These, 'tis enough to temper and employ; 115 120 Pleasures are ever in our hands or eyes; And when, in act, they cease, in profpect, rise : Present to grasp, and future still to find, 125 All VARIATIONS. After ver. 112. in the MS. The foft reward the virtuous, or invite; COMMENTARY. VER. 123. Pleasures are ever in our bands or eyes;] His third argument against the Stoics (from ver. 122 to 127.) is, that the Paffions are a continual spur to the pursuit of Happiness; which, without these powerful inciters, we should neglect, and fink into a fenfeless indolence. Now Happiness is the end of our creation; and this excitement, the means to that end: therefore, these movers, the Passions, are the inftruments of God, which he hath put into the hands of Reason to work withal. WARBURTON. : NOTES. VER. 117. Love, Hope, and Joy, This beautiful groupe of allegorical perfonages, so strongly contrafted, how does it act? The profopopœia is unfortunately dropped, and the metaphor changed immediately in the fucceeding lines, viz. "These mix'd with art," &c. WARTON. All fpread their charms, but charm not all alike; On diff'rent senses diff'rent objects strike; COMMENTARY. Hence VER. 127. All spread their charms, &c.] The Poet now proceeds in his subject; and this last observation leads him naturally to the discussion of his next principle. He shews then, that though all the Paffions have their turn in swaying the determinations of the mind, yet every Man hath one MASTER PASSION, that at length flifles or absorbs all the rest. The fact he illustrates at large in his epistle to Lord Cobham. Here (from ver. 126 to 149.) he giveth us the CAUSE of it. Those Pleasures or Goods, which are the objects of the Passions, affect the mind by striking on the senses ; but as, through the formation of the organs of our frame, every man hath some one sense stronger and more acute than others, the object which strikes the stronger or acuter sense, whatever it be, will be the object most defired; and confequently, the pursuit of that will be the ruling Passion: That the difference of force in this ruling Paffion, shall, at first, perhaps, be very small, or even imperceptible; but Nature, Habit, Imagination, Wit, nay even Reason itself, shall assist its growth, till it hath at length drawn and converted every other into itself. All which is delivered in a ftrain of Poetry so wonderfully sublime, as suspends, for a while, the ruling Paffion in every Reader, and engrosses his whole admiration. This naturally leads the Poet to lament the weakness and insufficiency of human Reafon (from ver. 148 to 161.); and the purpose he had in fo doing, was plainly to intimate THE NECESSITY OF A WARBURTON. MORE PERFECT DISPENSATION TO MANKIND. NOTES. VER. 128. On diffrent fenfes] A didactic poet has thus nobly illuftrated this very doctrine: "Diff'rent minds Incline to diff'rent objects: one pursues The vast alone, the wonderful, the wild; Another fighs for harmony, and grace, And gentlest beauty. Hence, when lightning fires When furious whirlwinds rend the howling air, And Hence diff'rent Paffions more or less inflame, 130 As Man, perhaps, the moment of his breath, Receives the lurking principle of death; The young disease, that must subdue at length, 135 Grows with his growth, and strengthens with his strength: So, cast and mingl'd with his very frame, NOTES. And Ocean, groaning from the lowest bed, 140 Whatever AKENSIDE. WARTON. VER. 129. Hence diff'rent Passions] It may be doubted, as Johnfon justly observes, whether there be any foundation in Nature for this great paramount principle of action, and whether Pope does not confound "Passions, Appetites, and Habits," in his theory. VER. 133. As Man, perhaps, &c.] " Antipater Sidonius Poeta omnibus annis uno die natali tantum corripiebatur febre, et eo con sumptus eft fatis longa senecta." Plin. 1. vii. N. H. This Antipater was in the times of Craffus, and is celebrated for the quickness of his parts by Cicero. WARBURTON, 1 Whatever warms the heart, or fills the head, Nature its mother, Habit is its nurse; NOTES. 145 150 Ah! VER. 147. Reason itself, &c.] The Poet, in some other of his epíitles, gives examples of the doctrines and precepts here delivered. Thus, in that of the Use of Riches, he has illustrated this truth in the character of Cotta: "Old Cotta sham'd his fortune and his birth, What though (the use of barb'rous spits forgot) Than bramins, faints, and fages did before." WARBURTON. VER. 148. turns vinegar] Taken from Bacon, De Calore; and the preceding verse, and comparison, 132. " Like Aaron's ferpent," is from Bacon likewife. WARTON. VER. 148. turns vinegar] This comparison, which might be very proper in Philosophy, has a mean effect in Poetry. VER. 149. We, wretched fubjects, &c.] St. Paul himself did not choose to employ other arguments, when disposed to give us the highest idea of the usefulness of CHRISTIANITY (Rom. vii.). 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 profess to give it? WARBURTON. Ah! if she lend not arms, as well as rules, Teach us to mourn our Nature, not to mend, Yes, Nature's road must ever be preferr'd; COMMENTARY. 155 160 165 Let VER.161. Yes, Nature's road, &c.] Now as it appears from the account here given of the ruling Passion and its cause (which refults from the structure of the organs), that it is the road of Nature, the Poet shews (from ver. 160 to 197.), that this road is to be followed. So that the office of Reason is not to direct us what paffion to exercise, but to assist us in RECTIFYING, and keeping within due bounds, that which Nature hath so strongly impressed; because "A mightier Power the strong direction sends, And sev'ral Men impels to sev'ral ends." WARBURTON. VER. 167. Like varying winds, &c.] The Poet having proved that the ruling passion (fince Nature hath given it us) is not to be overthrown, NOTES. VER. 160. The doctor fancies, &c.] The fame may be faid of this as of the line 148. G2 |