
By pyramids, and maufolæan pomp,
Short liv'd themselves, t' immortalize their bones.
Some feek diverfion in the tented field,
And make the forrows of mankind their sport.
But war's a game, which were their fubjects wife,
Kings fhould not play at. Nations would do well -
T' extort their truncheons from the puny hands
Of heroes, whose infirm and baby minds
Are gratify'd with mischief, and who spoil,
Because men fuffer it, their toy the world.
When Babel was confounded, and the great
Confed'racy of projectors wild and vain,
Was fplit into diversity of tongues,
Then, as a fhepherd feparates his flock,
These to the upland, to the valley thofe,
God drave afunder, and affign'd their lot
To all the nations. Ample was the boon
He gave them, in its diftribution fair
And equal, and he bade them dwell in peace,
Peace was awhile their care. They plough'd and fow'd,
And reap'd their plenty without grudge or strife.
But violence can never longer fleep
Than human paffions pleafe. In ev'ry heart
Are fown the fparks that kindle fiery war,
Occafion needs but fan them, and they blaze.
Cain had already fhed a brother's blood;
The deluge wash'd it out; but left unquench's
The feeds of murther in the breaft of man.
Soon, by a righteous judgment, in the line
Of his defcending progeny was found,
The first artificer of death; the fhrewd
Contriver, who firft fweated at the forge,
And forc'd the blunt, and yet unblooded steel,
To a keen edge, and made it bright for war.
Him Tubal nam'd, the Vulcan of old times,
The sword and faulchion their inventer claim,
And the firft fmith was the firft murd'rer's fon.
His art furviv'd the waters; and ere long,
When man was multiplied, and fpread abroad,
In tribes and clans, and had begun to call,
These meadows, and that range of hills his own, The tafted fweets of property begat
Defire of more; and induftry in fome,
To improve and cultivate their juft demefne,
Made others covet what they faw fo fair.
Thus wars began on earth.
And thofe in felf-defence.
The onfet, and irregular.
These fought for spoil,
Savage at first,
At length
One eminent above the reft, for ftrength,
For ftratagem or courage, or for all,
Was chofen leader. Him they serv'd in war,
And him in peace, for fake of warlike deeds
Rev'renc'd no lefs. Who could with him compare?
Or who fo worthy to control themselves,
As he whose prowess had subdu'd their foes?
Thus war affording field for the display
Of virtue, made one chief, whom times of peace,
Which have their exigencies too, and call
For skill in government, at length made king.
King was a name too proud for man to wear,
With modefty and meeknefs, and the crown,
So dazzling in their eyes who fet it on,
Was fure t' intoxicate the brows it bound.
It is the abject property of moft,
That being parcel of the common mafs,
And deftitute of means to raise themselves,
They fink and fettle lower than they need.
They know not what it is to feel within,
A comprehenfive faculty that grafps
Great purposes with cafe, that turns and weilds,
Almost without an effort, plans too vaft
For their conception, which they cannot move.
Conscious of impotence they foon grow drunk
With gazing, when they fee an able man,
Step forth to notice; and befotted thus,
Build him a pedestal, and fay, ftand there,
And be our admiration, and our praise.
They roll themselves before him in the duff,
Then moft deferving in their own account,
When moft extravagant in his applause,
As if exalting him they rais'd themselves.
Thus by degrees self-cheated of their found
And fober judgment, that he is but man,
They demi-deify and fume him fo,
That in due season he forgets it too.
Inflated and aftrut with felf-conceit
He gulps the windy diet, and ere long
Adopting their mistake, profoundly thinks
The world was made in vain, if not for him.
Thenceforth they are his cattle. Drudges born
To bear his burthens, drawing in his gears,
And fweating in his fervice. His caprice
Becomes the foul that animates them all.
He deems a thousand or ten thousand lives
Spent in the purchase of renown for him
An eafy reck'ning, and they think the fame.
Thus kings were first invented, and thus kings
Were burnish'd into heroes, and became
The arbiters of this terraqueous swamp,
Storks among frogs, that have but croak'd and died.
Strange, that fuch felly as lifts bloated man
To eminence, fit only for a God,
Should ever drivel out of human lips,
Ev'n in the cradled weakness of the world!
Still ftranger much, that when at length mankind
Had reach'd the finewy firmness of their youth,
And could difcriminate, and argue well,
On fubjects more myfterious, they were yet
Babes in the cause of freedom, and should fear
And quake, before the Gods themselves had made.
But above measure ftrange, that neither proof
Of fad experience, nor examples fet
By fome, whofe patriot virtue has prevail'd,
Can even now, when they are grown mature
In wisdom, and with philofophic deeps,
Familiar, ferve t' emancipate the rest!
Such dupes are men to cuftom, and so prone
To rev'rence what is ancient, and can plead
A course of long obfervance for its ufe,
That even fervitude, the worst of ills,
Because, deliver'd down from fire to son,
Is kept and guarded as a facred thing.
But is it fit, or can it bear the shock
Of rational difcuffion, that a man,
Compounded and made up, like other men,
Of elements tumultuous, in whom luft
And folly in as ample meafure meet,
As in the bosoms of the flaves he rules,
Should be a defpot abfolute, and boaft
Himself the only freeman of his land?
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