Remembrance and Reflection, how ally'd; What thin partitions Senfe from Thought divide? 225 Without this juft gradation, could they be 230 The pow'rs of all fubdu'd by thee alone, VIII. See, through this air, this ocean, and this earth, All matter quick, and bursting into birth. Above, how high, progreflive life may go! Around, how wide, how deep extend below! COMMENTARY. 235 Vaft VER. 233. See, through this air, &c.] And further (from ver. 232 to 267.), that this breaking the order of things, which, as a link or chain, connects all beings, from the highest to the loweft, would unavoidably be attended with the deftruction of the Univerfe for that the feveral parts of it must at least compose as entire and harmonious a Whole, as the parts of a human body, can be doubted of by no one: yet we fee what confufion it would make in our frame, if the members were set upon invading each other's office: "What if the foot," &t. Who will not acknowledge, therefore, that a connection, in the difpofition of things, fo harmonious as here defcribed, is tranfcendently beautiful? But the Fatalifts fuppofe fuch an one. What then? Is the First Free Agent, the great Cause of all things, debarred a contrivance infinitely exquifite, because some Men, to fet up their idol, Fate, abfurdly reprefent it as prefiding over fuch a system ? WARBURTON. NOTES. VER. 235. Above, how high,] This is a magnificent paffage. Has Vast chain of Being! which from God began, 240 Or VER. 238. Ed. ift, VARIATIONS. Ethereal effence, fpirit, fubftance, man. NOTES. Has any feen The mighty chain of beings, leffening down Of dreary Nothing, defolate abyss! From which aftonifh'd Thought recoiling turns? THOMSON. WARTON. The paffage in Locke on this topic is fo eloquent, that the reader will pardon its infertion: "That there fhould be more fpecies of intelligent creatures above us, than there are of fenfible and material below us, is probable to me from hence: That in all the visible corporeal world we fee no chafms, or gaps. All quite down from us, the defcent is by easy steps, and a continued feries of things, that in each remove differ very little one from the other. And when we confider the infinite power and wifdom of the Maker, we have reason to think that it is suitable to the magnificent harmony of the Universe, and the great defign and infinite goodness of the Architect, that the fpecies of creatures should also, by gentle degrees, afcend upwards from us towards his infinite Perfection, as we fee from us they gradually defcend downward." Vol. ii. p. 4. VER. 240. No glass can reach;] "There are," fays Hooke the naturalist, “8,280,000 animalcula in one drop of water." "Nature, in many inftances," fays Themiftius, "appears to make her tranfitions fo imperceptibly, and by little and little, that in fome beings it may be doubted whether they are animal or vegetable. Or in the full creation leave a void, 245 Where, one step broken, the great fcale's deftroy'd: NOTES. 250 Let VER. 244. the great scale's deftroy'd:] All that can be faid of the fuppofition of a scale of beings gradually defcending from perfection to non-entity, and complete in every rank and degree, is to be found in the third chapter of King's Origin of Evil, and in a note of the Archbishop, marked G, p. 137, of Law's Tranflation, ending with these emphatical words: "Whatever fyftem God had chofen, all creatures in it could not have been equally perfect; and there could have been but a certain determinate multitude of the most perfect; and, when that was completed, there would have been a station for creatures less perfect, and it would still have been an inftance of goodness to give them a being as well as others." WARTON. VER. 245. From Nature's chain] Almost the words of Marcus Antoninus, 1. v. c. 8.; as alfo v. 265. from the fame. WARTON. VER. 251. Let Earth unbalanc'd] i. e. Being no longer kept within its orbit by the different directions of its progreffive and attractive motions; which, like equal weights in a balance, keep it in an equilibre. WARBURTON. It is obfervable, that these noble lines were added after the first folio edition. It is a pleafing and useful amusement to trace out the alterations that a great and correct writer gradually makes in his works. At first it ran, How inftinct varies! What a hog may want, And Let ruling Angels from their spheres be hurl'd, And again; NOTES. What the advantage if his finer eyes Which lines at prefent ftand thus: How instinct varies in the grov'ling fwine, No felf-confounding faculties to share, No pow'rs of body or of foul to fhare, It appeared at firft very exceptionably; Expatiate far o'er all this fcene of Man, A mighty maze! of walks without a plan. Heav'n's Which contradicted his whole fyftem, and it was altered to, WARTON. A mighty maze! but not without a plan! VER. 251. Let Earth unbalanc'd] Ruffhead fays, "There is To reading thefe lines, without being struck with a momentary appre henfion!" Without quite allowing this, we cannot but feel their great beauty and force. Line rifes upon line, with greater effect and nobler imagery, and in the conclufion the Poet has touched the idea with propriety, as well as dignity and sublimity. If he had been more particular, the paffage would have been unworthy the grandeur of the fubject; had he been lefs, it would have been obfcure. He has at once evinced judgment and poetry. If there be a word or two not quite fuitable, perhaps it is "run,” and "foundations nod.". I could have wished such a word as “rusk’d lawless," or "flam'd lawless through the sky." Let me here obferve, that there are many truly great paffages in this Effay. Such is that defcribing Superstition, "When roll'd the thunder, and when rock'd the ground;" which evince the hand of a master, and which are the more striking, as all along the poetical part is kept in fubfervience to the reafoning.. Heav'n's whole foundations to their centre nod, 255 And Nature trembles to the throne of God. All this dread ORDER break-for whom? for thee? Vile worm !-oh Madness! Pride! Impiety! IX. What if the foot, ordain'd the duft to tread, Or hand, to toil, afpir'd to be the head? All are but parts of one ftupendous whole, COMMENTARY. 260 265 That, VER. 267. All are but parts of one flupendous whole,] Our Author having thus given a reprefentation of God's work, as one entire whole, where all the parts have a neceffary dependance on, and relation to, each other, and where each particular part works and concurs to the perfection of the Whole; as fuch a system trans cends vulgar ideas; to reconcile it to common conceptions, he shews (from ver. 266 to 281.), that God is equally and intimately present to every fort of fubftance, to every particle of matter, and in every inftant of being; which eafes the labouring imagination, and makes us expect no lefs, from fuch a Presence, than such a Difpenfation. WARBURTON. NOTES. VER. 265. Just as abfurd, &c.] See the profecution and application of this in Ep. iv. POPE. VER. 266. The great directing MIND, &c.] "Veneramur autem et colimus ob dominium. Deus enim fine dominio, providentia, et caufis finalibus, nihil aliud eft quam FATUM et NATURA." Newtoni Princip. Schol. gener. fub finem. WARBURTON. |