E P I S T L E

IV.

C

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

name:

That something still which prompts th'eternal figh,
For which we bear to live, or dare to die,
Which still so near us, yet beyond us lies, 5
O'er-look’d, feen double, by the fool, and wise.

VARIATIONS.

(Nr

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 desire ;
That ease, for which in want, in wealth we figh;
That ease, for which we labour and we die.

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 last comes to consider him with regard to the End, that is, Happiness.

NOTES,

Ver. 6. O'erlook'd, feen | thing exclufive of Virtue ; double,] O'erlook'd by those feen double by those who adwho place Happiness in any mit any thing else to have

Plant of celestial feed! if dropt below,
Say, in what mortal soil thou deign'st to grow ?
Fair op’ning to some Court's propitious shine,
Or deep with di’monds in the flaming mine? IO
Twin’d with the wreaths Parnassian lawrels yield,
Or reap'd in iron harvests of the field ?
Where grows ?--where grows it not? If vain our toil,
We ought to blame the culture, not the foil :
Fix'd to no spot is Happiness fincere,

15 'Tis no where to be found, or ev'ry where ; 'Tis never to be bought, but always free, And fled from monarchs, ST John! dwells with thee. Ask of the Learn'd the way? The Learn'd are

blind;
This bids to serve, and that to fhun mankind;
Some place the bliss in action, some in ease,
Those call it Pleasure, and Contentment these;

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NOTES.

2.

a share with Virtue in pro- sure, 'Hàovn, such as the Cycuring Happiness; these be- renaic sect, called on that ing the two general mistakes account the Hedonic. that this epistle is employed | Those who place it in a cerin confuting.

tain tranquillity or calmness VER: 21. Some place the of Mind, which they call bliss in a£tion --Some funk Eidupía, such as the Demoto' Beafts, Esc.] 1. Those critic fect. 3. The Epicuwho place Happiness, or rean. 4. The Stoic. 5. The the fummum bonum, in Plea- I Protagorean, which held

Some sunk to Beasts, find pleasure end in pain; Some swell'd to Gods, confess ev'n Virtue vain; Or indolent, to each extreme they fall,

25 To trust in ev'ry thing, or doubt of all.

Who thus define it, say they more or less Than this, that Happiness is Happiness?

Take Nature's path, and mad Opinion's leave ; All states can reach it, and all heads conceive; 30 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 Sense, and Common Ease.

NOTES. that Man was návler xenpeátw it to be always at hand, pérgos, the measure of all makes the former conclude things; for that all things it is never to be found. which appear to him are, The only difference is, that and those things which ap- the laziness of the one is pear not to any Man are desponding, and the laziness got ; so that every imagina- of the other fanguine ; yet gination or opinion of every both can give it a good

6. The name, and call it HapSceptic : Whose absolute piness. Doubt is with great judg Ver. 23. Some sunk to ment said to be the effect Beasts, &c.] These four of Indolence, as well as the lines added in the last Ediabsolute Trust of the Pro- tion, as necessary to comtagorean : For the same plete the summary of the dread of labour attending false pursuits after happiness the fearch of truth, which amongst the Greek philomakes this lacter presume I fophers.

man

was true.

1

Remember, Man, “ the Universal Cause

35 “ Acts not by partial, but by gen’ral laws ;" And makes what Happiness we justly call Subsist not in the good of one, but all. There's not a blessing Individuals find, But some

way

leans and hearkens to the kind : 40
No Bandit fierce, no Tyrant mad with pride,
No cavern'd Hermit, rests self-satisfy’d:
Who moft to shun or hate Mankind pretend,
Seek an admirer, or would fix a friend :
Abstract what others feel, what others think, 45
All pleasures ficken, and all glories fink:
Each has his share ; and who would more obtain,
Shall find, the pleasure pays not half the pain.

ORDER is Heav'n's first law; and this confeft,
Some are, and must be, greater than the rest, 50
More rich, more wise ; but who infers from hence
That such are happier, shocks all common sense.

VARIATIONS. After Ver. 52. in the MS. Say not, “Heav'n's here profuse, 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.

Order is | The first law made by God Heav'n's firf law; ] i, en relates to Order ; which is

VE R. 49.

Heav'n to Mankind impartial we confess,
If all are equal in their Happiness :
But mutual wants this Happiness increase ; 55
All Nature's diff'rence keeps all Nature's peace.
Condition, circumstance is not the thing;
Bliss is the same in subject or in king,
In who obtain defence, or who defend,
In him who is, or him who finds a friend : 60
Heav'n breathes thro' ev'ry member of the whole
One common blessing, as one common soul.
But Fortune's gifts if each alike possest,
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 bliss by accident's debar'd ;
But Virtue's, in the instant, a reward ;
In hardest trials operates the best,
And more is relish'd as the more diftret.

NOTES. a beautiful allusion to the peased the disorders of Scripture history of the Crea- Chaos, and separated the tion, when God first ap. | light from the darkness.

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