That, happy frailties to all ranks applied,
Shame to the virgin, to the matron pride,
Fear to the statesman, rashness to the chief,
To kings presumption, and to crowds belief:
That, virtue's ends from vanity can raise,
Which seeks no interest, no reward but praise;
And builds 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 servant, or a friend,
Bids each on other for assistance call,
Till one man's weakness grows the strength of all
Wants, frailties, passions, closer still ally
The common interest, or endear the tie.
To these we owe true friendship, love sincere,
Each home-felt joy that life inherits here;
Yet from the same we learn, in its decline,
Those joys, those loves, those interests to resign;
Taught half by reason, half by mere decay,
To welcome death, and calmly pass away.
Whate'er the passion, knowledge, fame or pelf,
Not one will change his neighbor with himself.
The learned is happy nature to explore,
The fool is happy that he knows no more;
The rich is happy in the plenty given,
The poor contents him with the care of Heaven. See the blind beggar dance, the cripple sing, The sot a hero, lunatic a king;
The starving chemist in his golden views
Supremely blest; the poet in his muse.
See some strange comfort every state attend,
And pride, bestowed on all, a common friend:
See some fit passion every age supply;
Hope travels through, nor quits us when we die.
Behold the child, by nature's kindly law,
Pleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw;
Some livelier plaything gives his youth delight,
A little louder, but as empty quite ;
Scarfs, garters, gold amuse his riper stage,
And beads and prayer books are the toys of age:
Pleased with this bauble still, as that before;
Till tired he sleeps, and life's poor play is o'er.
Meanwhile opinion gilds with varying rays
Those painted clouds that beautify our days;
Each want of happiness by hope supplied,
And each vacuity of sense by pride:
These build as fast as knowledge can destroy;
In folly's cup still laughs the bubble, joy:
One prospect lost, another still we gain;
And not a vanity is given in vain.
Even mean self-love becomes, by force divine,
The scale to measure others wants by thine.
See! and confess, one comfort still must rise;
'Tis this, though Man's a fool, yet God is wise.
ARGUMENT OF THE THIRD EPISTLE.
Of the Nature and State of Man with respect to Society. The whole universe one system of society-nothing made wholly for itself, nor yet wholly for another. The happiness of animals mutual. Reason or instinct operates also to society in all animals. How far society is carried by instinct. How much farther by reason. Of that which is called the State of Nature. Reason instructed by Instinct in the Invention of Arts, and in the forms of Society. Origin of Political Societies. Origin of Monarchy. Patriarchal Government. Origin of true Religion and Government, from the same principle of Love. Origin of Superstition and Tyranny, from the same principle of Fear. The influence of Selflove operating to the social and public Good. Restoration of true Religion and Government on their first Principle. Mixed Government. Various Forms of each, and the true end of all.
HERE then we rest: The universal cause Acts to one end, but acts by various laws.' In all the madness of superfluous health, The train of pride, the impudence of wealth, Let this great truth be present night and day; But most be present, if we preach, or pray.
Look round our world; behold the chain of love
Combining all below and all above.
See plastic nature working to this end;
The single atoms each to other tend;
Attract, attracted to the next in place,
Formed and impelled its neighbor to embrace.
See matter next, with various life endued,
Press to one centre still, the general good.
See dying vegetables life sustain,
See life dissolving vegetate again :
All forms that perish other forms supply
(By turns we catch the vital breath, and die,)
Like bubbles on the sea of matter borne,
They rise, they break, and to that sea return.
Nothing is foreign; parts relate to whole;
One all-extending, all preserving soul
Connects each being, greatest with the least;
Made beast in aid of Man, and Man of beast;
All served, all serving: nothing stands alone;
The chain holds on, and where it ends unknown.
Has God, thou fool! worked solely for thy good,
Thy joy, thy pastime, thy attire, thy food?
Who for thy table feeds the wanton fawn,
For him as kindly spreads the flowery lawn.
Is it for thee the lark ascends and sings?
Joy tunes his voice, joy elevates his wings.
Is it for thee the linnet pours his throat?
Loves of his own and raptures swell the note
The bounding steed you pompously bestride
Shares with his lord the pleasure and the pride
Is thine alone the seed that strews the plain?
The birds of heaven shall vindicate their grain.
Thine the full harvest of the golden year?
Part pays, and justly, the deserving steer.
The hog that ploughs not, nor obeys thy call,
Lives on the labors of this lord of all.
Know, nature's children shall divide her care; The fur that warms a monarch warmed a bear. While Man exclaims, 'See all things for my use!' 'See man for mine!' replies the pampered goose; And just as short of reason he must fall, Who thinks all made for one, not one for all. Grant that the powerful still the weak control; Be Man the wit and tyrant of the whole: Nature that tyrant checks; he only knows, And helps another creature's wants and woes. Say, will the falcon, stooping from above, Smit with her varying plumage, spare the dove ? Admires the jay the insect's gilded wings? Or hears the hawk when Philomela sings? Man cares for all: to birds he gives his woods, To beasts his pastures, and to fish his floods; For some his interest prompts him to provide, For more his pleasure, yet for more his pride: All feed on one vain patron, and enjoy, The extensive blessing of his luxury. That very life his learned hunger craves, He saves from famine, from the savage saves; Nay, feasts the animal he dooms his feast, And, till he ends the being, makes it blest; Which sees no more the stroke, or feels the pain, Than favored Man by touch ethereal slain. The creature had his feast of life before; Thou too must perish when thy feast is o'er!
|