Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

Or tricks to fhew the ftretch of human brain,
Mere curious pleasure, 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 past, and must the times to come!
II. Two Principles in human nature reign;
Self-love, to urge, and Reason, to restrain;
Nor this a good, nor that a bad we call,
Each works it's end, to move or govern all :
And to their proper operation still,
Afcribe all Good; to their improper, Ill.

Self-love, the spring 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:

NOTES.

VER. 47. Or tricks to fhew the ftretch of human brain,] Such as the mathematical demonftrations concerning the mall quantity of matter; the endless divifibility of it, &c.

VER. 48. Mere curious pleafure, or ingenious pain;] That is, when Admiration fets the mind on the rack.

50

55

60

VER. 49, 50. Expunge the whole, or lop th' excrefcent parts Of all our Vices have created Arts ;]

i. e. Those parts of natural Philofophy, Logic, Rhetoric, Poetry, &c. that adminifter to luxury, deceit, ambition, effeminacy, &c.

Fix'd like a plant on his peculiar spot,

To draw nutrition, propagate, and rot;

Or, meteor-like, flame lawless thro' the void, 65 Destroying others, by himself deftroy'd.

Moft ftrength the moving principle requires ;
Active its task, it prompts, impels, inspires.
Sedate and quiet the comparing lies,

Form'd but to check, delib'rate, and advise.
Self-love still stronger, as its objects nigh;
Reason's at diftance, and in profpect lie:
That fees immediate good by prefent fenfe ;
Reason, the future and the confequence.
Thicker than arguments, temptations throng,
At beft more watchful this, but that more ftrong.
The action of the ftronger to fufpend

70

75

79

Reason still use, to Reason ftill attend.
Attention, habit and experience gains;
Each strengthens Reason, and Self-love reftrains.
Let fubtle schoolmen teach thefe friends to fight,

More ftudious to divide than to unite ;'

And Grace and Virtue, Senfe and Reafon fplit,
With all the rash dexterity of wit.

NOTES.

VER. 74. Reason, the fu- | the future; and by argumenture and the confequence.]i. e. tation, the confequence. By experience Reafon collects

C

85

Wits, just like Fools, at war about a name,
Have full as oft no meaning, or the same.
Self-love and Reason to one end aspire,
Pain their averfion, Pleasure their defire;
But greedy That, its object would devour,
This taste the honey, and not wound the flow'r : 90
Pleasure, or wrong or rightly understood,

Our greatest evil, or our greatest good.

95

III. Modes of Self-love the Paffions we may call: 'Tis real good, or feeming, moves them all : But fince not ev'ry good we can divide, And Reafon bids us for our own provide; Paffions, tho' felfish, if their means be fair, Lift under Reason, and deserve her care; Thofe, that imparted, court a nobler aim, Exalt their kind, and take some Virtue's name. 100 In lazy Apathy let Stoics boaft

Their Virtue fix'd; 'tis fix'd as in a froft;

Contracted all, retiring to the breast;

But strength of mind is Exercise, not Rest:

VARIATIONS.

After 86. in the MS.

Of good and evil Gods what frighted Fools,
Of good and evil Reason puzzled Schools,
Deceiv'd, deceiving, taught

The rifing tempeft puts in act the foul,

Parts it may ravage, but preferves the whole.
On life's vaft ocean diverfely we fail,

Reason the card, but Paflion is the gale;
Nor God alone in the ftill calm we find,

105

109

He mounts the ftorm, and walks upon the wind. Paffions, like Elements, tho' born to fight, Yet, mix'd and foften'd, in his work unite:

VARIATIONS.

After VER. 108. in the MS.

A tedious Voyage! where how useless lies
The compass, if no pow'rful gufts arise?

After VER. 112. in the MS.

The foft reward the virtuous, or invite ;
The fierce, the vicious punish or affright.

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

Thefe 'tis enough to temper and employ;

115

But what compofes Man, can Man destroy?
Suffice that Reafon keep to Nature's road,
Subject, compound them, follow her and God.
Love, Hope, and Joy, fair pleafure's fmiling 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 ftrife
Gives all the ftrength and colour of our life.

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.

120

125

All spread their charms, but charm not all alike;
On diff'rent fenfes diff'rent objects strike;
Hence diff'rent Paffions more or lefs inflame,
As ftrong or weak, the organs of the frame;
And hence one MASTER PASSION in the breast,
Like Aaron's ferpent, fwallows up the reft.

NOTES.

only this, that they fhould | not be quite rooted up and deftroyed, as the Stoics, and their followers in all reli

130

gions, foolishly attempted. For the reft, he constantly repeats this advice,

The action of the stronger to fufpend,
Reafon ftill ufe, to Reafon fill attend.

« ZurückWeiter »