Page:Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral.djvu/43

Rh Eliab heard, and kindled into ire To hear his shepherd-brother thus inquire, And thus begun? "What errand brought thee? say "Who keeps thy flock? or does it go astray? "I know the base ambition of thine heart, "But back in safety from the field depart."

Eliab thus to Jesse's youngest heir, Express'd his wrath in accents most severe. When to his brother mildly he reply'd, "What have I done? or what the cause to chide?"

The words were told before the king, who sent For the young hero to his royal tent: Before the monarch dauntless he began, "For this Philistine fail no heart of man: "I'll take the vale, and with the giant fight: "I dread not all his boasts, nor all his might." Rh