They'll in the Vallies next engage, nor fear
To tempt their Fortune the fucceeding Year.

This heard, not unreveng'd, that first great Mind, By Nature's narrow Limits unconfin'd:

By Ifrael's feeble Force their Troops are flain,
And Hundred-thousand Syrians load the Plain:
The reft to Aphek fled, fecure they lay,
Till the falfe Walls like Jericho's gave way;
With hideous Crack they bear 'em to the Ground,
And Thousands in one Grave and Death confound.
Their King himself, as Bafe as Proud before,
With mean Submission did for Life implore;
Which Ahab grants, altho' his own 'twill coft,
And Syrian Treaties gain, what they by War had
loft.

CLXXVII.

Jezebel murthers Naboth for his Vim yard. Elijah denounces God's Judgments against Ahab and his Houfe. Ahab humbles himself, &c.

L

for more:

Ean Avarice, unblefs'd amidst her Store,
Tafts not her own, and yet
ftill gapes
On Naboth's Vineyard, Ahab cafts his Eye,
And to enlarge his Garden fain wou'd buy :

Refus'd

Refus'd he to his House displeas'd returns,
With Female Grief his Difappointment mourns:
Upon his Bed the wayward Tyrant thrown,
Neglects his Food, and sees and speaks with none;
Till he the weighty Caufe at length declares
To Jezebel, who fcarce from fmiles forbears,
Her manlier Mifchief chides the Monarch's Cares:
Art thou the King of Ifrael? --- thus she said,
I'll foon the Vineyard give, and give the Traitor's
Head:

In Abab's Name the Queen an Order fends
To Jezreel's Nobles, her confiding Friends,
The Sum, thar Naboth and his Sons must die,
Accus'd of Treafon and of Blafphemy.
Too foon the Loyal Murtherers obey,
And take at once their Life and Fame away;
Their Land devolv'd by Treafon to the Crown,
The Tyrant feiz'd, and cheaply made his own.
As he with barb'rous Joy his Prize furvey'd,
And walk'd beneath the Vineyards leavy Shade,
Pale with Suprize he the Great Tifhbite met,
And foon did all his pleasing Thoughts forget;
When thus Elijah--- Cruel and Profane !
And haft thou thus the guiltless Naboth flain!
Suborn'd his Murther and his Land poffefs'd!
--Enjoy thy Conqueft then, but hear the rest!

Thus faith the Lord-- where murther dNaboth lay,
His Limbs expos'd to rav'nous Hounds a Prey,
Thy Blood, Yes Tyrant! thine for his shall pay.
When Ahab thus, confus'd with Guilt and Fear,
---O my Ill Genius! haft thou found me here?
Yes, I have found thee, he fevers purfu'd,
O fold to Sin, and left to all that's Good!
Yet hear what farther for thy House design'd,
Still deeper Woes, and weightier Plagues behind!
'Tis God that says he will thy Line difplace,
And cafe the World of all thy vip'rous Race:
Thy Houfe like Jeroboam's fhall become,
Nor Baafha's fell by a feverer Doom:
So high thy daring Provocations grown,
So black the Sins of Ifracl, and thy own.

---Nor fhall the Wretch that fhares thy Crimes and Throne,

Falle Jezebel escape, well worthy thee,

In Pride, in Malice, and in Cruelty:

The Dogs by Jezreel's Walls her Flef fhall tear, And all thy impious Brood her Fate shall share.

He heard, and foftly to the Palace went, Trembling and pale; his Royal Robes he rent, And Sackcloth wore, and did almost Repent. Nor this to that Almighty Pow'r unknown, Who all furveys from his celeftial Throne ;

}

Whose

Ver. 17. And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tilhbite, faying,

18. Arife, go down to meet Ahab king of Ifrael, which is in Samaria: behold, be is in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he is gone down to poffefs it, &c.

20. And Ahab faid to Elijah, Haft thou found me, Omine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee: because thou haft fold thy felf to work evil in the fight of the Lord,

21. Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and I will take away thy pofterity, &c.

27. And it came to pass when Ahab heard thofe words, that he rent his clothes, and put fackcloth upon his flesh, and fafted, and lay in fackcloth, and went foftly.

Whofe

Whofe equal Hand does equal Right difpenfe,
His own lov'd People plagues for their Offence,
Rewarding ev'n imperfect Penitence:

For this to Ahab a Reprieve he gave,

And his devoted Houfe to future Reigns did fave.

CLXXVIII.

I KINGS, Chap. XXII. from Ver. 1. to Ver. 23.

Ahab prepares to recover Ramoth - Gilead. He makes an Alliance with Jehofhaphat Sends for Michaiah, who fore-tells his Defeat and Destruction.

Hree Years Reprieve Apoftate Ifrael gains,
Yet impious Ahab, Ahab ftill remains:
Almoft too ripe for Ruin now he's grown,
By Jezebel's Offences and his own;

Urg'd by his Fate, with Syria War declares,
And for a vigorous Campaign prepares;
Ramoth a Frontier-Town, they ftill retain,
The Faith of Treaties Ifrael pleads in vain:
The King of Judah in the Quarrel joyn'd,
Betwixt the Rival-Crowns a League is fign'd

But