Relate, who first, who laft refign'd to rest; Till drown'd was Senfe, and Shame, and Right, and Wrong625 O fing, and hush the Nations with thy Song! * In vain, in vain,-the all-compofing Hour She comes! fhe comes! the fable Throne behold 630 635 As REMARKS. And Virg. Aeneid. vii. "Et meminiftis enim, Divae, et memorare poteftis: Ad nos vix tenuis famae perlabitur aura." But our Poet had yet another reason for putting this task upon the Muse, that, all befides being afleep, the only could relate what paffed. SCRIBL. P. * IMITATIONS. VER. 621. Relate, who firft, who last refign'd to reft; Whofe Heads fhe partly, whofe completely blest.] VIRG. W. As Argus' eyes, by Hermes' wand oppreft, VARIATIONS. VER. 643. In the former Edit. it stood thus, REMARKS. 640 Phyfic W. VER. 643. Philofophy, that lean'd on Heav'n] Philofophy has at length brought things to that pafs, as to have it esteemed unphilosophical to rest in the first caufe; as if its business were an endless indagation of caufe after caufe, without ever coming to the First. So that to avoid this unlearned disgrace, fome of the propagators of our best philosophy have had recourse to the contrivance here hinted at. For this philofophy, which is founded on the principle of Gravitation, first considered that property in matter as fomething extrinsical to it, and impressed by God upon it. Which fairly and modeftly coming up to the first Cause, was pushing natural enquiries as far as they fhould go. But this stopping, though at the extent of our ideas, and on the maxim of the great founder of this Philofophy, Bacon, who fays, Circa ultimates rerum fruftranea eft inquifitio, was mistaken by foreign philofophers as recurring to the occult qualities of the Peripatetics; whose sense is thus delivered by a great Poet, whom, indeed, it more became than a Philosopher. IMITATIONS. VER. 637. As Argus' eyes, Sc.]. "Et quamvis fopor eft oculorum parte receptus, Parte tamen vigilat Succubuiffe oculos," &c. "Sed Vidit Cyllenius omnes OVID. Met. ii. W. Phyfic of Metaphyfic begs defence, 645 See And Metaphyfic calls for aid on Senfe! REMARKS. "Sed gravitas etiam crefcat, dum corpora centro Pellaei Juvenis Doctor conjecerat olim In Phyficae fludium.” Anti-Lucr. To avoid which imaginary difcredit to the new theory, it was thought proper to feek for the cause of gravitation in a certain fubtile matter or elaflic fluid, which pervaded all body. By this means, inflead of really advancing in natural enquiries, we were brought back again, by this ingenious expedient, to an unfatiffactory fecond caufe: 66 Philofophy, that lean'd on Heav'n before, For it might ftill, by the fame kind of objection, be asked, what There are no degrees of perequally an unactive substance, The higher we had afcended in Second, See Mystery to Mathematics fly! In vain! they gaze, turn giddy, rave, and die. REMARKS. Religion fecond, but darkly; and the third, not at all. This had been the way for the Deity to conceal himself: And this is the view which this philofophy endeavours to give us. It is equivocal language to speak of rifing towards the fupreme caufe through a scale of material caufes. No Philosophy ever yet difcovered the second step of the fcale. I fee a ftone fall. I am certain there is but one step here. A fluid that impreffed a crushing force on a fmall piece of matter, would have as much overcome my ftrength to wade through it, as if I had endeavoured to walk in the bottom of an ocean of Mercury, or fomething more denfe. Thus we see their fecond step is a fiction, to divert the attention, and set us a gazing at fomething that cannot be feen. The views that we have from this Philofophy are indeed very dark and myfterious. Philofophers fpeak of not excluding the Deity out of nature, as of a favour: But they endeavour to exclude him from every thing we can point out, to difcover him. They endeavour to make us eafy, by telling us, he is every where active, and every where prefent: But at the same time they try to reftrain his activity, to quadrate with their hypothefis; and make him present only that SUBTILE MATTER may exercise his power and knowledge. Nothing can derogate more from the Government and Influences of the Deity."-BAXTER. Appendix to his Inquiry into the nature of the human foul, p. 194. * W. VER. 645, 646. Physic of Metaphyfic, &c.—And Metaphyfic calls, &c.] Certain writers, as Malbranche, Norris, and Berkley, have thought it of importance, in order to fecure the existence of the foul, to bring in question the reality of body: which they have attempted to do by a very refined metaphyfical reasoning: While others of the fame party, in order to perfuade us of the neceffity of a Revelation which promises immortality, have been as anxious to prove that those qualities which are commonly fuppofed to belong only to an immaterial Being are but the refult from certain difpofitions of the particles of matter, and confequently that the foul is naturally mortal. Thus, between their different reasonings, thefe good men have left us neither Soul nor Body; nor the Sciences of Physics and Metaphyfics the least support, by making them depend upon, and go a begging to, one another. * W. Religion blufhing veils her facred fires, Nor public Flame, nor private, dares to fhine ; 650 Thy hand, great Anarch! lets the curtain fall; 655 And univerfal Darkness buries All. REMARKS. VER. 654. thy uncreating word:] After this noble and energetic line, the expreffion in the next, of "lets the curtain fall," is an unhappy defcent in ftyle and imagery. |