branches [black,

And fire from heaven hath made his
Sit mourning the decease of Absalon :
Against the body of that blasted plant
In thousand shivers break thy ivory lute,
Hanging thy stringless harp upon his boughs;
And through the hollow sapless sounding trunk
Bellow the torments that perplex thy soul.
There let the winds sit sighing till they burst;
Let tempest, muffled with a cloud of pitch,
Threaten the forests with her hellish face,
And, mounted fiercely on her iron wings,
Rend up the wretched engine by the roots
That held my dearest Absalon to death.
Then let them toss my broken lute to heaven,
Even to his hands that beats me with the strings,
To show how sadly his poor shepherd sings.

[Goes to his pavilion and sits close a while.
Beth. Die, Bethsabe, to see thy David mourn,
To hear his tunes of anguish and of hell.
O, help, my David, help thy Bethsabe,
Whose heart is pierced with thy breathy swords,*
And bursts with burden of ten thousand griefs!
[Lies down.
Now sit thy sorrows sucking of my blood:
O, that it might be poison to their powers,
And that their lips might draw my bosom dry,
So David's love might ease him, though she die!
Nath. These violent passions come not from
David and Bethsabe offend the Highest, [above;

To mourn in this immeasurable sort.

Dav. [looking forth.] O Absalon, Absalon! O my son, my son!

Would God that I had died for Absalon!
But he is dead; ah, dead! Absalon is dead:
And David lives to die for Absalon.

[Sils close again.

Enter JOAB, ABISAI, ITHAY, and their train. Joub. Why lies the queen so prostrate on the Why is this company so tragic-hu'd? [ground? Why is the king now absent from his men, And marcheth not in triumph through the gates? [Unfolds the pavilion.

David, awake; if sleep have shut thine eyes,
Sleep of affection, that thou canst not see
The honour offer'd to the victor's head:
Joab brings conquest piercèd on his spear,
And joy from all the tribes of Israel.

Dav. Thou man of blood, thou sepulchre of death, Whose marble breast intombs* my bowels quick, Did I not charge thee, nay, entreat thy hand, Even for my sake, to spare my Absalon? And hast thou now, in spite of David's health, And scorn to do my heart some happiness, Given him the sword and spilt his purple soul?

Joab. What, irks it David, that he victor That Juda and the fields of Israel [breathes, Should cleanse their faces from their children's What, art thou weary of thy royal rule? [blood? Is Israel's throne a serpent in thine eyes, And he that set thee there so far from thanks, That thou must curse his servant for his sake? Hast thou not said that, as the morning light, The cloudless morning, so should be thine house, And not as flowers by the brightest rain Which grow up quickly and as quickly fade? Hast thou not said, the wicked are as thorns, That cannot be preservèd† with the hand, And that the man shall touch them must be arm'd With coats of iron and garments made of steel, Or with the shaft of a defenced spear? And art thou angry he is now cut off That led the guiltless swarming to their deaths, And was more wicked than an host of men? Advance thee from thy melancholy den, And deck thy body with thy blissful robes, Or, by the Lord that sways the heaven I swear, I'll lead thine armies to another king Shall cheer them for their princely chivalry, And not sit daunted, frowning in the dark, When his fair looks, with oil and wine refresh'd, Should dart into their bosoms gladsome beams, And fill their stomachs with triumphant feasts; That when elsewhere stern war shall sound his And call another battle to the field, [trump, Fame still may bring thy valiant soldiers home, And for their service happily confess

*intombs] The 4to. "intombe."

† preserved] Qy. "repressed"?-The passage of Scripture to which our author here alludes is as follows:

"And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain.

Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow.

"But the sons of Belial shall be all of them as thorns thrust away, because they cannot be taken with hands [The Vulgate "quæ non tolluntur manibus"]:

"But the man that shall touch them must be fenced with iron and the staff of a spear," &c.

Sec Samuel, xxiii. 4, 897.

Before a few shall vanquish him by fear.
My counsel therefore is, with trumpet's sound
To gather men from Dan to Bersabe,
That they may march in number like sea-sands,
That nestle close in [one] another's neck:
So shall we come upon him in our strength,
Like to the dew that falls in showers from
heaven,

And leave him not a man to march withal.

Besides, if any city succour him,

The numbers of our men shall fetch us ropes,
And we will pull it down the river's stream,
That not a stone be left to keep us out.

Abs. What says my lord to Cusay's counsel now?

Ama. I fancy Cusay's counsel better far Than that is given us from Achitophel; And so, I think, doth every soldier here.

All. Cusay's counsel is better than Achitophel's.

Abs. Then march we after Cusay's counsel all:

Sound trumpets through the bounds of Israel,
And muster all the men will serve the king,
That Absalon may glut his longing soul
With sole fruition of his father's crown.
Ach. [aside.] Ill shall they fare that follow thy
attempts,

That scorns the counsel of Achitophel.

[Exeunt all except CUSAY.

Sem. The man of Israel that hath rul'd as king,

Or rather as the tyrant of the land,
Bolstering his hateful head upon the throne
That God unworthily hath bless'd him with,
Shall now, I hope, lay it as low as hell,
And be depos'd from his detested chair.
O, that my bosom could by nature bear
A sea of poison, to be pour'd upon

His cursed head that sacred balm hath grac'd
And consecrated King of Israel!

Or would my breath were made the smoke of hell,

Infected with the sighs of damned souls,
Or with the reeking of that serpent's gorge
That feeds on adders, toads, and venomous
roots,

That, as I open'd my revenging lips

To curse the shepherd for his tyranny,
My words might cast rank poison to his pores,
And make his swoln and rankling sinews crack,

God

Fulfill'd his servant David's drifts by me, And brought Achitophel's advice to scorn.

Enter SADOC, ABIATHAR, AHIMAAS, and JONATHAN. Sa. God save Lord Cusay, and direct his zeal To purchase David's conquest 'gainst his son ! Abi. What secrets hast thou glean'd from Absalon?

Cu. These, sacred priests that bear the ark of God:

Achitophel advis'd him in the night

To let him choose twelve thousand fighting men,
And he would come on David at unwares,
While he was weary with his violent toil:
But I advis'd to get a greater host,
And gather men from Dan to Bersabe,
To come upon him strongly in the fields.
Then send Ahimaas and Jonathan
To signify these secrets to the king,
And will him not to stay this night abroad;

will] i. e. desire.

When Jove's stout champions fight with fire.
See where he cometh that my soul abhors!
I have prepar'd my pocket full of stones
To cast at him, mingled with earth and dust,
Which, bursting with disdain, I grect him
with.

Enter DAVID, JOAB, ABISAI, ITHAY, and others. Come forth, thou murderer and wicked man: The lord hath brought upon thy cursed head The guiltless blood of Saul and all his sons, Whose royal throne thy baseness hath usurp'd; And, to revenge it deeply on thy soul, The Lord hath given the kingdom to thy son, And he shall wreak the traitorous wrongs of

Saul:

Even as thy sin hath still importun'd heaven,
So shall thy murders and adultery

Be punish'd in the sight of Israel,

As thou deserv'st, with blood, with death, and hell.

* When Jove's, &c.] A mutilated line.

Hence, murderer, hence!

[Throws stones and earth at DAVID.

Abis. Why doth [t]his dead dog curse my lord

the king?

Let me alone to take away his head.

Dav. Why meddleth thus the son of Zeruia To interrupt the action of our God? Semei useth me with this reproach Because the Lord hath sent him to reprove The sins of David, printed in his brows

With blood, that blusheth for his conscience' guilt;

Who dares, then, ask him why he curseth me? Sem. If, then, thy conscience tell thee thou hast sinu'd,

And that thy life is odious to the world,
Command thy followers to shun thy face;
And by thyself here make away thy soul,
That I may stand and glory in thy shame.

Dar. I am not desperate, Semei, like thyself,
But trust unto the covenant of my God,
Founded on mercy, with repentance built,
And finish'd with the glory of my soul.

Sem. A murderer, and hope for mercy in thy end!

Hate and destruction sit upon thy brows
To watch the issue of thy damned ghost,
Which with thy latest gasp they'll take and
tear,

Hurling in every pain of hell a piece.
Hence, murderer, thou shame to Israel,
Foul lecher, drunkard, plague to heaven and earth!
[Throws again at DAVID.
Joab. What, is it piety in David's thoughts,
So to abhor from laws of policy

In this extremity of his distress,

To give his subjects cause of carelessness?
Send hence the dog with sorrow to his grave.
Dav. Why should the sons of Zeruia seek to
check +

His spirit, which the Lord hath thus inspir'd?
Behold, my son which issu'd from my flesh,
With equal fury seeks to take my life:

How much more then the son of Jemini,

With gracious eyes, and for his cursing bless
The heart of David in his bitterness.

Sem. What, dost thou fret my soul with sufferance?

O, that the souls of Isboseth and Abner, Which thou sent'st swimming to their graves in blood,

With wounds fresh bleeding, gasping for revenge,

Were here to execute my burning hate!
But I will hunt thy foot with curses still:
Hence, monster, murderer, mirror of contempt !
[Throws again at DAVID.

Enter AHIMAAS and JONATHAN.

Ahi. Long life to David, to his enemies death! Dav. Welcome, Ahimaas and Jonathan : What news sends Cusay to thy lord the king? Ahi. Cusay would wish* my lord the king To pass the river Jordan presently, Lest he and all his people perish here; For wise Achitophel hath counsell'd Absalon To take advantage of your weary arms, And come this night upon you in the fields. But yet the Lord hath made his counsel scorn, And Cusay's policy with praise preferr'd; Which was to number every Israelite, And so assault you in their pride of strength. Jonath. Abiathar besides entreats the king To send his men of war against his son, And hazard not his person in the field.

Dar. Thanks to Abiathar, and to you both,
And to my Cusay, whom the Lord requite;
But ten times treble thanks to his soft hand
Whose pleasant touch hath made my heart to
dance,

And play him praises in my zealous breast,
That turn'd the counsel of Achitophel
After the prayers of his servant's lips.
Now will we pass the river all this night,
And in the morning sound the voice of war,
The voice of bloody and unkindly war.

Joab. Then tell us how thou wilt divide thy

men,

command?

It may be, he will look on me this day

Throws, &c.] In the 4to. this stage-direction and the end of the speech are confounded thus ;

"Hence murtherer, hence, he threw at him." Why should the sons of Zeruia seek to check, &c.] "The sons of Zeruia," be it remembered, are Abisai (who a little before has said "Let me alone to take away his [Semei's] head") and Joab.-In this line "seek to" would seem to be an interpolation.

Dar. Joab, thyself shall for thy charge conduct The first third part of all my valiant men; The second shall Abisai's valour lead; The third fair Ithay, which I most should grace For comfort he hath done to David's woes; And I myself will follow in the midst.

Ith. That let not David; for, though we should fly,

* Cusay would wish, &c] Another mutilated line.