Tir'd, not determin'd, to the last we yield,
And what comes then is master of the field.
As the last image of that troubled heap, 45
When Senfe fubfides, and Fancy sports in fleep,
(Tho' past the recollection of the thought)
Becomes the stuff of which our dream is wrought:
Something as dim to our internal view,

Is thus, perhaps, the cause of most we do. 50
True, fome are open, and to all men known;
Others fo very close they're hid from none;
(So Darkness strikes the sense no less than Light)
Thus gracious CHANDOS is belov'd at fight;
And ev'ry child hates Shylock, tho' his foul 55
Still fits at fquat, and peeps not from its hole.

COMMENTARY.

to interrupt our firft lumbers: Then (which proves the truth of the hypothefis) we are fometimes able to trace the workings of the Fancy backwards, from image to image, in a chain, till we come to that from whence they all arose.

VER. 51. True, fom: are open, &c.] But now, in answer to all this, an objector (from Ver. 50 to 63.) may fay, "That thefe difficulties feem to be aggravated: For many cha

NOTES.

VER. 56.-peeps not from its hole.] Which fhews, that this grave perfon was content with his prefent fituation, as finding but fmall fatisfaction in what a famous Poet reckons one of the advantages of old age;

"The foul's dark cottage, batter'd and decay'd,

"Lets in new light through chinks that time has made."

SCRIBL.

At half mankind when gen'rous Manly raves,

All know 'tis Virtue, for he thinks them knaves: When univerfal homage Umbra

pays,

60

All fee 'tis Vice, and itch of vulgar praise.
When Flatt'ry glares, all hate it in a Queen,
While one there is who charms us with his Spleen.
But these plain characters we rarely find;
Tho' strong the bent, yet quick the turns of mind:
Or puzzling Contraries confound the whole; 65
Or Affectations quite reverse the foul.

COMMENTARY.

racters are so plainly marked, that no man can mistake them: and not fo only in the more open and frank, but in the clfeft and most reclufe likewife." Of each of these the Objector gives an instance; by which it appears, that the forbidding clofenefs and concealed hypocrify in the oné, are as confpicuous to all mankind, as the gracious opennefs and frank plain dealing of the other.--The Reader fees, this objection is more particularly levelled at the doctrine of Ver. 23.

"Our depths who fathoms, and our hallows finds,"

for here it endeavours to prove, that both are equally explorable.

VER. 63. But these plain Characters, &c.] To this objection, therefore, our Author replies (from Ver. 62 to 71.) that indeed the fact may be true, in the inftances given; but that fuch plain characters are extremely rare: And for the truth of this, he not only appeals to experience, but explains the caufes of thofe perplexed and complicated humours which diffuse themfelves over the whole fpecies. The first of which is, the vivacity of the imagination; that when the bias of the paffions is fufficiently determined to mark out the Character, the vigour of the fancy generally rifing in proportion VOL. III.

Q

The Dull, flat Falfhood ferves for policy;
And in the Cunning, Truth itself's a lie :
Unthought-of Frailties cheat us in the Wife;
The Fool lies hid in inconfiftencies.

See the fame man, in vigour, in the gout;
Alone, in company; in place, or out;

COMMENTARY.

70

to the ftrength of the appetites, the one no fooner draws the bias, than the other turns it to a contrary direction:

"Tho' ftrong the bent, yet quick the turns of mind.”

2. A fecond caufe is the contrariety of Appetites, which drawing feveral ways, as Avarice and Luxury, Ambition and Indolence, &c. (expreffed in the line,

"Or puzzling Contraries confound the whole,")

must needs make the fame character inconsistent to itself, and of course, inexplicable by the obferver.

3. A third caufe is Affectation, which afpires to qualities that neither nature nor education has given us; and which, confequently, neither ufe nor art will ever render graceful or becoming. On this account it is, he well obferves,

"Or Affectations quite reverfe the foul;"

natural paffions may, indeed, turn it from that bias which the ruling one has given it; but the affected paffions diftort all its faculties, and cramp all its operations; fo that it acts with the fame constraint that a tumbler walks upon his hands: and both have the like aim to procure admiration.

4. A fourth caufe lies in the Inequalities of the human mind, which expofe the wife to unexpected' frailties, and conduct the weak to as unlooked for wisdom.

VER. 71. See the fame man, &c.] Of all thefe Four canfes he here gives EXAMPLES: 1. Of the vivacity of the imaginatim from Ver. 70 to 77.)-2. Of the contrariety of Appetites (from Ver. 76 to 81.)-3. Of Affectations (from Ver. 80 to

Early at Bus'nefs, and at Hazard late;
Mad at a Fox-chace, wife at a Debate;
Drunk at a Borough, civil at a Ball;
Friendly at Hackney, faithless at Whitehall.

Catius is ever moral, ever grave,

75

Thinks who endures a Knave, is next a knave,
Save juft at dinner---then prefers, no doubt,
A Rogue with Ven'fon to a Saint without.

80

Who would not praife Patritio's high defert, His hand unftain'd, his uncorrupted heart, His comprehenfive head! all Int'refts weigh'd, All Europe fav'd, yet Britain not betray'd. He thanks you not, his pride is in Picquette, New-market fame, and judgment at a Bett. What made (fay Montagne, or more fage Charron!)

Otho a warrior, Cromwell a buffoon?

VARIATIONS.

After Ver. 86. in the former Editions,

Triumphant leaders, at an army's head,
Hemm'd round with glories, pilfer cloth or bread;
As meanly plunder as they bravely fought,
Now fave a people, and now fave a groat.

COMMENTARY.

85

87.)-and 4. Of the Inequalities of the human mind (from Ver. 86 to 95.)

NOTES.

VER. 81. Patritio.] Lord G-n.

VER. 87.-Jay Montagne, or more fage Charron !] Charron was an admirer of Montagne; had contracted a strict friend

90

A perjur'd Prince a leaden Saint revere,
A godless Regent tremble at a Star?
The throne a Bigot keep, a Genius quit,
Faithless through Piety, and dup'd thro' Wit?

NOTES.

fhip with him; and has transferred an infinite number of his thoughts into his famous book De la Sageffe; but his moderating every where the extravagant Pyrrhonism of his friend, is the reason why the Poet calls him more fage Charron.

VER. 89. A perjur'd Prince] Louis XI. of France, wore in his Hat a leaden image of the Virgin Mary, which, when he fwore by, he feared to break his oath. P.

VER. 90. A godlefs Regent tremble at a Star?] Philip Duke of Orleans, Regent in the Minority of Louis XV. fuperftitious in judicial aftrology, though an unbeliever in all religion. The fame has been obferved of many other Politicians. The Italians, in general, are not more noted for their refined politics, than for their attachment to the dotages of Aftrology, under the influence of Atheism. It may be worth while to enquire into the cause of fo fingular a phænomenon, as it may probably do honour to Religion. These men obferving (and none have equal opportunities of fo doing) how perpetually public events fall out befides their expectation, and contrary to the beft laid fchemes of worldly policy, cannot but confefs that human affairs are ordered by fome power extrinfecal. To acknowledge a God and his Providence, would be next to introducing a morality destructive of that public system which they think neceffary for the government of the world. They have recourfe therefore to that abfurd scheme of power which rules by no other law than Fate or Deftiny. The confideration of this, perhaps, was the reason that the Poet, to keep up decorum, and to preferve the diftinction between a Patriot and a Politician, makes his friend rely upon Providence for the public fafety, in the concluding words of the epistle, "-Such in those moments as in all the past;

O jave my Country, Heav'n! fhall be your last."

VER. 91. The throne a Bigot keep, a Genius quit,] Philip V. of Spain, who, after renouncing the throne for Religion, re