Why charge we Heaven in those, in these acquit?
In both, to reason right, is to submit.

Better for us, perhaps, it might appear,
Were there all harmony, all irtue here;
That never air or ocean felt the wind,
That never passion discompos'd the mind.
But all subsists by elemental strife;
And passions are the elements of life.
The general order, since the whole began,
Is kept in Nature, and is kept in man.

170

[soar,

VIII. See, through this air, this ocean, and this

earth,

VI. What would this man? Now upward will he And, little less than angel, would be more; Now looking downwards, just as griev'd appears To want the strength of bulls, the fur of bears. Made for his use all creatures if he call, Say what their use, had he the powers of all? Nature to these without profusion, kind, The proper organs, proper powers assign'd; Each seeming want compensated of course, Here with degrees of swiftness, there of force; All in exact proportion to the state; Nothing to add, and nothing to abate. Each beast, each insect, happy in its own; Is Heaven unkind to nian, and man alone? Shall he alone, whom rational we call, Be pleas'd with nothing, if not blest with all? The bliss of man (could Pride that blessing find) Is not to act or think beyond mankind; No powers of body or of soul to share, But what his nature and his state can bear, Why has not man a microscopic eye? For this plain reason, man is not a fly. Say what the use, were finer optics given, Tinspect a inite, not comprehend the Heaven? Or touch, if tremblingly alive all o'er, To smart and agonize at every pore? Or quick effluvia darting through the brain, Die of a rose in aromatic pain?

1

190

200

If Nature thunder'd in his opening ears,
And stunn'd him with the music of the spheres,
How would he wish that Heaven had left him still
The whispering zephyr, and the purling rill!
Who finds not Providence all good and wise,
Alike in what it gives, and what denies?

VII. Far as creation's ample range extends,
The scale of sensual, mental powers ascends:
Mark how it mounts to man's imperial race,
From the green myriads in the peopled grass: 210
What modes of sight betwixt each wide extreme,
The mole's dim curtain, and the lynx's beam;
Of smell, the headlong lioness between,
And hound sagacious on the tainted green;
Of hearing, from the life that fills the flood,
To that which warbles through the vernal wood!
The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine!
Feels at each thread, and lives along the line:
In the nice bee, what sense so subtly true
From poisonous herbs extracts the healing dew!
How Instinct varies in the gravelling swine,
Compar'd half-reasoning elephant with thine!
"Twixt that, and Reason, what a nice barrier!
For ever separate, yet for ever near!
Remembrance and Reflection how allied;
What thin partitions Sense from Thought divide!
And middle natures, how they long to join,
Yet never pass th' insuperable line!
Without this just gradation, could they be
Subjected, these to those, or all to thee?
The powers of all subdued by thee alone,

not thy Reason all these powers in one?

220

230

250

That system only, but the whole must fall,
Let Earth unbalanc'd from her orbit fly,
Planets and suns run lawless through the sky;
Let ruling angels from their spheres be hurl'd,
Being on being wreck'd, and world on world;
Heaven's whole foundations to their centre nod,
And Nature trembles to the throne of God.
All this dread order break-for whom? for thee?
Vile worm-oh madness! pride! impiety!

IX. What if the foot, ordain'd the dust to tread,
Or hand, to toil, aspir'd to be the head? 260
What if the head, the eye, or ear, repin'd
To serve mere engines to the ruling mind?
Just as absurd for any part to claim
To be another in this general frame:
Just as absurd, to mourn the tasks or pains
The great directing mind of all ordains.

All are but parts of one stupendous whole, Whose body Nature is, and God the soul; That chang'd through all, and yet in all the same; Great in the Earth, as in th' ethereal frame; 270 Warms in the Sun, refreshes in the breeze, Glows, in the stars, and blossoms in the trees; Lives through all life, extends through all extent; Spreads undivided, operates unspent ; Breathes in our soul, informs our mortal part, As full, as perfect, in a hair as heart, As full, as perfect, in vile man that mourns, As the rapt seraph that adores and burns: To him no high, no low, no great, no small; He fills, he bounds, connects, and equals all. 280 X. Cease then, nor order imperfection name: Our proper bliss depends on what we blame. Know thy own point: this kind, this due degree Of blindness, weakness, Heaven bestows on thee Submit. In this, or any other sphere, Secure to be as blest as thou canst bear: Safe in the hand of one disposing Power, Or in the natal, or the mortal hour.

All Nature is but Art, unknown to thee;

ARGUMENT OF EPISTLE II.

OF THE NATURE AND STATE OF MAN WITH RESPECT TO HIMSELF, AS AN INDIVIDUAL.

I. THE business of man not to pry into God, but to study himself. His middle nature: his powers and frailties, ver. 1 to 19. The limits of his capacity, ver. 19, &c. II. The two principles of man, self-love and reason, both necessary, ver. 53, &c. Self-love the stronger, and why, ver. 67, &c. Their end the same, ver. 81, &c. III. The passions, and their use, ver. 93 to 130. The predominant passion, and its force, ver. 132 to 160. Its necessity, in directing men to different purposes, ver. 165, &c. Its providential use, in fixing our principle, and ascertaining our virtue, ver. 177. IV. Virtue and vice joined in our mixed nature; the limits near, yet the things separate and evident: what is the office of reason, ver. 202 to 216. V. How odious vice in itself, and how we deceive ourselves into it, ver. 214. VI. That, however, the ends of Providence and general good are answered in our passions and imperfections, ver. 238, &c. How usefully these are distributed to all orders of men, ver. 241. How useful they are to society, ver. 251. And to individuals, ver. 263. In every state, and every age of life, ver. 273,

&c.

EPISTLE II.

1. KNOW then thyself, presume not God to scan,
The proper study of mankind is man.
Plac'd on this isthmus of a middle state,
A being darkly wise, and rudely great:
With too much knowledge for the Sceptic side,
With too much weakness for the Stoic's pride,
He hangs between; in doubt to act, or rest;
In doubt to deem himself a god, or beast;
In doubt his mind or body to prefer;
Born but to die, and reasoning but to err;
Alike in ignorance, his reason such,
Whether he thinks too little, or too much:
Chaos of thought and passion, all confus'd;
Still by himself abus'd or disabus'd;
Created half to rise, and half to fall;
Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all;
Sole judge of truth, in endless errour hurl'd:
The glory, jest, and riddle of the world!

Ver. 2. Ed. 1st.

VARIATIONS.

The only science of mankind is man.
After ver. 18, in the MS.

For more perfection than this state can bear
In vain we sigh, Heaven made us as we are.
As wisely sure a modest ape might aim
To be like man, whose faculties and frame
He sees, he feels, as you or I to be

An angel thing we neither knew nor see.
Observe how near he edges on our race;
What human tricks! how risible of face!
It must be so why else have I the sense
Of more than monkey charms and excellence!
Why else to walk on two so oft essay'd?
And why this ardent longing for a maid?
So pug might plead, and call his gods unkind
Till set on end, and married to his mind,

10

Go wondrous creature! mount where Science guides,

Go, measure Earth, weigh air, and state the tides;
Instruct the planets in what orbs to run,
20
Correct old Time, and regulate the Sun,
Go, soar with Plato to th' empyreal sphere,
To the first good, first perfect, and first fair;
Or tread the mazy round his followers trod,
And quitting sense call imitating God;
As eastern priests in giddy circles run,
And turn their heads to imitate the Sun.
Go teach Eternal Wisdom how to rule
Then drop into thyself, and be a fool!

Superior beings, when of late they saw
A mortal man unfold all Nature's law,
Admir'd such wisdom in an earthly shape,
And show'd a Newton as we shew an ape.

Could he, whose rules the rapid comet bind,
Describe or fix one movement of his mind!
Who saw its fires here rise and there descend,
Explain his own beginning or his end?
Alas, what wonder! Man's superior part
Uncheck'd may rise, and climb from art to art ;40
But when his own great work is but begun,
What Reason weaves, by Passion is undone.

Trace Science then, with Modesty thy guide;
First strip off all her equipage of Pride;
Deduct what is but Vanity or dress,
Or Learning's luxury, or Idleness;

50

Or tricks to show the stretch of human brain,
Mere curious pleasure, or ingenious pam;
Expunge the whole, or lop th' excrescent parts
Of all our vices have created arts;
Then see how little the remaining sum,
Which serv'd the past, and must the times to come!
II. Two principles in human nature reign;
Self-love, to urge, and Reason, to restrain;
Nor this a good, nor that a bad we call,
Each works its end, to move or govern all:
And to their proper operation still,
Ascribe all good, to their improper, ill.

Self-love, the spring of motion, acts the soul;
Reason's comparing balance rules the whole.
Man, but for that, no action could attend,
And, but for this, were active to no end:
Fix'd like a plant on his peculiar spot;
To draw nutrition, propagate, and rot,
Or, meteor-like, flame lawless through the void,
Destroying others, by himself destroy'd.

Most strength the moving principle requires:
Active its task, it prompts, impels, inspires.
Sedate and quiet the comparing lies,
Form'd but to check, deliberate, and advise.
Self-love, still stronger, as its objects nigh;
Reason's at distance, and in prospect lie:

VARIATIONS.

70

Go, reasoning thing! assume the doctor's chair,
As Plato deep, as Seneca severe :

Fix moral fitness, and to God give rule,
Then drop into thyself, &c.

Ver. 21, Edit. 4th and 5th.

Show by what rules the wandering planets stray, Correct old Time, and teach the Sun his way. Ver. 35, Edit. 1st.

Could he, who taught each planet where to roll, Describe or fix one movement of the soul? Who mark'd their points, to rise or to descend, Explain his own beginning, or his end?

220

Fools! who from hence into the notion fall, That vice or virtue there is none at all. If white and black blend, soften, and unite A thousand ways, is there no black or white? Ask your own heart, and nothing is so plain; 'Tis to mistake them, costs the time and pain. Vice is a monster of so frightful mien, As, to be hated, needs but to be seen; Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face, We first endure, then pity, then embrace. But where th' extreme of vice, was ne'er agreed: Ask where's the north? at York, 'tis on the Tweed; In Scotland, at the Orcades; and there, At Greenland, Zembla, or the Lord knows where. No creature owns it in the first degree, But thinks his neighbour further gone than he: Ev'n those who dwell beneath its very zone, Or never feel the rage, or never own; What happier natures shrink at with affright, The hard inhabitant contends is right.

Virtuous and vicious every man must be, Few in th' extreme, but all in the degree; The rogue and fool by fits is fair and wise; And ev❜n the best, by fits, what they despise.

VARIATIONS.

230

Pelens' great son, or Brutus, who had known,
Had Lucrece been a whore, or Helen none?
But virtues opposite to make agree,
That, Reason! is thy task, and worthy thee.
Hard task, cries Bibulus, and Reason weak.
-Make it a point, dear marquess, or a pique
Once, for a whim, persuade yourself to pay
A debt to Reason, like a debt at play.
For right or wrong, have mortals suffer'd more?
B for his prince, or ** for his whore?
Whose self-denials Nature most control?
His, who would save a sixpence, or his soul?
Web for his health, a Chartreux for his sin,
Contend they not which soonest shall grow thin?
What we resolve, we can: but here's the fault:
We ne'er resolve to do the thing we ought.
After ver. 220, in the first edition followed these:
A cheat! a whore! who starts not at the name,
In all the Inns of Court or Drury-lane?
After ver. 226, in the MS.

The colonel swears the agent is a dog;
The scrivener vows th' attorney is a rogue.
Against the thief th' attorney loud inveighs,
For whose ten pounds the county twenty pays.
The thief damns judges, and the knaves of state,
And, dying, mourns small villains hang'd by great.

'Tis but by parts we follow good or ill; For, vice or virtue, Self directs it still; Each individual seeks a several goal;

240

[whole. But Heaven's great view, is one, and that the That counter-works each folly and caprice; That disappoints th' effect of every vice: That, happy frailties to all ranks apply'd; Shame to the virgin, to the matron pride; Fear to the statesman, rashness to the chief; To kings presumption, and to crowds belief: That, Virtue's ends from vanity can raise, Which seeks no interest, no reward but praise; And build on wants, and on defects of mind, The joy, the peace, the glory of mankind.

Heaven fortning each on other to depend,
A master, or a servant, or a friend,
Bids each on other for assistance call,
Till one man's weakness grows the strength of all
Wants, frailties, passions, closer still ally
The common interest, or endear the tie.
To these we owe true friendship, love sincere,
Each home-felt joy that life inherits here;
Yet from the same we learn, in its decline,
Those joys, those loves, those interests, to resign
Taught half by Reason, half by mere decay,
To welcome death, and calmly pass away.
Whate'er the passion, knowledge, fame, or pelf
Not one will change his neighbour with himself.
The learn'd is happy Nature to explore,
The fool is happy that he knows no more;
The rich is happy in the plenty given,
The poor contents him with the care of Heaven.
See the blind beggar dance, the cripple sing,
The sot a hero, lunatic a king;

The starving chymist in his golden views
Supremely blest, the poet in his Muse.

260

270

See some strange comfort every state attend, And pride bestow'd on all, a common friend: See some fit passion every age supply; Hope travels through, nor quits us when we die. Behold the child, by Nature's kindly law, Pleas'd with a rattle, tickled with a straw: Some livelier play-thing gives his youth delight, A little louder, but as empty quite: Scarfs, garters, gold, amuse his riper stage, And beads and prayer-books are the toys of age: 280 Pleas'd with this bauble still, as that before; 'Till tir'd he sleeps, and Life's poor play is o'er. Meanwhile Opinion gilds with varying rays Those painted clouds that beautify our days: Each want of happiness by Hope supply'd, And each vacuity of sense by Pride: These build as fast as Knowledge can destroy; In Folly's cup still laughs the bubble, Joy; One prospect lost, another still we gain; And not a vanity is giv'n in vain ; Ev'n mean Self-love becomes, by force divine, The scale to measure others' wants by thine. See! and confess, one comfort still must rise; 'Tis this, Though man's a fool, yet GOD IS WISE

ARGUMENT OF EPISTLE III.

230

OF THE NATure and state of man WITH RESPECT TO SOCIETY.

I. THE whole universe one system of society, ver. 7, &c. Nothing made wholly for itself, nor yet