Yet fame deserved no enemy can grudge: The statesman we abhor, but praise the judge. In Israel's courts ne'er sat an Abbethdin[14] With more discerning eyes or hands more clean, Unbribed, unsought, the wretched to redress, Swift of despatch and easy of access. Oh! had he been content to serve the Crown With virtues only proper to the gown, Or had the rankness of the soul been freed From cockle that oppressed the noble seed, David[15] for him his tuneful harp had strung And Heaven had wanted one immortal song. But, wild ambition loves to slide, not stand, And Fortune's ice prefers to Virtue's land. Achitophel, grown weary to possess A lawful fame and lazy happiness, Disdained the golden fruit to gather free And lent the crowd his arm to shake the tree. Now, manifest of crimes contrived long since, He stood at bold defiance with his Prince, Held up the buckler of the people's cause Against the Crown, and skulked behind the laws. The wished occasion of the Plot[16] he takes; Some circumstances finds, but more he makes; By buzzing emissaries fills the ears Of listening crowds with jealousies and fear Of arbitrary counsels brought to light, And proves the King himself a Jebusite.[17] Weak arguments! which yet he knew full well Were strong with people easy to rebel. For governed by the moon, the giddy Jews[18] Tread the same track when she the prime renews. And once in twenty years, their scribes record, By natural instinct they change their lord. Achitophel still wants a chief, and none Was found so fit as warlike Absalom.[19] Not that he wished his greatness to create, For politicians neither love nor hate: But, for he knew his title not allowed Would keep him still depending on the crowd: That kingly power, thus ebbing out, might be Drawn to the dregs of a democracy. Him he attempts with studied arts to please. [12] Shaftesbury. [13] England. [14] The President of the Jewish judicature. Shaftesbury had been made Lord Chancellor in 1672. [15] Charles II. [16] The Popish Plot. [17] A Roman Catholic. [18] The English people. [19] Monmouth, whom Shaftesbury proposed as Charles II.'s successor during the Exclusion controversy (1679-1681). JUDGE JEFFREYS--A CHARACTER SKETCH. +Source.+--North's _Lives of the Norths_. Vol. i., pp. 288-291. Bohn edition. "Noisy in nature. Turbulent at first setting out. Deserter in difficulties. Full of tricks. Helped by similar friendships. Honesty, law, policy, alike."