_Anthony Ashley Cooper, created Earl of Shaftesbury 1662._
_Born 1621. Died 1683._
By BURNET.
The man that was in the greatest credit with the Earl of _Southampton_
was Sir _Anthony Ashly Cooper_, who had married his niece, and
became afterwards so considerable that he was raised to be Earl of
_Shaftsbury_. And since he came to have so great a name, and that I
knew him for many years in a very particular manner, I will dwell a
little longer on his character; for it was of a very extraordinary
composition. He began to make a considerable figure very early. Before
he was twenty he came into the House of Commons, and was on the King's
side; and undertook to get _Wiltshire_ and _Dorsetshire_ to declare
for him: But he was not able to effect it. Yet Prince _Maurice_
breaking articles to a town, that he had got to receive him,
furnished him with an excuse to forsake that side, and to turn to
the Parliament. He had a wonderful faculty in speaking to a popular
assembly, and could mix both the facetious and the serious way of
arguing very agreeably. He had a particular talent to make others
trust to his judgment, and depend on it: And he brought over so many
to a submission to his opinion, that I never knew any man equal to
him in the art of governing parties, and of making himself the head
of them. He was as to religion a Deist at best: He had the dotage of
Astrology in him to a high degree: He told me, that a _Dutch_ doctor
had from the stars foretold him the whole series of his life. But that
which was before him, when he told me this, proved false, if he told
me true: For he said, he was yet to be a greater man than he had
been. He fancied, that after death our souls lived in stars. He had
a general knowledge of the slighter parts of learning, but understood
little to the bottom: So he triumphed in a rambling way of talking,
but argued slightly when he was held close to any point. He had a
wonderful faculty at opposing, and running things down; but had not
the like force in building up. He had such an extravagant vanity in
setting himself out, that it was very disagreeable. He pretended that
_Cromwell_ offered to make him King. He was indeed of great use to
him in withstanding the enthusiasts of that time. He was one of those
who press'd him most to accept of the Kingship, because, as he said
afterwards, he was sure it would ruin him. His strength lay in the
knowledge of _England_, and of all the considerable men in it. He
understood well the size of their understandings, and their tempers:
And he knew how to apply himself to them so dextrously, that, tho'
by his changing sides so often it was very visible how little he was
to be depended on, yet he was to the last much trusted by all the
discontented party. He was not ashamed to reckon up the many turns
he had made: And he valued himself on the doing it at the properest
season, and in the best manner. This he did with so much vanity, and
so little discretion, that he lost many by it. And his reputation was
at last run so low, that he could not have held much longer, had he
not died in good time, either for his family or for his party: The
former would have been ruined, if he had not saved it by betraying the
latter.
69.
By DRYDEN.
Some by their Friends, more by themselves thought wise,
Oppos'd the Pow'r, to which they could not rise.
Some had in Courts been Great, and thrown from thence,
Like Fiends, were harden'd in Impenitence.
Some, by their Monarch's fatal mercy grown,
From Pardon'd Rebels, Kinsmen to the Throne,
Were raised in Pow'r and publick Office high:
Strong Bands, if Bands ungrateful men coud tie.
Of these the false _Achitophel_ was first:
A Name to all succeeding Ages curst.
For close Designs, and crooked Counsels fit;
Sagacious, Bold, and Turbulent of wit:
Restless, unfixt in Principles and Place;
In Pow'r unpleas'd, impatient of Disgrace.
A fiery Soul, which working out its way,
Fretted the Pigmy-Body to decay:
And o'r inform'd the Tenement of Clay,
A daring Pilot in extremity;
Pleas'd with the Danger, when the Waves went high
He sought the Storms; but for a Calm unfit,
Would Steer too nigh the Sands, to boast his Wit.
Great Wits are sure to Madness near alli'd;
And thin Partitions do their Bounds divide:
Else, why should he, with Wealth and Honour blest,
Refuse his Age the needful hours of Rest?
Punish a Body which he coud not please;
Bankrupt of Life, yet Prodigal of Ease?
And all to leave, what with his Toil he won,
To that unfeather'd, two-legg'd thing, a Son:
Got, while his Soul did huddled Notions trie;
And born a shapeless Lump, like Anarchy.
In Friendship false, implacable in Hate:
Resolv'd to Ruine or to Rule the State.
To Compass this, the Triple Bond he broke;
The Pillars of the Publick Safety shook:
And fitted _Israel_ for a Foreign Yoke.
Then, seiz'd with Fear, yet still affecting Fame,
Usurp'd a Patriot's All-attoning Name.
So easie still it proves in Factious Times,
With publick Zeal to cancel private Crimes:
How safe is Treason, and how sacred ill,
here none can sin against the Peoples Will:
Where Crouds can wink; and no offence be known,
Since in anothers guilt they find their own.
Yet, Fame deserv'd, no Enemy can grudge;
The Statesman we abhor, but praise the Judge.
In _Israels_ Courts ne'r sat an _Abbetbdin_
With more discerning Eyes, or Hands more clean:
Unbrib'd, unsought, the Wretched to redress;
Swift of Dispatch, and easie of Access.
Oh, had he been content to serve the Crown,
With Vertues onely proper to the Gown;
Or, had the rankness of the Soil been freed
From Cockle, that opprest the Noble Seed:
_David_, for him his tuneful Harp had strung,
And Heav'n had wanted one Immortal Song.
But wild Ambition loves to slide, not stand;
And Fortunes Ice prefers to Vertues Land:
_Achitophel_, grown weary to possess
A lawful Fame, and lazie Happiness,
Disdain'd the Golden Fruit to gather free,
And lent the Croud his Arm to shake the Tree.
Now, manifest of Crimes, contriv'd long since,
He stood at bold Defiance with his Prince:
Held up the Buckler of the Peoples Cause,
Against the Crown; and sculk'd behind the Laws,
The wish'd occasion of the Plot he takes;
Some Circumstances finds, but more he makes.
By buzzing Emissaries, fills the ears
Of listning Crouds, with Jealousies and Fears
Of Arbitrary Counsels brought to light,
And proves the King himself a _Jebusite_.
Weak Arguments! which yet he knew full well,
Were strong with People easie to Rebel.
For, govern'd by the _Moon_, the giddy _Jews_
Tread the same Track when she the Prime renews:
And once in twenty Years, their Scribes Record,
By natural Instinct they change their Lord.
_Achitophel_ still wants a Chief, and none
Was found so fit as Warlike _Absalon_:
Not, that he wish'd his Greatness to create,
(For Polititians neither love nor hate:)
But, for he knew, his Title not allow'd,
Would keep him still depending on the Croud:
That Kingly pow'r, thus ebbing out, might be
Drawn to the Dregs of a Democracie.
70.