Sould he in his a _Popish_ Legion Lard.
A Policy some Poems much embrace,
As is discern'd in _Shaftsbury_'s Great Case;
Where Verse so vile an Obloquy betray,
As for a Statist-_Jew_ they'd him convey.
Tho hard it is to understand what Spell
Can conjure up in him _Achitophel_,
Or tax this Peer with an Abused Sense
Of his so deep and apt Intelligence:
A Promptitude by which the Nation's shown
To be in Thought concurrent with his own.
_Shaftsbury_! A Soul that Nature did impart
To raise her Wonder in a Brain and Heart;
Or that in him produc'd, the World might know,
She others did with drooping Thought bestow.
As in Mans most perspicuous Soul, we find
The nearest Draught of her Internal Mind,
Tho it appears her highest Act of State,
When Human Conducts she does most compleat,
And place them so, for Mankinds good, that they
Are fit to Guide, where others miss their Way;
It being in Worldly Politiques less Great
To be a Law-maker, than Preserve a State.
In Publick Dangers Laws are unsecure,
As strongest Anchors can't all Winds endure;
Though 'tis in Exigents the wisest Ease
To know who best can ply when Storms encrease;
Whilst other Prospects, by mistaking Fate,
Through wrong Preventions, more its Bad dilate.
Whence some their Counter-Politicks extend,