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Anti-Achitophel (1682) - Three Verse Replies to Absalom and Achitophel by John Dryden by Elkanah Settle;Samuel Pordage
page 40 of 140 (28%)
Whilst to our Glory their kind Aid stands fast,
But one Plot more, our Greatest and our Last.

Now for a Product of that subtle kind,
As far above their former Births refin'd,
As Firmamental Fires t'a Tapers ray,
Or Prodigies to Natures common Clay.
Empires in Blood, or Cities in a Flame,
Are work for vulgar Hands, scarce worth a Name.
A Cake of _Shew-bread_ from an Altar ta'ne,
Mixt but with some Levitical King-bane,
Has sent a Martyr'd Monarch to his Grave.
Nay, a poor Mendicant Church-Rake-hell slave
Has stab'd Crown'd Heads; slight Work to hands well-skill'd,
Slight as the Pebble that _Goliah_ kill'd.
But to make Plots no Plots, to clear all Taints,
Traitors transform to Innocents, Fiends to Saints,
Reason to Nonsence, Truth to Perjury;
Nay, make their own attesting Records lye,
And even the gaping Wounds of Murder whole:
If this last Masterpiece requires a Soul.
Guilt to unmake, and Plots annihilate,
Is much a greater work than to create.
Nay both at once to be, and not to be,
Is such a Task would pose a Deity.
Let _Baal_ do this, and be a God indeed:
Yes, this Immortal Honour 'tis decreed,
His Sanguine Robe though dipt in reeking Gore,
With purity and Innocence all o're,
Shall dry, and spotless from the purple hue,
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