Pursues that Chain which links th’immenfe defign,
Joins heav'n and earth, and mortal and divine,
Sees, that no Being any blifs can know,

335

But touches fome above, and some below;
Learns, from this union of the rifing Whole,
The firft, laft purpose of the human foul;
And knows where Faith, Law, Morals, all began,
All end, in LOVE OF GOD, and LOVE OF MAN.340
For him alone, Hope leads from goal to goal,
And opens ftill, and opens on his foul;

NOTES.

66

VER. 341. For him alone," joy, and is the fupport and Hope leads from goal to goal," confort of his old age. &c.] PLATO, in his first Hope, the most powerful "of the Divinities, in gobook of a Republic, hath a remarkable paffage to this "verning the ever-changing purpose. "He whofe con"and inconftant temper of fcience does not reproach!" mortal men.” Tỡ đề μndèv “him, has chearful Hope, kaulõ ädıxov guveidófi údeĩa éntic + for his companion, and ἀεὶ πάρεςι, καὶ ἀγαθὴ γηροτρόφος, “ the fupport and comfort ὡς καὶ Πίνδαρος λέγει. Χαριένως “ of his old age, according γάρ τοι, ὦ Σώκρατες, τῦτ ̓ ἐκεῖνος 66 to Pindar. For this great εἶπεν, ὅτι ὃς ἂν δικαίως καὶ ὁσίως poet, Ο Socrates, very τὸν βίον διαγάγῃ, γλυκεῖά οἱ καρelegantly fays, That he δίαν ἀτάλλεσα γηροτρόφος συναιρεῖ μάλιςα θνατῶν πολύςρο "who leads a just and holy is, " life has always amiable φον γνώμαν κυβερνᾷ. In the fame Hope for his companion, manner Euripides speaks in "which fills his heart with his Hercules furens,

66

Οὗτος δ ̓ ἀνὴρ ἄριςος, ὅσις ἐλπίσιν
Πέποιθεν αἰεί, τὸ δ' ἀπορεῖν, ἀνδρὸς κακῶ.

105.

'Till lengthen'd on to Faith, and unconfin'd,.

It pours the blifs that fills up all the mind.

He fees, why Nature plants in Man alone

345

Hope of known blifs, and Faith in blifs unknown :

(Nature, whofe dictates to no other kind

Are giv'n in vain, but what they seek they find)
Wife is her prefent; fhe connects in this
His greatest Virtue with his greatest Bliss;
At once his own bright prospect to be bleft,
And strongest motive to affist the rest.

350

Self-love thus pufh'd to focial, to divine,
Gives thee to make thy neighbour's bleffing thine.
Is this too little for the boundless heart?

Extend it, let thy enemies have part:

355

Grafp the whole worlds of Reason, Life, and Sense,
In one close system of Benevolence:

Happier as kinder, in whate'er degree,

And height of Bliss but height of Charity.

360

God loves from Whole to Parts: But human foul

Must rise from Individual to the Whole.

Self-love but ferves the virtuous mind to wake,

As the small pebble stirs the peaceful lake ;

NOTES.

"He is the good man in
"whose breaft Hope fprings
eternally But to be

"without hope in the world "is the portion of the "wicked."

365

The centre mov'd, a circle ftrait fucceeds,
Another still, and still another spreads;
Friend, parent, neighbour, first it will embrace;
His country next; and next all human race;
Wide and more wide, th'o'erflowings of the mind
Take ev'ry creature in, of ev'ry kind;
Earth fmiles around, with boundless bounty bleft,
And Heav'n beholds its image in his breast.

370

Come then, my Friend! my Genius! come along; Oh mafter of the poet, and the fong!

VARIATIONS.

374

VER. 373. Come then, my friend! &c.] in the MS. thus,
And now tranfported o'er fo vaft a Plain,
While the wing'd courser flies with all her rein,

NOTES.

VER. 373. Come then, my Friend! &c.] This noble Apoftrophe, by which the Poet concludes the Effay in an addrefs to his friend, will furnish a Critic with Examples of every one of those

five Species of Elocution, from which, as from its Sources, Longinus deduceth the SUBLIME

I. The firit and chief is a Grandeur and Sublimity of Conception :

Απέντε πηγαί τινές εἰσιν τ ̓ ὀψηγορίας. 1. Πρῶτον μὲν καὶ κράτισον τὸ περὶ τὰς νοήσεις ἀδρεπήβολον. 2. Δεύτερον δὲ τὸ σφοδρὸν καὶ ἐνθε σιαςικὸν πάθω. 3. Ποιὰ τῶν σχημάτων πλάσις. 4. Ἡ γενναῖα φράσις. 5. Πέμπλη δὲ μεγέθες αἰτία, και συγκλείεσα τὰ πρὸ ἑαυτῆς ἅπανία, ἡ ἐν ἀξιώματι καὶ διάρσει σύνθεσις,

And while the Mufe now ftoops, or now afcends, To Man's low paffions, or their glorious ends,

VARIATIONS.

While heav'n-ward now her mounting wing the feels,
Now fcatter'd fools fly trembling from her heels,
Wilt thou, my St John! keep her course in fight,
Confine her fury and affist her flight?

NOTES.

Come then, my Friend! my Genius! come along,
O Mafter of the Poet, and the Song!

And while the Mufe now floops, and now afcends,
To Man's low paffions, or their glorious ends,

z. The Second, that Pa- | the fame Time, melts and thetic Enthufiafm, which, at | inflames :

Teach me, like thee, in various nature wife,
To fall with dignity, with temper rife,
Form'd by thy converfe, happily to fleer
From grave to gay, from lively to fevere ;
Correct with fpirit, eloquent with Eafe,
Intent to reafon, or polite to please.

3. A certain elegant Formation and Ordonance of Figures:

O! while along the ftream of Time thy name
Expanded flies, and gathers all its fame,
Say, fhall my little bark attendant fail,

Purfue the triumph, and partake the gale!

4. A fplendid Diction:

When ftate femen, beroes, kings, in duft repofe,
Whofe fons fhall blush their fathers were thy foes,
Shall then this verfe to feature age pretend
Thou wert my guide, philofopher, and friend?

Teach me, like thee, in various nature wife,
To fall with dignity, with temper rife;
Form'd by thy converse, happily to steer
From grave to gay, from lively to fevere;
Correct with fpirit, eloquent with ease,
Intent to reason, or polite to please.

Oh! while along the ftream of Time thy name
Expanded flies, and gathers all its fame,

380

Say, fhall my little bark attendant fail,

385

Pursue the triumph, and partake-the gale?

When statesmen, heroes, kings, in dust repose,
Whose fons fhall blush their fathers were thy foes,
Shall then this verse to future age pretend

Thou wert my guide, philofopher, and friend? 390
That urg'd by thee, I turn'd the tuneful art
From founds to things, from fancy to the heart;

NOTES.

That, urg'd by thee, I turn'd the tuneful art,
From founds to things, from fancy to the heart;
For Wit's falfe mirror held up Nature's light;

5. And fifthly, which in- a Weight and Dignity in cludes in itfelf all the reft, the Compofition:

Shew'd erring Pride whatever is, is RIGHT;
That REASON, PASSION, answer one great AIM;
That true SELF-LOVE and SOCIAL are the SAME;
That VIRTUE only makes our BLISS below;
And all our Knowledge is OURSELVES TO KNOW?

G