Pride still is aiming at the blest abodes; Men would be angels, angels would be Gods. Aspiring to be angels, men rebel; NOTES. 125 makes you think yourself ill-treated, and induces you to look for another and more perfect state. Bolingbroke is for ever repeating the same note, &c." Warton. Whatever may be the use that Bolingbroke makes of this doctrine, it is not the object for which it is introduced by Pope; who has no where contended that the present state of being is a perfect system of itself, but on the contrary, that it is a portion of a general system, and that what appears imperfection to us, is necessary to the perfection of the whole, of which as yet we see but a part. This is so obviously the tenor of the Essay, that one cannot but be surprised at these continual misrepresentations of it. Ver. 126. Men would be angels,] Verbatim from Bolingbroke, vol. v. p. 465; as are many other passages. Warton. The passage referred to is as follows: "Will it not be permitted me to say, that these men seem to be in the kingdom of God, what the ring-leaders of faction are in a state? Men would be angels, and we see in MILTON that angels would be Gods.”—A passage which occurs near the termination of Bolingbroke's Essays, and which, notwithstanding the reference to Milton, was most likely occasioned by the passage in Pope. Ver. 127. if angels fell,] Milton, in book v. copies from the Rabbinical writers, from the fathers, and some of the schoolmen, the causes of the rebellion of Satan and his associates, but seems more particularly to have in view an obscure Latin poem written by Odoricus Valmarana, and printed at Vienna in 1627, intitled, Dæmonomachiæ, sive de Bello Intelligentiarum super Divini Verbi Incarnatione;" in which the revolt of Satan, or Lucifer, is expressly ascribed to his envy at the exaltation of the Son of God. See Newton's Milton, vol. i. p. 407. But the commentators on Milton have not observed that there is still another poem which he seems to have copied, "L'Angeleida di Erasmo di Valvasone," printed at Venice, in quarto, in 1590, describing the battle of the angels against Lucifer, and which Gordon de Porcel, in his Li brary And who but wishes to invert the laws Of ORDER, Sins against th' Eternal Cause. 130 V. Ask for what end the heav'nly bodies shine, Earth for whose use? Pride answers, ""Tis for mine : 135 For me kind Nature wakes her genial pow'r, NOTES. 140 brary of Romances, tom. ii. p. 190, thought related to Angelica, the heroine of Boiardo and Ariosto. I beg leave to add, that Milton seems also to have attended to a poem of Tasso, not much noticed, on the Creation, "Le Sette Giornate del Mondo Creato," in 1607. Warton. Ver. 128. Aspiring to be angels,] One of the most pernicious tenets of Hobbes, was the debasing and disparaging human nature, attempting, in the language of Cudworth, to "villanise mankind." We know it has fallen from its original beauty and perfection: but "Intellectual Pride," the subject of so continued an invective through this Essay, being confined to a few, cannot be so dangerous to general morality, as the contrary extreme. This observation, however, does not affect the general sense in which Pope employs the idea, that it is from presumption we pretend to judge of what we can see and know so little. "Cœlum ipsum petimus stultitiâ." Bowles. Ver. 131. Ask for what end, &c.] If there be any fault in these lines, it is not in the general sentiment, but in the ill choice of instances made use of in illustrating it. It is the highest absurdity to think that earth is man's foot-stool, his canopy the skies, and the heavenly bodies lighted up principally for his use; yet surely, it is very excusable to suppose fruits and minerals given for this end. Warburton. But errs not Nature from this gracious end, From burning suns when livid deaths descend, COMMENTARY, Ver. 141. But errs not Nature from this gracious end,] The author comes next to the confirmation of his Thesis, That partial moral Evil is universal Good; but introduceth it with an allowed instance in the natural world, to abate our wonder at the phenomenon of moral evil; which he forms into an argument on a concession of his adversaries. If we ask you, says he (from ver. 140 to 151.), whether Nature doth not err from the gracious purpose of its Creator, when plagues, earthquakes, and tempests unpeople whole regions at a time; you readily answer, No: for that God acts by general, and not by particular laws; and that the course of matter and motion must be necessarily subject to some irregularities, because nothing is created perfect. I then ask, why you should expect this perfection in man? If you own that the great end of God (notwithstanding all this deviation) be general happiness, then it is Nature and not God, that deviates; do you expect greater constancy in Man? "Then Nature deviates; and can Man do less?" That is, if Nature, or the inanimate system (on which God hath imposed his laws, which it obeys, as a machine obeys the hand of the workman) may in course of time deviate from its first direction, as the best philosophy shews it may; where is the wonder that Man, who was created a free agent, and hath it in his power every moment to transgress the eternal rule of Right, should sometimes go out of Order? NOTES. Ver. 141. But errs not Nature, &c.] Dr. Warton has in his edition given, in a Note of some pages, an extract from some MSS. of James Harris, Esq. in which he attempts to account for the origin of evil, under the idea that "what we think is evil is sometimes only so in appearance-that on the whole there is more good than evil-that some evil is productive of good, &c." If this be intended to shew that there is no absolute evil, but that every thing has a tendency to the production of good on the whole, it may be very true; but if it be designed to demonstrate that there is no actual evil in this state of being, and that there is therefore no ne cessity When earthquakes swallow, or when tempests sweep Towns to one grave, whole nations to the deep? Th' exceptions few; some change since all began: Then Nature deviates; and can Man do less? 150 COMMENTARY. Ver. 151. As much that end, &c.] Having thus shewn how moral evil came into the world, namely, by man's abuse of his own free-will, our Poet comes to the point, the confirmation of his thesis, by shewing how moral evil promotes good; and employs the same concessions of his adversaries, concerning natural evil, to illustrate it. NOTES. 1. He cessity for another, the argument is futile and groundless; nor is it the doctrine of Pope, who never loses sight of the idea that man enjoys only a portion of his existence here, and that another state of being is requisite, in order to shew that every thing is right upon the whole; for which we must "Wait the great teacher Death." Ver. 148. And what created perfect ?"] No position can be more true and solid; for perfect happiness is as incommunicable as omnipotence. Warton. Ver. 150. Then Nature deviates; &c.] "While comets move in very eccentric orbs, in all manner of positions, blind Fate could never make all the planets move one and the same way in orbs concentric; some inconsiderable irregularities excepted, which may have risen from the mutual actions of comets and planets upon one another, and which will be apt to increase, till this system wants a reformation." Sir Isaac Newton's Optics, Quæst. ult. Warburton. As much eternal springs and cloudless skies, sign, Why then a Borgia, or a Catiline? COMMENTARY. 155 1. He shews it tends to the good of the Whole, or Universe (from ver. 150 to 165.), and this by analogy. You own, says he, that storms and tempests, clouds, rain, heat, and variety of seasons, are necessary (notwithstanding the accidental evil they bring with them) to the health and plenty of this Globe; why then should you suppose there is not the same use, with regard to the Universe, in a Borgia or a Catiline? But you say you can see the one, and not the other. You say right: one terminates in this system, the other refers to the Whole: which Whole can be comprehended by none but the great Author himself. For, says the Poet in another place, 66 of this frame, the bearings and the ties, The strong connexions, nice dependencies, Gradations just, has thy pervading soul Look'd through? or can a part contain the whole ?" Own therefore, says he, that 66 Ver. 29, & seq. From pride, our very reas'ning springs; Account for moral, as for nat'ral things: Why charge we Heav'n in those, in these acquit? NOTES. Ver. 155. If plagues, &c.] What hath misled Mr. de Crousaz in his censure of this passage, is his supposing the comparison to be between the effects of two things in this sublunary world; when not only the elegancy, but the justness of it, consists in its being between the effects of a thing in the universe at large, and the familiar, known effects of one in this sublunary world. For the position enforced in these lines is this, that partial evil tends to the good of the whole. VOL. V. E "Respecting |