His Principle of action once explore,
That instant 'tis his Principle no more.
Like following life through creatures you dissect,
You lose it in the moment you detect.
Yet more; the difference is as great between
The optics feeing, as the objects seen.
All Manners take a tincture from our own;
Or come difcolour'd through our Paffions shown.
Or Fancy's beam enlarges, multiplies,
Contracts, inverts, and gives ten thousand dyes.
Nor will Life's stream for obfervation stay,
It hurries all too fast to mark their way :
In vain sedate reflections we would make,
When half our knowledge we must snatch, not take. 40
Oft, in the Passion's wild rotation tost,
Our spring of action to ourselves is loft :
Tir'd, not determin'd, to the last we yield,
And what comes then is master of the field.
As the last image of that troubled heap,
When sense subsides, and Fancy sports in sleep,
(Though paft the recollection of the thought)
Becomes the stuff of which our dream is wrought:
Something as dim to our internal view,
Is thus, perhaps, the cause of most we do.
True, fome are open, and to all men known:
Others, fo very close, they're hid from none;
(So darknefs ftrikes the sense no lefs than light)
Thus gracious Chandos is belov'd at fight;
And every child hates Shylock, though his foul
Still fits at squat, and peeps not from its hole.
At half mankind when generous Manly raves,
All know 'tis Virtue, for he thinks them knaves :
When univerfal homage Umbra pays,
All fee 'tis Vice, and itch of vulgar praise.
When Flattery glares, all hate it in a Queen,
While one there is who charms us with his Spleen.
But these plain Characters we rarely find : Though strong the bent, yet quick the turns of mind : Or puzzling Contraries confound the whole; Or Affectations quite reverse the foul.
The Dull, flat Falsehood serves, for policy:
And in the Cunning, Truth itself's a lie:
Unthought-of Frailties cheat us in the Wife;
The Fool lies hid in inconfistencies.
See the fame man, in vigour, in the gout;
Alone, in company; in place, or out;
Early at Business, and at Hazard late;
Mad at a Fox-chase, wife at a Debate;
Drunk at a Borough, civil at a Ball;
Friendly at Hackney, faithless at Whitehall.
Catius is ever moral, ever grave,
Thinks who endures a knave, is next a knave,
Save just at dinner-then prefers, no doubt,
A Rogue with Venison to a Saint without.
Who would not praise Patricio's high defert,
His hand unstain'd, his uncorrupted heart,
His comprehenfive head! all Interests weigh'd,
All Europe sav'd, yet Britain not betray'd.
He thanks you not, his Pride is in Picquette,
Newmarket-fame, and judgment at a Bett.
What made (fay, Montagne, or more fage Charron !)
Otho a warrior, Cromwell a buffoon ?
A perjur'd Prince a leaden faint revere,
A godless Regent tremble at a Star?
The throne a Bigot keep, a Genius quit,
Faithless through Piety, and dup'd through Wit?
Europe a Woman, Child, or Dotard rule,
And just her wifest monarch made a fool ?
Know, God and Nature only are the same :
In Man, the judgment shoots at flying game;
A bird of passage! gone as foon as found,
Now in the Moon perhaps, now under ground.
In vain the sage, with retrospective eye,
Would from th' apparent What conclude the Why,
Infer the Motive from the Deed, and shew,
That what we chanc'd was what we meant to do,
Behold if Fortune or a Mistress frowns,
Some plunge in business, others shave their crowns:
To ease the Soul of one oppressive weight,
This quits an Empire, that embroils a State :
The fame aduft complexion has impell'd
Charles to the Convent, Philip to the Field.
After ver. 86. in the former Editions,
Triumphant leaders at an army's head,
Hemm'd round with glories, pilfer cloth or bread;
As meanly plunder as they bravely fought,
Now fave a people, and now fave a groat.
Not always Actions shew the man: we find
Who does a kindness, is not therefore kind :
Perhaps Profperity becalm'd his breast,
Perhaps the Wind just shifted from the East :
Not therefore humble he who seeks retreat,
Pride guides his steps, and bids him shun the great :
Who combats bravely is not therefore brave,
He dreads a death-bed like the meanest slave:
Who reasons wisely is not therefore wife,
His pride in Reasoning, not in Acting, lies.
But grant that actions best discover man;
Take the most strong, and fort them as you can.
The few that glare, each character must mark,
You balance not the many in the dark.
What will you do with fuch as difagree?
Suppress them, or miscall them policy?
Must then at once (the character to fave)
The plain rough Hero turn a crafty Knave?
Alas! in truth the man but chang'd his mind,
Perhaps was fick, in love, or had not din'd.
Ask why from Britain Cæfar would retreat?
Cæfar himself might whisper, he was beat.
Ver. 129. in the former Editions :
Afk why from Britain Cæfar made retreat ?
Cæfar himself would tell you he was beat.
The mighty Czar what mov'd to wed a Punk ?
The mighty Czar would tell you he was drunk.
Altered as above, because Cæfar wrote his Commentaries of this war, and does not tell you he was beat. As Cæfar too afforded an instance of both cafes, it was thought better to make him the single example.
Why risk the World's great empire for a Punk ?
Cæfar perhaps might answer, he was drunk.
But, fage hiftorians! 'tis your task to prove
One action Conduct; one, heroic Love.
'Tis from high Life high characters are drawn; 135
A Saint in Crape is twice a Saint in Lawn;
A Judge is juft, a Chancellor juster still;
A Gownman, learn'd; a Bishop, what you will;
Wife, if a Minister; but, if a King,
More wife, more learn'd, more just, more every thing.
Court-Virtues bear, like Gems, the highest rate,
Born where Heaven's influence scarce can penetrate:
In life's low vale, the foil the Virtues like,
They please as beauties, here as wonders strike.
Though the fame fun with all-diffusive rays
Blush in the Rose, and in the Diamond blaze,
We prize the stronger effort of his power,
And justly fet the Gem above the Flower.
'Tis Education forms the common mind,
Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclin'd.
Boastful and rough, your first son is a 'Squire;
The next a Tradesman, meek, and much a lyar;
Tom struts a Soldier, open, bold and brave;
Will sneaks a Scrivener, an exceeding knave:
Is he a Churchman? then he's fond of power: 155
A Quaker? fly: A Presbyterian? sower:
A smart Free-thinker? all things in an hour.
Afk mens Opinions: Scoto now shall tell How Trade increases, and the world goes well;
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