it, to kindle a new flame in the nation. He blew the trumpet, and oried out, We have no part in David, neither have we any inberitance in the fon of Jeffe Every man to his tent, O Ifrael. Upon this the men of Ifrael ran again into rebellion, for fook their king, and followed Sheba; but the tribe of Judab clave to him, and attended him from Fordan to Jerufalem.

WHEN he entered the city, poor Mephi→ bofbeth came to meet him, with all the enfigns of forlorn diftrefs, both in his garb and perfon; for he had utterly neglected both, from the day the king was driven from his capital. Far from acting the part of a plotter against his fovereign, his concern for him was manifefted by all the marks of a fincere, undiffembled affliction; eftranged not only from joy, but even from indulgence in the common conveniences of life: his beard was untrimmed, his cloaths unwashed, and his poor infirm feet undreffed, that whole time. David called to him, and asked him, Why he had not attended him at his departure from Jerufalem? To which that upright, open-hearted son of Jonathan answered; My lord, O king, my

Servant

fervant deceived me; for thy fervant faid, I will faddle 'me an ass, that I may ride thereon, and go to the king, because thy fervant is lame--- Here his grief (or rather, a righteous indignation to find himself traduced and fufpected) choaked his words, and broke the chain of his discourse. And it was with difficulty he seems to have added,

and be bath flandered thy fervant unto my lord the king. But my lord the king is as an angel of God; do therefore what is good in thine eyes. For all my father's house were but dead men before my lord the king; yet didst thou fet thy fervant among them that did eat at thine own table: What right therefore have I yet to cry any more unto the king?

And the king faid unto him, Why Speakeft thou any more of thy matters? I have faid, thou and Ziba divide the land.

THE reader will eafily perceive, from this answer of David, that he faw Mephi bofbeth's innocence, (and found himself upbraided by it) and the error of his own former credulity; and therefore could not bear to hear of it: but he had now no time to discuss the matter more fully, and therefore

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fore all that he could do, for the present, was, to reftore him to his eftate, and leave both him, and his accufer, in their former condition, 'till he could inquire further. However Ziba might have been faulty towards Mephibofheth, he had been fignally faithful and ufeful to David; and to condemn him unheard, as he had Mephibofheth, were to run the rifque of a second rash decifion; a decifion that might be now as unseasonable as rash, whilst another rebellion fubfifted in his dominions.

THE antient way of tenancy (nor is it yet quite difused) was that of occupying the land, and giving the proprietor a certain annual portion of the fruits of it. When the tenant paid one half of the annual produce, he was called Colonus partiarius; and fuch, in the judgment of the best critics †, was Ziba to Mephibofbeth, as he had been before to Saul. So that Ziba, having half the fruits for his labour, had, in effect, half the land. Upon Ziba's misinformation, the whole was given to him; fo that he was then both proprietor and ufufructuary. David now re*See Trapp, Grotius, Selden.

vokes that grant, and reftores his firft decree by these words, I have faid, thou and Ziba divide the land*. To which Mephibofbeth anfwered, in all the generofity and fidelity of his father's friendfhip; Yea, let bim take all, inasmuch as my lord the king is come again in peace unto his own house. He had no folicitude for the recovery of his eftate, of which calumny had robbed him: his concern was, to recover his credit with the king. That once established, he was contented and happy. The generous Mephibofheth faid to himself, what Seneca faid (and what it was much easier for a cold uninterefted Stoic to fay) to a friend in affliction; That he had no right to complain, as long as his prince was in fafety. This upright and generous conduct of Mephibofheth could not, I think, fail to restore him intirely to David's former friendship and affection; and, if poffible,

* These words plainly refer to a former decree, now re-established. That could not be the decree in favour of Ziba, for there the whole was given to him; they must therefore refer to the firft decree, whereby Saul's estate was divided between Mephibofbeth as proprietor, and Ziba as ufufructuary. And therefore the Rabbins talk idly, who imagine that David's kingdom was divided under his grandfon, on account of the unjust division of Saul's eftate, between Ziba and Mephibofbeth.

to more credit, and greater confidence. And I have not the leaft doubt, but he continued in it to the day of David's death. And, I think, I am warranted to fay fo, from the text, 2 Sam. ix. 13. for had this commerce ceased for a series of years, I have fome doubt whether the facred hiftorian could be juftified, in affuring us, as he there does, without any fubfequent hint to the contrary, that he did eat continually at the king's table.

THAT he was perfectly restored to David's friendship, is not, I flatter myself, irrational to conclude, from the thirty-feventh Pfalm; which, I am perfuaded, was written for Mephibofbeth's confolation under Ziba's calumny.

THAT most, if not all the Pfalms, were written upon particular occafions, is not, I think, to be doubted; although the precepts, praifes, exhortations, and monitions contained in them, are, at the fame time, calculated for general and perpetual use.

THAT this Pfalm was particularly written for the confolation of fome righteous man, oppreffed by calumny ; against whom fome wicked wretch had laid schemes to deftroy