Passions, like elements, tho' born to fight, COMMENTARY. 115 120 Ver. 111. Passions, like elements, &c.] His second argument against the Stoics (from ver. 110 to 133) is, that Passions go to the composition of a moral character, just as elementary particles go to the composition of an organized body. Therefore, for man to project the destruction of what composes his very being is the height of extravagance. 'Tis true, he tells us, that these Passions, which, in their natural state, like elements, are in perpetual jar, must be tempered, softened, and united, in order to perfect the work of the great plastic Artist; who, in this office, employs human Reason; whose business it is to follow the road of Nature, and to observe the dictates of the Deity ;-Follow her and God. The use and importance of this precept is evident for in doing the first, she will discover the absurdity of attempting to eradicate the Passions; in doing the second, she will learn how to make them subservient to the interests of Virtue. 66 : NOTES. Crousaz does not spare this expression of God's coming out of his profound repose. "It is," says he, "excessively poetical, and presents us with ideas which we ought not to dwell upon," &c. and then, as usual, blames the author for the blunder of his translator. Comm. p. 158.-Warburton. Ver. 109. Nor God alone, &c.] These words are only a simple affirmation in the poetic dress of a similitude, to this purpose: Good is not only produced by the subdual of the Passions, but by the turbulent exercise of them. A truth conveyed under the most sublime imagery that poetry could conceive or paint. For the author is here only showing the provi dential issue of the Passions; and how, by God's gracious disposition, they are turned away from their natural destructive bias, to promote the happiness of mankind. As to the method in which they are to be treated by man, in whom they are found, all that he contends for, in favour of them, is only this, that they should not be quite rooted up and destroyed, as the Stoics, and their followers, in all religions, foolishly attempted. For the rest, he constantly repeats this advice, "The action of the stronger to suspend, Reason still use, to Reason still attend."-Warburton. After ver. 112 in the MS. VARIATIONS. The soft reward the virtuous, or invite ; The fierce, the vicious punish or affright.-Warburton. Pleasures are ever in our hands or eyes; And when, in act, they cease, in prospect, rise: 125 The whole employ of body and of mind. All spread their charms, but charm not all alike; COMMENTARY. Ver. 123. Pleasures are ever in our hands or eyes;] His third argument against the Stoics (from ver. 122 to 127) is, that the Passions are a continual spur to the pursuit of Happiness; which, without these powerful inciters, we should neglect, and sink into a senseless indolence. Now Happiness is the end of our creation; and this excitement, the means to that end; therefore, these movers, the Passions, are the instruments of God, which he hath put into the hands of Reason to work withal. The 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 shows then, that though all the Passions have their turn in swaying the determinations of the mind, yet every man hath one MASTER PASSION, that at length stifles or absorbs all the rest. 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 desired; and consequently, the pursuit of that will be the ruling Passion: That the difference of force in this ruling Passion, 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 strain of poetry so wonderfully sublime, as suspends, for a while, the ruling Passion in every reader, and engrosses his whole admiration. This naturally leads the Poet to lament the weakness and insufficiency of human Reason (from ver. 148 to 161); and the purpose he had in so doing, was plainly to intimate THE NECESSITY OF A MORE PERFECT DIS PENSATION TO MANKIND. NOTES. Ver. 128. On different senses] A didactic poet has thus nobly illustrated this very doctrine : 66 'Different minds Incline to different objects: one pursues And gentlest beauty. Hence, when lightning fires The arch of Heaven, and thunders rock the ground; And Ocean, groaning from the lowest bed, Heaves his tempestuous billows to the sky; Amid the mighty uproar, while below The nations tremble, Shakespear looks abroad [The Hence different Passions more or less inflame, As Man, perhaps, the moment of his breath, The young disease, that must subdue at length, 130 135 Grows with his growth, and strengthens with his strength: So, cast and mingled with his very frame, The Mind's disease, its RULING PASSION, came; Each vital humour which should feed the whole, Soon flows to this, in body and in soul: 140 Whatever warms the heart, or fills the head, As the mind opens, and its functions spread, NOTES. 145 The elemental war. But Waller longs All on the margin of some flowery stream, To spread his careless limbs, amid the cool Of plantain shades." AKENSIDE.-Warton. Ver. 133. As Man, perhaps, &c.] Antipater Sidonius Poeta omnibus annis uno die natali tantum corripiebatur febre, et eo consumptus est satis longâ senectâ." Plin. l. vii. N. H. This Antipater was in the times of Crassus, and is celebrated for the quickness of his parts by Cicero.-Warburton. Ver. 147. Reason itself, &c.] The Poet, in some other of his Epistles, 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) If Cotta liv'd on pulse, it was no more Than bramins, saints, and sages did before."-Warburton. Ver. 148. turns vinegar] Taken from Bacon, De Calore; and the preceding verse, and comparison, 132. ["Like We, wretched subjects, tho' to lawful sway, In this weak queen, some fav'rite still obey. Ah! if she lend not arms, as well as rules, 150 What can she more than tell us we are fools? 155 Proud of an easy conquest all along, She but removes weak Passions for the strong: And treat this passion more as friend than foe: COMMENTARY. 160 Ver. 161. Yes, Nature's road, &c.] Now as it appears from the account here given of the ruling Passion and its cause (which results from the structure of the organs), that it is the road of Nature, the Poet shows (from ver. 160 to 197) that this road is to be followed. So that the office of Reason is not to direct us what passion 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, NOTES. "Like Aaron's serpent," is from Bacon likewise.-Warton. Ver. 149. We, wretched subjects, &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 'Reason unrelieved. What is this, then, but an intimation that we ought to seek for a cure in that religion, which only dares profess to give it ?-Warburton. Ver. 163. 'Tis hers to rectify, &c.] The meaning of this precept is, That as the ruling Passion is implanted by Nature, it is Reason's office to regulate, direct, and restrain, but not to overthrow it. To reform the passion of Avarice, for instance, into a parsimonious dispensation of the public revenues to direct the passion of Love, whose object is worth and beauty, "To the first good, first perfect, and first fair," the rò kaλóv r' ȧyaðòv, as his master Plato advises; and to restrain Spleen to a contempt and hatred of Vice. This is what the Poet meant; and what every unprejudiced man could not but see he must needs mean, by A mightier Pow'r the strong direction sends, Th' Eternal Art educing good from ill, 165 170 175 180 COMMENTARY. Ver. 167. Like varying winds, &c.] The Poet, having proved that the ruling Passion (since Nature hath given it us) is not to be overthrown, but rectified; the next inquiry will be, of what use the ruling Passion is; for an use it must have, if reason be to treat it thus mildly. This use he shows us (from ver. 166 to 197) is twofold, Natural and Moral. 1. Its Natural use is to conduct men steadily to one certain end, who would otherwise be eternally fluctuating between the equal violence of various and discordant passions, driving them up and down at random ; and, by that means, to enable them to promote the good of society, by making each a contributor to the common stock: "Let pow'r or knowledge, gold or glory, please," &c. 2. Its Moral use is to ingraft our ruling Virtue upon it; and by that means to enable us to promote our own good, by turning the exorbitancy of the ruling Passion into its neighbouring Virtue : 66 See anger, zeal and fortitude supply," &c. The wisdom of the Divine Artist is, as the Poet finely observes, very illustrious in this contrivance; for the mind and body having now one common interest, the efforts of Virtue will have their force infinitely augmented: "'Tis thus the mercury," &c. NOTES. RECTIFYING THE MASTER PASSION, though he had not confined us to this sense, in the reason he gives of his precept in these words: 66 A mightier Pow'r the strong direction sends, for what ends are they which God impels to, but the ends of Virtue ?— Warburton. |
