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The young difeafe, which muft fubdue at length, 135 Grows with his growth, and ftrengthens with his ftrength: So, caft and mingled with his very frame,

The Mind's disease, its ruling Paffion came;

Each vital humour, which should feed the whole,

Soon flows to this, in body and in foul:

Whatever warms the heart, or fills the head,
As the mind opens, and its functions spread,
Imagination plies her dangerous art,
And pours it all upon the peccant part.
Nature its mother, Habit is its nurse;
Wit, Spirit, Faculties, but make it worse;
Reafon itself but gives it edge and power;

As Heaven's bleft beam turns vinegar more four.
We, wretched fubjects though to lawful fway,
In this weak queen, fome favourite ftill obey:
Ah! if the lend not arms, as well as rules,
What can fhe more than tell us we are fools?
Teach us to mourn our Nature, not to mend;
A fharp accufer, but a helpless friend!

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Or from a judge turn pleader, to perfuade
The choice we make, or juftify it made;

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Proud of an easy conqueft all along,

She but removes weak paffions for the ftrong:

So, when small humours gather to a gout,

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The doctor fancies he has driv'n them out.
Yes, Nature's road must ever be preferr'd;
Reason is here no guide, but still a guard :
'Tis hers to rectify, not overthrow,

And treat this paffion more as friend than foe;

A mightier

A mightier Power the ftrong direction fends,
And feveral Men impels to feveral ends:
Like varying winds, by other paffions toft,
This drives them conftant to a certain coaft.
Let power or knowledge, gold or glory, please,
Or (oft more strong than all) the love of eafe;
Through life 'tis follow'd, ev'n at life's expence;

The merchant's toil, the fage's indolence,

The monk's humility, the hero's pride,
All, all alike, find Reafon on their fide.

Th' Eternal Art, educing good from ill,
Grafts on this Paffion our best principle:
'Tis thus the Mercury of Man is fix'd,
Strong grows the Virtue with his nature mix'd;
The drofs cements what else were too refin'd,
And in one intereft body acts with mind.

As fruits, ungrateful to the planter's care,
On favage ftocks inferted learn to bear;
The fureft Virtues thus from Paffions shoot,
Wild Nature's vigour working at the root.
What of wit and honesty appear

crops

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From fpleen, from obftinacy, hate, or fear!

See anger, zeal and fortitude supply;

Ev'n avarice, prudence; floth, philosophy;

Luft, through fome certain ftrainers well refin'd,
Is gentle love, and charms all womankind;
Envy, to which th' ignoble mind 's a flave,
Is emulation in the learn'd or brave;

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Nor

Nor Virtue, male or female, can we name,

But what will grow on Pride, or grow on Shame.

Thus Nature gives us (let it check our pride) 195 The virtue nearest to our vice ally'd:

Reason the byas turns to good from ill,
And Nero reigns a Titus, if he will.
The fiery foul abhorr❜d in Catiline,
In Decius charms, in Curtius is divine:
The fame ambition can destroy or fave,
And makes a patriot as it makes a knave.

This light and darkness in our chaos join'd,
What shall divide? The God within the mind.

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VARIATIONS.

After ver. 194, in the MS.

How oft, with Paffion, Virtue points her Charms!
Then fhines the Hero, then the Patriot warms.
Peleus' great Son, or Brutus, who had known,
Had Lucrece been a Whore, or Helen none?
But Virtues oppofite to make agrec,
That, Reason! is thy task, and worthy Thee.
Hard task, cries Bibulus, and Reason weak.
-Make it a point, dear Marquefs, or a pique.
Once, for a whim, perfuade yourself to pay
A debt to reason, like a debt at play.

For right or wrong, have mortals fuffer'd more?
for his Prince, or ** for his Whore?
Whofe felf-denials nature moft controul?

B

His, who would fave a Sixpence, or his Soul?
Web for his health, a Chartreux for his Sin,
Contend they not which foonest shall grow thin?
What we refolve, we can: but here's the fault,
We ne'er refolve to do the thing we ought.

VOL. XLVI.

E

Extremes

Extremes in Nature equal ends produce,

In man they join to fome mysterious ufe;

Though each by turns the other's bound invade,
As, in fome well-wrought picture, light and fhade,
And oft fo mix, the difference is too nice

Where ends the Virtue, or begins the Vice.

Fools! who from hence into the notion fall,
That Vice or Virtue there is none at all.
If white and black blend, soften, and unite
A thoufand ways, is there no black or white?
Afk your own heart, and nothing is fo plain;
'Tis to mistake them, cofts the time and pain.
Vice is a monster of fo frightful mien,

As, to be hated, needs but to be feen;

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Yet feen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace.

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But where th' Extreme of Vice, was ne'er agreed:

Afk where's the North? at York, 'tis on the Tweed; In Scotland, at the Orcades; and there,

At Greenland, Zembla, or the Lord knows where.

No creature owns it in the first degree,

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But thinks his neighbour further gone than he:

Ev'n

VARIATIONS.

After ver. 220, in the first Edition followed these :

A Cheat! A Whore! who ftarts not at the name,
In all the Inns of Court or Drury-lane?

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The Colonel fwears the Agent is a dog;

The Scrivener vows th' Attorney is a rogue.

Against

Ev'n those who dwell beneath its very zone,
Or never feel the rage, or never own;
What happier natures fhrink at with affright,
The hard inhabitant contends is right.

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Virtuous and vicious every Man must be, Few in th' extreme, but all in the degree; The rogue and fool by fits is fair and wife; And ev❜n the beft, by fits, what they despise.

'Tis but by parts we follow good or ill;

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For, Vice or Virtue, Self directs it ftill;

Each individual feeks a feveral goal;

But Heaven's great view, is One, and that the Whole.

That counter-works each folly and caprice;

That disappoints th' effect of every vice:

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That, happy frailties to all ranks apply'd;

Shame to the virgin, to the matron pride;
Fear to the statesman, rashness to the chief;
To kings prefumption, and to crowds belief:
That, Virtue's ends from vanity can raise,
Which feeks no intereft, no reward but praise;
And build on wants, and on defects of mind,

The joy, the peace, the glory of Mankind.
Heaven forming each on other to depend,
A master, or a fervant, or a friend,

VARIATIONS.

Against the Thief th' Attorney loud inveighs,
For whofe ten pounds the County twenty pays.
The Thief damns Judges, and the Knaves of State;
And dying, mourns small Villains hang'd by great.

E 2

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Bids

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