Would ne'er through wrong and right his progress take, Grudge his own rest, and keep the world awake, To fix a lawless prince on Judah's throne, First to invade our rights, and then his own; His dear-gained conquests cheaply to despoil, And reap the harvest of his crimes and toil. We grant his wealth vast as our ocean's sand, And curse its fatal influence on our land, Which our bribed Jews so numerously partake, That even an host his pensioners would make. From these deceivers our divisions spring, Our weakness, and the growth of Egypt's king; These, with pretended friendship to the state, Our crowd's suspicion of their prince create, Both pleased and frightened with the specious cry, To guard their sacred rights and property. To ruin thus the chosen flock are sold, While wolves are ta'en for guardians of the fold; Seduced by these we groundlessly complain, And loath the manna of a gentle reign; Thus our forefathers' crooked paths are trod, We trust our prince no more than they their God. But all in vain our reasoning prophets preach, To those whom sad experience ne'er could teach. Who can commence new broils in bleeding scars, And fresh remembrance of intestine wars; When the same household mortal foes did yield, And brothers stained with brothers' blood the field; When sons' curst steel the fathers' gore did stain, And mothers mourned for sons by fathers slain! When thick as Egypt's locusts on the sand, Our tribes lay slaughtered through the promised land, Whose few survivors with worse fate remain, To drag the bondage of a tyrant's reign; Which scene of woes, unknowing, we renew And madly even those ills we fear pursue; While Pharaoh laughs at our domestic broils, And safely crowds his tents with nations' spoils. Yet our fierce sanhedrim, in restless rage, Against our absent hero still engage, And chiefly urge, such did their frenzy prove, The only suit their prince forbids to move; Which till obtained they cease affairs of state, And real dangers wave for groundless hate. Long David's patience waits relief to bring, With all the indulgence of a lawful king, Expecting till the troubled waves would cease, But found the raging billows still increase. The crowd, whose insolence forbearance swells, While he forgives too far, almost rebels. At last his deep resentments silence broke, The imperial palace shook, while thus he spoke: Then Justice wake, and Rigour take her time, For lo! our mercy is become our crime. While halting punishment her stroke delays, Our sovereign right, heaven's sacred trust, decays; For whose support even subjects' interest calls, Woe to that kingdom where the monarch falls! That prince, who yields the least of regal sway, So far his people's freedom does betray.