ARGUMENT OF

EPISTLE

IV.

Of the Nature and State of Man with refpect to Happiness.

I. FALSE Notions of Happiness, Philosophical and Popular, answered from ver. 19 to 77. II. It is the End of all Men, and attainable by all, ver. 30. God intends Happiness to be equal; and to be so, it must be focial, fince all particular Happiness depends on general, and fmce he governs by general, not particular Laws, ver. 37. As it is necessary for Order, and the peace and welfare of Society, that external goods should be unequal, Happiness is not made to confift in these, ver. 51. But, notwithstanding that inequality, the balance of Happiness among mankind is kept even by Providence, by the two Pafsions of Hope and Fear, ver 70. III. What the Happiness of Individuals is, as far as is consistent with the conflitution of this world; and that the Good Man has here the advantage, ver. 77. The error of imputing to Virtue what are only the calamities of Nature, or of Fortune, ver. 94. IV. The folly of expecting that God should alter his general Laws in favour of particulars, ver. 121. V. That we are not judges who are good; but that, whoever they are, they must be happieft, ver. 133, &c. VI. That external goods are not the proper rewards, but often inconfiftent with,

F2

with, or destructive of Virtue, ver. 167. That even these can make no Man happy without Virtue: Instanced in Riches, ver. 185. Honours, ver. 193. Nobility, ver. 205. Greatness, ver. 217. Fame, ver. 237. Superior Talents, ver. 257, &c. With pictures of human infelicity in Men, possessed of them all, ver. 269, &c. VII. That Virtue only conftitutes a Happiness, whose object is universal, and whose prospect eternal, ver. 307. That the perfection of Virtue and Happiness confists in a conformity to the ORDER of PROVIDENCE here, and a Resignation to it here and hereafter, ver. 326, &c.

EPISTLE

EPISTLE

IV.

HHAPPINESS! our being's end and aim!

Good, Pleasure, Ease, Content! whate'er thy name:

That something still which prompts th' eternal sigh,
For which we bear to live, or dare to die,

Which still so near us, yet beyond us lies,
O'erlook'd, seen double, by the fool and wife:
Plant of celestial feed! if dropp'd below,

5

Say, in what mortal foil thou deign'st to grow?
Fair opening to some Court's propitious shine,
Or deep with diamonds in the flaming mine?
Twin'd with the wreaths Parnassian laurels yield,
Or reap'd in iron harvests of the field?

10

Where grows? where grows it not? If vain our toil, We ought to blame the culture, not the foil:

Fix'd to no spot is happiness sincere,

15

'Tis no where to be found, or every where: "Tis never to be bought, but always free,

And fled from monarchs, St. JOHN! dwells with thee.

Ask of the Learn'd the way? The Learn'd are blind: This bids to serve, and that to shun mankind;

20

Ver. 1.

VARIATION.

Oh Happiness, &c.] in the MS. thus:

Oh Happiness, to which we all aspire,

Wing'd with strong hope, and borne by full defire;
That ease, for which in want, in wealth we figh;
That ease, for which we labour, and we die.

Some place the bliss in action, some in ease,
Those call it Pleasure, and Contentment these :
Some, funk to Beasts, find Pleasure end in Pain;
Some, swell'd to Gods, confess ev'n Virtue vain;

Or, indolent, to each extreme they fall,
To trust in ev'ry thing, or doubt of all.

25

Who thus define it, say they more or less,

Than this, that Happiness is Happiness?
Take Nature's path, and mad Opinion's leave;
All ftates can reach it, and all heads conceive;
Obvious her goods, in no extreme they dwell;
There needs but thinking right, and meaning well;
And, mourn our various portions as we piease,
Equal is Common Senfe, and Common Eafe.

30

35

Remember, Man, "the Univerfal Caufe
"Acts not by partial, but by gen'ral laws;"
And makes what Happiness we justly call,
Subsist not in the good of one, but all.

There's not a blessing Individuals find,
But fome-way leans and hearkens to the kind:
No Bandit fierce, no Tyrant mad with pride,
No cavern'd Hermit, rests felf-fatisfy'd:
Who most to shun or hate Mankind pretend,
Seek an admirer, or would fix a friend:
Abstract what others feel, what others think,
All pleasures ficken, and all glories fink:
Each has his share; and who would more obtain,
Shall find, the pleasure pays not half the pain.
ORDER is Heaven's first Law; and this confeft,
Some are, and must be, greater than the rest,

40

45

More rich, more wife; but who infers from hence
That such are happier, shocks all common fenfe.

Heaven to Mankind impartial we confefs,
If all are equal in their Happiness:
But mutual wants this Happiness increase;
All Nature's difference keeps all Nature's peace.
Condition, circumstance, is not the thing;

55

Bliss is the fame in subject or in king,

In who obtain defence, or who defend,
In him who is, or him who finds a friend:
Heaven breathes through every member of the whole
One common blessing, as one common foul.

60

But Fortune's gifts if each alike possest,

And each were equal, must not all conteft?
If then to all Men Happiness was meant,
God in Externals could not place Content.

65

Fortune her gifts may varioufly dispose, And these be happy call'd, unhappy those;

VARIATIONS.

After ver. 52, in the MS. 1

Say not, "Heaven 's here profuse, there poorly saves,
"And for one Monarch makes a thousand flaves."
You 'll find, when Causes and their Ends are known,
'Twas for the thousand Heaven has made that one.

After ver. 66, in the MS.