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215

Mark how it mounts, to Man's imperial race,
From the green myriads in the peopled grafs: 210
What modes of fight betwixt each wide extreme,
The mole's dim curtain, and the lynx's beam:
Of smell, the headlong lionefs between,
And bound fagacious on the tainted green:
Of hearing, from the life that fills the flood,
To that which warbles thro' the vernal wood?
The spider's touch, how exquifitely fine!
Feels at each thread, and lives along the line:
In the nice bee, what fenfe fo fubtly true
From pois'nous herbs extracts the healing dew? 220
How Instinct varies in the grov'ling fwine,
Compar'd, half-reas'ning elephant, with thine!
'Twixt that, and Reason, what a nice barrier ?
For ever fep'rate, yet for ever near!
Remembrance and Reflection how ally'd;

225

What thin partitions Senfe from Thought divide?
And Middle natures, how they long to join,
Yet never pass th' infuperable line!
Without this juft gradation, could they be
Subjected, these to thofe, or all to thee?

230

VER. 213. The headlong lioness] The manner of the lions hunting their prey in the deferts of Africa is this: At their firft going out in the night-time they set up a loud roar, and then liften to the noife made by the beafts in their flight, pursuing them by the ear, and not by the noftril. It is probable the ftory of the jackal's hunting for the lion, was occafioned by obfervation of this defect of scent in that terrible animal,

The pow'rs of all fubdu'd by thee alone,

235

Is not thy Reason all these pow'rs in one?
VIII. See, thro' this air, this ocean, and this earth,
All matter quick, and bursting into birth.
Above, how high, progreffive life may go!
Around, how wide! how deep extend below!
Vaft chain of Being! which from God began,
Natures æthereal, human, angel, man,
Beast, bird, fish, infect, what no eye can see,
No glass can reach; from Infinite to thee,
From thee to Nothing.-On fuperior pow'rs
Were we to press, inferior might on ours:
Or in the full creation leave a void,

240

Where, one ftep broken, the great scale's destroy'd:
From Nature's chain whatever link you ftrike, 245
Tenth, or ten thoufandth, breaks the chain alike.
And, if each fyftem in gradation roll
Alike effential to th' amazing Whole,
The least confufion but in one, not all
That fyftem only, but the Whole must fall.
Let Earth unbalanc'd from her orbit fly,
Planets and Suns run lawless thro' the sky;
Let ruling Angels from their spheres be hurl'd,
Being on Being wreck'd, and world on world;

250

VER. 253. Let ruling Angels, etc.] The poet, throughout

VER. 238. Ed. ift.

VARIATIONS.

Ethereal effence, spirit, fubftance, man.

Heav'ns whole foundations to their centre nod, 255
And Nature trembles to the throne of God.
All this dread ORDER break-for whom? for thee?
Vile worm !-oh Madness! Pride! Impiety!

260

IX. What if the foot, ordain'd the duft to tread, Or hand, to toil, afpir'd to be the head ? What if the head, the eye, or ear repin'd To ferve mere engines to the ruling Mind? Juft as abfurd for any part to claim To be another, in this gen'ral frame: Juft as abfurd, to mourn the tasks or pains, The great directing MIND of all ordains.

265

All are but parts of one ftupendous whole, Whose body Nature is, and God the foul; That, chang'd thro' all, and yet in all the fame; Great in the earth, as in th' æthereal frame; 270 Warms in the fun, refreshes in the breeze, Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees,

this poem, with great art ufes an advantage, which his employing a Platonic principle for the foundation of his Effay had afforded him; and that is the expreffing himself (as here) in Platonic notions; which, luckily for his purpose, are highly poetical, at the fame time that they add a grace to the uniformity of his reasoning.

VER. 265. Just as abfurd, etc.] See the profecution and application of this in Ep. iv.

VER. 266. The great directing Mind, etc.]" Veneramur "autem et colimus ob dominium. Deus enim fine dominio, "providentia, et caufis finalibus, nihil aliud eft quam FATUM "et NATURA." Newtoni Princip. Schol. gener. fub finem.

Lives thro' all life, extends thro' all extent,
Spreads undivided, operates unfpent;
Breathes in our foul, informs our mortal part,
As full, as perfect, in a hair as heart;
As full, as perfect, in vile Man that mourns,
As the rapt Seraph that adores and burns:
To him no high, no low, no great, no small;
He fills, he bounds, connects, and equals all.

275

280

X. Cease then, nor ORDER Imperfection name: Our proper blifs depends on what we blame. Know thy own point: This kind, this due degree Of blindness, weakness, Heav'n bestows on thee. Submit. In this, or any other sphere,

285

Secure to be as bleft as thou canft bear:
Safe in the hand of one difpofing Pow'r,
Or in the natal, or the mortal hour.
All Nature is but Art, unknown to thee;
All Chance, Direction, which thou canst not fee;
All Difcord, Harmony not understood;

All partial Evil, univerfal Good:

And, fpite of Pride, in erring Reafon's fpite,
One truth is clear, WHATEVER IS, is RIGHT.

VARIATIONS.

After 282. in the MS.

Reason, to think of God when the pretends,
Begins a Cenfor, an Adorer ends,

291

ARGUMENT OF

EPISTLE

II.

Of the Nature and State of Man with respect to Himfelf, as an Individual.

I. THE bufinefs of Man not to pry into God, but to study himself. His Middle Nature; his Powers and Frailties, 1 to 19. The Limits of his Capacity, ✯ 19, &c. II. The two Principles of Man, Self-love and Reafon, both necessary, 53, &c. Self-love the ftronger, and why, 67, &c. Their end the fame,

81, &c. III. The PASSIONS, and their use, * 93 to 130. The Predominant Paffion, and its force, 132 to 160. Its Neceffity, in directing Men to different purposes, 165, &c. Its providential Ufe, in fixing our Principle, and afcertaining our Virtue, 177. IV. Virtue and Vice joined in our mixed Nature; the limits near, yet the things separate and evident: What is the Office of Reason, 202 to 216. V.How odious Vice in itself, and how we deceive ourselves into it, 217. VI. That, however, the Ends of Providence and general Good are answered in our Paffions and Imperfections, 238, &c. How ufefully thefe † are diftributed to all Orders of Men, 241. How useful they are to Society, 251. And to the Indi✯ viduals, 263. In every state, life, 273, &c.

and every age of

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