Nature, that hateth emptinesse,
Allows of penetration lesse;

And therefore must make roome
Where greater spirits come.
What field of all the civil warre,
Where his were not the deepest scarre?
And Hampton shows what part
He had of wiser art:

Where twining subtile fears with hope,
He wove a net of such a scope,

That Charles himself might chase
To Caresbrook's narrow case.
That thence the royal actor borne,
The tragic scaffold might adorne,
While round the armed bands,
Did clap their bloudy hands :
He nothing common did, or mean,
Upon that memorable scene;
But with his keener eye
The axe's edge did trye.

Nor call'd the gods with vulgar spight
To vindicate his helplesse right:
But bow'd his comely head
Downe, as upon a bed.

This was that memorable houre,
Which first assured the forced power;
So when they did designe

The capitol's first line,

A bleeding head where they begun,
Did fright the architects to run;
And yet in that the state
Foresaw its happy fate.

And now the Irish are asham'd

To see themselves in one year tam'd;
So much one man can doe,
That does both act and know.

They can affirme his praises best,
And have, though overcome, confest
How good he is, how just,
And fit for highest trust.

Nor yet grown stiffer with command,
But still in the republick's hand,
How fit he is to sway,
That can so well obey!

He to the commons feet presents
A kingdom for his first year's rents:
And what he may forbears

His fame, to make it theirs ;

And has his sword and spoyls ungirt,
To lay them at the publick's skirt,

So when the falcon high,
Falls heavy from the skigh,

She having kill'd, no more doth search,
But on the next green bough to perch ;
Where, when he first does lure,
The faulkner has her sure.

What may not then our isle presume,
While victory his crest does plume?
What may not others feare,

If thus he crowns each yeare?
As Caesar, he, ere long to Gaul,
To Italy an Hannibal,

And to all states not free,
Shall clymacterick be.

The Pict no shelter now shall find
Within his party-colour'd mind,
But, from this valour, sad,
Shrink underneath the plad;
Happy, if in the tufted brake,
The English hunter him mistake;
Nor lay his hounds in neere
The Caledonian deer.

But thou, the warr's and fortune's sonne,
March indefatigably on,

And for the last effect,

Still keep the sword erect;

Besides the force it has to fright
The spirits of the shady night,

The same arts that did gain
A pow'r, must it maintain.

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ROBERT HERRICK

UPON MASTER FLETCHERS
INCOMPARABLE PLAYES

APOLLO sings, his harpe resounds; give roome,
For now behold the golden Pompe is come,
The Pompe of Playes which thousands come to see,
With admiration both of them and thee.

O Volume worthy leafe, by leafe and cover

To be with juice of Cedar washt all over;

Here words with lines, and lines with Scenes consent,
To raise an Act to full astonishment;

Here melting numbers, words of power to move
Young men to swoone, and Maides to dye for love.
Loves lyes a bleeding here, Evadne there

Swells with brave rage, yet comely every where,
Here's a mad lover, there that high designe
Of King and no King (and the rare Plot thine):
So that wher'ere wee circumvolve our Eyes,
Such rich, such fresh, such sweet varietyes,
Ravish our spirits, that entranc't we see

None writes lov's passion in the world, like Thee,

10

JOHN DRYDEN

ABSALOM AND ACHITOPHEL

IN pious times, ere priestcraft did begin,
Before polygamy was made a sin,
When man on many multiplied his kind,
Ere one to one was cursedly confined,
When nature prompted and no law denied,
Promiscuous use of concubine and bride,
Then Israel's monarch after Heaven's own heart
His vigorous warmth did variously impart
To wives and slaves, and, wide as his command,
Scattered his Maker's image through the land.
Michal, of royal blood, the crown did wear,
A soil ungrateful to the tiller's care:
Not so the rest; for several mothers bore
To god-like David several sons before.

But since like slaves his bed they did ascend,

No true succession could their seed attend.

Of all this numerous progeny was none
So beautiful, so brave, as Absalon :
Whether, inspired by some diviner lust,
His father got him with a greater gust,
Or that his conscious destiny made way
By manly beauty to imperial sway.
Early in foreign fields he won renown
With kings and states allied to Israel's crown;
In peace the thoughts of war he could remove
And seemed as he were only born for love.
Whate'er he did was done with so much ease,
In him alone 'twas natural to please;
His motions all accompanied with grace,
And Paradise was opened in his face.
With secret joy indulgent David viewed
His youthful image in his son renewed ;
To all his wishes nothing he denied

And made the charming Annabel his bride.

What faults he had (for who from faults is free?)
His father could not or he would not see.

Some warm excesses, which the law forbore,

Were construed youth that purged by boiling o'er;
And Amnon's murder by a specious name
Was called a just revenge for injured fame.

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Thus praised and loved, the noble youth remained,
While David undisturbed in Sion reigned.
But life can never be sincerely blest;

Heaven punishes the bad, and proves the best.
The Jews, a headstrong, moody, murmuring race
As ever tried the extent and stretch of grace;
God's pampered people, whom, debauched with ease,
No king could govern nor no God could please;
Gods they had tried of every shape and size
That godsmiths could produce or priests devise;
These Adam-wits, too fortunately free,
Began to dream they wanted liberty;
And when no rule, no precedent was found
Of men by laws less circumscribed and bound,
They led their wild desires to woods and caves
And thought that all but savages were slaves.
They who, when Saul was dead, without a blow
Made foolish Ish bosheth the crown forego;
Who banished David did from Hebron bring,
And with a general shout proclaimed him King ;
Those very Jews who at their very best
Their humour more than loyalty exprest,
Now wondered why so long they had obeyed
An idol monarch which their hands had made;
Thought they might ruin him they could create
Or melt him to that golden calf, a State.
But these were random bolts; no formed design
Nor interest made the factious crowd to join :
The sober part of Israel, free from stain,
Well knew the value of a peaceful reign;
And looking backward with a wise affright
Saw seams of wounds dishonest to the sight,
In contemplation of whose ugly scars
They cursed the memory of civil wars.
The moderate sort of men, thus qualified,
Inclined the balance to the better side;
And David's mildness managed it so well,
The bad found no occasion to rebel.
But when to sin our biassed nature leans,
The careful Devil is still at hand with means

And providently pimps for ill desires;
The good old cause, revived, a plot requires.
Plots true or false are necessary things,
To raise up commonwealths and ruin kings.

The inhabitants of old Jerusalem

Were Jebusites; the town so called from them
And theirs the native right.

But when the chosen people grew more strong,
The rightful cause at length became the wrong;