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"And right, too rigid, harden into wrong;

"Still for the ftrong too weak, the weak too ftrong. "Yet go! and thus o'er all the creatures sway, 195 "Thus let the wifer make the rest obey;

200

"And for thofe Arts mere Instinct could afford,
"Be crown'd as Monarchs, or as Gods ador'd.”
V. Great Nature spoke; obfervant Men obey'd;
Cities were built, Societies were made:
Here rofe one little ftate; another near
Grew by like means, and join'd, thro' love or fear.
Did here the trees with ruddier burdens bend,
And there the ftreams in purer rills descend?
What War could ravish, Commerce could bestow,
And he return'd a friend, who came a foe.

VARIATIONS.

VER. 197. in the first Editions.

Who for those Arts they learn'd of Brutes before,
As Kings fhall crown them, or as God adore.

206

VER. 201. Here rofe one little state, etc.] In the MS. thus, The Neighbours leagu'd to guard their common spot: And Love was Nature's dictate, Murder, not.

For want alone each animal contends;

Tigers with Tigers, that remov'd, are friends.
Plain Nature's wants the common mother crown'd,
She pour'd her acorns, herbs, and streams around,
No Treasure then for rapine to invade,
What need to fight for fun-fhine or for fhade?
And half the cause of conteft was remov'd,
When beauty could be kind to all who lov'd.

Converfe and Love mankind might ftrongly draw, When Love was Liberty, and Nature Law.

Thus States were form'd; the name of King unknown,

'Till common int'reft plac'd the fway in one. 210 "Twas VIRTUE ONLY (or in aits or arms, Diffufing bleffings, or averting harms) The fame which in a Sire the Sons obey'd, A Prince the Father of a People made.

VI. 'Till then, by Nature crown'd, each Patri

arch fate,

;

215

King, prieft, and parent of his growing state
On him, their fecond Providence, they hung,
Their law his eye, their oracle his tongue.
He from the wond'ring furrow call'd the food,
Taught to command the fire, controul the flood, 220
Draw forth the monsters of th' abyfs profound,
Or fetch th' aerial eagle to the ground.
"Till drooping, fick'ning, dying they began
Whom they rever'd as God to mourn as Man:
Then, looking up from fire to fire, explor'd
One great firft father, and that first ador'd.
Or plain tradition that this All begun,
Convey'd unbroken faith from fire to fon;

225

VER. 208. When Love was Liberty,] i. e. When men had no need to guard their native liberty from their governors by civil pactions; the love which each mafter of a family had for thofe under his care being their best security.

230

The worker from the work diftinct was known,
And fimple Reafon never fought but one :
Ere Wit oblique had broke that steddy light,
Man, like his Maker, faw that all was right;
To Virtue, in the paths of Pleasure trod,
And own'd a Father when he own'd a God.
Love all the faith, and all th' allegiance then; 235
For Nature knew no right divine in Men,
No ill could fear in God; and understood
A fov'reign being but a fov'reign good.
True faith, true policy, united ran,

That was but love of God, and this of Man.

240

Who first taught fouls enflav'd, and realms un

done,

Th' enormous faith of many made for one;

That proud exception to all Nature's laws,

T'invert the world, and counter-work its Caufe ? Force first made Conqueft, and that conqueft, Law; "Till Superstition taught the tyrant awe,

246

Then fhar'd the Tyranny, then lent it aid,
And Gods of Conqu'rors, Slaves of Subjects made:
She 'midft the light'ning's blaze, and thunder's found,
When rock'd the mountains, and when groan'd the

ground,

She taught the weak to bend, the proud to pray,
To Pow'r unfeen, and mightier far than they :

250

VER. 231. Ere Wit oblique, etc.] A beautiful allufion to the effects of the prifmatic glass on the rays of light.

She, from the rending earth and bursting skies,
Saw Gods defcend, and fiends infernal rife:

Here fix'd the dreadful, there the bleft abodes; 255
Fear made her Devils, and weak Hope her Gods;
Gods partial, changeful, paffionate, unjust,
Whofe attributes were Rage, Revenge, or Luft;
Such as the fouls of cowards might conceive,
And, form'd like tyrants, tyrants would believe. 260
Zeal then, not charity, became the guide;
And hell was built on spite, and heav'n on pride.
Then facred feem'd th' etherial vault no more;

265

Altars grew marble then, and reek'd with gore:
Then first the Flamen tafted living food;
Next his grim idol fmear'd with human blood;
With heav'n's own thunders fhook the world below,
And play'd the God an engine on his foe.

So drives Self-love, thro' juft and thro' unjuft,
To one Man's pow'r, ambition, lucre, luft:
The fame Self-love, in all, becomes the caufe
Of what restrains him, Government and Laws.
For, what one likes if others like as well,
What ferves one will, when many wills rebel ?
How shall he keep, what, fleeping or awake,
A weaker may furprife, a ftronger take?
His fafety must his liberty reftrain:
All join to guard what each defires to gain.
Forc'd into virtue thus by Self-defence,
Ev'n Kings learn'd juftice and benevolence:

270

275

280

Self-love forfook the path it first pursu'd,

And found the private in the public good.

285

'Twas then, the ftudious head or gen'rous mind, Follow'r of God or friend of human-kind, Poet or Patriot, rose but to restore The Faith and Moral, Nature gave before; Re-lum'd her ancient light, not kindled new; If not God's image, yet his shadow drew : Taught Pow'rs due ufe to People and to Kings, Taught nor to flack, nor ftrain its tender strings, 290 The lefs, or greater, fet fo juftly true,

That touching one muft ftrike the other too; 'Till jarring int'refts, of themselves create

Th' according mufic of a well-mix'd State.

Such is the World's great harmony, that springs 295
From Order, Union, full Confent of things:
Where small and great, where weak and mighty,
made

To serve, not suffer, ftrengthen, not invade;
More pow'rful each as needful to the reft,
And, in proportion as it bleffes, bleft;

Draw to one point, and to one centre bring
Beaft, Man, or Angel, Servant, Lord, or King.

300

VER. 283. 'Twas then, etc.] The poet feemeth here to mean the polite and flourishing age of Greece; and those benefactors to Mankind, which he had principally in view, were Socrates and Ariftotle; who, of all the pagan world, fpoke beft of God, and wrote best of Government.

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