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EPISTLE II.

1. KNOW then thy felf, prefume not God to scan,

The proper ftudy of mankind is man.

Plac'd in this ifthmus of a middle flate,
A Being darkly wife, and rudely great :
With too much knowledge for the fceptic fide,
With too much weakness for the ftoic's pride,
He hangs between; in doubt to act, or reft;
In doubt to deem himself a God, or beast;
In doubt his mind or body to prefer ;
Born but to die, and reas'ning but to err;
Alike in ignorance his reafon fuch,

Whether he thinks too little, or too much;
Chaos of thought and paffion, all confus'd;
Still by himself abus'd, or difabus'd ;
Created half to rife, and half to fall;
Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all;
Sole judge of truth, in endlefs error hurl'd:
The glory, jeft, and riddle of the world!

Go, wond'rous creature! mount where science guides,
Go, measure earth, weigh air, and ftate the tides;
Inftruct the planets in what orbs to run,
Correct old Time, and regulate the fun;
Go, foar with Plato, to th' empyreal sphere,
To the firlt good, first perfect, and first fair;

Or

Or tread the mazy round his follow'rs trod;
And quitting fenfe call imitating God;
As Eaflern priefts in giddy circles run,
And turn their heads to imitate the fun.
Go, teach Eternal Wisdom how to rule-
Then drop into thy self, and be a fool!

Superior beings, when of 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 reafon weaves, by paffion is undone.

Trace fcience then, with modefly thy guide;
First ftrip off all her equipage of pride;
Deduct what is but vanity, or dress,

Or learning's luxury, or idlenefs;

Or tricks to fhew the ftretch of human brain,
Mere curious pleafure, 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 paft, and muft the time to come!

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II. Two principles in human nature reign;
Self-love, to urge, and reafon, to reftrain;
Nor this a good, nor that a bad we call,
Each works its end, to move or govern all :
And to their proper operation fill,

Afcribe all good, to their improper, ill.
Self-love, the fpring of motion, acts the foul ;
Reafon'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;
Or, meteor-like, flame lawless thro' the void,
Deftroying others, by himself deftroy'd.

Moft ftrength the moving principle requires ;
Active its tafk, it prompts, impels, infpires:
Sedate and quiet, the comparing lies,
Form'd but to check, delib'rate, and advife.
Self-love fill ftronger, as its objects nigh :
Reafon's at diftance, and in profpect lie:
That fees immediate good by prefent sense;
Reafon, the future and the confequence.
Thicker than arguments, temptations throng,
At befl more watchful this, but that more ftrong.
The action of the ftronger to fufpend,
Reafon fill ufe, to reafon fill attend.

Attention, habit and experience gains;
Each firengthens reafon, and felf-love refrains.

Let

Let fubtle fchoolmen teach these friends to fight,
More ftudious to divide than to unite ;

And grace and virtue, fenfe and reafon fplit,
With all the rafh dexterity of wit.

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 afpire,
Pain their averfion, pleafure their defire;
But greedy That, its object would devour,
This tafte the honey, and not wound the flow'r;
Pleasure, or wrong or rightly uuderflood,

Our greatest evil, or our greatefl good.

III. Modes of felf-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;
Paffions, tho' felfish, if their means be fair,
Lift under reason, 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 froft;

Contracted all, retiring to the breaft ;

But ftrength 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;

N

Nor God alone in the fill calm we find,
He mounts the forms, and walks upon the wind.
Pallions, 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 deftroy?
Suffice that reafon 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 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 Arife
Gives all the ftrength and colour of our life.
Pleasures are ever in our hands or eyes;
And when, in aft, they cease, in prospect, rise:
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 Alrike;
Hence diff'rent paffions more or lefs inflame,
As ftrong or weak the organs of the frame;
And hence one MASTER PASSION in the breaft,
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 frengthens with his firength:

So,

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