In Gath let not the mournful News be known,
Nor publish'd in the streets of Askalon ;
May Fame it self be quite struck dumb!
Oh may it never to Philistia come,
Nor any live to bear the cursed Tidings home!
Lest the proud Enemies new Trophies raise,
And loudly triumph in our fresh Disgrace:
No captive Israelite their pompous Joy adorn,
Nor in sad Bondage his lost Country mourn:
No Spoils of ours be in their Temples hung,
No Hymns to Ashdod 's Idol sung,
Nor thankful Sacrifice on his glad Altars burn.
Kind Heav'n forbid! lest the base Heathen Slaves blaspheme
Thy sacred and unutterable Name,
And above thine extol their Dagon 's Fame;
Lest the vile Fish 's Worship spread abroad,
Who fell a prostrate Victim once before our conqu'ring God:
And you, who the great Deeds of Kings and Kingdoms write,
Who all their Actions to succeeding Age transmit,
Conceal the blushing Story, ah! conceal
Our Nations loss, and our dread Monarch's fall:
Conceal the Journal of this bloody Day,
When both by the ill Play of Fate were thrown away:
Nor let our wretched Infamy, and Fortune's Crime
Be ever mention'd in the Registers of future Time.