Admir'd fuch Wisdom in an earthly Shape,
And fhow'd a Newton, as we fhow an Ape.

Could he who taught each Planet where to roll,
Defcribe, or fix, one Movement of the Soul?
Who mark'd their Points, to rife, and to defcend,
Explain his own Beginning, or his End?
Alas what Wonder! Man's fuperior Part
Uncheck'd may rife, and climb from Art to Art;
But when his own great Work is but begun,
What Reason weaves, by Paffion is undone.

The Poet goes on to discover his own Mind, and begins to point out to us the Principles of Reafon and Self-love:

Two Principles in human Nature reign;
Self-love, to urge, and Reafon, to reftrain;
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

Afcribe all Good; to their improper, Ill.

This Obfervation, fays the Commentator, is made with great Judgment, as well as where he proceeds more minutely to mark out the diftinct Offices of these two Principles, which he had before affign'd only in general,

The Reader will please to obferve, that Mr. Pope's Opinion was, that all the Paffions were SelfLove:

Modes of Self-Love the Paffions we may call, 'Tis real Good, or feeming moves them all,

And after speaking further of the Paffions, their Use and Government, he comes to his darling Argument of a ruling Paffion :

Plea

Pleasures are ever in our

Hands or Eyes,

And when in Act they ceafe, in Prospect rise;
Present to grafp, aud future ftill to find,
The whole Employ of Body and of Mind.
All fpread their Charms, but charm not all alike;
On diff'rent Senfes diff'rent Objects ftrike:
Hence diff'rent Paffions more or lefs in flame,
As ftrong or weak, the Organs of the Frame;
And hence one Mafter Paffion in the Breast,
Like Aaron's Serpent, fwallows up the rest.
As Man perhaps, the Moment of his Breath,
Receives the lurking Principle of Death,
The young Difeafe that muft fubdue at length,
Grows with his Growth, and ftrengthens with his
So, caft and mingled with his very Frame, [Strength:
The Mind's Difeafe, its ruling Paffion came:
Each vital Humour which fhould feed the Whole,
Soon flows to this, in Body and in Soul;
Whatever warms the Heart, or fills the Head,
As the Mind opens, and its Functions spread,
Imagination plies her dang'rous Art,
And pours it all upon the peccant Part.

Nature its Mother, Habit is its Nnrfe;
Wit, Spirit, Faculties, but make it worse;
Reafon itfelf but gives it Edge and Pow'r,
As Heav'n's bleft Beam turns Vinegar more fow'r;
We, wretched Subjects, tho' to lawful Sway,
In this weak Queen, fome Fav'rite ftill obey.
Ah! if the lend not Arms, as well as Rules,
What can fhe more than tell us, we are Fools?
Teach us to mourn our Nature, not to mend,
A fharp Accufer, but a helpless Friend!
Or from a Fudge turn Pleader to perfwade
The Choice we make, or juftify it made;

Y 4

Proud

Proud of an eafy Conqueft all along,

She but removes weak Paffions for the strong;
So, when fmall Humours gather to a Gout,
The Doctor fancies he has driv'n 'em out.
Yes: Nature's Road muft ever be prefer'd;
Reason is here no Guide, but still a Guard;
'Tis her's to rectify, not overthrow,

And treat this Paffion more as Friend than Foe:
Like varying Winds, by other Paffions toft,
This drives them conftant to a certain Coaft,
Let Pow'r, or Knowledge, Gold, or Glory, please,
Or (oft more ftrong than all the Love of Eafe:
Thro' Life 'tis follow'd, ev'n at Life's Expence;
The Merchant's Toil, the Sage's Indolence,
The Monk's Humility, the Hero's Pride,
And all alike find Reafon on their Side.

Of this Argument the Commentator is particularly fond, adopting it wholly, and Reasons thus

about it:

The Poet, fays he, fhews, that tho' all the Paffions have their Turn in fwaying the Determinations of the Mind, yet every Man has one Mafter Paffion that at length ftifles or abforbs all the reft. Here [from 1. 116 to 132] he gives us the Cause of it :

Thofe Pleafures or Goods, which are the Objects "of the Paffions, affect the Mind, by ftriking on "the Senses; but, as thro' the Formation of the "Organs of the human Frame, every Man has "fome Sense stronger and more acute than others, the Object, which ftrikes that stronger and acuter Senfe, whatever it be, will be the Object most defired; and, confequently, the Pursuit of that will be the ruling Paffion."-That the Difference of Force in this ruling Paffion fhall at first, perhaps, be very small or even imperceptible; but Nature,

Habit, Imagination, Wit, nay even Reafon itself fhall affift its Growth, till it hath at length drawn and converted every other into itself.

All this is delivered in a Strain of Poetry fo wonderfully fublime, as fufpends for a while the ruling Paffion in every Reader, and engroffes his whole Ad

miration.

This naturally leads the Poet to lament the Weaknefs and Infufficiency of human Reafon [from 1. 138 to 151] and the honest Purpose he had in fo doing, was, plainly to intimate the Neceffity of a more fublime Dispensation to Mankind: St. Paul himself did not chufe to employ other Arguments, when difpos'd to give us the highest Idea of the Usefulness of Chriftianity. But it may be, the Poet finds a Remedy in natural Religion: Far from it. He here leaves Reafon unrelieved. What is this then but an Intimation that we ought to feek for a Cure in that Religion which only dares profefs to give it?

To proceed, as it appears from the Account here given of the ruling Paffion, and its Caufe, which refults from the Structure of the Organs, that it is the Road of Nature, the Poet fhews [from 1. 150 to 157] that this Road is to be followed. So that the Office of Reafon is not to direct us what Paffion to exercife, but to affift us in rectifying, and keeping within due Bounds, that which Nature hath so strongly impreffed: The Poet's Precept can have no other Meaning than this, "That as the ruling Paffion is "planted by Nature, it is Reafon's Office to regulate, direct, and reftrain, but not to overthrow it. To regulate the Paffion of Avarice, for inftance, into a parfimonious Difpenfation of the

See his Epifle to the Romans, c. vii,

"pub

"publick Revenues; to direct the Paffion of Loves "whofe Object is Worth and Beauty,

"To the firft Good, firft Perfect, and firft Fairh

as his Mafter, Plato advises; and to reftrain Spleen, દ to a Contempt and Hatred of Vice." This is what the Poet meant, and what every unprejudiced Man could not but fee he muft needs mean, by rectifying the Mafter Paffion, tho' he had not confin'd us to this Senfe, in the Reafon he gives of his Precept, in thefe Words:

A mightier Pow'r the ftrong Direction fends,
And fev'ral Men impels to fev'ral Ends.

The Poet having proved that the ruling Paffion (fince Nature hath given it us) is not to be overthrown but rectified, the next Inquiry will be of what Ufe the ruling Paffion is; for an Use of it must have been if Reafon be to treat it thus mildly? This Ufe he fhews us is twofold, Natural and Moral.

1. It's natural Ufe is to conduct Men fteddily to one certain End, who would otherwise be eternally fluctuating between the equal Violence of various and difcordant Paffions, driving them up and down at Random;

Like varying Winds, by other Paffions toft,

This drives them conftant to a certain Coaft;

and by that Means enables them to promote the Good of Society by making each a Contributor to the comnon Stock.

Let Pow'r or Knowledge, Gold or Glory pleafe,
Or (oft more ftrong than all) the Love of Ease:
Thro Life 'tis follow'd.-

2. Its moral Ufe is to engraft our ruling Virtue up

on it:

Th