"preferved, to whom Providence has not given the "ufelefs Knowledge of their End. From all which it appears, that the Theory is yet uniform, and "perfect."

Grant that the Pow'rful 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 Philomela fings?
Man cares for all, &c.-.

For fome his Int'reft prompts him to provide,
For more his Pleasure, yet for more his Pride.'

After this he comes to the Subject propos'd for this Epiftle, the Sociability of Man, prov'd by the Subjection to the Parent and to the Magiftrate, and that our Society is altogether founded on our Wants, for wanting what another has to bestow, naturally 'caufes us to make Application for it where it is, and thus we are by Neceffitv brought together; otherwife were it fo that Man wanted no Aid, or could receive no Good or Pleafure from another, Self-love might (there being no Attraction or Inclination) draw each a feperate Way, and the World would be peopled with Hermits. But Mr. Pope affirms it to be quite otherwise :

Whate'er of Life all-quickening Ether keeps, Or breathes thro' Air, or fhoots beneath the Deeps. Dr pours profufe on Earth; one Nature feeds The vital Flame, and fwells the genial Seeds.

Not

Not Man alone, but all that roam the Wood
Or wing the Sky, or roll along the Flood,
Each loves Itfelf, but not itself alone,
Each Sex defires alike, 'till two are one:
Nor ends the Pleasure with the fierce Embrace;
All love themselves, a third Time, in their Race.
The Beast, the Bird, their common Charge attend,
The Mothers nurse it, and the Sires defend;
The Young difmifs'd to wander Earth or Air,
There ftops the Inftinct, and there ends the Care,
The Link diffolves, each feeks a fresh Embrace,
Another Love fucceeds, another Race.

A longer Care Man's helpless Kind demands;
That longer Care contracts more lasting Bands:
Reflection, Reafon, ftill the Ties improve,
At once extend the Int'reft, and the Love.

Thus the Creatures are link'd together, and thus Men: Even the Love we bear to our Offfpring caufes an Uneafinefs and Care for them, which keeps awake that Tenderness and Solicitude, which when perform'd makes up our Happinefs' and theirs too; their Wants being by that Means also supply'd. Thus he, who by the Obfervation of the Relation of Things in general, applies himself to offer most Help where moft Need requires, he is beft fitted for Society; that is to fay, fuch alone can be faid to be good Men, or fo far good, as this Defire of Society and giving Happiness to their Fellow Creatures governs in them. In which Man has the Advantage of the Brutes, that he can reafon, and make Choice of the Objects of his Love and Charity.

With Choice we fix, with Sympathy we burn Each Virtue in each Paffion takes its Turn;

And fill new Needs, new Helps, new Habits rife, That graft Benevolence on Charities.

Mem❜ry and Forecast juft Returns engage, That pointed back to Youth, this on to Age; While Pleasure, Gratitude, and Hope combin'd, Still spread the Int'reft, and preserv'd the Kind. Strict Method (fays our Poet's Commentator) leads him next to speak of that Society which fucceeded the Natural, namely, the Civil; but as he does all by eafy Steps, in the natural Progreffion of Ideas, he firft explains [from 1. 169 to 200] the intermediate Means which led Mankind from natural to civil Society. Thefe were the Invention and Improvement of Arts. For while Mankind liv'd in a mere State of Nature, unconscious of the Arts of Life, there was no Need of any other Government than the paternal; but when Arts were found out and improv'd, then that more perfect Form under the Direction of a Magiftrate, became neceffary. And for thefe Reafons; First, to bring thofe Arts, already found, to Per fection; and, Secondly, to fecure the Product of them to their rightful Proprietors. The Poet, there fore, comes now, as we fay, to the Invention of Arts; but being always intent upon the great End for which he wrote his Eay, namely to mortify that Pride, which occafions the impious Complaints against Providence, he, with the greatest Art and Contrivance, fpeaks of thefe Inventions, as Leffons only learnt of mere Animals guided by Inftinct: and thus, at the fame Time, gives a new Inftance of the wonderful Providence of God, who has contrived to teach Mankind in a Way not only proper to humble human Arrogance, but to raise our Idea of infinite Wisdom to the greateft Pitch. All this

he

he does in a Profopopæia the moft fublime that ever entered into the human Imagination :

See him from Nature rifing flow to Art! To copy Inftinet then was Reafon's Part: Thus then to Man the Voice of Nature spake"Go, from the Creatures thy Inftructions take; "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, [&c. "Spread the thin Oar, and catch the driving Gale, "Yet go! and thus o'er all the Creatures fway, "Thus let the wiser make the rest obey, "And for thofe Arts mere Inftinct could afford, "Be crown'd as Monarchs, or as Gods ador'd.

The little Nautilus mentioned in the Quotation above, from the Effay, is thus defcrib'd by Oppian. Thefe Fishes fiim on the Surface of the Sea, on the Back of their Shells, which exactly refemble the Hulk of a Ship; they raife two Feet like Mafts, and extend a Membrane between, which ferves as a Sail, the other two Feet they employ as Oars at the Side: They are uJually feen in the Mediterranean Sea.

This Voice of Nature, commanding Man to learn and gather Knowledge and Arts from the Creatures, was obey'd, and Men forming themselves by Degrees into little Societies, thofe again join'd, either thro' Love or Fear, or Conveniency of Commerce, and they grew into a State, then finding Government neceffary, and not to be conducted without particular Rulers, those most abounding in Virtue and Valour were chofen, and Kings and Generals govern'd States, as Families had been before govern'd by the Fathers of them :

..

Till then by Nature crown'd each Patriarch fat King, Prieft, and Parent, of his growing State; On him, their fecond Providence, they hung, Their Law his Eye, their Oracle his Tongue.

So that it was the common Intereft alone, which induc'd Men to fet a King up over them; for our Poet fays, that Nature never knew any Right divine in Men, to be great, was understood to be good, in all Degrees, even up to the Deity, and that Kings were only intended that Men might be happier ; made Kings for the Sake of the Many, and not to make them Royal.

Concerning which, and the abominable Doctrines of Superftition, leading to Tyranny and Ignorance, I do not remember to have feen finer Lines than the following:

Who firft taught Souls enflav'd, and Realms unTh' enormous Faith of Many made for One? [done That proud Exception to all Nature's Laws, T' invert the World, and counter-work its Caufe? Force first made Conqueft, and that Conqueft Law; 'Till Superftition taught the Tyrant Awe, Then fhar'd the Tyranny, and lent it Aid, And Gods of Conqu❜rors, Slaves of Subjects made: She, 'midft the Lightning's Blaze, and Thunder's [Ground, When rock'd the Mountains, and when groan'd the 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:

Sound,

Gods