By You infpir'd, on trembling pinion soar, To court no Friend, nor own a Foe but thine. Thy facred paths, to run the maze of wit; 515 520 525 Urge, urge thy pow'r, the black attempt confound, And dash the smoaking Cenfer to the ground. Thus aw'd to fear, inftructed Bards may fee, That Guilt is doom'd to fink in Infamy. 530 * ? Page 45 ERRAT A. 265 for penty r. plenty 46 1. 1 after paffion dele the comma 78 not. on 79 1. 3 for paraphrafis r. periphrafis 95 not. from Longinus 1. 1 for i↓nyogíac r. i↓nyogiac 105 Quotation from Horace 1. 2 for laffis r. laflas 167 not. on 219, 220 col. 1. 1. ult. for with r. without DESIG N. HAVIN AVING propofsed to write some pieces on Human Life and Manners, fuch as (to use my lord Bacon's expreffion) come home to Men's Bufinefs and Bofoms, I thought it more fatisfactory to begin with confidering Man in the abstract, his Nature and his State; fince, to prove any moral duty, to enforce any moral precept, or to examine the perfection or imperfection of any creature whatsoever, it is neceffary firft to know what condition and relation it is placed in, and what is the proper end and purpose of its being. The fcience of Human Nature is, like all other sciences, reduced to a few clear points: There are not many certain truths in this world. It is therefore in the Anatomy of the mind as in that of the Body; more good will accrue to mankind by attending to the large, open, and perceptible parts, than by ftudying too much fuch finer nerves and veffels, the conformations and uses of which will for ever escape our obfervation. The difputes are all upon these laft, and, I will venture to say, they have less sharpened the wits than the hearts of men againft each other, and have diminished the practice, more than advanced the theory, of Morality. If I could flatter myfelf that this Effay has any merit, it is in fteering betwixt the extremes of doctrines feemingly oppofite, in paffing over terms utterly unintelligible, and in forming a temperate yet not inconfiftent, and a fhort yet not imperfect fyftem of Ethics. This I might have done in profe; but I chose verfe, and even rhyme, for two reafons. The one will appear obvious; that principles, maxims, or precepts fo written, both ftrike the reader more ftrongly at firft, and are more easily retained by him afterwards: The other may feem odd, but is true, I found I could express them more Shortly this way than in prose itfelf; and nothing is more certain, than that much of the force as well as grace of arguments or inftructions, depends on their concifenefs. I was unable to treat this part of my fubject more in detail, without becoming dry and tedious; or more poetically, without facrificing perfpicuity to ornament, without wandring from the precision, or breaking the chain of reasoning: If any man can unite all these without diminution of any of them, I freely confess he will compass a thing above my capacity. What is now published, is only to be confidered as a general Map of MAN, marking out no more than the greater parts, their extent, their limits, and their connection, but leaving the particular to be more fully delineated in the charts which are to follow. Confequently, thefe Epiftles in their progrefs (if I have health and leisure to make any progrefs) will be lefs dry, and more fufceptible of poetical ornament. I am here only opening the fountains, and clearing the paffage. To deduce the rivers, to follow them in their courfe, and to obferve their effects, may be a task more agreeable. |