of the one, nor diminishes the turpitude of the other. This modification or approximation of virtue and vice, by which good is upon the whole produced, is exquisitely touched upon in his second Epistle : "As fruits ungrateful to the planter's care, On savage stocks inserted learn to bear; From spleen, from obstinacy, hate, or fear! See anger, zeal and fortitude supply; Even avarice, prudence; sloth, philosophy, &c." Essay on Man, Ep. ii. ver. 181. After elucidating this point by examples drawn from human characters, he adds, "Extremes in nature equal ends produce, In man they join to some mysterious use; Where ends the virtue or begins the vice." Essay on Man, Ep. ii. ver. 205. Lest, however, it should be supposed, from this most correct and accurate statement, that the poet intended to confound virtue and vice together, and consequently to deny the responsibility of man as a free agent, he indignantly exclaims, "Fools! who from hence into the notion fall, That vice or virtue there is none at all. From which it is clearly to be understood that the universe, as well intellectual as material, is, as the work of a Supreme Creator, subservient to the laws which he has imposed upon it, and which are essential to its existence and perfection; but that notwithstanding this, there are in rational beings a freedom of will and choice of action, which, although they cannot in their result overthrow the established order of nature, may be virtuous or vicious accord ing as they are employed. That these powers can only be exercised within certain bounds, is essential to the very nature of a created or finite being; but it will scarcely be denied that these bounds afford a space sufficiently large for the exercise of them, and for that improvement in knowledge, virtue, and true religion, which is alluded to at the close of the Essay, where we are told the virtuous man— "Learns, from this union of the rising whole, The first, last purpose of the human soul; For him alone, Hope leads from goal to goal, It pours the bliss that fills up all the mind." 335. Having thus demonstrated that the highest inductions of human reason terminate in religious faith, he proceeds to point out the particular system of religion which is thus inculcated; in which it would be impossible not to perceive the mild and beneficent features of Christianity. Self-love, thus push'd from social to divine, Gives thee to make thy neighbour's blessing thine. Is this too little for thy boundless heart? And height of bliss but height of charity." Essay on Man, Ep. iv. ver. 351. And thus, as Warburton has justly remarked, "the poet has vindicated the dignity of human nature, and the philosophical truth of the Christian religion." We are informed by Spence, that Pope had written an address to Jesus Christ, but omitted it by the advice of bishop Berkeley.* * "In the moral poem I had written an address to our Saviour, imitated from Lucretius's Compliment to Epicurus; but omitted it by the advice of Dean Berkeley." Spence's Anec. Singer's Ed. p. 142. When we consider the propriety and delicacy which he has manifested on every subject which he has undertaken, we cannot but regret the loss of a passage which would have afforded him the finest possible opportunity of displaying all the dignity, pathos, and devotion, of which he was so eminently capable. The publication of the Essay on Man was attended with some peculiar circumstances, of which an account has been given in the Life of the Author prefixed to the present edition (chap. viii.); where an attempt is also made to ascertain, what degree of credit is due to the generally received opinion, that Pope derived the materials for this poem from Lord Bolingbroke, and that his chief merit consists in having transferred the prose of that nobleman into correct and beautiful verse. What has there been stated will, it is presumed, sufficiently demonstrate, that the Essay on Man was not only commenced, but that a great portion of it was actually written before Lord Bolingbroke had put pen to paper on the subject, and that his Lordship continued his work long after the four Epistles of the Essay on Man had been completed and published; that Lord Bolingbroke has himself repeatedly acknowledged that the work of Pope was an original for which he was not indebted to any other author; and that the respective works of Lord Bolingbroke and Pope were considered both by themselves and their correspondents, as wholly distinct from each other. On the present occasion it has been thought necessary briefly to recur to these statements, because Dr. Warton has pointed out several passages in the ensuing poem, wherein he conceives that Pope has adopted the sentiments, and even the language, of Lord Bolingbroke; but this coincidence it must be observed, is by no means conclusive as to the question, which of the two writers has imitated the other-a question which can only be satisfactorily decided by shewing which of the two works was first written. THE DESIGN. HAVING proposed to write some pieces on Human Life and Manners, such as, to use my Lord Bacon's expression, come home to men's business and bosoms, I thought it more satisfactory to begin with considering Man in the abstract, his Nature and his State; since, to prove any moral duty, to enforce any moral precept, or to examine the perfection or imperfection of any creature whatsoever, it is necessary first to know what condition and relation it is placed in, and what is the proper end and purpose of its being. The science 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 studying too much such finer nerves and vessels, the conformations and uses of which will for ever escape our observation. The disputes are all upon these last, and, I will venture to say, they have less sharpened the wits than the hearts of men against each other, and have diminished the practice, more than advanced the theory, of Morality. If I could flatter myself that this Essay has any merit, it is in steering betwixt the extremes of doctrines seemingly opposite, in passing over terms utterly unintelligible, and in forming a temperate, yet not inconsistent, and a short, yet not imperfect, system of Ethics. This I might have done in prose; but I chose verse, and even rhyme, for two reasons. The one will appear obvious; that principles, maxims, or precepts so written, both strike the reader more strongly at first, and are more easily retained by him afterwards. The other may seem odd, but is true. I found I could express them more shortly this way than in prose itself; and nothing is more certain, than that much of the force as well as grace of arguments or instructions depends on their conciseness. I was unable to treat this part of my subject more in detail, without becoming dry and tedious; or more poetically, without sacrificing perspicuity to ornament, without wandering 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 considered 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. Consequently, these Epistles in their progress (if I have health and leisure to make any progress) will be less dry, and more susceptible of poetical ornament. I am here only opening the fountains, and clearing the passage. To deduce the rivers, to follow them in their course, and to observe their effects, may be a task more agreeable. P. |