EPISTLE VI.

To Mr. MURRAY.

N

OT to admire, is all the Art I know, To make men happy, and to keep them so." (Plain Truth, dear MURRAY, needs no flow'rs of

speech,

So take it in the very words of Creech.)

► This Vault of Air, this congregated Ball, Self-center'd Sun, and Stars that rise and fall, There are, my Friend! whose philosophic eyes Look thro', and trust the Ruler with his skies, To him commit the hour, the day, the year, And view this dreadful All without a fear.

5

10

Admire we then what d Earth's low entrails hold, Arabian shores, or Indian feas infold; All the mad trade of Fools and Slaves for Gold? S

NOTES.

}

VER. 10. And view this dreadful All without a fear.] He has added this idea to his text; and it greatly heightens the dignity of the whole thought. He gives it the appellation of a dreadful All, because the immenfity of God's creation, which modern philofophy has so infinitely enlarged, is apt to affect narrow minds, who measure the divine comprehenfion by their own, with dreadful fufpicions of man's being overlooked in this dark and narrower corner of existence, by a Governor occupied and bufied with the sum of things.

Ludicra, quid, & plaufus, et amici dona Quiritis ?

Quo spectanda modo, & quo fenfu credis et ore?

Qui timet his adversa, fere miratur eodem

Quo cupiens pacto: pavor est utrobique molestus:

Improvisa simul species exterret utrumque :

Gaudeat, an doleat; cupiat, metuatne; quid ad rem,

Si, quidquid videt melius pejusve sua spe,
Defixis oculis, animoque et corpore torpet?

* Insani sapiens nomen ferat, aequus iniqui;

Ultra quam fatis est, virtutem si petat ipsam.

m

1 I nunc, argentum et marmor vetus, aeraque

et artes

Suspice: cum gemmis Tyrios mirare colores:

NOTES.

VER. 21. In either cafe, believe me, we admire;] i. e. These objects, in either cafe, affect us, as objects unknown objects unk affect the mind, and confequently betray us into false judgments.

VER. 22. Whether we joy or grieve, the same the curse, Surpriz'd at better, or surpriz'd at worse.] The elegance of this is fuperior to the Original. The curse is the same

1

Orf Popularity? or Stars and Strings?
The Mob's applauses, or the gifts of Kings?
Say with what & eyes we ought at Courts to gaze,
And pay the Great our homage of Amaze?

If weak the pleasure that from these can spring,
The fear to want them is as weak a thing:
Whether we dread, or whether we defire,
In either case, believe me, we admire;
Whether we joy or grieve, the same the curse,
Surpriz'd at better, or surpriz'd at worse.

Thus good or bad, to one extreme betray
Th' unbalanc'd Mind, and snatch the Man away;
For * Virtue's self may too much zeal be had;
The worst of Madmen is a Saint run mad.

1 Go then, and if you can, admire the state
Of beaming diamonds, and reflected plate;
Procure a TASTE to double the surprize,
And gaze on m Parian Charms with learned eyes:
Be struck with bright Brocade, or Tyrian Dye,
Our Birth-day Nobles' splendid Livery.

NOTES.

15

20

25

30

(says he) whether we joy or grieve. Why so? Because, an either cafe, the man is furprized, hurried off, and led away captive.

(The good or bad to one extreme betray

Th' unbalanc'd Mind, and snatch the Man away.) This happy advantage, in the imitation, arises from the ambiguity of the word surprize.

Gaude, quod spectant oculi te mille loquentem:

Gnavus P mane forum, et vespertinus pete tectum;

Ne plus frumenti dotalibus emetat agris

Mutus et (indignum; quod fit pejoribus ortus)

Hic tibi fit potius, quam tu mirabilis illi.

Quicquid fub terra est, in apricum proferet aetas;

1

Defodiet, condetque nitentia. cum bene notum

Porticus Agrippae, et via te confpexerit Appi;

Ire tamen restat, Nuina quo devenit et Ancus.

If not so pleas'd, at Council-board rejoice,
To fee their judgments hang upon thy Voice;
From morn to night, at Senate, Rolls, and Hall,
Plead much, read more, dine late, or not at all.

35

But wherefore all this labour, all this strife?

For Fame, for Riches, for a noble Wife?

Shall One whom Nature, Learning, Birth, con

spir'd

41

To form, not to admire but be admir'd,
Sigh, while his Chloe blind to Wit and Worth
Weds the rich Dulness of fome Son of earth?
Yet Time ennobles, or degrades each Line;
It brighten'd CRAGGS's, and may darken thine: 45
And what is Fame? the Meanest have their day,
The Greatest can but blaze, and pass away.
Grac'd as thou art, with all the Pow'r of Words,
So known, so honour'd, at the House of Lords;
Confpicuous Scene! another yet is nigh,
(More filent far) where Kings and Poets lie;
Where MURRAY (long enough his Country's pride)
Shall be no more than TULLY, or than HYDE!

w Rack'd with Sciatics, martyr'd with the Stone, Will any mortal let himself alone?

See Ward by batter'd Beaus invited over,
And desp'rate Misery lays hold on Dover.
The cafe is eafier in the Mind's disease;

There all Men may be cur'd, whene'er they please.

50

55