Or man in the abstract.-I. That we can judge only with regard to our own system, being ignorant of the relations of systems and things, ver. 17, &c. II. That man is not to be deemed imperfect, but a being fuited to his place and rank in the creation, agreeable to the general order of things, and conformable to ends and relations to him unknown, ver. 35, &c. III. That it is partly upon his ignorance of future events, and partly upon the hope of a future ftate, that all his happiness in the present depends, ver. 77, &c. IV. The pride of aiming at more knowledge, and pretending to more perfection, the cause of man's error and mifery. The impiety of putting himself in the place of God, and judging of the fitness or unfitness, perfection or imperfection, justice or unjustice, of his difpen. sations, ver. 109, &c. V. The abfurdity of conceiting himself the final cause of the creation, or expecting that perfection in the moral world, which is not in the natural, ver. 131, &c. VI. The unreasonableness of his complaints againft providence, while on the one hand he demands the perfection of the angels, and on the other the bodily qualifications of the brutes; though, to poffefs any of the fenfitive faculties in a higher degree, would render him miferable, ver. 173, &c. VII. That throughout the whole visible world, an univerfal order and gradation in the fenfual and mental faculties is observed, which caufes a fubordination of creature to creature, and of all creatures to man. The gradations of fenfe, instinct, thought, reflection, reason; that reason alone countervails all the other faculties, ver. 207. VIII. How much farther this order and fubordination of living creatures may extend above and below us; were any part of which broken, not that part only, but the whole connected creation must be destroyed, ver. 233. IX. The extravagance, madness, and pride of such a defire, ver. 250. X. The confequence of all the abfolute fubmiffion due to providence, both as to our present and future state, ver. 281, &c. to the end.

AWAKE, my St. John! leave all meaner things
To low ambition, and the pride of kings.
Let us (fince life can little more fupply
Than just to look about us, and to die),
Expatiate free o'er all this scene of man;
A mighty maze! but not without a plan: [shoot;
A wild, where weeds and flowers promifcuous
Or garden, tempting with forbidden fruit.
Together let us beat this ample field,
Try what the open, what the covert yield;
The latent tracts, the giddy heights, explore
Of all who blindly creep, or fightless foar;
Fye nature's walks, shoot folly as it flies,
And catch the manners living as they rife:

IO

Laugh where we must, be candid where we can ; But vindicate the ways of God to man.

I. Say first, of God above, or man below, What can we reason, but from what we know ? Of man, what fee we but his fstation here, From which to reason, or to which refer? Through worlds unnumber'd, though the God be

known,

20

'Tis ours to trace him only in our own.
He, who through vast immenfity can pierce,
See worlds on worlds compose one universe,
Observe how system into system runs,
What other planets circle other funs,
What vary'd being peoples every star,
May tell why heaven has made us as we are.
But of this frame the bearings and the ties,
The ftrong connections, nice dependencies,
Gradations just, has thy pervading foul
Look'd through? or can a part contain the whole?
Is the great chain, that draws all to agree,
And drawn supports, upheld by God, or thee?
II. Prefumptuous man! the reafon would'st

thou find,

30

Why form'd fo weak, so little, and fo blind?
First, if thou canst, the harder reason guess,
Why form'd no weaker, blinder, and no less ?
Afk of thy mother earth, why oaks are made
Taller or weaker than the weeds they shade? 40
Or ask of yonder argent fields above,
Why Jove's fatellites are less than Jove?

Of systems poffible, if 'tis confeft,
That Wildon Infinite must form the beft,
Where all must fall or not coherent be,
And all that rises, rise in due degree;
Then, in the scale of reasoning life, 'tis plain,
There must be, somewhere, such a rank as man :
And all the question (wrangle e'er so long),
Is only this, if God has plac'd him wrong?
Relpecting man, whatever wrong we call
May, must be right, as relative to all.
In human works, though labour'd on with pain,
A thousand movements scarce one purpofe gain :
In God's, one fingle can its end produce;

Yet ferves to fecond too fome other use.
So man, who here seems principle alone,
Perhaps acts second to some sphere unknown,
Touches fome wheel. or verges to some goal;
'Tis but a part we fee, and not a whole.

50

60

When the proud steed shall know why man re

trains

:

His knowledge measur'd to his state and place;
His time a moment, and a point his space.
If to be perfect in a certain sphere,

What matter, foon or late, or here, or there?
The bleft to-day is as completely fo,

As who began a thousand years ago.

70

III. Heaven from all creatures hides the book

of fate,

All but the page prescrib'd, their present state: From brutes what men, from men what spirits

know:

80

Or who could fuffer being here below ?
The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed to-day,
Had he thy reafon, would he skip and play?
Pleas'd to the last, he crops the flowery food,
And licks the hand just rais'd to shed his blood.
Oh, blindness to the future! kindly given,
That each may fill the circle mark'd by heaven:
Who fees with equal eye, as God of all,
A hero perish, or a sparrow fall,
Atoms or systems into ruin hurl'd,
And now a bubble burst, and now a world.
Hope humbly then; with trembling pinions
foar;

"Wait the great teacher death; and God adore.
What future blifs, he gives not thee to know,
But gives that hope to be thy bleffing now.
Hope springs eternal in the human breaft:
Man never is, but always to be blest:
The foul, uneafy, and confin'd from home,
Refts and expatiates in a life to come.

१०

Lo, the poor Indian! whose untutor'd mind Sees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind; 100 His foul proud science never taught to stray Far as the folar walk, or milky way; Yet fimple nature to his hope has given, Behind the cloud-topt hill, an humbler heaven; Some fafer world in depth of woods embrac'd, Some happier ifland in the watery waste, Where flaves once more their native land behold, No fiends torment, no Christians thirst for gold. To be, contents his natural defire, He asks no angel's wing, no seraph's fire; But hinks, admitted to that equal sky, His faithful dog shall bear him company. IV. Go, wifer thou! and in thy feale of sense,

Weigh thy opinion against providence;

VARIATIONS.

The blest to-day is as completely fo, As who began ten thousand years ago. After ver. 88, in the MS. No great, no little; 'tis as much decreed That Virgil's gnat should die as Cæfar bleed. Ver. 93, in the first folio and quarto. What blifs above he gives not thee to know, But gives that hope to be thy bliss below. After ver. 108, in the first edition. But does he say the Maker is not good, Till he's exalted to what state he wou'd; Himself alone high heaven's peculiar care, Alone made happy when he will, and where?

110

Say, here he gives too little, there too much: Destroy all creatures for thy sport or gust, Yet fay, if man's unhappy, God's unjust; If man alone ingross not heaven's high care, Alone made perfect here, immortal there: Snatch from his hand the balance and the rod, Re-judge his justice, be the god of God. In pride, in reasoning pride, our error lies; All quit their fsphere, and rush into the skies. Pride still is aiming at the blest abodes, Men would be angels, angels would be gods. Afpiring to be gods, if angels fell, Afpiring to be angels, men rebel: And who but wishes to invert the laws Of order, fins against th' eternal caufe.

120

130

V. Ask for what end the heavenly bodies shine, Earth for whose use? Pride answers, " 'Tis for " mine:

For me kind nature wakes her genial power; " Suckles each herb, and spreads out every flower; "Annual for me, the grape, the rose, renew "The juice nectareous, and the balmy dew;

For me, the mine a thousand treasures brings; " For me health guhes from a thousand springs; "Seas roll to waft me, funs to light me rife; My foot-stool earth, my canopy the skies." 140 But errs not nature from this gracious end, From burning funs when livid deaths defcend, When earthquakes swallow, or when tempests

fweep

Towns to one grave, whole nations to the deep? "No ('tis reply'd) the first Almighty cause "Acts not by partial, but by general laws; "Th' exceptions few; some change fince all be

gan:

"And what created perfc&?"-Why then man?
If the great end be human happiness,
Then nature deviates; and can man do less ? 150
As much that end a conftant course requires
Of showers and fun-shine, as of man's defires;
As much eternal springs and cloudless skies,
As men for ever temperate, calm, and wife.
If plagues or earthquakes break not heaven's defign,
Why then a Borgio, or a Catiline?
[forms,
Who knows, but he whose hand the lightning
Who heaves old ocean, and who wings the storms;
Pours fierce ambition in a Cæfar's mind,
Or turns young Ammen loofe to scourge man-

Or, meteor-like, flame lawless through the void, Defstroying others, by himself deftroy'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 profpect lie:
That fees immediate good by present sense;
Reason, the future and the confequence.
Thicker than arguments, temptations throng,
At best more watchful this, but that more strong.
The action of the stronger to fufpend,
Reason still use, to reason still attend.
Attention, habit, and experience gains;
Each strengthens reason, and felf-love restrains. 80
Let fubtle schoolmen teach these friends to fight,
More studious to divide than to unite;

And grace and virtue, sense and reason split,
With all the rash dexterity of wit.

Wits, just like fools, at war about a name,
Have full as oft no meaning, or the fame.
Self-love and reason to one end aspire,
Pain their aversion, pleasure their defire;
But greedy that, its object would devour,
This taste the honey, and not wound the flower:
Plcafure, or wrong or rightly understood,
Our greatest evil, or our greatest good.

[call;

III. Modes of self-love the paffions we may
'Tis real good, or feeming, moves them all :
But fince not every good we can divide,
And reason bids us for our own provide;
Paffions, though selfish, if their means be fair,
Lift under reafon, and deferve her care;
Thofe, that imparted, court a nobler aim,
Exalt their kind, and take fome virtue's name. 100
In lazy apathy let stoics boast
Their virtue fix'd; 'tis fix'd as in a froft;
Contracted all, retiring to the breast;
But ftrength of mind is exereife, not rest:
The rifing tempest puts in act the foul;
Parts it may ravage, but preserves the whole.
On life's vast ocean diversely we fail,
Reason the card, but passion is the gale;
Nor God alone in the ftill calm we find,
He mounts the storm and walks upon the wind. 110
Paffions, like elements, though born to fight.

Yet, mix'd and soften'd, in his work unite:
These, 'tis enough to temper and employ;
But what compofes man, can man deftroy ?
Suffice that reason keep to nature's road,
Subject, compound them, follow her and God.
Love, hope, and joy, fair pleasure's smiling train;
Hate, fear, and grief, the family of pain;

VARIATIONS.

After ver. 86, in the MS.

Of good and evil gods what frighted fools, Of good and evil reason puzzled schools, Deceiv'd, deceiving, taught

After. ver. 108, in the MS. A tedious voyage! where how ufclefs lies The compass, if no powerful gufts arife! After ver. 112, in the MS.

The soft reward the virtuous, or invite : The fierce, the vicious punish or affright.

As man, perhaps, the moment of his breath, Receives the lurking principle of death; The young difcafe, which must subdue at length, Grows with his growth, and strengthens with his

strength:

So, caft and mingled with his very frame,
The mind's disease, its ruling paflion came;
Each vital humour, which should feed the whole,
Soon flows to this, in body and in foul:
Whatever warms the heart, or fills the head,
As the mind opens, and its functions spread,
Imagination plies her dangerous art,
And pours it all upon the peccant part.

Nature its mother, habit is its nurse;
Wit, fpirit, faculties, but make it worse;
Reafon itself but gives it edge and power;
As heaven's blest beam turns vinegar more four.
We, wretched subjects though to lawful fway,
In this weak queen, some favourite still obey: 150
Ah! if the lend not arms, as well as rules, les.
What can the more than tell us we are fools?
Teach us to mourn our nature, not to mend;
A sharp accufer, but a helpless friend!
Or from a judge turn pleader, to perfuade
The choice we make, or justify it made;
Proud of an easy conqueft all along,
She but removes weak paflions for the strong:
So, when small humours gather to a gout,
The doctor fancies he has driv'n them out.

160

Yes, nature's road must ever be preferr'd; Reafon is here no guide, but ftill a guard: 'Tis hers to rectify, not overthrow, And treat this paffion more as friend than foe; A mightier power the strong direction sends, And feveral men impels to several ends: Like varying winds, by other paffions toft, This drives them conftant to a certain coast. Let power or knowledge, geld or glory, please, Or (oft more ftrong than all) the love of ease; 170 Through life 'tis follow'd, ev'n at life's expence; The merchant's toil, the fage's indolence, The monk's humility, the hero's pride, All, all alike, find reafon on their fide.

Th' eternal art, educing good from ill, Grafts on this paflion pur best principle: 'Tis thus the mercury of man is fix'd, Strong grows the virtue with his nature mix'd; The drofs cements what elfe were too refin'd, And in one interest body acts with mind.

As fruits, ungrateful to the planter's care, On favage Rocks inferted learn to bear;

18

The surest virtues thus from paffions shoot,

Wild nature's vigour working at the root.
What crops of wit and honesty appear
From spleen, from obftinacy, hate, or fear!
See anger, zeal and fortitude supply;
Ev'n avarice, prudence; floth, philosophy;
Luft, through fome certain strainers well refin'd,
s gentle love, and charms all womankind; 190
Eavy, to which th' ignoble mind's a flave,
Is emulation in the learn'd or brave;

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.

230

Nor virtue, male or female, can we name,
But what will grow on pride, or grow on shame.
Thus nature gives us (let it check our pride)
The virtue nearest to our vice ally'd;
Reason the bias turns to good from ill,
And Nero reigns a Titus, if he will.
The fiery foul abhorr'd in Cataline,
In Decius charms, in Curtius is divine:
The fame ambition can destroy or save,
And makes a patriot as it make a knave.

200

This light and darkness in our chaos join'd.
What shall divide? The God within the mind.
Extremes in nature equal ends produce,
In man they join to fome mysterious use;
Though each by turns the other's bound invade,
As, in fome well-wrought picture, light and shade,
And oft so mix, the difference is too nice
Where ends the virtue, or begins the vice,

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?
Afk 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,

210

After ver. 194, in the MS.

How oft with paffion, virtue points her charms!
Then shines the hero, then the patriot warms.
Peleus' great fon, or Brutus, who had known,
Had Lucrece been a whore, or Helen none?
Bat virtues opposite to make agree,

That, reafon! is thy task, and worthy thee,
Hard task, cries Bibulus, and reason weak.
-Make it a point, dear Marquifs, or a pique.
Once, for a whim. perfuade yourself to pay
A debt to reafon, like a debt at play.
For right or wrong, have mortals fuffer'd more?
B for his prince, or **for his whore?
Whore felf-denials nature most controul?
H's, who would fave a fixpence, or his foul?
Web for his health, a Chartreux for his fin,
Contend they not which foonest shall grow thin?
What we refolve, we can: but here's the fault,
We ne'er refolve to do the thing we ought.
Alter 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?

[whole.

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 wife; And ev'n the best, by fits, what they defpife. 'Tis but by parts we follow good or ill; For, vice or virtue, self directs it still; Each individual seeks a several goal; 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, rasiness to the chief; To kings prefumption, and to crowds belief: That, virtue's ends from vanity can raise, Which feeks no interest, no reward but praise; And build on wants, and on defects of mind, The joy, the peace, the glory of mankind.

240

250

Heaven forming each on other to depend, A master, or a fervant, or a friend, Bids each on other for afsistance call, Till one man's weakness grows the strength of all. Wants, frailties, passions, clofer ftill ally The common interest, or endear the tie. To these we owe true friendíhip, love fincere, Each home-felt joy that life inherits here; Yet from the fame 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.

260

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 fot a hero, lunatic a king; The starving chemist in his golden views, Supremely blest, the poet in his muse.

270

See fome strange comfort every flate attend, And pride bestow'd on all, a common friend : Sze fome fit paffion 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:

VARIATIONS.

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 country twenty pays.
The thief damns judges, and the knaves of state;
And dying, mourns small villains hang'd by great