EPISTLE IV.

H HAPPINESS! our being's end and aim!
Good, Pleasure, Ease, Content! whate'er thy

name:

That fomething ftill which prompts th'eternal figh,
For which we bear to live, or dare to die,
Which still so near us, yet beyond us lies,
O'er-look'd, feen double, by the fool, and wife.

VARIATIONS.

VER. 1. Oh Happiness ! &c.] in the MS. thus,
Oh Happiness! to which we all aspire,

Wing'd with strong hope, and borne by full defire;
That ease, for which in want, in wealth we figh
That ease, for which we labour and we die.

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EP. IV.] THE two foregoing epiftles having confidered Man with regard to the Means (that is, in all his relations, whether as an Individual, or a Member of Society) this laft comes to confider him with regard to the End, that is, Happiness.

NOTES,

VER. 6. O'erlook'd, feen | double,] O'erlook'd by thofe who place Happiness in any

thing exclufive of Virtue ; feen double by those who admit any thing else to have

Plant of celeftial feed! if dropt below,

?

Say, in what mortal soil thou deign'ft to grow
Fair op'ning to fome Court's propitious shine,
Or deep with di'monds in the flaming mine?
Twin'd with the wreaths Parnaffian lawrels yield,
Or reap'd in iron harvefts of the field?

ΙΟ

Where grows?-where grows it not? If vain our toil,
We ought to blame the culture, not the foil:
Fix'd to no fpot is Happiness fincere,

'Tis no where to be found, or ev'ry where ;
'Tis never to be bought, but always free,

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And fled from monarchs, ST JOHN! dwells with thee.
Afk of the Learn'd the way? The Learn'd are

blind;

This bids to ferve, and that to fhun mankind; 20
Some place the blifs in action, fome in ease,
Those call it Pleafure, and Contentment thefe;

Some funk to Beasts, find pleasure end in pain;
Some fwell'd to Gods, confefs ev'n Virtue vain ;
Or indolent, to each extreme they fall,

To trust in ev'ry thing, or doubt of all.
Whò thus define it, fay they more or less
Than this, that Happiness is Happiness?

.

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30

Take Nature's path, and mad Opinion's leave; All states can reach it, and all heads conceive; Obvious her goods, in no extreme they dwell; There needs but thinking right, and meaning well And mourn our various portions as we please, Equal is Common Senfe, and Common Eafe.

NOTES.

makes the former conclude it is never to be found. The only difference is, that the laziness of the one is defponding, and the laziness of the other fanguine; yet both can give it a good name, and call it Happinefs.

that Man was πάλων χρημάτων | it to be always at hand, Mirgov, the measure of all things; for that all things which appear to him are, and those things which appear not to any Man are not; fo that every imaginagination or opinion of every man was true. 6. The Sceptic: Whofe abfolute Doubt is with great judgment faid to be the effect of Indolence, as well as the abfolute Truft of the Protagorean: For the fame dread of labour attending the fearch of truth, which makes this latter prefume

VER. 23. Some funk to Beafs, &c.] Thefe four lines added in the last Edition, as neceffary to complete the fummary of the falfe pursuits after happiness amongst the Greek philofophers.

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Remember, Man, "the Universal Cause "Acts not by partial, but by gen'ral laws;" And makes what Happiness we justly call Subfift not in the good of one, but all. There's not a bleffing Individuals find,

But fome way leans and hearkens to the kind:
No Bandit fierce, no Tyrant mad with pride,
No cavern'd Hermit, refts felf-fatisfy'd:
Who moft to fhun or hate Mankind pretend,
Seek an admirer, or would fix a friend:
Abstract what others feel, what others think,
All pleasures ficken, and all glories fink:

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45

Each has his fhare; and who would more obtain, Shall find, the pleasure pays not half the pain.

ORDER is Heav'n's firft law; and this confeft, Some are, and muft be, greater than the reft, 50 More rich, more wife; but who infers from hence That fuch are happier, shocks all common sense. VARIATIONS.

After VER. 52. in the MS.

Say not, "Heav'n's here profufe, there poorly faves, "And for one Monarch makes a thousand slaves." You'll find, when Causes and their Ends are known, 'Twas for the thousand Heav'n has made that one. NOTES.

VER. 49. Order is Heav'n's firft law; ] i. e.

The first law made by God relates to Order; which is

Heav'n to Mankind impartial we confefs,
If all are equal in their Happiness :

But mutual wants this Happiness increase ;
All Nature's diff'rence keeps all Nature's peace.
Condition, circumftance is not the thing;

Blifs is the fame in fubject or in king,
In who obtain defence, or who defend,

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In him who is, or him who finds a friend:

бо

Heav'n breathes thro' ev'ry member of the whole
One common bleffing, as one common soul.
But Fortune's gifts if each alike poffeft,
And each were equal, must not all contest?
If then to all Men Happiness was meant,
God in Externals could not place Content.
Fortune her gifts may variously dispose,
And these be happy call'd, unhappy those;
VARIATIONS.

After VER. 66. in the MS.

'Tis peace of mind alone is at a stay;
The rest mad Fortune gives or takes away.
All other blifs by accident's debar'd ;
But Virtue's, in the inftant, a reward;
In hardest trials operates the best,

And more is relifh'd as the more diftref.

NOTES.

65

a beautiful allufion to the peafed the diforders of Scripture hiftory of the Crea- Chaos, and feparated the tion, when God first ap-light from the darkness.