To Man imparts it; but with fuch a view As, while he dreads it, makes him hope it too: 75 II. Whether with Reason, or with Instinct bleft, Know, all enjoy that pow'r which fuits them beft; To blifs alike by that direction tend, 81 And find the means proportion'd to their end. 85 Cares not for service, or but ferves when preft, While ftill too wide or fhort is human Wit; VARIATIONS. VER. 84. in the MS. While Man, with op'ning views of various ways 90% 95 See then the acting and comparing pow'rs Who taught the nations of the field and wood Sure as De moivre, without rule or line? Who bid the ftork, Columbus-like, explore 105 Heav'ns not his own, and worlds unknown before? And creature link'd to creature, man to man. 110 115 Or breathes thro' air, or fhoots beneath the deeps, 120 Nor ends the pleasure with the fierce embrace;' A longer care Man's helpless kind demands; 126 130 At once extend the int'reft, and the love; And still new needs, new helps, new habits rise, Still as one brood, and as another rofe, These nat❜ral love maintain'd, habitual thofe : 140 The laft, fcarce ripen'd into perfect Man, Saw helplefs him from whom their life began: trod; The ftate of Nature was the reign of God : 150 Pride then was not; nor Arts, that Pride to aid; And man's prerogative to rule, but spare. And ev'ry death its own avenger breeds ; 155 160 16; 170 See him from Nature rifing flow to Art! To copy Inftinet then was Reason's part; Thus then to Man the voice of Nature spake"Go, from the Creatures thy inftructions take: "Learn from the birds what food the thickets yield; "Learn from the beafts the phyfic of the field; VER. 173. Learn from the birds, etc.] It is a caution commonly practifed amongst Navigators, when thrown upon a defert coaft, and in want of refreshments, to obferve what fruits have been touched by the Birds: and to venture on these without further hesitation. "Thy arts of building from the bee receive; 175 "Learn of the mole to plow, the worm to weave; "Learn of the little Nautilus to fail, 66 Spread the thin oar, and catch the driving gale. "Here too all forms of focial union find, 181 186 "And hence let Reafon, late, inftru&t Mankind: Here fubterranean works and cities fee; "There towns aerial on the waving tree. "Learn each small People's genius, policies, "The Ant's republic, and the realm of Bees; "How thofe in common all their wealth bestow, "And Anarchy without confufion know; "And these for ever, tho' a Monarch reign, "Their fep'rate cells and properties maintain. "Mark what unvary'd laws preferve each state, "Laws wife as Nature, and as fix'd as Fate. 190 "In vain thy Reason finer webs shall draw, "Entangle Juftice in her net of Law, VER. 174. Learn from the beafts, etc.] See Pliny's Nat. Hift. 1. viii. c. 27, where several inftances are given of Animals difcovering the medicinal efficacy of herbs, by their own use of and pointing out to fome operations in the art of healing, by their own practice. them; VER. 177. Learn of the little Nautilus] Oppian. Halieut. lib. i. describes this fish in the following manner : "They "fwim on the surface of the fea, on the back of their shells, "which exactly resemble the hulk of a ship; they raise two "feet like mafts, and extend a membrane between, which "serves as a fail; the other two feet they employ as oars at the fide. They are usually seen in the Mediterranean." |