Page:The lives of the poets of Great Britain and Ireland to the time of Dean Swift - Volume 4.djvu/182

172 Then cut the finger off to gain the ring, And plung’d him back to periſh in the waves; Crying, go dive for more.—I’ve heard him boaſt Of this adventure. In the 5th act, when Herod is agitated with the rage of jealouſy, his brother Pheroras thus addreſes him,

The obſervation, which Herod makes upon this, is very affecting. The poet has drawn him ſo tortured with his paſſion, that he ſeems almoſt ſufficiently puniſhed, for the barbarity of cutting off the father and brother of Mariamne, :. Where’s the monarch now? The vulgar call us gods, and fondly think That kings are caſt in more than mortal molds; Alas! they little know that when the mind Is cloy’d with pomp, our taſte is pall’d to joy; But grows more ſenſible of grief or pain. The ſtupid peaſant with as quick a ſenſe Enjoys the fragrance of a roſe, as I; And his rough hand is proof againſt the thorn, Which rankling in my tender ſkin, would ſeem A viper’s tooth. Oh bliſsful poverty! Nature