200
COWLEY'S POEMS.
[B. I.
Lo, at her entrance Saul's strong palace shook;
And nimbly there the reverend shape she took 240
Of Father Benjamin; so long her beard,
So large her limbs, so grave her looks, appear'd,
Just like his statue, which bestrid Saul's gate,
And seem'd to guard the race it did create.
In this known form she approach'd the tyrant's side;
And thus her words the sacred form bely'd: 246
"Arise, lost king of Israel! canst thou lie
"Dead in this sleep, and yet thy last so nigh?
"If king thou be'st, if Jesse's race as yet
"Sit not on Israel's throne! and shall he sit? 250
"Did ye for this from fruitful Egypt fly?
"From the mild brickkiln's nobler slavery?
"For this, did seas your powerful rod obey?
"Did wonders guide, and feed, you on your way?
"Could ye not there great Pharaoh's bondage bear,
"You who can serve a boy, and minstrel, here? 256
"Forbid it, God! if thou be'st just; this shame
"Cast not on Saul's, on mine, and Israel's, name!
"Why was I else from Canaan's famine led?
"Happy, thrice happy, had I there been dead, 260
"Ere my full loins discharg'd this numerous race,
"This luckless tribe, ev'n crown'd to their disgrace!
"Ah, Saul! thy servant's vassal must thou live?
"Place to his harp must thy dread sceptre give?
"What wants he now but that? canst thou forget
"(If thou be'st man thou canst not) how they met
"The youth with songs? alas! poor monarch! you
"Your thousand only, he ten thousand, slew!
And nimbly there the reverend shape she took 240
Of Father Benjamin; so long her beard,
So large her limbs, so grave her looks, appear'd,
Just like his statue, which bestrid Saul's gate,
And seem'd to guard the race it did create.
In this known form she approach'd the tyrant's side;
And thus her words the sacred form bely'd: 246
"Arise, lost king of Israel! canst thou lie
"Dead in this sleep, and yet thy last so nigh?
"If king thou be'st, if Jesse's race as yet
"Sit not on Israel's throne! and shall he sit? 250
"Did ye for this from fruitful Egypt fly?
"From the mild brickkiln's nobler slavery?
"For this, did seas your powerful rod obey?
"Did wonders guide, and feed, you on your way?
"Could ye not there great Pharaoh's bondage bear,
"You who can serve a boy, and minstrel, here? 256
"Forbid it, God! if thou be'st just; this shame
"Cast not on Saul's, on mine, and Israel's, name!
"Why was I else from Canaan's famine led?
"Happy, thrice happy, had I there been dead, 260
"Ere my full loins discharg'd this numerous race,
"This luckless tribe, ev'n crown'd to their disgrace!
"Ah, Saul! thy servant's vassal must thou live?
"Place to his harp must thy dread sceptre give?
"What wants he now but that? canst thou forget
"(If thou be'st man thou canst not) how they met
"The youth with songs? alas! poor monarch! you
"Your thousand only, he ten thousand, slew!
