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:

NOTES.

Evil; fhews, first, its Ufe to the perfection of the Universe, by Analogy, from the ufe of phyfical Evil in this particular fyftem-Secondly, its ufe in this fyftem, where it is turned, providentially, from its natural bias to promote Virtue. 'Then goes on to vindicate Providence from the imputation of certain fuppofed natural Evils; as he had before justified it for the permiffion of real moral Evil, in fhewing that, though the atheift's complaint against Providence be on pretence of real moral Evil, yet the true caufe is his impatience under imaginary natural Evil; the iffue of a depraved appetite for fantastical advantages, which, if obtained, would be ufelefs or hurtful to Man, and deforming and deftructive to the Universe, as breaking into that Order by which it is fupported. He defcribes that Order, Harmony, and cloje connexion of the Parts; and by fhewing the intimate prefence of God to his whole creation, gives a reafon for an Univerfe fo amazingly beautiful and perfect. From all this he deduces his general Conclufion, That Nature being neither a blind chain of Carfes and Effects, nor yet the fortuitous refult of wandering atoms, but the wonderful Art and Direction of an all-wife, all-good, and free Being; WHATEVER IS, IS RIGHT, with regard to the Dif pofition of God, and its Ultimate Tendency; which once granted, all complaints against Providence are at an end.

-

And, fpite of Pride, in erring Reason's spite,

One truth is clear, WHATEVER IS, IS RIGHT.

VER. 294. One truth is clear, whatever is, is right,] What are we to understand by thefe words? Did the poet mean right with regard to Man, or right with regard to God; right with regard to itself, or right with regard to its ultimate tendency? Surely WITH REGARD TO GOD; for he tells us his defign is to vindicate the ways of God to Man. Surely, with regard to its ULTIMATE TENDENCY; for he tells us again, all partial illis universal good, ver. 291.

I.

EPISTLE II.

KNOW then thyfelf, prefume not God to scan,
The proper ftudy of Mankind is Man.

Plac'd on this ifthmus of a middle state,
A Being darkly wise, and rudely great:

VER. 2. Ed. ift.

VARIATIONS.

The only science of Mankind is Man.

NOTES.

VER. 2. The proper fludy, &c.] The poet having fhewn, in the first epiftle, that the ways of God are too high for our comprehenfion, rightly draws this conclufion, and methodically makes it the fubject of his Introduction to the fecond, which treats of the Nature of Man.

VER. 3. Plac'd on this ifthmus, &c. As the poet hath given us this description of Man for the very contrary purpofe to which Sceptics are wont to employ fuch kind of paintings, namely, not to deter men from the fearch, but to excite them to the difcovery of truth; he hath, with great judgment, reprefented Man as doubting and wavering between the right and wrong object; from which state there are great hopes he may be relieved by a careful and circumfpect ufe of Reason. On the contrary, had he fuppofed Man fo blind, as to be bufied in chufing, or doubtful in his choice, between two objects equally wrong, the cafe had appeared defperate, and all fudy of Man had been effectually difcouraged.

With too much knowledge for the Sceptic fide,
With too much weakness for the Stoic's pride,
He hangs between; in doubt to act, or rest;
In doubt to deem himself a God, or Beaft;
In doubt his Mind or Body to prefer;
Born but to die, and reas'ning but to err;
Alike in ignorance, his reafon fuch,
Whether he thinks too little, or too much;

NOTES.

VER. 10. Born but to die, &c.] The author's meaning is, that, as we are born to die, and yet to enjoy some small portion of life; fo, though we reafon to err, yet we comprehend fome few truths. This is the weak state of Reafon, in which Error mixes itself with all its true conclufions concerning Man's Nature.

VER. 11. Alike in ignorance, &c.] i. e. The proper sphere of his Reason is so narrow, and the exercise of it fo nice, that the too immoderate use of it is attended with the fame ignorance that proceeds from the not ufing it at all. Yet, tho' in both these cafes, he is abused by himself, he has it still in his own power to disabuse himself, in making his paffions fubfervient to the means, and regulating his Reason by the end of Life.

VER. 12. Whether he thinks too little, or too much.] This is fo true, that ignorance arises as well from pufhing our enquiries too far, as from not carrying them far enough, that we may observe, when Speculations, even in Science, are carried beyond a certain point; that point, where use is reasonably fuppofed to end, and mere curiofity to begin; they conclude in the most extravagant and fenseless inferences; fuch as the unreality of matter; the reality of fpace; the fervility of the will, &c. The reafon of this fudden fall out of full light into utter darkness appears not to refult from the natural condition of things, but to

D

Chaos of Thought and Paffion, all confus'd;
Still by himself abus'd, or difabus'd;

15

Created half to rife, and half to fall;
Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all;
Sole judge of Truth, in endless Error hurl'd:
The glory, jeft, and riddle of the world! Awerpen

VARIATIONS.

After ver. 18. in the MS.

For more perfection than this ftate can bear
In vain we figh, Heav'n made us as we are.
As wifely fure a modest Ape might aim
To be like Man, whofe faculties and frame
He fees, he feels, as you or I to be
An Angel thing we neither know nor fee.
Obferve how near he edges on our race:
What human tricks! how rifible 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, reas'ning thing! affume the Doctor's chair,
As Plato deep, as Seneca severe.

NOTES.

be the arbitrary decree of infinite wisdom and goodness, which impofed a barrier to the extravagances of its giddy lawless creature, always inclined to purfue truths of lefs importance too far, to the neglect of those more necessary for his improvement in his station here.