the Stoics, which he illuftrates by a very beautiful Similitude, on a Hint taken from Scripture Story *: Nor God alone in the fill Calm we find, He mounts the Storm, and walks upon the Wind. But the Tranflator, not taking this Allufion, has turn'd it thus: Dieu lui-même, Dieu fort de fon profond repos. And fo has made an Epicurean God of the Governor of the Universe, of whom Scripture afforded Mr. Pope this grand and fublime Idea.Mr. De Croufaz does not fpare this Expreffion of God's coming out of his profound Repose.—It is (fays he) exceffively poetical, and prefents us with Ideas which we ought not to dwell upon. But when he goes on-(there is nothing in God's directing the Storm which can authorife the Paffions that disturb our Happiness) he talks very impertinently. Mr. Pope is not here arguing from Analogy, that as God raises and heightens the Storm, fo fhould we raife and heighten the Paffions. The Words are only a fimple Affirmation in the poetic Dress of a Similitude, to this Purpose." Good is not only produced by the Subdual of the Paffions, but "by the turbulent Exercise of them :" Nor God alone in the ftill Calm we find, He mounts the Storm, and walks upon the Wind. A Truth conveyed under the most sublime Image ry that Poetry could conceive or paint. For he is here only fhewing the providential Effects of the Paffions, and how, by God's gracious Difpofition, they are turned away from their natural Biass, to promote the Happiness of Mankind. As to the Method in which they are to be treated by Man, in whom they are found, all that he contends for, in favour of them, is only this, that they should not be quite rooted up and destroyed, as the Stoics, and their Followers in all Religions, foolishly attempted. For the rest, he constantly repeats this Advice: The Action of the Stronger to fufpend, REASON ftill use, to REASON ftill attend. His fecond Argument against the Stoics [from 1. 100 to 113] is, that Paffions go to the Compofition of a moral Character, juft as Elementary Particles go to the Compofition of an organized Body: Therefore, for Man to go about to destroy what composes his very Being, is the Height of Extravagance: 'Tis true, he tells us that these Paffions which in their natural State, like Elements, are in perpetual Jar, must be tempered, softened, and united in order to perfect the Work of the great plastic Artist, who, in this Office, employs human Reason: Whose Business it is to follow the Road of Nature, and to observe the Dictates of the Deity. Follow her and God. The Ufe and Importance of this Precept is evident: For in doing the first, fhe will discover the Abfurdity of attempting to eradicate the Paffions; in doing the fecond, fhe will learn how to make them fubfervient to the Interest of Virtue: Suffice that Reason keep to Nature's Road, Subject, compound them, follow her and God. Love, Hope, and Joy, fair Pleasure's smiling Train, Hate, Fear, and Grief, the Family of Pain, Thefe mixt with Art, and to due Bounds confin'd, Make and maintain the Ballance of the Mind. His third Argument against the Stoics [from 1. 112 to 117] is, that the Paffions occafion in us a perpetual Excitement to the Pursuit of Happinefs; which without these powerful Inciters we fhould neglect, in an infenfible Indolence. Now Happiness is the End of our Creation; and this Excitement the Means of Happiness: Therefore these Movers, the Paffions, are the Inftruments of God, which he has put into the Hands of Reason, to work withal: 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. The Poet then proceeds in his Subject; and this laft Obfervation leads him naturally to the Dif cuffion of his next Principle. He fhews then, that tho' all the Paffions have their Turn in fwaying the Determinations of the Mind, yet every Man has one MASTER PASSION that at length ftifles or abforbs all the reft. The Fact he illuftrates at large, in the first Epistle of his fecond Book Book. Here [from 1. 116 to 132] he gives us the Cause of it: "Those Pleasures or Goods, which ແ are the Objects of the Paffions, affect the Mind, • by ftriking on the Senfes; but, as thro' the "Formation of the Organs of the human Frame, <c every Man has fome Sense stronger and more "acute than others, the Object, which strikes that "ftronger or acuter Senfe, whatever it be, will be "the Object moft defired; and, consequently, the "Pursuit of that will be the ruling Paffion:" All spread their Charms, but charm not all alike, On diff'rent Senses, diff'rent Objects strike; Hence diff'rent Paffions more or less inflame, As strong, or weak, the Organs of the Frame; And hence one Mafter Paffion in the Breast, Like Aaron's Serpent swallows all the rest. that the Difference of Force in this ruling Paffion fhall at firft, perhaps, be very small or even imperceptible; but Nature, Habit, Imagination, Wit, nay even Reason itself shall affist its Growth, 'till it hath at length drawn and converted every other into itself. All this is delivered in a Strain of Poetry fo wonderfully fublime, as fufpends for a while the ruling Paffion in every Reader, and ingroffes his whole Admiration: As Man, perhaps, the Moment of his Breath G4 So So, caft and mingled with his very Frame, We, wretched Subjects, tho' to lawful Sway, z The Poet in fome other of his Epiftles gives Examples of the Doctrine and Precepts here delivered. Thus in that of the Ufe of Riches, he has illuftrated this Truth in the Character of Cotta: Old Cotta fham'd his Fortune and his Birth, Teach |