And hence one MASTER PASSION in the breast,
Like Aaron's ferpent, fwallows up the reft.

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 ftrengthens with his
ftrength:

So, caft and mingled with his very frame,
The Mind's disease, its RULING PASSION came;
Each vital humour which fhould feed the whole,
Soon flows to this, in body and in foul: 140
Whatever warms the heart, or fills the head,
As the mind opens, and its functions spread,
Imagination plies her dang'rous art,

derfully fublime, as fufpends, for a while, the ruling paffion, in every Reader, and engroffes his whole Admiration.

This naturally leads the poet to lament the weakness and infufficiency of human Reason (from 148 to 161) and the purpose he had in fo doing, was plainly to intimate the neceffity of a more perfect difpenfation to Mankind.

NOTES.

VER. 133. As Man perhaps &c.]" Antipater Sidonius Poeta " omnibus annis uno die natali tantum corripiebatur febre, et "eo confumptus eft fatis longa fenecta." Plin. 1. vii. N. H. This Antipater was in the times of Craffus, and is celebrated for the quickness of his parts by Cicero.

145

Nature its mother, Habit is its nurfe;
Wit, Spirit, Faculties, but make it worse ;
Reafon itself but gives it edge and pow'r ;
As Heav'n's bleft beam turns vinegar more fow'r.
We, wretched fubjects tho' to lawful fway,
In this weak queen, fome fav'rite ftill obey: 150
Ah! if the lend not arms, as well as rules,

What can fhe more than tell us we are fools?
Teach us to mourn our Nature, not to mend,
A fharp accufer, but a helpless friend !
Or from a judge turn pleader, to perfuade
The choice we make, or justify it made;

NOTES.

155

VER. 147. Reafon itself, &c.] The poet, in fome other of his epiftles, gives examples of the doctrine and precepts here delivered. Thus, in that Of the ufe of Riches, he has illuftrated this truth in the character of Cotta:

Old Cotta fham'd his fortune and his birth,
Yet was not Cotta void of wit or worth.
What tho' (the ufe of barb'rous fpits forgot)
His kitchen vy'd in coolness with his grot?
If Cotta liv'd on pulfe, it was no more

Than bramins, faints, and fages did before.

VER. 149. We, wretched Subjects &c.] St. Paul himself did not chufe to employ other arguments, when difposed 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 seek for a cure in that religion, which only dares profess to give it ?

Proud of an eafy conquest all along,

She but removes weak paffions for the strong :
So, when small humours gather to a gout,

The doctor fancies he has driv'n them out. 160
Yes, Nature's road must ever be prefer'd;
Reason is here no guide, but still a guard;
'Tis hers to rectify, not overthrow,

And treat this paffion more as friend than foe:
A mightier Pow'r the ftrong direction fends, 165
And fev'ral Men impels to fev'ral ends :

COMMENTARY.

VER. 161. Yes, Nature's road &c.] Now as it appears, from the account here given of the ruling Paffion and its caufe which refults from the ftructure of the organs, that it is the road of Nature, the poet fhews (from 160 to 167) that this road is to be followed. So that the office of Reason is not to direct us what Paffion to exercife, but to affift us in RECTIFYING, and keeping within due bounds, that which Nature hath for ftrongly impreffed; because

A mightier Pow'r the ftrong direction sends,
And fev'ral Men impels to fev'ral ends.

NOTES.

VER. 163. 'Tis hers to rectify, &c.] The meaning of this precept is, That as the ruling Paffion is implanted by Nature, it is Reafon's office to regulate, direct, and reftrain, but not to overthrow it. To regulate the paffion of Avarice, for inftance, into a parfimonious difpenfation of the public revenues; to direct the paffion of Love, whofe object is worth and beauty,

To the first good, first perfect, and first fair,

To nañóv razatov, as his master Plato advises; and to restrain Spleen to a contempt and hatred of Vice. This is what

Like varying winds, by other paffions toft,
This drives them conftant to a certain coast.
Let pow'r or knowledge, gold or glory, please,
Or (oft more strong than all) the love of ease;
Thro' life 'tis follow'd, ev'n at life's expence; 171
The merchant's toil, the fage's indolence,
The monk's humility, the hero's pride,

All, all alike, find Reafon on their fide.

COMMENTARY.

VER. 167. Like warying winds, &c.] The poet having proved that the ruling paffion (fince Nature hath given it us) is not to be overthrown, but rectified, the next inquiry will be of what ufe the ruling Paffion is; for an use it must have, if reason be to treat it thus mildly. This ufe he fhews us (from 166 to 197) is twofold, Natural and Moral.

1. Its Natural ufe is to conduct Men fteddily to one certain end; who would otherwise be eternally fluctuating between the equal violence of various and difcordant paffions, 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 ufe is to ingraft our ruling Virtue upon it; and by that means to enable us to promote our own good, by turn

NOTES.

the poet meant, and what every unprejudiced man could not but fee he must needs mean, by RECTIFYING THE MASTER PASSION, though he had not confined us to this fenfe, in the reafon he gives of his precept, in these words :

A mightier Pow'r the ftrong direction fends,
And fev'ral Men impels to fev'ral ends.

For what ends are they which God impels to, but the ends of
Virtue?

Th' Eternal Art educing good from ill, Grafts on this Paffion our beft principle:

'Tis thus the Mercury of Man is fix'd,

175

Strong grows
the Virtue with his nature mix'd;
The drofs cements what else were too refin'd,
And in one int'reft body acts with mind.

180

As fruits, ungrateful to the planter's care,
On favage ftocks inferted, learn to bear;
The surest Virtues thus from Paffions shoot,
Wild Nature's vigor working at the root.
What crops
of wit and honesty appear
185
From fpleen, from obftinacy, hate, or fear!
See anger, zeal and fortitude fupply;

Ev'n av'rice, prudence; floth, philofophy;
Luft, thro' fome certain ftrainers well refin'd,
Is gentle love, and charms all womankind; 190
Envy, to which th' ignoble mind's a flave,
Is emulation in the learn'd or brave;

COMMENTARY.

ing the exorbitancy of the ruling paffion into its neighbouring Virtue :

See anger, zeal and fortitude fupply; &c.

The wisdom of the divine Artift is, as the poet finely ob ferves, very illuftrious in this contrivance; for the mind and body having now one common intereft, the efforts of Virtue will have their force infinitely augmented:

'Tis thus the Mercury, &c,