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On life's vaft ocean diverfely we fail,
Reafon the card, but Pathion is the gale;
Nor God alone in the ftill calm we find;
He mounts the storm, and walks upon the wind.
Paffions, like elements, tho' 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 fmiling

train;

Hate, Fear, and Grief, the family of Pain.
Thefe mixt with art, and to due bounds confin'd,
Make and maintain the balance of the mind:
The lights and fhades, whofe well accorded ftrife
Give all the ftrength and colour of our life.

Pleasures are ever in our hands or eyes;
And when in act they ceafe, in profpect rife:
Prefent to grafp, and future ftill to find,
The whole employ of body and of mind.
All fpread their charms, but charm not all alike;
On diff'rent fenfes diff'rent objects ftrike;
Hence diff'rent Paffions more or lefs inflame,
As ftrong or weak the organs of the frame;
And hence one mafter Pallion in the breast,
Like Aaron's ferpent, fwallows up the rest.

As man, perhaps, the moment of his breath,
Receives the lurking principle of death;
The young difeafe, that muft fubdue at length,
Grows with his growth, and strengthens with his
ftrength:

So, caft and mingled with his very frame,
The mind's difeafe, its ruling paffion came;
Each vital humour which thould feed the whole,
Soon flows to this, in body and in foul:
Whatever warms the heart, or fills the head,
As the mind opens, and its functions spread,
Imagination plies her dangʼrous art,
And pours it all upon the peccant part.

Nature its mother, Habit is its nurfe;
Wit, fpirit, faculties, but make it worfe;
Reafon itself but gives it edge and pow'r;
As heav'n's bleft beam turns vinegar more four.
We, wretched fubjects, tho' to lawful fway,
In this weak queen, fome fav'rite ftill obey:
Ah! if the lend not arms, as well as rules,
What can fhe more than tell us we are fools?
Teach us to mourn our nature, not to mend;
A fharp accufer, but a helpless 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 strong:
So, when fmall humours gather to a gout,
The doctor fancies he has driv'n them out.
Yes, nature's road muft ever be preferr'd;
Reafon is here no guide, but ftill a guard;
'Tis hers to rectify, not overthrow,
And treat this paffion more as friend than foe;
A mightier Pow'r the ftrong direction fends,
And fev'ral men impels to fev'ral ends :
Like varying winds, by other patlions toft,
This drives them conftant to a certain coaft.

Let pow'r or knowledge, gold or glory pleafe,
Or (oft more ftrong than all) the love of eafe;
Thro' life 'tis follow'd, cv'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.

Th'Eternal Art educing good from ill,
Grafts on this pallion our beft 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 int'rest body acts with mind.

As fruits, ungrateful to the planter's care, On favage ftocks inferted, learn to bear; The fureft Virtues thus from pallions fhoct, Wild Nature's vigour working at the root. What corps of wit and honesty appear From fpleen, from obftinacy, hate, or fear! See Anger, zeal and fortitude fupply; Ev'n Av'rice, prudence; Sloth, philofophy; Luft, thro' fome certain ftrainers, well refia'd, Is gentle love, and charms all womankind; Envy, to which th'ignoble mind's a flave, Is emulation in th'lcarn'd or brave; Nor Virtue, male or female, can we name, But what will grow on Pride, or grow on Shame.

Thus Nature gives us (let it check our pride) The virtue nearcft to our vice ally'd: Reafon the bias turns to good from ill, And Nero reigns a Titus, if he will. The fiery foul abhorr'd in Catiline, In Decius charms, in Curtius is divine: The fame ambition can deftroy or fave, And makes a patriot as it makes a knave.

This light and darknefs in our chaos join'd, What fhall divide? The God within the mind. Extremes in Nature equal ends produce; In man they join to fome myfterious ufe; Tho' each by turns the other's bounds invade, As, in fome well wrought picture, light and hade, And oft fo mix, the diff'rence is too nice Where ends the Virtue or begins the Vice.

Fools! who from hence into the notion fall, That Vice or Virtue there is none at all. If white and black blend, foften, and unite A thousand ways, is there no black and white? Afk your own heart, and nothing is fo plain; 'Tis to miftake them ccfts the time and pain.,

Vice is a monster of fo frightful mien, As, to be hated, needs but to be feen; Yet feen too oft, familiar with her face, We first endure, then pity, then embrace. But where th'Extreme of Vice, was ne'er agreed: Afk where's the North? At York, 'tis on the

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Virtuous and vicious ev'ry Man must be;
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 defpifè.
'Tis but by parts we follow good or ill;
For, Vice or Virtue, Self directs it ftill;
Each individual feeks a fev'ral goal;

But Heaven's great view is One, and that the
Whole:

That counterworks each folly and caprice;
That difappoints th'effect of ev'ry vice;
That, happy frailties to all ranks apply'd:
Shame to the virgin, to the mation pride,
Fear to the ftat finan, rafhnefs to the chief,
To kings prefumption, and to crowds belief:
That, Virtue's ends from vanity can raife,
Which feeks no int'reft, no reward but praife;
And build on wants and on defects of mind,
The joy, the peace, the glory of Mankind.

Heav'n forming each on other to depend,
A mafter, or a fervaat, or a friend,
Bids each on other for affiftance call,
Till one Man's weaknels grows the strength of

all.

Wants, frailties, paffions, clofer ftill ally
The common int'reft, or endear the tie.
To thefe we owe true friendship, love fincere,
Each home-felt joy that life inherits here;
Yet from the fame we learn in its decline,
Thofe joys, thofe loves, thofe int'refts to refign;
Taught half by Reafon, half by mere decay,
To welcome death, and calmly pass away.
Whate'er the Pafiion, knowledge, fame, or
pelf,

Not one will change his neighbour with himfelf.
The learn'd is happy nature to explore;
The fool is happy that he knows no more;
The rich is happy in the plenty giv'n;
The poor contents him with the care of Heav'n.
See the blind beggar dance, the cripple sing,
The fot a hero, lunatic a king;

The ftarving chemift in his golden views
Supremely bleft; the poet in his Mufc.
See fome ftrange comfort ev'ry state attend,
And pride beftow'd on all, a common friend :
See fome fit paffion ev'ry age fupply;
Hope travels thro', nor quits us when we die.
Behold the child, by nature's kindly law,
Pleas'd with a rattle, tickl'd with a fraw:
Some livelier plaything gives his youth delight,
A little louder, but as empty quite :
Scarfs, garters, gokl, amufe his riper stage,
And beads and pray'r-books are the toys of age:
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 Happinets by Hope fupply'd,
And each vacuity of fenfe by Pride:
Thefe build as faft as knowledge can destroy;
In folly's cup ftill laughs the bubble, Joy;
One profpeft loft, another still we gain;
And not a vanity is giv'n in vain.

Ev'n mean ean Self-love becomes by force divine, The scale to measure others wants by thine. See! and confefs, one comfort still must rife; 'Tis this, Tho' Man's a fool, yet God is wife.

ARGUMENT OF EPISTLE III.

Of the Nature and State of Man, with respect to Society.

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The whole Universe one fyftem of Society.-Nothing made cuholly for itself, nor yet wholly for another. The happiness of Animals mutual.— Reafon or Inftinct operate alike to the good of each Individual. Reafon or Inftin& operate allo to Society in all animals.--How far Society carried by inflint. How much farther by Reafon. Of that which is called the State of Nature-Reafon inftructed by Infint in the Invention of Arts, and in the Forms of Society. -Origin of Political Societies.Origin of Mvnarchy-Patriarchal Government.-Origin of true Religion and Government, from the fame principle of Love.-Origin of Superftition and Tyranny, from the fame principle of Fear.The Influence of Self-love operating to the focial and public Good.Refloration of true Religion and Government on their first Principle. -Mixt Government.-Various Forms of each, and the true end of all.

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HERE then we reft: The Universal Cauef 'Acts to one end, but acts by various laws.' In all the madnefs of fuperfluous health, The train of pride, the impudence of wealth, Let this great truth be prefent night and day; But most be prefent, if we preach or pray.

Look round our World; behold the chain of
Combining all below and all above. [Love
See plaftic Nature working to this end;
The fingle atoms each to other tend;
Attract, attracted to the next in place,
Form'd and impell'd its neighbour to embrace.
Sce matter next with various life endu'd,
Prefs to one centre ftill, the gen'ral Good.
See dying Vegetables life fuftain,
See life diffolving vegetate again :

All forms that perifh other forms fupply
(By turns we catch the vital breath, and die)
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 Soul
Connects each being, greatest with the leaft;
Made Beaft in aid of Man, and Man of Beaft;
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.
Thy joy, thy pastime, thy attire thy food [good,
Who for thy table feeds the wanton fawn,
For him as kindly fpread the flow'ry lawn:
Is it for thee the lark afcends and fings?
Joy tunes his voice, joy elevates his wings.

Is it for thee the linnet pours his throat?
Loves of his own and raptures fwell the note.
The bounding fleed you pompously bestride,
Shares with his lord the pleature and the pride.
Is thine alone the feed that strews the plain?
The birds of heav'n fhall vindicate their grain.
Thine the full harvest of the golden year?
Part pays, and juftly, the deferving fteer:
The hog, that plows not, nor obeys thy call,
Lives on the labours of his lord of all.

Know, Nature's children fhall divide her care;
The fur that warms a monarch warm'd a bear.
While Man exclaims, 'See all things for my ufe!'
"See man for mine!" replies a painper'd goofe.
And just as fhort of reafon he must fall,
Who thinks all made for one, not one for all.
Grant that the pow's ful ftill the weak controul;
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, ftooping from above,
Smit with her varying plumage, fpare the dove?
Admires the jay the infect's gilded wings?
Or hears the hawk when Philoincla fings?
Man cares for all: to birds he gives his woods.
To beafts his pastures, and to fith his floods;
For fome his int'reft prompts him to provide,
For more his pleafure yet for more his pride:
All feed on one vain Patron, and enjoy
Th'extenfive bleffing of his luxury.
That very life his learned hunger craves,
He faves from famine, 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 ftroke, or feels the pain,
Than favour'd Man by touch ethereal flain.
The creature had his feaft of life before;
Thou too must perifh when thy feaft is o'er!
To each unthinking being, Heav'n a friend,
Gives not the ufelets knowledge of its end:
To Man imparts it; but with fuch a view
As, while he dreads it, makes him hope it too :
The hour conceal'd, and fo remote the fear,
Death fti!! draws nearer, never feeming near.
Great ftanding miracle! that Heav'n affign'd
Its only thinking thing this turn of mind.

Whether with Reafon or with Inftin&t bleft,
Know, all enjoy that pow'r which fuits them beft;
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?
Reason, however able, cool at beft,

Cares not for fervice, or but ferves when preft,
Stays till we call, and then not often near;
But honest Inftinét comes a volunteer,
Sure never to o'er shoot, but just to lat;
While still too wide or fhort in human Wit;
Sure by quick Nature happinefs 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 pow'rs
One in their nature, which are two in ours;

And Reafon raise o'er Instinct as you can;
In this 'tis God directs, in that 'tis 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 their fand?
Who made the fpider parallels defign,
Sure as De Moivre, without rule or line?
Who bid the ftork, Columbus-like, explore
Heav'ns not his own, and worlds unknown before?
Who calls the council, ftates the certain day,
Who forms the phalanx, and who points the way?
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 Happinets :
So from the firft, eternal order ran,
And creature link'd to creature, man to man.
Whate'er of life all-quick'ning ather keeps,
Or breathes thro' air, or fhoots 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 of wood,
Or wing the sky, or roll along the flood,
Each loves itfelf, but not itself alone;
Each fex defires alike, till two are one,
Nor ends the pleasure with the fierce embrace;
They love themselves, a third time, in their race.
Thus beaft and bird their common charge at-
tend;

The mothers nurfe it, and the fires defend;
The young difiifs'd to wander earth or air,
There ftops the Inftinct, and there ends the care;
The link diffolves, cach fecks a fresh embrace,
Another love fucceeds, another race.
A longer care Man's helplefs kind demands;
That longer care contracts more lafting bands :
Reflection, Reafon, ftill the ties improve,
At once extend the int'reft, and the love:
With choice we fix, with Tympathy we burn;
Each Virtue in each Paffion takes its turn;
And ftill new needs, new helps, new habits rife,
That grafts benevolence on charities.
Still as one brood, and as another rofe,
Thefe natural love maintain, habitual those :
The laft fcarce ripen'd into perfect Man,
Saw helplets him from whom their life began;
Mem'ry and forecast just returns engage;
That pointed back to youth, this on to age;
While pleafure, gratitude, and hope, combin'd,
Still fpread the int'reft, and preferv'd the kind.

Nor think, in Nature's State they blindly trod;
The State of Nature was the reign of God.
Self-love and focial 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;
No murder cloath'd him, and no murder fed.
In the fame temple, the refounding wood,
All vocal beings hymn'd their equal God:
The fhrine with gore unitain'd, with gold undreft,
Unbrib'd, unbloody, food the blameless prieit:
'Heav'n'ı

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Heav'n's attribute was Universal Care,
And man's prerogative to rule, but fpare.
Ah how unlike the man of times to come!
Of half that live the butcher and the tomb;
Who, foe to Nature, hears the gen'ral groan,
Murders their fpecies, and betrays his own.
But juft difcafe to luxury fucceeds,
And ev'ry death its own avenger breeds;
The fury paffions from that blood began,
And turn'd on Man a fiercer favage, Man.
See him from Nature rifing flow to Art!
To copy Inftin&t then was Reaton's part;
Thus then to Man the voice of Nature fpake-
"Go, from the Creatures thy inftructions, take:
"Learn from the birds what food the thickets
66 vield;

"Learn from the beafts the phyfic of the field;
"Thy arts of building from the bee receive;
"Learn of the mole to plow, the worm to weave;
"Learn of the little Nautilus to fail,

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"Spread the thin oar, and catch the driving gale.
"Here too all forms of focial union find,
"And hence let Reafon, late, inftru&t mankind:
"Here fubterranean works and cities fee;
"There towns aerial on the waving tree,
"Learn each final! People's genius, policies,
"The Ant's republic, and the realm of Bees;
"How thofe in common all their wealth beftow,
"And Anarchy without confufion know;
"And thefe for ever, tho' a Monarch reign,
"Their fep'rate cells and properties maintain.
"Mark what unvary'd laws preferve each ftate,
"Laws wife as Nature, and as fix'd as Fate.
"In vain thy Realon finer webs fhall draw,
Entangled Juftice in her net of Law,
"And right, too rigid, harden into wrong;
"Still for the ftrong too weak, the weak too ftrong.
"Yet go! and thus o'er all the creatures fway,
"Thus let the wifer make the reft ober:
"And for thofe arts mere Infint could afford,
"Be crown'd as Monarchs, or as gods ador'd."
Great Nature fpoke; obfervant Man obey'd;
Cities were built, Societies were made:
Here rofe one little ftate; another near
Grew by like means, and join'd, thro' love or fear.
Did here the trees with ruddier burdens bend,
And there the ftreams in purer rills defcend?
What War could ravifh,Commerce could beftow,
And he return'd a friend who came a foe.
Converfe and Love mankind might strongly draw,
When Love was Liberty, and Nature Law.
Thus ftates were form'd; the name of king un-
known,

Till common int'reft plac'd the fway in one.
'Twas Virtue only (or in arts or arms,
Diffufing bleffings, or averting harms)
The fame which in a Sire the Sons obey'd,
A Prince the Father of a Beople made.
Till then, by Nature crown'd, each Patriarch

fate

King, prieft, and parent, of his growing state;
On him, their fecond Providence, they hung;
Their law his eve, their oracle his tongue.
He from the wond'ring furrow call'd the food,
Taught to command the fire, controul the flood,

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Draw forth the monsters of th'abyss profound,
Or fetch th'aerial eagle to the ground.
Till drooping, fick'ning, dying they began,
Whom they rever'd as God, to mourn as Man:
Then, looking up from fire to fire, explor'd
One great Firft Father, and that first ador'd.
Or plain tradition that this All begun,
Convey'd unbroken faith from fire to fon;
The worker from the work diftinct was known,
And fimple Reafon never fought but one:
Ere Wit oblique had brought that steady light,
Man, like his Maker, faw that all was right;
To Virtue, in the paths of Pleasure trod,
And own'd a Father when he own'd a God.
Love all the faith, and all th'allegiance then;
For Nature knew no right divine in Men,
No ill could fear in God; and understood
A Sov'reign being but a fov'reign good.
True faith, true policy, united ran;
That was but love of God, and this of Man.

Who first taught fouls enflav'd, and realms un-
Th'enormous faith of many made for one; [done,
That proud exception to all Nature's laws,
T'invert the world, and counterwork its Caufe?
Force first made Conqueft, and that Conqueft,
Till Superftition taught the Tyrant awe, [Law;
Then fhar'd the Tyrany, then lent it aid,
And Gods of Conqu'rors, Slaves of Subjects made:
She, 'midft the lightning's blaze, and thunder's
found,
[the ground,

When rock'd the mountains, and when groan'd
She taught the weak to bend, the proud to pray,
To Pow'r unfeen, and mightier far than they:
She, from the rending earth, and bursting skies,
Saw Gods defcend, and fiends infernal rife:
Here fix'd the dreadful, there the bleft abodes:
Fear made her Devils, and weak Hope her Gods;
Gods partial, changeful, paffionate, unjust,
Whofe attributes were Rage, Revenge, or Luft;
Such as the fouls of cowards might conceive,
And, form'd like tyrants, tyrants would believe.
Zeal then, not charity, became the guide!
And hell was built on fpite, and heav'n on pride.
Then facred feem'd th'ethercal vault no more;
Altars grew marble then, and reck'd with gore:
Then first the Flamen tafted living food;
With Heav'n's own thunders fhock the world be
Next his grim idol fmear'd with human blood;
And play'd the God an engine on his foe. [low,

So drives felf-love, thro' juft, and thro' unjuft;
To one man's pow'r ambition, lucre, luft :
The fame felf-love, in all, becomes the caufe
Of what restrains him, government and laws.
For, what one likes, if others like as well,
What ferves one will, when many wills rebel?
How shall he keep, what, fleeping or awake,
A weaker may furprife, a ftronger take?
All join'd to guard what each defires to gain.
His fafety muft his liberty reftrain:
Fore'd into virtue thus, by felf-defence,
Ev'n kings learn'd juftice and benevolence:
Self-love forfook the path it first pursu'd,
And found the private in the public good.
'Twas then the ftudious head or gen'rous mind,
Follow'r of God, or friend of human kind,'

Poet

Poet or patriot, rose but to restore
The faith and moral Nature gave before;
Refum'd her ancient light, not kindled new;
If not God's image, yet his fhadow drew;
Taught pow'r's due ufe to people and to kings,
Taught nor to flack, nor strain its tender strings;
The lefs or greater, fet fo juftly true,

That touching one must strike the other too;
Till jarring int'refts of themselves create
Th'according mufic of a well-mix'd state.
Such is the world's great harmony, that sp;ings
From order, union, full confent of things:
Where finall and great, where weak and mighty,
made

;

To ferve, not fuffer, ftrengthen, not invade;
More pow'rful each as needful to the reft,
And, in proportion as it bleffes, bleft
Draw to one point, and to one centre bring
Beaft, man, or angel, fervant, lord, or king.
For forms of government let fools conteft;
Whate'er is beft administer'd is beft:
For modes of faith, let gracclefs zealots fight;
His can't be wrong whofe life is in the right:
In faith and hope the world will difagree,
But all mankind's concern is charity:
All must be false that thwart this one great end;
And all of God that blefs mankind, or mend.
Man, like the gen'rous vine, fupported lives:
The ftrength he gains is from th'embrace he gives.
On their own axis as the planets run,
Yet make at once their circle round the fun;
So two confiftent motions act the foul;
And one regards itfeif, and one the whole.
Thus God and Nature link'd the gen'ral frame,
And bade felf-love and focial be the fame.

ARGUMENT OF EPISTLE IV.

Of the Nature and State of Man, with respect to

Happiness.

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O HAPPINESS! our being's end and aim !
Good,P cafure, Eafe, Content! whate'crthy name:
That fomething ftill which prompts th'eternal
For which we bear to live, or dare to die; [figh,
Which still fo near us, yet beyond us lies
O'erlook'd, feen double, by the fool and wife.
Plant of celestial feed! if dropt below,
Say, in what mortal foil thou deign'ft to grow?
Fair op'ning to fome Court's propitious fhine,
Or deep with di'monds in the flaming mine?
Twin'd with the wreaths Parnafiian laurels yield,
Or reap'd in iron harvefts of the field? [toil,
Where grows? where grows it not? if vain our
We ought to blame the culture, not the foil:
Fix'd to no fpot is Happinefs fincere;
'Tis nowhere to be found, or ev'rywhere:
'Tis never to be bought, but always free, [thee.
And fled from monarchs, St. John! dwells with
Afk of the learn'd the way? The learn'd are

blind:

This bids to ferve, and that to fhun mankind;
Some place the blifs in action, fome in cafe;
Thofe call it pleafure, and contentment thefe;
Some, funk to beafts, find pleafure end in pain ;
Some, fwell'd to gods, confefs ev'n virtue vain;
Or indolent, to each extreme they fall,
To truft in ev'ry thing, or doubt of all.

Than this, that happiness is happiness?
Who thus define it, fay they more or lefs

There needs but thinking right, and meaning well;
And mourn our various portions as we please,
Equal is common fente and common cafe.

Remember Man," the univerfal cause
"Acts not by partial, but by gen'ral laws;"
And makes what Happinefs we juftly call,
Subfift not in the good of one, but all.
There's not a blefling individuals find,
But fome way leans and hearkens to the kind;
No bandit fierce, no tyrant mad with pride,
No cavern'd hermit refts felf-Catisfy'd :
Who moft to fhun or hate mankind pretend,
Seek an admirer, or would fix a friend:
Abstract what others feel, what others think,
All pleafures ficken, and all glories fink:
Each has his fhare; and who would more obtain,
Shall find, the pleafure pays not half the pain.

Take Nature's path, and mad opinions leave; Falle Notions of Happiness, Philofophical and Po- All states can reach it, and all heads conceive; pular-It is the End of all Men, and attain-Obvious her goods, in no extreme they dwell; able by all-God intends Happiness to be equal; and to be fo, it must be focial, fince all particular Happiness depends on general, and fince he governs by general, not particular Lars-As it is neceffary for Order, and the peace and welfare of Society, that external goods Should be unequal, Happiness is not made to confift in theje, -But notwithstanding that inequality, the balance of Happiness among mankind is kept even by Providence, by the two Paffions of Hope and Fear-What the Happiness of Individuals is, as far as is confiftent with the conftitution of this world; and that the Good Man has here the advantage The error of imputing to Virtue what are only the calamities of Nature or of Fortune-The folly of expecting that God Should alter his general Laws in favour of particulars That we are not judges who are good; but that whoever they are, they must be happieft-That eternal goods are not the proper rewards, but often inconfiftent with, or deftructive of, Virtue. That even these can make no Man happy without Virtue: Inflanced in Riches

Order is Heav'n's first law; and this confeft,
Some are, and must be, greater than the reft,
More rich, more wife; but who infers from hence
That fuch are happier, fhocks all common fenfe.
Heav'n to mankind impartial we confefs,
Ir all are equal in their happiness ;

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