Self-love and Social at her birth began, COMMENTARY. tice; which he doth (from Ver. 146 to 169) by fhewing, in a fine defcription of the fate of Innocence, as reprefented in Scripture, that a flate of Nature was fo far from being without natural Juftice, that it was, at first, the reign of God, where Right and Truth univerfally prevailed. NOTES. VER. 152. Man walk'd with beast, joint tenant of the shade;] The Poet ftill takes his imagery from Platonic ideas, for the reafon given above. Plato had faid, from old tradition, that, during the Golden age, and under the reign of Saturn, the primitive language then in ufe was common to man and beasts. Moral Infructors took advantage of the popular fenfe of this tradition, to convey their precepts under thofe fables which give fpeech to the whole brute creation. The Naturalifts understood the tradition in the contrary fenfe, to fignify, that, in the first ages, Men ufed inarticulate founds, like beafts, to exprefs their wants and fenfations; and that it was by flow degrees they came to the use of speech. This opinion was afterwards held by Lucretius, Diodorus Sic. and Gregory of Nyff. VER. 156. All vocal beings, &c.] This may be well explained by a fublime paffage of the Pfalmift, who, calling to 131 The shrine with gore unftain'd, with gold un drest, Unbrib'd, unbloody, stood the blameless priest: NOTES. mind the age of Innocence, and full of the great ideas of thofe 66 "Chains of Love "Combining all below, and all above, "Which to one point, and to one centre bring, BEAST, MAN, or ANGEL, Servant, Lord, or King;" breaks out into this rapturous and divine apoftrophe, to call back the devious Creation to its priftine rectitude; that very ftate our author describes above, "Praise the Lord, all angels; praise him, all ye hofts. Praise ye him, fun and moon; praise him, all ye ftars of light. Let them praise "the name of the Lord, for he commanded, and they were "created. Praife the Lord, from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps; fire and hail, fnow and vapour, ftormy "wind fulfilling his word: Mountains and all hills, fruitful "trees and all cedars: Beafts and all cattle, creeping things " and flying fowl: Kings of the earth, and all people; princes "and all judges of the earth. Let them praise the name of "the Lord; for his name alone is excellent, his glory is "above the earth and heaven." Pfal. cxlviii. VER. 158. Unbrib'd, unbloody, &c.] i. e. the ftate described from Ver. 262 to 269, was not yet arrived. "Then facred feem'd th' etherial vault no more; For then, when Superftition was become fo extreme as to bribe the Gods with human facrifices; Tyranny became neceffitated to woo the priest for a favourable answer. Heav'n's attribute was Univerfal Care, And Man's prerogative to rule, but spare. 160 And ev'ry death its own avenger breeds ; 165 NOTES. VER. 159. Heav'n's attribute, &c.] The Poet fuppofeth the truth of the Scripture account, that Man was created Lord of this inferior world (Ep. i. Ver. 230.) "Subjected thefe to thofe, and all to thee." What hath misled fome to imagine that our Author hath here fallen into a contradiction, was, I fuppofe, fuch passages as thefe, Afk for what end the heav'nly bodies fhine, &c. And again, Has God, thou fool! work'd folely for thy good, &c. But, in truth, this is so far from contradicting what he had said of Man's prerogative, that it greatly confirms it, and the Scripture account concerning it. And because the licentious manner in which this fubject has been treated, has made fome readers jealous and mistrustful of the Author's fober meaning, I fhall endeavour to explain it. Scripture fays, that Man was made lord of this fublunary world: But intoxicated with Pride, the common effect of fovereignty, he erected himfelf, like little partial monarchs, into a tyrant. And as tyranny confifts in fuppofing all made for the ufe of one; he took those freedoms with all, which are the confequence of fuch a principle. He foon began to confider the whole animal creation as his flaves rather than his fubjects: as created for no use of their own, but for his ufe only; and therefore treated them with the utmost cruelty: And not fo content, to add infult to his cruelty, he endeavoured to philosophize The Fury-paffions from that blood began, See him from Nature rifing flow to Art! COMMENTARY. VER. 169. See him from Nature rifing flow to Art!] Strict method (in which, by this time, the reader finds the Poet to be more converfant, than fome were aware of) leads him next to speak of that Society, which fucceeded the Natural, namely the Civil. He firft explains (from Ver. 168 to 199.) the intermediate means which led Mankind from natural to civil Society. These were the invention and improvement of Arts. For while men lived in a mere state of Nature there was no need of any other government than the Paternal; but when Arts were found out and improved, then that more perfect form, under the direction of a Magiftrate, became neceffary: And for these reasons; firft, to bring those Arts, already found, to perfection: and, fecondly, to fecure the product of them to their rightful proprietors. The Poet, therefore, comes now, as we fay, to the invention of Arts; but being always intent on the great end for which he wrote his Effay, namely to mortify that Pride which occafions all the impious complaints against Providence; he fpeaks of these inventions as only leffons learnt of mere animals guided by inftinct; and thus, at the fame time, gives a new inftance of NOTES. himself into an opinion that these animals were mere machines, infenfible of pain or pleasure. Thus Man affected to be the Wit as well as Tyrant of the Whole: So that it became one who adhered to the Scripture-account of Man's dominion, to reprove this abuse of it, and to fhew that "Heav'n's attribute was Universal Care, Thus then to Man the voice of Nature fpake"Go, from the Creatures thy inftructions take: COMMENTARY. the wonderful Providence of God, who hath continued to teach mankind in a way, not only proper to humble human pride, but to raise our idea of divine wifdom to the highest pitch. This he does in a profoppo a the most fublime that ever entered into the human imagination: Thus then to Man the voice of Nature spake: NOTES. VER. 171. Thus then to Man the voice of Nature Spake- M. Du Refnel has tranflated the lines thus, "La Nature indigné alors fe fit entendre; "Va, malheureux mortel, va, lui dit elle, apprendre." One would wonder what fhould make the Tranflator reprefent Nature in fuch a paffion with man, and calling him names, at a time when Mr. Pope fuppofed her in her best good humour. But what led him into this blunder was another as grofs. His Author having defcribed the State of innocence which ends at these lines, "Heav'n's attribute was Universal Care, "And Man's prerogative to rule, but fpare." turns from the times, to a view of thefe latter ages, and breaks out into this tender and humane complaint, "Ah! how unlike the man of times to come, "Of half that live the Butcher and the Tomb," &c. Unluckily, M. Du Refnel took this man of times to come for the corrupter of that first age; and fo imagined the Poet had introduced NATURE only to fet things right; he then fup |