With too much knowledge for the Sceptic fide,
With too much weakness 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 fuch,
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;

NOTES.

bufied in chufing, or doubt | concerning Man's Nature. ful in his choice, between two objects equally wrong, the cafe had appeared defperate, and all fudy of Man had been effectually discouraged.

VER. 11. Alike in ignorance, &c.] i. e. The proper fphere of his Reason is fo narrow, and the exercise of it so nice, that the too immoderate use of it is atVER. 10. Born but to die, tended with the fame igno&c.] The author's meaning rance that proceeds from is, that, as we are born to the not ufing it at all. Yet, die, and yet enjoy fome tho' in both these cases, he fmall portion of life; fo, is abused by himself, he has though we reason to err, it ftill in his own power to yet we comprehend fome difabuse himself, in making few truths. This is the his Paffions fubfervient to weak state of Reason, in the means, and regulating which Error mixes itself his Reason by the end of with all it's true conclufions Life.

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,

19

Go, measure earth, weigh air, and state the tides;

VARIATIONS.

After 18. in the MS.

For more perfection than this ftate can bear
In vain we figh, Heav'n made us as we are.
As wifely fure a modeft Ape might aim
To be like Man, whose faculties and frame
He fees, he feels, as you or I to be
An Angel thing we neither know nor fee.
Obferve how near he edges on our race;
What human tricks! how rifible of face!
It must be fo-why else have I the sense
Of more than monkey charms and excellence?
Why elfe to walk on two so oft effay'd?
And why this ardent longing for a Maid?
So Pug might plead, and call his Gods unkind
Till fet on end and married to his mind.

Go, reasoning Thing! affume the Doctor's chair,
As Plato deep, as Seneca severe :

Fix moral fitness, and to God give rule,

Then drop into thyfelf, &c.

NOTES.

VER. 20. Go, meafure | noble and useful project of earth, &c.] Alluding to the the modern Mathematici

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 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 thyfelf, and be a fool!

VARIATIONS.

VER. 21. Ed. 4th and 5th.

Show by what rules the wand'ring planets ftray,
Correct old time, and teach the Sun his Way.

NOTES.

ans, to measure a degree at the equator and the polar circle, in order to determine the true figure of the earth; of great importance to Aftronomy and Navigation.

VER. 22. Correct old Time,] This alludes to Sir Ifaac Newton's Grecian

25

30

Chronology, which he reformed on those two fublime conceptions, the difference between the reigns of kings, and the generations of men; and the pofition of the colures of the equinoxes and folftices at the time of the Argonautic expedition.

Superior beings, when of late they saw

A mortal Man unfold all Nature's law,
Admir'd fuch wisdom in an earthly shape,
And fhew'd a NEWTON as we fhew an Ape.

Could he, whofe rules the rapid Comet bind, 35 Defcribe or fix one movement of his Mind? Who faw it's fires here rife, and there 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;

VARIATIONS.

VER. 35. Ed. Ift.

Could he, who taught each Planet where to roll,
Describe or fix one movement of the Soul?
Who mark'd their points to rife or to defcend,
Explain his own beginning or his end?

NOTES.

VEI. 37. Who faw it's fires bere rife, &c.] Sir Ifaac Newton, in calculating the velocity of a Comet's motion, and the course it describes, when it becomes vifible in it's defcent to, and afcent from, the Sun, conjectured, with the higheft appearance of truth, that Comets revolve perpetually

40

round the Sun, in ellipfes vaftly eccentrical, and very nearly approaching to parabolas. In which he was greatly confirmed, in obferving between two Comets a coincidence in their perihelions, and a perfect agreement in their velocities.

But when his own great work is but begun,
What Reason weaves, by Paffion is undone.
Trace Science then, with Modefty thy guide;
Firft ftrip off all her equipage of Pride;
Deduct what is but Vanity, or Dress,

Or Learning's Luxury, or Idleness;

NOTES.

VER. 45.-Vanity, or | Spear touches upon this latdrefs,] Thefe are the first parts of what the Poet, in the preceding line, calls the Scholar's equipage of Pride. By vanity, is meant that" the monstrous bulk of luxuriancy of thought and

expreffion in which a writer" any fize of words." The