The blifs of Man (could Pride that bleffing find) Is not to act or think beyond mankind; 190 No pow'rs of body or of foul to share, But what his nature and his ftate can bear. Why has not man a microscopic eye ? For this plain reafon, Man is not a Fly. Say what the ufe, were finer optics giv'n, If nature thunder'd in his op'ning ears, And stunn'd him with the music of the spheres, VII. Far as Creation's ample range extends, 195 200 205 210 VER. 202. Stunn'd him with the mufic of the fpheres,] This inftance is poetical and even fublime, but misplaced. He is arguing philofophically in a cafe that required him to employ the real objects of fenfe only and, what is worse, he speaks of this as a real object-If NATURE thunder'd, etc. The cafe is different where (in ver. 253.) he speaks of the motion of the heavenly bodies under the fublime imagery of ruling Angels: For whether there be ruling Angels or no, there is real motion, which was all his argument wanted; but if there be no mufic of the Spheres, there was no real found, which his argument was obliged to find. VER. 213. The headlong lionefs] The manner of the lions hunting their prey in the Deferts of Africa is this: At their first going Of hearing, from the life that fills the flood, What thin partitions Sense from Thought divide? 215 220 225 230 VIII. See, thro' this air, this ocean, and this earth, 235 All matter quick, and bursting into birth. 240 out in the night-time they set up a loud roar, and then liften to the noife made by the beafts in their flight, purfuing them by the ear, and not by the noftril. It is probable that the ftory of the jackal's hunting for the lion, was occafioned by observation of this defect of fcent in that terrible animal. VER. 238. Ed. ift. VARIATIONS. Ethereal effence, fpirit, fubftance, man.. Or in the full Creation leave a void, 245 250 Where, one step broken, the great scale's destroy'd: IX. What if the foot, ordain'd the duft to tread, Or hand, to toil, aspir'd to be the head? All are but parts of one stupendous whole, 260 265 VER. 253. Let ruling Angels, etc.] The poet, throughout this poem, with great art ufes an advantage, which his employing a Platonic principle for the foundation of his Effay had afforded him and that is the expreffing himself (as here) in Platonic notions; which, luckily for his purpose, are highly poetical, at the fame time that they add a grace to the uniformity of his reafoning. VER. 265. Just as abfurd, etc.] See the profecution and application of this in Ep. iv. VER. 266. The great directing Mind, etc.] "Veneramur autem ❝et colimus ob dominium. Deus enim fine dominio, providentia, et caufis finalibus, nihil aliud eft quam FATUM et ÑATURA.” Newtoni Princip. Schol. gener. fub finem. That, chang'd thro' all, and yet in all the fame; 270 Spreads undivided, operates unfpent; Breathes in our foul, informs our mortal part, As full, as perfect, in vile Man that mourns, 275 280 X. Cease then, nor ORDER Imperfection name: Our proper blifs depends on what we blame. Know thy own point: This kind, this due degree Of blindness, weakness, Heav'n beftows on thee. Submit-In this, or any other sphere, Secure to be as bleft as thou canft bear: Safe in the hand of one difpofing Pow'r, Or in the natal, or the mortal hour. All Nature is but Art, unknown to thee; 285 All Chance, Direction, which thou canst not fee; 290 All Difcord, Harmony not understood; All partial Evil, univerfal Good: And, fpite of Pride, in erring Reafon's fpite, VARIATION S. After ver. 282. in the MS. Reafon, to think of God, when the pretends, ARGUMENT OF EPISTLE II. Of the Nature and State of Man with respect to Himfelf, as an Individual. ufe, ver. 93 to 130. I. THE bufinefs of Man not to pry into God, but to ftudy him felf. His Middle Nature: his Powers and Frailties, ver. I to 19. The Limits of his Capacity, ver. 19, etc. II. The two Principles of Man, Self-love and Reafon, both necessary, ver. 53, etc. Self-love the ftronger, and why, ver. 67, etc. Their end the fame, ver. 81, etc. III. The PASSIONS, and their The Predominant Paffion, and its force, ver. 132 to 160. Its Neceffity, in directing Men to different purposes, ver. 165, etc. Its providential Ufe, in fixing our Principle, and ascertaining our Virtue, ver. 177. IV. Virtue and Vice joined in our mixed Nature; the limits near, yet the things feparate and evident: What is the Office of Reason, ver. 202 to 216. V. How odious Vice in itfelf, and how we deceive ourselves into it, ver. 217. VI. That, however, the Ends of Providence and general Good are anfwered in our Paffions and Imperfections, ver. 238, etc. How ufefully these are diftributed to all Orders of Men, ver. 241. How ufeful they are to Society, ver. 251. And to Individuals, ver. 263. In every ftate, and every age of life, ver. 273, etc. |