Page:The Maid's Tragedy Altered - Waller (1690).djvu/86

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
82
Mr. Waller's Speech

make them willingly submit themselves to this late Tax of Ship-Money. And such is their na­tural Love and just Esteem of his Majesty's Good­ness, That no late Pressure could provoke them, nor any Example invite them to Disloyalty or Disobedience.

But what is it then, that hath bred this mis­understanding betwixt the King and his Peo­ple? How is it, that having so good a King, we have so much to complain of? Why, we are told of the Son of Solomon, that he was a Prince of a tender Heart; and yet we see, by the Advice of violent Counsellers how rough an Answer he gave to his People. That his Finger should be as heavy as his Fathers Loins, was not his own, but the Voice of some Persons about him, that wanted the Gravity and Moderation requisite for the Counsellors of a young King. I love not to press Allegories too far: but the Resem­blance of Job's Story with ours holds so well, that I cannot but observe it to you. It plea­sed God to give his Enemy leave to afflict him more than once or twice, and to take all he had from him; and yet he was not provoked to rebell, so much as with his Tongue: though he had no very good Example of one that lay very near him, and felt not half that which he suffered. I hope his Majesty will imitate God in the benigner part too; and as he was severeto

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.