250

255

Inftruct the planets in what orbs to run,
Correct old Time, and regulate the Sun;
Go, foar with Plato to th' empyreal sphere,
To the first good, firft perfect, and first fair;
Or tread the mazy round his followers trod,
And quitting fenfe call imitating God;
As Eastern priests in giddy circles run,
And turn their heads to imitate the Sun.
Go, teach Eternal Wifdom how to rule
Then drop into thyself, and be a fool!

Superior beings, when af late they faw
A mortal Man unfold all Nature's Law,
Admir'd fuch Wisdom in an earthly shape,
And fhew'd a Newton as we fhew an Ape.
Could he, whofe rules the rapid
Comet bind,
Defcribe or fix one movement of his Mind?
Who faw its fires here rife, and there defcend,
Explain his own beginning or his end?
Alas, what wonder! Man's fuperior part
Uncheck'd may rife, and climb from art to art;
But when his own great work is but begun,
What Reason weaves, by Pathion is undone.

Trace Science then, with Modefty thy guide;
First trip off all her equipage of Pride;
Deduct what is but Vanity or Drefs,
Or Learning's Luxury, or Idleneis;

Wits, juft like Fools, at war about a name,
Have full as oft no meaning, or the fame.
Self-love and Reafon to one end aspire,
Pain their averfion, Pleafure their defire;
25 But greedy That, its object would devour,
This taste the honey, and not wound the flower:
Pleasure, or wrong or rightly understood,
Our greatest evil, or our greatest good.

30

35

85

95

III. Modes of Self-love the Paffions we may call ;
'Tis real good, or feeming, moves them all:
But fince not every good we can divide,
And Reafon bids us for our own provide;
Patlions, though felfish, if their means be fair,
Lift under Reaton, and deferve her care;
Thofe, that imparted, court a nobler aim,
Exalt their kind, and take fome Virtue's name.

In lazy Apathy let Stoics boaft
Their Virtue fix'd; 'tis fix'd as in a frost;
Contracted all, retiring to the breast;

100

45

40 Butitrength of mind is Exercife, not Reft:
The rifing tempeft puts in act the foul;
Parts it may ravage, but preferves the whole.
On life's vaft ocean diverfely we fail,
Reafon the card, but Paffion is the gale;
Nor God alone in the ftill calm we find,

105

Or tricks to fhew the ftretch of human brain,
Mere curious pleasure, or ingenious pain ;
Expunge the whole, or lop th' excrefcent parts
Of all our Vices have created Arts;
Then fee how little the remaining fum,
Which ferv'd the past, and muft the times to come!

II. Two Principles in human nature reign;
Self-love, to urge, and Reafon, to restrain;
Nor this a good, nor that a bad we call,
Each works its end, to move or govern all:
And to their proper operation ftill,
Afcribe all Good, to their improper, Ill.

Self-love, the fpring of motion, acts the foul;
Realon's comparing balance rules the whole.
Man, but for that, no action could attend,
And, but for this, were active to no end;
Fix'd like a plant on his peculiar spot,
To draw nutrition, propagate, and rot;

50

He mounts the form, and walks upon the wind 110

115

Paffions, like elements, though born to fight
Yet mix'd and foften'd, in his work unite:
Thefe 'tis enough to temper and employ ;
But what compofes Man, can Man destroy?
Suffice that Reafon keep to Nature's road,
Subject, compound them, follow her and God.
Love, Hope, and Joy, fair Pleafure's Imiling train;
Hate, Fear, and Grief, the family of Pain;
55 Thefe mix'd with art, and to due bounds confin'd,
Make and maintain the balance of the mind;
The lights and fhades, whofe well-accorded ftrife
Gives all the ftrength and colour of our life.

60

Pleasures are ever in our hands and eyes;
And, when in act they ceale, in profpect rife:
Prefent to grafp, and future still to find,
The whole employ of body and of mind.
All spread their charms, but charm not all alike;

Or, meteor-like, flame lawlefs through the void, 65 On different fenfes, different objects strike:

Deftroying others, by himself deftroy'd.

Moft strength the moving principle requires ;
Active its task, it prompts, impels, infpires.
Sedate and quiet the comparing lies,
Form'd but to check, deliberate, and advise.
Self-love, ftill fironger, as its obje&t nigh;
Reason's at difrance, and in profpe&t lie:

Hence different l'affions more or lefs inflame,
As ftrong or weak, the organs of the frame;
And hence one mafter Parsion in the breast,
Like Aaron's ferpent, fwallows up the rest.

120

125

130

The young difeafe, which muft fubdue at length, 135
Grows with his growth, and ftrengthens with his
So, caft and mingled with his very frame,

ftrength:

At beft more watchful this, but that more strong.
The action of the ftronger to fufpend,
Reafon ftill ufe, to Reafon ftill attend.
Attention, habit, and experience gains;

Each Arengthens Reason, and felf-love reftrains. 80
Let fubtle fchoolmen teach thefe friends to fight,
More ftudious to divide than to unite;
And Grace and Virtue, Senfe and Reafon fplit,
With all the rash dexterity of wit.

Reafon itself but gives it edge and power;
As Heaven's bleft beam turns vinegar more four.
We, wretched fubjects though to lawless sway,
In this weak queen, feme favourite ftill obey:
Ah! if the tend not arms as well as rules,
What can the more than tell us we are fools?
Teach us to mourn our Nature, not to mend
A fharp accufer, but a helpiefs friend!
Or from a judge turn pleader, to perfuade
The choice we make, or justify it made;
Proud of an eafy conqueft all along,

She but removes weak paffions for the trong
So, when fmall humours gather to a gout,
The doctor fancies he has driv'n them out.

i

At Greenland, Zembla, or the Lord knows where.
No creature owns it in the first degree,
But thinks his neighbour further gone than he
Ev'n thofe who dwell beneath its very zone,
Or never feel the rage, or never own;

225

155 What happier natures fhrink at with affright,
The hard inhabitant contends is right.

Yes, Nature's road must ever be preferr'd;
Reafon is here no guide, but still a guard :
'Tis hers to rectify, not overthrow,
And treat this paffion more as friend than foe;
A mightier Power the ftrong direction fends,
And feveral Men impels to feveral ends:
Like varying winds, by other pallions toft,
This drives them conftant to a certain coaft.
Let power or knowledge, gold or glory, pleafe,
Or (oft more strong thu ail) the love of cafe;
Through life 'tis follow'd, ev'n at life's expence;
The merchant's toil, the fage's indolence,
The monk's humility, the hero's pride,
All, all alike, find Reafon on their fide.

176

Virtuous and Vicious every man must bea
Few in th' extreme, but all in the degree;
The rogue and fool by fits is fair and wife;
And ev'n the beft, by fits, what they defpife.
'Tis but by parts we follow good or ill;
For, Vice or Virtue, Self directs it ftill;
175 Each individual seeks a several goal;

180

239

But Heaven's great view, is One, and that the Whole
That counter-works each folly and caprice
That difappoints th' effect of every vice:
That, happy frailties to all ranks apply'd:
Shame to the virgin, to the matron pride;
Fear to the statesman, rashness to the chief;
To king's prefumption, and to crowds belief:
That, Virtue's ends from vanity can raise,
Which feeks no intereft, no reward but praife;
185 And build on wants, and on defects of mind,
The joy, the peace, the glory of Mankind.

Th' Eternal Art, educing good from ill,
Grafts on this Paffion our bet principle:
'Tis thus the Mercury of Man is fix'd,
Strong grows the Virtue with his nature mix'd;
The drofs cements what elfe were too refin'd,
And in one interest body acts with mind.
As fruits, ungrateful to the planter's care,
On favage ftocks inferted learn to bear;
The fureft Virtues thus from Paflion shoot,
Wild Nature's vigour working at the root.
What crops of wir and honesty appear
From fpleen, fron. obftinacy, hate, or fear!
See anger, zeal a d fortitude fupply;
Ev'n avarice, prudence; foth, philosophy;
Luft, through fome certain ftrainers well refin'd2
Is gentle love, and charms all womankind;
Envy, to which th' ignoble mina's a flave,
Is emulation in the learn'd or brave;
Nor Virtue, mal or female, can
But what will grow on Pride, or grow on Shame.
Thus Nature gives us (let it check our pride) 195
The virtue near it to our vice ally'd
Reafon the bias turns to good from iil,
And Nero reigns a Titus, if he will.
The fiery foul abhorr'd in Catiline,
In Decius charms, in Curtius is divine:
The lame ambition can destroy or fave,
And makes a patriot as it makes a knave.

we name,

190

200

245

This light and darkness in our chaos join'd, What shall divide? The God within the mind.

Whate'er the paffion, knowledge,, fame, or pelf, Not one will change his neighbour with himself. The learn'd is happy nature to explore,

The fool is happy that he knows no more;
The rich is happy in the plenty given,

265

The poor contents him with the care of Heaven.
See the blind beggar dance, the cripple fing
The fot a hero, lunatic a king:

The starving chemift in his golden views
Supremely bleft, the Poet in his Mufc.

See fome ftrange comfort every ftate attend,
And pride bestow'd on all, a common friend:
See fome fit paflion every age fupply;

Hope travels through, nor quits us when we die.
Behold the child, by nature's kindly law,

Pleas'd with a rattle, tickled with a firaw!

Some livelier plaything gives his youth delight,

A little louder, but as empty quite :

Scarfs, garters, gold, amufe his riper stage,

H

"Acts to one end, but acts by various laws." In all the madness of fuperfluous health, The train of pride, the impudence of wealth,

And beads and prayer-books are the toys of age: 280 Let this great truth be prefent night and day;

Pleas'd with this bauble ftill, as that before;
'Till tir'd he fleeps, and Life's poor play is o'er.
Meanwhile Opinion gilds with varying rays
Thofe painted clouds that beautify our days
Each want of happiness by Hope supply'd,
And each vacuity of fenfe by Pride:
Thefe build as faft as knowledge can destroy;
In folly's cup ftill iaughs the bubble, joy:
One profpe&t loft, another ftill we gain;
And not a vanity is giv'n in vain;

But most be prefent, if we preach or pray.

Prefs to one centre ftill, the General Good.
See dying vegetables life fuftain,

See life diffolving vegetate again:
All forms that perifh other forms fupply,

Ev'n mean Self-love becomes, by force divine,
The fcale to measure other's wants by thine.
See! and confefs one comfort ftill must rife;
'Tis this, Though Man's a fool, yet GOD IS WISE. (By turns we catch the vital breath, and die)

ARGUMENT OF

EPISTLE III.

Like bubbles on the fea of Matter borne,
They rife, they break, and to that fea return.
Nothing is foreign; Parts relate to whole;
One all-extending, all-preferving Sout
Connects each being, greateft with the leaft;
Made Beaft in aid of Man, and Man of Beast;
All ferv'd, all ferving: nothing stands alone;
The chain holds on, and where it ends, unknown.
Has God, thou fool! work'd folely for thy good,
Thy joy, thy paftime, thy attire, thy food!
Who for thy table feeds the wanton fawn,
For him as kindly spread the flowery lawn:

Of the Nature and State of Man with refpect is it for thee the lark afcends and fings?

1

to Society.

Animals

Joy tunes his voice, joy elevates his wings.
Is it for thee the linnet pours his throat?
The bounding fteed you pompously bestride,
Loves of his own and raptures fwell the note.
Shares with his lord the pleasure and the pride.
The birds of Heaven fhall vindicate their grain.
Is this alone the feed that strews the plain?
Thine the full harvest of the golden year?
Part pays, and justly, the deferving steer:
The hog, that ploughs not, nor obeys thy call,
Lives on the labours of this lord of all.

20

25

35

40

1. THE whole Univerfe one fyftem of Society, ver. 7. &. Nothing made wholly for itself, nor yet wholly for another, ver. 27. The happiness of mutual, ver. 49. II. Reafon or inftinct operate alike to the good of each Individual, ver. 79. Reafox or Infint operate alfo to Society in all animals, ver. 109. III. How far Society carried by Inftinet, ver. 115. How much farther by Reafon, ver. 128. IV. Of that which is called the State of Nature, ver. 144. Reafon inftrusted by Infint in the Invention of Arts, wer. 166. and in the Forms Know, Nature's children all divide her care; of Society, ver. 176. V. Origin ef Political So- The fur that warms a monarch, warm'd a bear. cieties, ver. 196. Origin of Monarchy, ver. 207 See man for mine!" replies a pamper'd gocfe: While Man exclaims, "See all things for my ufe!" 45 Patriarchal Government, ver. 212. VI. Origin of true Religion and Government, from the fame prin- And juft as fhort of reafon He must fall, ciple, of Love, ver. 231, &c. Origin of Super-Who thinks all made for one, not one for all. fition and Tyranny, from the fame principle of Fear, ver. 237, &c. The Ifluence of Self-love operat- Grant that the powerful ftill the weak controul; ing to the focial and public Good, ver. 266. Re- Be Man the Wit, and Tyrant of the whole: foration of true Religion and Government, on their Nature that Tyrant checks; he only knows, firft principle, ver. 285. Mixed Government, ver. And helps, another creature's wants and wes. 288. Various Forms of each, and the true end of Say, will the falcon, frooping from above, all, wer. 300, &c. Smit with her varying plum ge, fpare the dove? Admires the jay the infect's gilded wings? Or hears the hawk when Philomela fings? Man cares for all: to birds he gives his wows, To beafts his paftures, and to fish his floods:

55

For fome his intereft prompts him to provide,
For more his pleasure, yet for more his pride:
All feed on one vain Patron, and enjoy
Th' extenfive bleffing of his luxury.
That very live his learned hunger craves,
He faves from tamine, from the favage faves;
Nay, feafts the animal he dooms his feaft,
And, till he ends the being, makes it bleft:
Which fees no more the stroke, or feels the pain,
Than favour'd Man by touch ethereal flain.
The creature had his feaft of life before;
Thou too must perish, when thy feaft is o'er!
To each unthinking being, Heaven a friend,
Gives not the ufeiefs knowledge of its end:
To Man imparts it; but with fuch a view
As, while he dreads it, make him hope it too:
The hour conceal'd, and fo remote the fear,
Death ftill draws nearer, never feeming near.
Great standing miracle! that Heaven affign'd
Its only thinking thing this turn of mind.

A longer care Man's helpless kind demands;

133

70 That longer care contracts more lafting bands:
Reflection, Reafon, ftill the ties improve,
At once extend the intereft, and the love:
With choice we fix, with fympathy we burn;
Each Vittue in each Paffion takes its turn;
75 And still new needs, new helps, new habits rife,
That graft benevolence on charities.
Still as one brood, and as another rofe,
Thefe natural love maintain'd, habitual those:
The laft, fcarce ripen'd into perfe&t Man,
Saw helpiefs him from whom their life began:
Memory and forecast just returns engage,
That pointed back to youth, this on to age;
While pleasure, gratitude, and hope, combin'd, 145
Still fpread the intereft, and preferve the kind.

II. Whether with Reafon, or with Inftinet bleft,
Know, all enjoy that power which fuits them beft; So
To blifs alike by that direction tend,

And find the means proportion'd to their end.
Say, where full Instinct is th' unerring guide,
What Pope or Council can they need befide?
Reafon, however able, cool at best,
Cares not for fervice, or but ferves when preft,
Stays till we call, and then not often near;
But honeft inftinct comes a volunteer,
Sure never to o'erfhoot, but just to hit;
While still too wide or fhort is human Wit;
Sure by quick Nature happiness to gain,
Which heavier Reafon labours at in vain.
This too ferves always, Reafon never long:
One must go right, the other may go wrong.
See then the acting and comparing powers
One in their nature, which are two in ours!
And Reafon raise o'er Inftinct as you can,
In this 'tis God directs, in that 'tis Man.

85

14

90

Self-love and Scocial at her birth began,
Union the bond of all things, and of Man.
Pride then was not; nor Arts, that Pride to aid;
Man walk'd with beaft, joint tenant of the fhade;
The fame his table, and the fame his bed:

150

95

No murder cloath'd him, and no murder fed.
In the fame temple, the refounding wood,
All vocal beings hymn'd their equal God:

355

100

The fhrine with gore unftain'd, with gold undrefs'd,
Unbrib'd, unbloody, stood the blameless priest:
Heaven's Attribute was Univerfal Care,
And man's prerogative, to rule, but spare.
Ah! how unlike the man of time to come!
Of half that live the butcher and the tomb;
Who, foe to Nature, hears the general groan,
Murders their fpecies, and betrays his own.
But juft difeafe to luxury fucceeds,

160

165

105

And every death its own avenger breeds;
The Fury-paffions from that blood began,
And turn'd on Man, a fiercer favage, Man.

Who taught the nations of the field and wood
To fhun their poifon, and to choose their food?
Prefcient, the tides or tempefts to withstand,
Build on the wave, or arch beneath the fand?
Who made the fpider parallels defign,
Sure as De Moivre, without rule or line?
Who bid the ftork, Columbus-like, explore
Heavens not his own, and worlds unknown before?
Who calls the council, ftates the certain day?
Who forms the phalanx, and who points the way?

110

III. God, in the nature of each being, founds
Its proper blifs, and fets its proper bounds:
But as he fram'd a Whole, the Whole to blefs,
On mutual Wants built mutual Happiness:
So from the firft, eternal ORDER ran,
And creature link'd to creature, man to man.
Whate'er of life all-quickening æther keeps,
Or breathes through air, or shoots beneath the deeps,
Or pours profufe on earth, one nature feeds
The vital flame, and fwells the genial feeds.
Not man alone, but all that roam the wood,
Or wing the sky, or roll along the flood,

115

Spread the thin oar, and catch the driving gale. "Here too all forms of focial union find, "And hence let Reafon, late, inftruct Mankind: 180 "Here fubterranean works and cities fee; 120 There towns aerial on the waving trees,