495

But Genius, fir'd by Truth's eternal ray,
Burns clear and conftant, like the source of day:
Like this, its beam prolifick and refin'd,
Feeds, warms, inspirits, and exalts the mind;
Mildly dispels each wint'ry Passion's gloom,
And opens all the Virtues into bloom.
This Praise, immortal POPE to thee be giv'n:
Thy Genius was indeed a Gift from Heav'n.
Hail, Bard unequal'd, in whose deathless line
Reason and Wit with strength collected shine; 500
Where matchless Wit but wins the second praise,
Loft, nobly loft, in Truth's superior blaze.
Did FRIENDSHIP e'er mislead thy wand'ring Muse?
That Friendship sure may plead the great excuse:
That facred Friendship which inspir'd thy Song, 505
Fair in defect, and amiably wrong.
Error like this ev'n Truth can scarce reprove;
'Tis almost Virtue when it flows from Love.

Ye deathless Names, ye Sons of endless praise,
By Virtue crown'd with never-fading bays!
Say, shall an artless Muse, if you inspire,
Light her pale lamp at your immortal fire ?
Or, if, O WARBURTON, inspir'd by You,
The daring Muse a nobler path pursue,
By You inspir'd, on trembling pinion foar,
The facred founts of social bless explore,

:

510

515

In her bold numbers chain the Tyrant's rage,
And bid her Country's glory fire her page:

If fuch her fate, do thou, fair Truth, descend,

And watchful guard her in an honest end:

520

Kindly severe, instruct her equal line

To court no Friend, nor own a Foe but thine.

But if her giddy eye should vainly quit

Thy facred paths, to run the maze of wit;

If her apoftate heart should e'er incline

525

To offer incense at Corruption's shrine;

Urge, urge thy pow'r, the black attempt confound,
And dash the smoaking Censer to the ground.

Thus aw'd to fear, instructed Bards may fee,
That Guilt is doom'd to fink in Infamy.

530

THE

DESIGN.

HAVING propofed

Hu

to write fome pieces on man Life and Manners, such as (to use my lord Bacon's expression) come home to Men's Business and Bofoms, I thought it more fatisfactory to begin with confidering Man in the abstract, his Nature and his State; fince, to prove any moral Duty, to enforce any moral precept, or to examine the perfection or imperfection of any creature whatsoever, it is necessary first to know what condition and relation it is placed in, and what is the proper end and purpose of its being.

The science of Human Nature is, like all other sciences, reduced to a few clear points: There are not many certain truths in this world. It is therefore in the Anatomy of the mind as in that of the Body; more good will accrue to mankind by attending to the large, open, and perceptible parts, than by studying too much such finer nerves and vessels, the conformations and uses of which will for ever escape our observation. The disputes are all upon these laft, and, I will venture to say, they have less sharpened the wits than the hearts of men against each other, and have diminished the practice, more than advanced the theory, of Morality. If I could flatter myself that this Essay has any merit, it is in steering betwixt the extremes of doctrines feemingly oppofite, in passing over terms utterly unintelligible, and in forming a temperate, yet not inconsistent, and a short yet not imperfect, system of Ethics.

This