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Inftruct the planets in what orbs to run,
Correct old Time, and regulate the Sun;
Go, foar with Plato to th' empyreal sphere,
To the first good, first perfect, and first fair;
Or tread the mazy round his followers trod,
And quitting fenfe call imitating God;
As Eaftern priefts in giddy circles run,
And turn their heads to imitate the Sun.
Go, teach Eternal Wisdom how to rule-
Then drop into thyfelf, and be a fool!

Superior beings, when of late they faw
A mortal Man unfold all Nature's Law,
Admir'd fuch wisdom in an earthly shape,
And fhew'd a Newton as we fhew an Ape.

VARIATIONS.

He fees, he feels, as you or I to be

An Angel thing we neither knew nor fee.
Obferve how near he edges on our race;
What human tricks! how risible of face!
It must be fo-why elfe have I the fenfe
Of more than monkey charms and excellence?
Why elfe to walk on two so oft essay'd?
And why this ardent longing for a maid?
So Pug might plead, and call his Gods unkind
Till fet on end, and married to his mind.

Go, reafoning Thing! affume the Doctor's chair,
As Plato deep, as Seneca fevere:

Fix moral fitnefs, and to God give rule,

Then drop into thyfelf, &c.

Ver. 21, Edit. 4th and 5th.

Shew by what rules the wandering planets ftray,
Correct old Time, and teach the Sun his Way.

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Could he, whofe rules the rapid Comet bind,
Defcribe or fix one movement of his Mind?
Who faw its fires here rife, and there defcend,
Explain his own beginning or his end?
Alas, what wonder! Man's fuperior part
Uncheck'd may rife, and climb from art to art;
But when his own great work is but begun,
What Reason weaves, by Paffion is undone.
Trace Science then, with Modefty thy guide;
Firft ftrip off all her equipage of Pride;
Deduct what is but Vanity or Dress,
Or Learning's Luxury, or Idlenefs;

Or tricks to fhew the ftretch of human brain,
Mere curious pleasure, or ingenious pain;
Expunge the whole, or lop th' excrefcent parts

Of all our Vices have created Arts;

Then fee how little the remaining fum,

Which ferv'd the paft, and must the times to come!
II. Two Principles in human nature reign;
Self-love, to urge, and Reason, to reftrain;

Nor this a good, nor that a bad we call,
Each works its end, to move or govern all :
And to their proper operation ftill,
Afcribe all Good, to their improper, III.

Self-love, the spring of motion, acts the foul;
Reafon's comparing balance rules the whole.

Ver. 35, Ed. 1ft.

VARIATION.

Could he, who taught each Planet where to roll,
Defcribe or fix one movement of the Soul?

Who mark'd their points, to rife or to descend,
Explain his own beginning, or his end?

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бе

Man,

Man, but for that, no action could attend,
And, but for this, were active to no end:
Fix'd like a plant on his peculiar spot,
To draw nutrition, propagate, and rot;
Or, meteor-like, flame lawless through the void,
Defroying others, by himself deftroy'd.

Moft ftrength the moving principle requires;
Active its tak, it prompts, impels, infpires.
Sedate and quiet the comparing lies,

Form'd but to check, deliberate, and advise.
Self-love, ftill stronger, as its objects nigh;
Reafon's at diftance, and in profpect lie:
That fees immediate good by prefent sense;
Reason, the future and the confequence.

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Thicker than arguments, temptations throng,

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At best more watchful this, but that more strong.

The Action of the ftronger to fufpend,

Reafon ftill ufe, to Reason ftill attend.
Attention, habit, and experience gains;

Each firengthens Reason, and Self-love refrains.

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Let fubtle schoolmen teach these friends to fight,
More ftudious to divide than to unite;

And Grace and Virtue, Senfe and Reason split,
With all the rash dexterity of wit.

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Wits, just like Fools, at war about a name,
Have full as oft no meaning, or the fame.

VARIATION.

After ver 86, in the MS.

Of good and evil Gods what frighted Fools,
Of good and evil Reafon puzzled Schools,

Deceiv'd, deceiving, taught

Self

Self-love and Reason to one end afpire,
Pain their averfion, Pleasure their defire;
But greedy That, its object would devour,

This taste the honey, and not wound the flower:
Pleasure, or wrong or rightly understood,

Our greatest evil, or our greatest good.

III. Modes of Self-love the Paffions we may call;
'Tis real good, or feeming, moves them all:
But fince not every good we can divide,
And Reafon bids us for our own provide;
Paffions, though felfith, if their means be fair,
Lift under Reason, and deserve her care;
Thofe, that imparted, court a nobler aim,
Exalt their kind, and take fome Virtue's name.
In lazy Apathy let Stoics boast

Their Virtue fix'd; 'tis fix'd as in a frost;
Contracted all, retiring to the breast;
But ftrength of mind is Exercise, not Rest:
The rifing tempeft puts in act the foul;
Parts it may ravage, but preferves the whole.
On life's vait ocean diverfely we fail,
Reason the card, but Paffion is the gale;
Nor God alone in the ftill calm we find,
He mounts the ftorm, and walks upon the wind.

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VARIATION.

After ver. 108, in the MS.

A tedious Voyage! where how useless lies
The compafs, if no powerful gufts arise!

Paffions,

Paffions, like elements, though born to fight,
Yet, mix'd and foften'd, in his work unite:
Thefe 'tis enough to temper and employ;
But what compofes Man, can Man destroy?
Suffice that Reason keep to Nature's road,
Subject, compound them, follow her and God.
Love, Hope, and Joy, fair Pleafure's fmiling train;
Hate, Fear, and Grief, the family of Pain;
These mix'd with art, and to due bounds confin'd,
Make and maintain the balance of the mind;
The lights and fhades, whofe well-accorded ftrife
Gives all the ftrength and colour of our life.
Pleasures are ever in our hands and eyes;
And, when in act they ceafe, in profpect rife:
Prefent to grafp, and future ftill to find,
The whole employ of body and of mind.
All spread their charms, but charm not all alike;
On different fenfes, different objects strike:
Hence different Paffions more or lefs inflame,
As ftrong or weak, the organs of the frame;
And hence one mafter Paffion in the breast,
Like Aaron's ferpent, fwallows up the rest.
As Man, perhaps, the moment of his breath,
Receives the lurking principle of death;

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VARIATION.

After ver. 112, in the MS.

The foft reward the virtuous, or invite;
The fierce, the vicious punish or affright.

The

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