Naboths Vinyard: OR, THE INNOCENT TRAITOR: COPIED from the ORIGINAL OF Holy Scripture, IN HEROIC VERSE  
Si fractus illabatur Orbis,  
Impavidam ferient Ruinae.  Hor. 
LONDON, Printed for C. R. 1679.   

SInce Holy Scripture itself is not exempt from being tortured and abused by the strainings and pervertions of evil men, no great wonder were it, if this small Poem (which is but an illustration of a single, yet remarkable passage thereof) be also subject to the like distortions, and misapplications of the over-prying and under-witted of one side, and of the malicious on the other. But all ingenious and ingenuous men (to whose divertisement only this Poem offers itself) will be Garrantees for the Author, that neither any Honourable and just Judge can be thought concerned in the Character of Arod; nor any honest and veracious Witness in that of Malchus: And as by the singular care and Royal goodness of his Majesty (whom God long preserve) our Benches in this Nation are furnished with persons of such eminent Integrity and Ability, that no Character of a corrupt Judge can with the least shadow of resemblance belong to them, so is it to be wished, that also in all our Courts of Judicature a proportionable honesty and veracity were to be found in all Witnesses; that so Justice and Peace might close in a happy kiss.   

Naboths Vinyard.  

FLY hence those Siren-Charms of Wealth and Power,  
Strong to undo, unable to restore;  
At first they tickle, but at last they smart,  
They please the palate, and corrode the Heart:  
To those gay Idols, which fond men adore,  
Our Christian Muse all Incense does abhor:  
Idols! (like hungry Moloch) whose dire Food  
Too often is supplied by Humane Blood!   

That precious Juice which can, with Sovereign Balm,  
The War and Ferment of our Nature calm;  
That can the Anguish of our Minds allay,  
Heal Wounds of Grief, and Storms of Passion sway;  
That generous Offspring of the healing Vine,  
I'th' Muse's Temple may deserve a Shrine.   

But, hold, 'tis not the Wine of common draft,  
Which Palma sends, or greedy Merchants waft  
From Rhenish Banks, or from the Gascon Shore,  
T'enrich themselves, and make the Drinkers poor;  
Poor in their wasted ' states, poor in their Mind,  
Who in a Brutish Club with Swine are joined,  
And greatest joy in stupefaction find:  
No, our exalted Taste disdains to feast  
On that dull Liquor, which turns Man to Beast.  
It must be nourished with some sprightly Juice,  
Which does our mortal Frame immortalise;  
Defies the Arrows of malicious Fate,  
The People's Fury, and the Tricks of State.   

Quickly, ah! quickly then, (my Muse) disclose  
The happy place, where this true Nectar grows.  
It is not Naboths Vinyard? Fame speaks loud  
Of thee, but louder of thy Master's blood;  
That Hero's Blood, fed by thy vital Juice,  
Which did, when flowing in his Veins, despise  
The Woman's Craft, the Tyrant's Avarice;  
The bloody Oaths of perjured Assassins';  
The Frowns of byased Justice, which inclines  
The giddy Rabble to their Natural bent,  
With tongues, and hands to tear the Innocent.   

Achab had conquered Aram; but, alas! 
〈…〉   
His very Conquest his Undoing was: 
v. 42.   
He soon forgot the Hand, which did bestow  
Edge on his Sword, and Laurel on his Brow.  
Proud with the Spoils of the slain Aramites,  
The Power, which gave him Victory, he slights: 
v. 13. 28.   
He treats, and bargains with his Enemies, 
v. 34.   
And all the Covenants of his Lord defies.  
Achab distressed, bowed to his Lord, and prayed;  
Achab victorious, proudly disobeyed;  
Ungrateful Mortals! whose corrupted Will  
Turns Grace to Poison, and makes Blessings kill.  
In vain poor Subjects in the Justice trust  
Of Kings, that to their Maker are unjust▪  
The Heart once tainted with a Master-Sin,  
All lesser Crimes does easily let in.   

Poor Naboths Vinyard next lies in his way, 
Chap. 21. v. 2.   
His covetous Eye had marked it for his Prey:  
He parleyed first; but what he could not worm  
By Treaty from him, he resolved to storm.   

" How (Sir!) can you think worthy your large Soul,  
" To crave my spot of Land, my sleeping-hole?  
" (Says Naboth) I myself should prise it not,  
" Were it not sacred made by Age and Lot; 
v. 3.   
" By Lot consigned to my Forefathers hand,  
" Who first with Joshua seized this Holy Land:  
" 'Twere Sacrilege in me to give, or sell,  
" What to my Name by Heaven's Appointment fell.  
" May Achab his large Kingdoms long possess;  
" Let Naboth his small Vinyard hold in peace.  
Achab was silent, but not satisfied; 
v. 4.   
The covetous Poison through his Veins did glide:  
And what his greedy Eye and Heart devour,  
He will extort by an Usurping Power.   

So have I seen the towering Falcon rise,  
And next to nothing lessen to our Eyes,  
Beyond the Call of any Game, or Lure;  
The timorous Fowl such distance can endure;  
But ill they measure by their own, the sight,  
And sharpness of their Tyrant's Appetite:  
She sports and plys her Wings i'th' liquid air,  
As if she minded Pleasure, and not War:  
But when the Fowl, betrayed by flattering hopes,  
Takes wing, the watchful Foe, as Lightning stoops;  
What her Eye marked, her Talons make her own;  
As Thunderstruck the Quary tumbles down.   

But ill did Achabs' Eyes, with all their Art,  
Cover the secret rancour of his Heart:  
The Wound did fester, that his Passion made,  
Which soon his Face unwillingly betrayed.  
First Jezabel descried his secret pain; 
v. 5.   
My Lord (she said) can your breast entertain  
A Grief or Joy but what I must partake?  
O, do not this unkind distinction make▪  
Shame to reveal, and greater shame to hide  
His Soul from her, his troubled thoughts divide:  
At last he poured his Grief into the Ear  
Of his too kind, and fatal Counsellor.   

In vain (my Dear) our Sceptre does command  
From the North-Sea to the Arabian Sand,  
In vain the Kings of Aram are my Slaves;  
In vain my Justice kills, my Mercy saves,  
If stubborn Naboth must his Vinyard hold 
v. 6.   
In spite of all Entreaty, Power, and Gold;  
If a poor Worm of Israel proudly dares  
Resist, not my Commands, my very Prayers. 
v. 6.    

Tread on that Rebel Worm (says Jezabel)  
The weight of a King's Anger let him feel; 
v. 7.   
Crush him to nothing; that your Subjects may  
Be taught by his Example to obey.   

Then Achab sighed, and said, That must not be,  
People and Priests would rise in Mutiny:  
Too much we hazard for a thing so small;  
The Tyrant-Law, which Monarches does enthrall,  
Controls the Execution of my will,  
And makes the Slave bold to resist me still.   

At this unmoveable stood Jezabel,  
Like one fast bound by an Enchanters Spell;  
Her flaming Cheeks had choler's deepest dye;  
And like struck Flints sparkled her furious Eye;  
Such heaving, and such panting shook her breast,  
As if some Spirit had the place possessed.  
Then suddenly she starts with a loud Cry;   

If Law must do the Work, Naboth shall die▪  
Let not the Sanhedrim a Monarch awe; 
v. 7.   
He that commands the Judge, commands the Law.  
Law is a poor, dumb thing, which none can hear,  
But by the Mouth of an Interpreter:  
And in the People's mouth, 'tis the old Plea  
For Rebels, when their Prince they disobey.  
Fear not the Law, but by the Judge be feared;  
Else, as the Pedants gravely wag their Beard,  
Kings must of their Prerogatives be stripped,  
As Children are for breach of Grammar whipped.  
Then trust my skill; I'll bring you quick relief,  
To heal the wounds of your unseemly Grief:  
Both you, and Naboth, your just Rights shall have,  
You shall possess his Vineyard, he his Grave, 
v. 7.    

Thus with her oily words she skin's his Sore,  
But adds new Poison to the ulcerous Core;  
And that false Comfort leaves in Achabs' mind,  
Which Villains in their thriving Mischiefs find.  
She summons then her chosen Instruments, 
v. 8.   
Always prepared to serve her black Intents:  
The chief was Arod, whose corrupted youth  
Had made his Soul an Enemy to truth;  
But Nature furnished him with Parts and wit,  
For bold Attempts, and deep Intriguing fit.  
Small was his Learning; and his Eloquence  
Did please the Rabble, nauseate men of sense.  
Bold was his Spirit, nimble and loud his Tongue,  
Which more than Law, or Reason, takes the Throng.  
Him, part by Money, partly by her Grace,  
The covetous Queen raised to a Judge's place:  
And, as he bought his Place, he Justice sold;  
Weighing his Causes not by Law, but Gold;  
He made the Justice-Seat a common Mart;  
Well skilled he was in the mysterious Art,  
Of finding Varnish for an unsound Cause,  
And for the sound Imaginary Flaws.   

With him fierce Jezabel consults the way  
How she for harmless Naboth Snares may lay.  
Madam (says he) you rightly judge the course  
Unsafe, to run him down by open Force.  
In great Designs it is the greatest Art,  
To make the Common People take your part:  
Some words there are, which have a special Charm  
To wind their Fancies up to an Alarm:  
Treason, Religion, Liberty, are such;  
Like Clocks they strike, when on those Points you touch;  
If some of these unto his Charge you lay,  
You hit the Vein of their Tarantala.  
For to say truth, the trick did never fail;  
Loud Calumny with them does still prevail.  
I (Madam) of these means no scruple make;  
Means from their End their Good or Badness take.  
Naboth a Rebel to his Sovereign's Will,  
By any ways we lawfully may kill.  
Whilst thus he poured his Venom in her Ear,  
A spiteful Joy did in her Face appear:  
She said, your faithful Counsel I approve,  
You have chalked out the way we are to move:  
But still you leave untouched the hardest part,  
Which most requires your Industry and Art;  
Where is the Crime? where are the Witnesses?   

It is my Province (Madam) to find these;  
(Replied the Judge) and that our Project may  
Take faster hold, let there a solemn day,  
To seek the Lord by Fasting and by Prayer,  
Be set apart: This will exactly square  
With the whole Model of our Work designed;  
This will the People draw Body and Mind,  
To act their Parts in Naboth's Tragedy;  
This builds the Stage, on which the Wretch shall die.  
As Glasses, by the Sun's reflected Ray,  
The silly Lark into the Net betray,  
So will the People, by the dazzling thought  
Of Godliness, religiously be caught.   

When the Queen saw that her Design would take,  
She with impatient haste the Conference broke;  
Of Av'rice and Revenge such is the thirst,  
That with the least Delay the Patients burst.  
Lose no more time (she cried;) with speedy care  
Letters and Orders for our Seal prepare,  
Such as the Work requires: For till I gain  
This Point, each Moment is an Age of pain.   

Since first for acting God proud Angels fell,  
Still to ape Heaven has been the Pride of Hell:  
As the bright Spirits always attend his Throne,  
And what he wills, they execute as soon:  
Our Fury so could not conceive the Fact  
More nimbly, than her Agent- Fiend did act.   

Stay, Hellhounds, stay! why with such ravenous speed  
Must the dear Blood of Innocence be shed?  
Blind is your Haste, and blinder is your Rage;  
Hell no successful War against Heaven can wage:  
You shoot at Naboth, but yourselves you wound  
With poisoned Darts, for which no Cure is found:  
The Poison drawn from a remorseless Heart,  
Baffles Divine, much more all Humane Art;  
What will your Rage effect, but lasting shame,  
In this, in the next World Eternal Flame?  
With all your subtle Arts of Perjury,  
And all the Varnish of your Bloody Lie,  
To make him Guilty, and you Rightful seem,  
Hell for yourselves you build, and Heaven for him.   

Arod had always Tools at his Command,  
Of a fit temper for his Work in hand:  
But here no Villains of a common size  
In Wickedness, or Cunning would suffice:  
Yet two he found, which did as much exceed 
v. 10.   
All common Rogues, as common Facts this Deed.  
Malchus, a puny Levite, void of sense,  
And Grace, but stuffed with Noise and Impudence,  
Was his prime Tool; so Venomous a Brute,  
That every place, he lived in, spewed him out;  
Lies in his Mouth, and Malice in his Heart,  
By Nature grew, and were improved by Art.  
Mischief his pleasure was; and all his Joy,  
To see his thriving Calumny destroy  
Those, whom his double Heart, and forked Tongue▪  
Surer, than Viper's Teeth, to death had stung.  
Python his Second was; and his alone;  
For he in Ills no other First would own:  
A braver Impudence did Arm this Wight;  
He was a Russian, and no Hypocrite;  
And with audacious, and loud Villainy,  
He did at once Virtue, and Fame defy.  
These two, though Malchus wore the longer Cloak,  
Were evenly paired, and drew in the same Yoke.  
No Foresters with keener Appetite  
In running down their hunted Game delight,  
Than these the Slaughter of the Guiltless view,  
Whom their Malicious Calumny pursue.  
This goodly Pair were, by their Teacher's Art, 
●. 10.   
Fully prepared, and tuned to play their part.   

A Fast is then proclaimed; this serves as Leaven  
To raise the People's Lump with News from Heaven;  
They in the dark, when bid to seek the Lord,  
Are sure for His, to take the Preachers word;  
These, when they toll their great DIANA-Bell,  
Look up to Heaven, and do the works of Hell.  
Always State-Fasts some strange Events portend;  
And often in a Godly Mischief end.  
The fair Pretence is, that the Lord may weed  
Treason, and Blasphemy from Abraham's Seed. 
v. 10.    

Great, and just God will it be always so?  
When thy Rebellious Creatures here below  
Their black Designs of deepest Mischief frame,  
Shall they still stamp on them thy holy Name?  
Make thee, All-good, a Party in their Ill!  
Thy very Word abuse, to break thy Will?  
By which their Leaders draw the Vulgar in,  
With harmless Minds, to perpetrate their Sin;  
By which the Just are by the Impious slain,  
And Abel still is sacrificed by Cain;  
How can thy Justice, and thy Thunder sleep,  
When such affronts on thee, and thine, they heap  
How can the Earth forbear with open Jaws  
To swallow these Contemners of thy Laws?   

Hold, Muse! Thy Zeal now grows to Mutiny;  
Thou dost ignobly from thy Colours fly:  
Under the Standard, of the Cross we serve,  
And from our Leaders ways we must not swerve.  
By Form of Law He did submit to die,  
Accused of Treason, and of Blasphemy;  
All-powerful He, without revenge, or strife,  
Endured the loss of Honour, and of Life;  
This is the way, which he his Followers taught,  
Which him to Triumph, us to Safety brought;  
Then in this way let us march bravely on,  
Which will our Innocence with Glory Crown;  
And let us pity those, whom prosperous Sin  
Harden's, and does on Earth their Hell begin.   

Now comes the Solemn, and the bloody Day, 
v. 12.   
In which all Israel meets to fast, and pray:  
But Impious is that Fast, and Prayer, which parts  
From Lips polluted, and from hardened Hearts.   

In the first rank of Levites Arod stood,  
Court-favour placed him there, not Worth, or Blood.  
Naboth amongst the Tribes the foremost Place 
v. 12.   
Did with his Riches, Birth, and Virtue grace:  
A man, whose Wealth was the Poor's common stock;  
The Hungry found their Market in his Flock:  
His Justice made all Law-contentions cease;  
He was his Neighbour's safeguard, and their Peace.  
The Rich by him were in due bounds contained;  
The Poor, if strong, employed; if weak, maintained.  
Well had he served his Country, and his King;  
And the best Troops in all their Wars did bring;  
Nor with less bravery did he lead them on,  
Warding his Country's danger with his own.   

Scarce were the Rites, and Ceremonies past,  
Which by the Law attend their public Fast,  
When Malchus raising up his hands and Eyes, 
v. 13.   
With bended knees, thus to the Judge's cries;  
Hear me (great Seed of Levi) Hear me all  
(Israel's ten Tribes) I for your Mercy call;  
Seal me a Pardon, who too long have been  
A dark Concealer of a Crying Sin;  
Heaven does this day my wounded Conscience heal,  
And bids me the hid Blasphemy reveal.  
Naboth, stand forth; 'Tis thee, of Impious breach 
v. 13.   
Of God's and the King's Laws, whom I impeach.  
At this the Tribes a various murmur raise;  
His boldness some abhorred, and some did praise:  
Some would have Naboth by a Public Vote,  
Without more Form, found Guilty of the Plot.  
Others the Law allege, that no Offence,  
Can be judged so on single Evidence.  
While thus they waver, Arod takes his kew;  
Our thanks to Heaven in the first place are due,  
(He said) which with such gracious speed prevents  
Our Prayers, and all false Traitor's cursed Intents.  
Speak (Malchus) then, and this Assembly give  
Of the whole Plot a perfect Narrative:  
And whilst this service you to Israel do,  
Know, that we hear you, and believe you too.   

Malchus applauded thus in public view,  
Did now almost believe, that he spoke true:  
This armed his Face with Brass, his Heart with Steel,  
That he no shame, and no remorse could feel.  
Then he the Story of his Plot at large  
Unfolds, and lays to guiltless Naboth's charge,  
How with the Aramites he did conspire,  
His Country to invade, the City fire,  
The Temple to destroy, the King to kill, 
v. 13.   
And the whole Realm with Desolation fill:  
He told, how he himself the Agent was,  
In close Consults to bring these things to pass;  
Nor did he fail with proper Circumstance  
Of Time, and Place, to garnish his Romance.  
The Priests astonished are; the People gaze,  
And the dumb Judge's horror does amaze.  
Then out steps Python, and with dextrous Art,  
Weaving his Story, seals a Counterpart  
To all, that Malchus had before deposed;  
And with deep Oaths the Accusation closed.   

Now on poor Naboth all their Eyes were set,  
Some red with Anger, some with Pity wet.  
But the fierce Rabble gladly would prevent  
His Trial, by an instant Punishment.   

Whence this unnatural Pleasure to destroy?  
From what ill Root grows this malignant Joy?  
Beasts worry Beasts, but when their Hunger calls;  
But Man on Man with a full Stomach falls:  
'Tis not our Wants of Nature to redress,  
That we this Rage to our own Kind express;  
But for the Mischief's sake we Pleasure find;  
It lies not in our Body, but our Mind.  
Our Seed receives a double Taint and Slain,  
From Rebel Adam, and from murdering Cain.   

Naboth, thus charged, had need for his defence,  
Of all his Courage, and his Innocence:  
It was a Trial of no Vulgar Kind,  
To show th' Heroic temper of his Mind:  
But the transparent Brightness of his Soul,  
Even through his Eyes, their Malice did control,  
For his Accusers, when he sternly viewed,  
Their tortured looks their rack of Conscience showed▪  
But to his Judges, with a manly grace,  
He lowly bowed, and pleaded thus his Case.   

My Lords, by these false Oaths, this bloody Lie,  
God and the King are more abused, than I;  
For I (poor Worm) weigh nothing in the Scale,  
When their high Wrongs for Reparation call:  
When God's dread Name, when his, and the King's Laws,  
Are thus blasphemed, 'tis their, and not my Cause.  
Pharaoh, Goliath, and that Heathen Brood,  
Less impiously blasphemed our Sovereign Good;  
They believed not his Being, nor his Might,  
And blindly, what they Nothing thought, did slight:  
These know him, and him knowingly defy;  
And signing with his awful Name their Lie,  
Make him a Party to their Perjury.  
Nay, in this horrid Enterprise they do  
Their cursed Endeavour to destroy him too;  
For Truth and He in Essence so partake,  
That when you make him False, you him unmake.   

These Vipers in the Bosom of our Law,  
Will eat it through, its very Heartstrings gnaw;  
For when with artificial Perjury  
They make God's Sacred Name espouse their Lie,  
Forthwith that Lie Omnipotent becomes,  
And governs all below; it saves, or dooms;  
Disposes of our Honour, Life, and State,  
giveth rule to Law, and arbitrates our Fate.  
No rage of Famine, Pestilence, or War,  
Can with this Legal Massacre compare,  
If perjured Villains may a Shelter find,  
To make their Inroads thus on Humane Kind,  
Laws, for Chastisement of the Guilty meant,  
Will turn their Points against the Innocent,  
(
* Poet speaks.  As Cannons of a newly entered Town  
From their own Walls the Houses batter down.)  
My Lords, if you this Villainy endure,  
Judges themselves will not be long secure:  
And so I leave my Cause in your wise breast,  
The Temple where Truth's Oracle should rest.   

Thus Naboth spoke, with that undaunted mien,  
Which only in bold Innocence is seen:  
But least the People's Fury should relent,  
Arod their calmer thoughts did thus prevent.   

Naboth, what you have said in your defence,  
Adds to your Gild, clears not your Innocence;  
When the King's Evidence you perjured call,  
Know, that your very Plea is Criminal.  
Shall Malefactors with Reproaches tear  
Their Fame, who for their King and Country swear?  
What Thief, what Felon may not do the same,  
To purge themselves, the Witnesses defame?  
Against two Oaths, so positive and plain,  
All your harranguing Rhetoric is vain.  
Should stout Denying pass for Innocence,  
The Court must be as weak as your Defence.  
Less Confidence your bloody Crimes behoved,  
So weakly answered, and so strongly proved.  
Is it not doubly sworn, that you conspired  
With Arams King, this City to have fired,  
And in that hurry to destroy the King, 
v. 13.   
And into Israel Bondage and Idols bring?   

Stung with these dire Reproaches, Naboth again  
Offered to speak, but offered still in vain;  
For when the Bench did thus his Gild proclaim,  
Their Words, like Oil, enraged the People's Flame;  
Who hardly staying till the Sentence past,  
Like hungry Wolves, they rush with furious haste,  
Hurrying poor Naboth to a planted Stake,  
Where in his Death their cruel Joy they take.  
Their Hands and Tongues they equally employ,  
And him with Stones and Calumnies destroy:  
Some gather Flints, and some the Victim tied  
Ready for Sacrifice: He loudly cried,  
Heaven bless the King! And I forgive ye all;  
O! may this Innocent Blood no Vengeance call  
On you, my Brethren— Offering more to say,  
A murdering shower of Stones took Voice and Life away. 
v. 13.    

Thus Naboth fell— Kind Heaven! so may I fall;  
Rather than stand so high, and Criminal,  
As covetous Achab, and his bloody Queen;  
Or serve the Malice of such Lust and Spleen;  
Or judge with Arod, or with Malchus swear;  
Or with the Rabble oppressed Virtue tear.  
Naboth! though cast thou art by Humane Laws,  
Heaven's Writ of Error has removed thy Cause,  
And judged it so, that it shall stand from hence  
A lasting Record of wronged Innocence.  
All to thy Ashes shall their Duty pay,  
Friends shall their Tears, Foes weep their Blood away; 
v. 19   
For lo! the great Elijah, Heaven's Envoy,  
Has now surprised them in their guilty joy,  
Caught in the very Fact, and Place, where they 
v. 18.   
Rejoice, pluming, and hover o'er the Prey:  
What? have I found you in this Field of Blood, 
v. 20.   
(For so thy Title to't shall be made good,  
More by thine own, than Naboths) graceless King! 
v. 19   
I from thy dreadful Judge thy Sentence bring,  
(Says Heaven's bold Herald.) Achab heartless grew;  
And the Queen's Fears did all her Pride subdue,  
At this loud Thunderstroke. Know (wretched Pair)  
(Continues he) The Vultures in the Air, 
v. 24.   
Wolves in the Field shall be the living Tomb  
Of all that's born from Jezebel's cursed Womb:  
And Achab's Seed shall be the worthy Food  
Of Birds and Beasts that live by Prey and Blood.  
Thy Race no more shall mix with Human Kind,  
But nourish Beasts, and so with them be joined.  
Thou, Achab, here in this ill-purchased Ground,  
Shalt bleed thy last, from a fresh, mortal wound;  
Mastiffs shall lick thy Blood; and it shall be 
v. 19   
As sweet to them, as Naboth's Blood to thee.  
And thou (cursed Woman) Eve, and Serpent too;  
Cause of thine own, and of thy Husband's woe,  
Thy broken Limbs, and into pieces rend,  
Shall be of Dogs the Food and Excrement: 
v. 23.   
Low falls thy Body, lower thy Soul will sink; 
2 K. c. 9 v. 33.   
Thy Memory ever shall remain, and stink.  
And so he left them Thunderstruck and dumb;  
Stung with their present Gild, and Fate to come.   
FINIS.