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Trace Science then, with Modesty thy guide: First strip off all her equipage of Pride; Deduct what is but Vanity, or Drefs,

Or Learning's Luxury, or Idleness;

COMMENTARY.

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VER. 43. Trace Science then, &c.] The conclufion, therefore, from the whole is (from Ver. 42 to 53.) that, as on the one hand we should perfift in the study of Nature; fo, on the other, in order to arrive at Science, we should proceed in the fimplicity of truth; and then the product, though fmall, will yet be real.

NOTES.

dence in their perihelions, and a perfect agreement in their velocities.

VER. 45.-Vanity, or Drefs,] These are the first parts of what the Poet, in the preceding line, calls the scholar's equipage of Pride. By vanity is meant that luxuriancy of thought and expreffion in which a Writer indulges himself, to fhew the fruitfulness of his fancy or invention. By drefs, is to be understood a lower degree of that practice, in amplification of thought and ornamental expreffion, to give force to what the Writer would convey: but even this, the Poet, in a fevere fearch after truth, condemns; and with great judgment. Concifeness of thought and fimplicity of expreffion, being as well the best inftruments, as the best vehicles of Truth. Shakespear touches upon this latter advantage with great force and humour. The Flatterer fays to Timon in diftrefs, "I cannot cover the monstrous bulk of their ingratitude with any fize of words." The other replies, "Let it go naked, men may fee't the better."

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VER. 46. Or Learning's Luxury, or Idleness.] The Luxury of Learning confifts in dreffing up and difguifing old notions in a new way, fo as to make them more fashionable and palateable; instead of examining and scrutinizing their

Or tricks to fhew the stretch of human brain,

Mere curious pleasure, or ingenious pain ;Expunge the whole, or lop th' excrescent parts Of all our Vices have created Arts;

Then fee how little the remaining fum,

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Which ferv'd the past, and must the times to come!

II. Two Principles in human nature reign; Self-love, to urge, and Reafon, to restrain;

COMMENTARY.

VER. 53. Two Principles, &c.] The Poet having thus fhewn the difficulty attending the study of Man, proceeds to remove it, by laying before us the elements or true principles of this fcience, in an account of the Origin, Use, and End of the PASSIONS; which, in my opinion, contains the trueft, cleareft, fhorteft, and confequently the best system of Ethics that is any where to be met with. He begins (from Ver. 52 to 59) with pointing out the two grand Principles in human nature, SELF-LOVE and REASON. Defcribes their general nature: The first fets Man upon acting, the other regulates his action. However, thefe principles are natural,

NOTES.

truth. As this is often done for pomp and fhew, it is called luxury; as it is often done too to fave pains and labour, it is called idleness.

VER. 47. Or Tricks to fhew the ftretch of human brain,] Such as the mathematical demonftrations concerning the fmall quantity of matter; the endlfs divifibility of it, &c.

VER. 48. Mere curious pleasure, er ingenious pain;] That is, when Admiration fets the mind on the rack.

VER. 49. Expunge the whole, or lop th' excrefcent parts-
Of all our Vices have created Arts]

.e. Thofe parts of natural Philofophy, Logic, Rhetoric, Poetry, &c. that administer to luxury, deceit, ambition, effeminacy, &c.

Nor this a good, nor that a bad we call,

Each works its end, to move or govern
And to their proper operation ftill,

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all:

Ascribe all Good; to their improper, Ill.
Self-love, the fpring of motion, acts the foul;
Reason's comparing balance rules the whole. 60
Man, but for that, no action could attend,
And, but for this, were active to no end:
Fix'd like a plant on his peculiar spot,
To draw nutrition, propagate, and rot;
Or, meteor-like, flame lawless thro' the void, 65
Destroying others, by himself destroy'd.

Most strength the moving principle requires : Active its task, it prompts, impels, inspires.

COMMENTARY.

not moral; and, therefore, in themselves, neither good nor evil, but fo only as they are directed. This obfervation is made with great judgment, in oppofition to the defperate fuily of thofe Fanatics, who, as the Afcetic, pretend to eradicate Self-love; as the Myftic, would ftifle Reafon; and both, on the abfurd fancy of their being moral, not natural, principles.

VER. 59. Self-love, the spring of motion, acts the foul;] The Poet proceeds (from Ver. 58 to 67) more minutely to mark out the diftinct offices of thefe two Principles, which he had before affigned only in general; and here he fhews their ne ceffity; for without Self-love, as the fpring, Man would be unactive: and without Reason, as the balance, active to no purpose. VER. 67. Moft ftrength the moving principle requires ;] Having thus explained the ends and offices of each Principle, he goes on (from Ver. 66 to 79) to speak of their qualities

Sedate and quiet, the comparing lies,

;

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Form'd but to check, delib'rate, and advise.
Self-love still stronger, as its objects nigh;
Reason's at diftance, and in profpect lie:
That sees immediate good by present sense
Reason, the future and the confequence.
Thicker than arguments, temptations throng, 75
At best more watchful this, but that more strong.
The action of the stronger to fufpend

Reason still use, to Reafon ftill attend.
Attention, habit and experience gains;

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Each strengthens Reason, and Self-love restrains.

COMMENTARY.

and fhews how they are fitted to discharge those functions, and answer their respective intentions. The business of Selflove being to excite to action, it is quick and impetuous; and moving inftinctively, has, like attraction, its force prodigioufly increased as the object approaches, and proportionably leffened as it recedes. On the contrary, Reafon, like the Author of attraction, is always calm and fedate, and equally preferves itself, whether the object be near or far off. Hence the moving principle is made more ftrong, though the reftraining be more quick-fighted. The confequence he draws from this is, that if we would not be carried away to our deftruction, we must always keep Reafon upon guard.

VER. 79. Attention, &c.] But it would be objected, that, if this account be true, human life would be most mife

NOTES.

VER. 74. Reason, the future and the confequence.] i. e. By experience, Reafon collects the future; and by argumentation, the confequence.

Let fubtle schoolmen teach these friends to fight, More ftudious to divide than to unite;

And Grace and Virtue, Sense and Reason split, With all the rafh dexterity of wit.

COMMENTARY.

rable; and, even in the wifeft, a perpetual conflict be-, tween Reason and the Paffions. To this, therefore, the Poet replies (from Ver. 78 to 81) firft, that Providence has fo graciously contrived, that even in the voluntary exercise of Reafon, as in the mechanic motion of a limb, Habit makes what was at first done with pain, eafy and natural. And fecondly, that the experience gained by the long exercife of Reafon, goes a great way towards eluding the force of Self-love. Now the attending to Reason, as here recommended, will gain us this habit and experience. Hence it appears, that our station, in which Reason is to be kept conftantly upon guard, is not fo uneafy a one as may be at first imagined.

VER. 81. Let fubtle schoolmen, &c.] From this defcription of Self-love and Reafon it follows, as the Poet obferves (from Ver. 80 to 93) that both confpire to one end, namely, human happiness, though they be not equally expert in the choice of the means; the difference being this, that the first haftily feizes every thing which hath the appearance of good; the other weighs and examines whether it be indeed what it appears.

This fhews, as he next obferves, the folly of the fchoolmen, who confider them as two oppofite principles, the one good and the other evil. The obfervation is seasonable and judicious; for this dangerous school-opinion gives great fupport to the Manichæan or Zoroastrian error, the confuta tion of which was one of the Author's chief ends in writing. For if there be two principles in Man, a good and evil, it is natural to think him the joint product of the two Manichæan Deities (the firft of which contributed to his Reafon, the other to his Paffions) rather than the creature of one Individual Cause. This was Plutarch's opinion, and, as we may fee in

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