Or touch, if tremblingly alive all o'er,
To fmart and agonize at ev'ry pore?
Or quick effluvia darting thro' the brain,
Die of a rose in aromatic pain?

If nature thunder'd in his op'ning ears,

And stunn'd him with the mufic of the fpheres,
How would he wish that Heav'n had left him still
The whifp'ring Zephyr, and the purling rill?
Who finds not Providence all good and wife,
Alike in what it gives, and what denies?

VII. Far as Creation's ample range extends,
The fcale of fenfual, mental pow'rs afcends:
Mark how it mounts, to Man's imperial race,
From the green myriads in the peopled grafs :
What modes of fight betwixt each wide extreme,
The mole's dim curtain, and the lynx's beam:
Of fmell, the headlong lionefs between,:
And hound fagacious on the tainted green:
Of hearing, from the life that fills the flood,
To that which warbles thro' the vernal wood?
The fpider's touch, how exquifitely fine!
Feels at each thread, and lives along the line:
In the nice bee, what fenfe fo fubtly true
From pois'nous herbs extracts the healing dew?
How Inftinct varies in the grov'ling fwine,
Compar'd, half-reas'ning elephant, with thine!
'Twixt that, and Reason, what a nice barrier?
For ever fep'rate, yet for ever near!

Remembrance and Reflection how ally'd;

What thin partitions Senfe from Thought divide?
And Middle natures, how they long to join,

Yet never pass th' infuperable line!

Without this juft gradation, could they be
Subjected, these to thofe, or all to thee?

200

205

210

215

220

225

230

The pow'rs of all fubdu'd by thee alone,

Is not thy Reason all these pow'rs in one?

235

VIII. See, thro' this air, this ocean, and this earth,
All matter quick, and bursting into birth.
Above, how high, progreffive life may go! !
Around, how wide! how deep extend below!
Vaft chain of Being! which from God began
Natures æthereal, human, angel, man,

Beast, bird, fish, infect, what no eye can fee,
No glass can reach; from Infinite to thee,
From thee to Nothing. On fuperior pow'rs

66

249

Were we to press, inferior might on ours:

Or in the full creation leave a void,

Where, one step broken, the great fcale's destroy'd:

From Nature's chain whatever link you strike,

245

Tenth, or ten thoufandth, breaks the chain alike

And, if each fyftem in gradation roll Alike effential to th'amazing Whole, The leaft confusion but in one, not all

That fyftem only, but the Whole must fall.
Let Earth unbalanc'd from her orbit fly,
Planets and Suns run lawless thro' the sky;

250

Let ruling Angels from their spheres be hurl'd,
Being on Being wreck'd, and world on world;
Heav'ns whole foundations to their centre nod,
And Nature tremble to the throne of God.

117

All this dread ORDER break - for whom? for thee?
Vile worm! oh Madness! Pride! Impiety!

IX. What if the foot, ordain'd the duft to tread,
Or hand, to toil, afpir'd to be the head?
What if the head, the eye, or ear repin'd
To ferve mere engines to the ruling Mind?
Juft as abfurd for any part to claim
To be another, in this gen'ral frame:

255

260

Juft as abfurd, to mourn the tasks or pains,
The great directing MIND of all ordains.

All are but parts of one ftupendous whole,
Whose body Nature is, and God the foul;

That, chang'd thro' all, and yet in all the fame;
Great in the earth, as in th' æthereal frame;
Warms in the fun, refreshes in the breeze,
Glows in the ftars, and bloffoms in the trees,
Lives thro' all life, extends thro' all extent,
Spreads undivided, operates unfpent;
Breathes in our foul, 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 fmall;
He fills, he bounds, connects, and equals all.

X. Ceafe then, nor ORDER Imperfection name:
Our proper blifs depends on what we blame.
Know thy own point: This kind, this due degree
Of blindness, weakness, Heav'n beftows on thee.
Submit. In this, or any other sphere,

Secure to be as bleft as thou canft bear:
Safe in the hand of one difpofing Pow'r
Or in the natal, or the mortal hour.
All Nature is but Art, unknown to thee;

265

270

275

280

285

All Chance, Direction, which thou canst not fee;
All Difcord, Harmony not understood;

290

And, fpite of Pride, in erring Reason's spite,

All partial Evil, univerfal Good:

One truth is clear, WHATEVER IS, IS RIGHT.

ARGUMENT

OF

EPISTLE

II.

Of the Nature and itate of Man with refpect to Himfelf, 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 Reafon, both neceffary, ver. 53. &c. Self-Love the ftronger, and why, ver. 67. &c. Their end the fame, ver. 81. &c.

III. The PASSIONS and their ufe, ver. 93. to 130. The predominant Paffion, and its force, ver. 132. to 160. Its Neceffity, in directing Men to different purposes, ver. 165. &c. Its providential Ufe, 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 feparate and evident: What is the Office of Reason, ver. 202. to 216.

V. How odious Vice in itfelf, and how we deceive our felves into it, ver. 217.

VI. That, however, the Ends of Providence and general Good are answered in our Paffions and Imperfections, ver. 238. &c. How usefully thefe are diftributed to all Orders of Men, ver. 241. How ufeful they are to Society, ver. 257. And to the Individuals, ver. 263. In every state, and every age of life, ver. 273. &c.

1. KNOW then thyfelf, presume not God to scan,

I.

The proper ftudy of Mankind is Man.

Plac'd on this Ifthmus of a middle state,
A Being darkly wife, and rudely great:

With too much knowledge for the Sceptic fide,
With too much weaknefs for the Stoic's pride,
He hangs between; in doubt to act, or reft;
In doubt to deem himself a God, or Beaft;
In doubt his Mind or Body to prefer;
Born but to die, and reas'ning but to err;
Alike in ignorance, his reafon such,

Whether he thinks too little, or too much :
Chaos of Thought and Paffion, all confus'd;
Still by himself abus'd, or difabus'd;
Created half to rife, and half to fall;
Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all;
Sole judge of Truth, in endless Error hurl'd:
The glory, jeft, and riddle of the world!

Go, wond'rous creature! mount where Science guides,
Go, measure earth, weigh air, and ftate the tides;
Inftruct the planets in what orbs to run,
Correct old Time, and regulate the Sun;
Go, foar with Plato to th' empyreal sphere,
To the first good, first perfect, and first fair;
Or tread the mazy round his follow'rs trod,
And quitting fenfe call imitating God;

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