"Hark! how the strings awake:

"And, though the moving hand approach not near, "Themselves with awful fear,

"A kind of numerous trembling make. "Now all thy forces try,

"Now all thy charms apply,

" Revenge upon

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her ear the conquests of her eye.

"Weak Lyre! thy virtue sure

Is useless here, since thou art only found

'To cure, but not to wound,

"And she to wound, but not to cure.

"Too weak too wilt thou prove

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"Physick to other ills, thou'rt Nourishment to Love.

"Sleep, sleep again, my Lyre!

"For thou canst never tell my humble tale

"In sounds that will prevail;

"Nor gentle thoughts in her inspire:

"All thy vain mirth lay by,

"Bid thy strings silent lie,

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(810

Sleep, sleep again, my Lyre! and let thy master die.

"She heard all this, and the prevailing sound "Touch'd with delightful pain her tender wound. "Yet, though she joy'd th' authentick news to hear, "Of what she guess'd before with jealous fear, 816 "She check'd her forward joy, and blush'd for shame, “And did his boldness with forc'd anger blame.

"The senseless rules which first false honour taught, "And into laws the tyrant custom brought- 820 "Which women's pride and folly did invent, "Their lovers and themselves too to torment,"Made her next day a grave displeasure fain, "And all her words, and all her looks, constrain "Before the trembling youth; who, when he saw 825 "His vital light her wonted beams withdraw, "He curs'd his voice, his fingers, and his lyre, "He curs'd his too-bold tongue, and bold desire;

"In vain he curs'd the last, for that still grew ;

"From all things food its strong complexion

"drew:

830 "His joy and hope their cheerful motions ceas'd, "His life decay'd, but still his love increas'd; "Whilst she, whose heart approv'd not her disdain, "Saw and endur'd his pains with greater pain. "But Jonathan, to whom both hearts were known, "With a concernment equal to their own 836 "6 (Joyful that Heaven with his sworn love comply'd "To draw that knot more fast which he had ty'd) "With well-tim'd zeal, and with an artful care, "Restor'd, and better'd soon, the nice affair. 840 "With ease a brother's lawful power o'ercame "The formal decencies of virgin-shame.

"She first with all her heart forgave the past, "Heard David tell his flames, and told her own at " last.

"Lo here the happy point of prosperous love! 845 "Which ev'n enjoyment seldom can improve.

VOL. II.

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"Themselves agreed, which scarce could fail alone; "All Israel's wish concurrent with their own; "A brother's powerful aid firm to the side; By solemn vow the king and father ty❜d: "All jealous fears, all nice disguises, past, "All that in less-ripe love offends the taste; "In either's breast their souls both meet and wed, "Their heart the nuptial-temple and the bed. "And, though the grosser cates were yet not drest, "By which their bodies must supply this feast, 856 "Bold hopes prevent slow pleasure's lingering birth, "As saints, assur'd of heaven, enjoy 't on earth.

All this the king observ'd; and well he saw “What scandal, and what danger, it might draw 860 "T' oppose this just and popular match; but meant "Tout-malice all refusals by consent.

"He meant the poisonous grant should mortal 66 prove;

"He meant t' ensnare his virtue by his love: "And thus he to him spoke, with more of art 865 "And fraud, than well became the kingly part :— t:"Your valour, David, and high worth, said he, "To praise is all men's duty, mine to see "Rewarded; and we shall t' our utmost powers "Do with like care that part, as you did yours. 870 "Forbid it, God! we like those kings should prove, "Who fear the virtues which they're bound to love. "Your piety does that tender point secure,

Nor will my acts such humble thoughts endure: "Your nearness to 't rather supports the crown, 875 "And th' honours given to you increase our own.

"All that we can we 'll give; 't is our intent, "Both as a guard and as an ornament,

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"To place thee next ourselves; Heaven does approve, "And my son's friendship, and my daughter's love, "Guide fatally, methinks, my willing choice; 881 "I see, methinks, Heaven in 't, and I rejoice. "Blush not, my son! that Michal's love I name, "Nor need she blush to hear it; 't is no shame "Nor secret now; fame does it loudly tell, “And all men but thy rivals like it well. "If Merab's choice could have comply'd with mine, "Merab, my elder comfort, had been thine : "And hers, at last, should have with mine comply'd, "Had I not thine and Michal's heart descry'd. 890 "Take whom thou lov'st, and who loves thee; the

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And dearest present made me by the chaste "Ahinoam; and, unless she me deceive, "When I to Jonathan my crown shall leave, ""T will be a smaller gift.

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"If I thy generous thoughts may undertake "To guess, they are what jointure thou shalt make "Fitting her birth and fortune: and, since so "Custom ordains, we mean t' exact it too. "The jointure we exact is, that shall be "No less advantage to thy fame than she. "Go where Philistian troops infest the land, «Renew the terrors of thy conquering hand: "When thine own hand, which needs must con"6 queror prove,

"In this joint cause of honour and of love,

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"An hundred of the faithless foe shall slay, "And for a dower their hundred foreskins pay, "Be Michal thy reward: did we not know "Thy mighty fate, and worth that makes it so, "We should not cheaply that dear blood expose, 910 "Which we to mingle with our own had chose: "But thou 'rt secure; and, since this match of thine "We to the publick benefit design,

"A publick good shall its beginning grace, "And give triumphant omens of thy race.

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"Thus spoke the king: the happy youth bow'd

"low:

;

"Modest and graceful his great joy did show "The noble task well pleas'd his generous mind, "And nought t' except against it could he find, "But that his mistress' price too cheap appear'd; "No danger, but her scorn of it, he fear❜d. 921 "She with much different sense the news receiv'd, "At her high rate she trembled, blush'd, and "griev'd;

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" "T was a less work the conquest of his foes, "Than to obtain her leave his life t' expose. "Their kind debate on this soft point would prove "Tedious, and needless, to repeat: if love

(As sure it has) e'er touch'd your princely breast, " "T will to your gentle thoughts at full suggest "All that was done, or said; the grief, hope,

"fears;

"His troubled joys, and her obliging tears.

"In all the pomp of passion's reign they part;

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"And bright prophetick forms enlarge his heart: '