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ARGUMENT OF EPISTLE II.

OF THE NATURE AND STATE OF MAN WITH RESPECT TO HIMSELF, AS AN INDIVIDUAL.

1. THE business of man not to pry into God, but to study himself. His middle nature: his powers and frailties, yer. 1 to 19. The limits of his capacity, ver. 19, &c. II. The two principles of man, self-love and reason, both necessary, ver. 53, &c. Self-love the stronger, and why, ver. 67, &c. Their end the same, ver. 81, &c. III. The passions, and their use, ver. 93 to 130. The predominant passion, and its force, ver. 132 to 160. Its necessity, in directing men to different purposes, ver. 165, &c. Its providential use, in fixing our principle, and ascertaining our virtue, ver. 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, ver. 202 to 216. V. How odious vice in itself, and how we deceive ourselves into it, ver. 217. VI, That, however, the ends of Providence and general good are answered in our passions and imperfections, ver. 238, &c. How usefully these are distributed to all orders of men, ver. 241. How useful they are to society, ver. 251, And to individuals, ver. 263. In every state, and every age of life, ver. 273,

&c.

EPISTLE II.

I. KNOW then thyself, presume not God to scan,
The proper study of mankind is man.
Plac'd on this isthmus of a middle state,
A being darkly wise, and rudely great:
With too much knowledge for the Sceptic side,
With too much weakness for the Stoic's pride,
He hangs between; in doubt to act, or rest;
In doubt to deem himself a god, or beast;
In doubt his mind or body to prefer;
Born but to die, and reasoning but to err;
Alike in ignorance, his reason such,
Whether he thinks too little, or too much:
Chaos of thought and passion, all confus'd;
Still by himself abus'd or disabus'd;
Created half to rise, and half to fall;
Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all;
Sole judge of truth, in endless errour hurl'd:
The glory, jest, and riddle of the world!

Ver. 2. Ed. 1st.

VARIATIONS,

The only science of mankind is man.
After ver. 18, in the MS,

For more perfection than this state can bear
In vain we sigh, Heaven made us as we are.
As wisely sure a modest ape might aim
To be like man, whose faculties and frame
He sees, he feels, as you or I to be
An angel thing we neither knew nor see.
Observe how near he edges on our race;
What human tricks! how risible of face!
It must be so why else have I the sense
Of more than monkey charms and excellence!
Why else to walk on two so oft essay'd?
And why this ardent longing for a maid?
So pug might plead, and call his gods unkind
Till set on end, and married to his mind,

10

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Go wondrous creature! mount where Science guides,

20

Go, measure Earth, weigh air, and state the tides;
Instruct the planets in what orbs to run,
Correct old Time, and regulate the Sun,
Go, soar with Plato to th' empyreal sphere,
To the first good, first perfect, and first fair;
Or tread the mazy round his followers trod,
And quitting sense call imitating God;
As eastern priests in giddy circles run,
And turn their heads to imitate the Sun,
Go teach Eternal Wisdom how to rule→→
Then drop into thyself, and be a fool!

Superior beings, when of late they saw
A mortal man unfold all Nature's law,
Admir'd such wisdom in an earthly shape,
And show'd a Newton as we shew an ape.

30

Could he, whose rules the rapid comet bind, Describe or fix one movement of his mind! Who saw its fires here rise and there descend, Explain his own beginning or his end? Alas, what wonder! Man's superior part Uncheck'd may rise, and climb from art to art ;40 But when his own great work is but begun, What Reason weaves, by Passion is undone.

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50

Trace Science then, with Modesty thy guide; First strip off all her equipage of Pride; Deduct what is but Vanity or dress, Or Learning's luxury, or Idleness; Or tricks to show the stretch of human brain, Mere curious pleasure, or ingenious pain; Expunge the whole, or lop th' excrescent parts Of all our vices have created arts; Then see how little the remaining sum, Which serv'd the past, and must the times to come! II. Two principles in human nature reign; Self-love, to urge, and Reason, to restrain; Nor this a good, nor that a bad we call, Each works its end, to move or govern alt: And to their proper operation still, Ascribe all good, to their improper, ill.

Self-love, the spring of motion, acts the soul;
Reason's comparing balance rules the whole,
Man, but for that, no action could attend,
And, but for this, were active to no end:
Fix'd like a plant on his peculiar spot;
To draw nutrition, propagate, and rot,
Or, meteor-like, flame lawless through the void,
Destroying others, by himself destroy'd.

Most strength the moving principle requires 1
Active its task, it prompts, impels, inspires.
Sedate and quiet the comparing lies,
Form'd but to check, deliberate, and advise.
Self-love, still stronger, as its objects nigh ;
Reason's at distance, and in prospect lie:

VARIATIONS.

60

70

Go, reasoning thing! assume the doctor's chair
As Plato deep, as Seneca severe:

Fix moral fitness, and to God give rule,
Then drop into thyself, &c.

Ver. 21, Edit. 4th and 5th.

Show by what rules the wandering planets, stray Correct old Time, and teach the Sun his way. Ver. 35, Edit. 1st.

Could he, who taught each planet where to roll, Describe or fix one movement of the soul? Who mark'd their points, to rise or to descend Explain his own beginning, or his end?.

That sees immediate good by present sense;
Reason, the future and the consequence.
Thicker than arguments, temptations throng,
At best more watchful this, but that more strong.
The action of the stronger to suspend,
Reason still use, to Reason still attend.
Attention, habit, and experience gains;

Each strengthents Reason, and Self-love restrains. 80
Let subtle schoolmen teach these friends to fight,
More studious to divide than to unite;

And Grace and Virtue, Sense and Reason split,
With all the rash dexterity of Wit.

Wits, just like fools, at war about a name,
Have full as oft no meaning, or the same.
Self-love and Reason to one end aspire,

Pain their aversion, pleasure their desire;
But greedy that is object would devour,

130.

Hence different passions more or less inflame,
As strong or weak, the organs of the frame;
And hence one master passion in the breast,
Like Aaron's serpent, swallows up the rest.
As man, perhaps, the moment of his breath,
Receives the lurking principle of Death;
The young disease, which must subdue at length,
Grows with his growth, and strengthens with his
So, cast and mingled with his very frame; [strength:
The mind's disease, its Raling Passion came;
Each vital humour which should feed the whole,
Soon flows to this, in body and in soul:
Whatever warns the heart, or fills the head,
As the mind opens, and its functions spread,
Imagination plies her dangerous art,
And pours it all upon the peccant part.
Nature its mother, Habit is its nurse;

This taste the honey, and not wound the flower: 90 Wit, Spirit, Faculties, but make it worse;

Pleasure, or wrong or rightly understood,
Our greatest evil, or our greatest good."

III. Modes of Self-love the passions we may call;
'Tis real good, or seeming, moves them all:
But since not every good we can divide,
And Reason bids us for our own provide;
Passions, though selfish, if their means be fair,
List under Reason, and deserve her care;
Those, that imparted, court a nobler aim,

Reason itself but gives it edge and power;

As Heaven's blest beam turns vinegar more sour.

140

We, wretched subjects though to lawful sway,
In this weak queen, some favourite still obey: 150
Ah! if she lend not arms, as well as rules,
What can she more than tell us we are fools?
Teach us to mourn our nature, not to mend;
A sharp accuser, but a helpless friend!
Or from a judge turn pleader, to persuade

Exalt their kind, and take some virtue's name. 100 The choice we make, or justify it made;

In lazy apathy let Stoics boast
Their virtue fix'd; 'tis fix'd as in a frost;
Contracted all, retiring to the breast;
But strength of mind is exercise not rest:
The rising tempest puts in act the soul;
Parts it may ravage, but preserves the whole.
On life's vast ocean diversely we sail,
Reason the card, but Passion is the gale;
Nor God alone in the still calm we find,

He mounts the storm, and walks upon the wind. 110
Passions, like elements, though born to fight,
Yet, mix'd and soften'd, in his work unite:
These 'tis enough to temper and employ;
But what composes man, can man destroy?
Suffice that Reason keep to Nature's road,
Subject, compound them, follow her and God.
Love, Hope, and Joy, fair Pleasure's smiling train;
Hate, Fear, and Grief, the family of Pain;
These mix'd with art, and to due bounds confin'd,
Make and maintain the balance of the mind;
The lights and shades whose well-accorded strife
Gives all the strength and colour of our life.
Pleasures are ever in our hands and eyes;
And when in act they cease, in prospect rise:
Present to grasp, and future still to find,
The whole employ of body and of mind.
All spread their charms, but charm not all alike;
On different senses, different objects strike:

VARIATIONS.

After ver. 86, in the MS.

Of good and evil gods what frighted fools,
Of good and evil reason puzzled schools,
Deceiv'd, deceiving, taught-

After ver. 108, in the MS.

A tedious voyage! where how useless lies
The compass, if no powerful gusts arise!
After ver. 112, in the MS.

The soft reward the virtuous, or invite;
The fierce the vicious punish or affright.-

120

Proud of an easy conquest all along,

She but removes weak passions 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 preferr❜d;
Reason is here no guide, but still a guard:
"Tis hers to rectify, not overthrow,
And treat this passion more as friend than foe;
A mightier power the strong direction sends,
And several men impels to several ends:
Like varying winds, by other passions tost,
This drives them constant to a certain coast.
Let power or knowledge, gold or glory, please,
Or (oft more strong than all) the love of ease; 170
Through life 'tis follow'd ev'n at life's expense;
The merchant's toil, the sage's indolence,
The monk's humility, the hero's pride,
All, all alike, find Reason on their side.

Th' Eternal Art, educing good from ill,
Grafts on this passion our best principle:
"Tis thus the mercury of man is fix'd,
Strong grows the virtue with his nature mix'd;
The dross cements what else were too refin'd,
And in one interest body acts with mind.

As fruits, ungrateful to the planter's care,
On savage stocks inserted learn to bear;
The surest virtues thus from passions shoot,
Wild Nature's vigour working at the root.
What crops of wit and honesty appear
From spleen, from obstinacy, hate, or fear!
See anger, zeal and fortitude supply;
Ev'n avarice, prudence; sloth, philosophy;

180

Lust, through some certain strainers well refin'd,

Is gentle love, and charms all womankind;
Envy, to which th' ignoble mind's a slave,
Is emulation in the learn'd or brave;
Nor virtue, male or female, can we name,
But what will grow on pride, or grow on shame.

VARIATION.

After ver. 194, in the MS.

190

How oft with passion, Virtue points her charms!
Then shines the hero, then the patriot warms.

Thus Nature gives us (let it check our pride) The virtue nearest to our vice ally'd: Reason the bias turns to good from ill, And Nero reigns a Titus, if he will. The fiery soul abhor'd in Cataline, In Decius charms, in Curtius is divine: The same ambition can destroy or save, And makes a patriot as it makes a knave.

This light and darkness in our chaos join'd, What shall divide? The God within the mind.

240

"Tis but by parts we follow good or ill; For, vice or vituc, Self directs it still; Each individual seeks a several goal; [whole. But Heaven's great view, is one, and that the That counter-works each folly and caprice; 200 That disappoints th' effect of every vice: That, happy frailties to all ranks apply'd; Shame to the virgin, to the matron pride; Fear to the statesman, rasliness to the chief; To kings presumption, and to crowds belief: That, Virtue's ends from vanity can raise, Which seeks no interest,' no reward but praise And build on wants, and on defects of mind, The joy, the peace, the glory of mankind.

Extremes in Nature equal ends produce, In man they join to some mysterious use; Though each by turns the other's bound invade, As, in some well-wrought picture, light and shade, And oft so mix, the difference is too nice Where ends the virtue, or begins the vice.

210

220

Fools! who from hence into the notion fall, "That vice or virtue there is none at all. If white and black blend, soften, and unite A thousand ways, is there no black or white? Ask your own heart, and nothing is so plain; 'Tis to mistake them, costs the time and pain. Vice is a monster of so frightful mien, As, to be hated, needs but to be seen; Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face, We first endure, then pity, then embrace. But where th' extreme of vice, was ne'er agreed: Ask where's the north? at York, 'tis on the Tweed; In Scotland, at the Orcades; and there, At Greenland, Zembla, or the Lord knows where No creature owns it in the first degree, But thinks his neighbour further gone than he: Ev'n those who dwell beneath its very zone, Or never feel the rage, or never own; What happier natures shrink at with affright, The hard inhabitant contends is right.

Virtuous and vicious every man must be, Few in th' extreme, but all in the degree; The rogue and fool by fits is fair and wise; And ev❜n the best, by fits, what they despise.

VARIATIONS.

230

Peleus' great son, or Brutus, who had known,
Had Lucrece been a whore, or Helen none?
But virtues opposite to make agree,
That, Reason! is thy task, and worthy thee.
Hard task, cries Bibulus, and Reason weak.
-Make it a point, dear marquess, or a pique
Once, for a whim, persuade yourself to pay
A debt to Reason, like a debt at play.
For right or wrong, have mortals suffer'd more?
B for his prince, or ** for his whore?
Whose self-denials Nature most control?
His, who would save a sixpence, or his soul?
Web for his health, a Chartreux for his sin,
Contend they not which soonest shall grow thin?
What we resolve, we can: but here's the fault:
We ne'er resolve to do the thing we ought.

After ver. 220, in the first edition followed these:
A cheat! a whore! who starts not at the name,
In all the Inns of Court or Drury-lane?

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After ver. 226, in the MS.

The colonel swears the agent is a dog;
The scrivener vows th' attorney is a rogue.
Against the thief th' attorney loud inveighs,
For whose ten pounds the county twenty pays.
The thief damns judges, and the knaves of state,
And, dying, mourns small villains hang'd by great.

Heaven forming each on other to depend,
A master, or a servant, or a friend,
Bids each on other for assistance call,
Till one man's weakness grows the strength of all
Wants, frailties, passions, closer still ally
The common interest, or endear the tie.
To these we owe true friendship, love sincere,
Each home-felt joy that life inherits here; -
Yet from the same we learn, in its decline,
Those joys, those loves, those interests, to resign
Taught half by Reason, half by mere decay,
To welcome death, and calmly pass away.
Whate'er the passion, knowledge, fame, or pelf,
Not one will change his neighbour with himself.
The learn'd is happy Nature to explore,
The fool is happy that he knows no more;
The rich is happy in the plenty given,
The poor contents him with the care of Heaven.
See the blind beggar dance, the cripple sing,
The sot a hero, lunatic a king;

The starving chymist in his golden views
Supremely blest, the poet in his Muse.

260

270

See some strange comfort every state attend, And pride bestow'd on all, a common friend: Sce some fit passion every age supply; Hope travels through, nor quits us when we die. Behold the child, by Nature's kindly law, Pleas'd with a rattle, tickled with a straw: Some livelier play-thing gives his youth delight, A little louder, but as empty quite: Scarfs, garters, gold, amuse his riper stage, And beads and prayer-books are the toys of age: 280 Pleas'd with this bauble still, as that before; "Till tir'd he sleeps, and Life's poor play is o'er. Meanwhile Opinion gilds with varying rays Those painted clouds that beautify our days: Each want of happiness by Hope supply'd, And each vacuity of sense by Pride: These build as fast as Knowledge can destroy; In Folly's cup still laughs the bubble, Joy; One prospect lost, another still we gain; And not a vanity is giv'n in vain ; Ev'n mean Self-love becomes, by force divine, The scale to measure others' wants by thine. See! and confess, one comfort still must rise; 'Tis this, Though man's a fool, yet GOD IS WISE.

ARGUMENT OF EPISTLE III

230

OF THE NATURE AND STATE OF MAN WITH RESPECT TO SOCIETY.

I. THE whole universe one system of society, ver. 7, &c. Nothing made wholly for itself, nor yet

of

wholly for another, ver. 27. The happiness of animals mutual, ver. 49. II. Reason or instinct operate alike to the good of each individual, ver. 79. Reason or instinct operate also to society in all animals, ver. 109. III. How far society carried by instinct, ver. 115. How much farther by reason, ver. 128. IV. Of that which is called the state of nature, ver. 144. Reason instructed by instinct in the invention arts, ver.166, and in the forms of society, ver. 176. V. Origin of political societies, ver. 196. Origin of monarchy, ver. 207. Patriarchal government, ver. 212. VI. Origin of true religion and government, from the same principle, of love, ver. 231, &c. Origin of superstition and tyranny, from the same principle, of fear, ver. 237, &c. The influence of self-love operating to the social and public good, ver. 266. Restoration of true religion and government on their first principle, ver. 285. Mixed government, ver. 288. Various forms of each, and the true end of all, ver. 300, &c

EPISTLE III.

HERE then we rest; "The Universal Cause
Acts to one end, but acts by various laws."
In all the madness of superfluous health,
The train of pride, the impudence of wealth,
Let this great truth be present night and day;
But most be present, if we preach or pray.

10

Look round our world; behold the chain of Love
Combining all below, and all above.
See plastic Nature working to this end,
The single atoms each to other tend,
Attract, attracted to, the next in place
Form'd and impell'd its neighbour to embrace
See matter next, with various life-endued,
Press to one centre still, the general good.
See dying vegetables life sustain,
See life dissolving vegetate again :
All forms that perish other forms supply,
(By turns we catch the vital breath, and die)
Like bubbles on the sea of matter borne,

20

They rise, they break, and to that sea return,
Nothing is foreign; parts relate to whole?
One all-extending, all-preserving soul
Connects each being, greatest with the least;
Made beast in aid of man, and man of beast;
All serv'd, all serving: nothing stands alone;
The chain holds on, and where it ends, unknown.
Has God, thou fool! work'd solely for thy good,
Thy joy, thy pastime, thy attire, thy food!
Who for thy table feeds the wanton fawn, ́
For him as kindly spread the flowery lawn:
Is it for thee the lark ascends and sings?
Joy tunes his voice, joy elevates his wings.
Is it for thee the linnet pours his throat?
Loves of his own and raptures swell the note.
The bounding steed you pompously bestride,
Shares with his lord the pleasure and the pride.
Is thine alone the seed that strews the plain ?
The birds of Heaven shall vindicate their grain.

VARIATION.

Ver. 1. In several editions in 4to.

30

Learn, Dulness, learn! "The Universal Cause, &c.

Thine the full harvest of the golden year?
Part pays, and justly, the deserving steer:
The hog, that ploughs not, nor obeys thy call,
Lives on the labours of this lord of all.

Know, Nature's children all divide her care;
The fur that warms a monarch, warm'd a bear.
While man exclaims, "See all things for my use!
"See man for mine!" replies a pamper'd goose:
And just as short of reason he must fall,
Who thinks all made for one, not one for all.

40

50

Grant that the powerful still the weak control;
Be man the wit and tyrant of the whole:
Nature that tyrant checks; he only knows,
And helps, another creature's wants and woes.
Say, will the falcon, stooping from above,
Smit with her varying plumage, spare the dove?
Admires the jay the insect's gilded wings?
Or hears the hawk when Philomela sings?
Man cares for all: to birds he gives his woods,
To beasts his pastures, and to fish his floods:
For some his interest prompts him to provide,
For more his pleasure, yet for more his pride: 60
All feed on one vain patron, and enjoy
Th' extensive blessing of his luxury.
That very life his learned hunger craves,
He saves from famine, from the savage saves;
Nay, feasts the animal he dooms his feast,
And, till he ends the being, makes it blest:
Which sees no more the stroke, or feels the pain,
Than favour'd man by touch ethereal slain.
The creature had his feast of life before;
Thou too must perish, when thy feast is o'er! 70
To each unthinking being, Heaven, a friend,
Gives not the useless knowledge of its end:
To man imparts it; but with such a view
As, while he dreads it, makes him hope it too >
The hour conceal'd, and so remote the fear,
Death still draws nearer, never seeming near.
Great standing miracle! that Heaven assign'd
Its only thinking thing this turn of mind.

II. Whether with reason, or with instinct blest,
Know, all enjoy that power which suits them best
To bliss alike by that direction tend,
80

And find the means proportion'd to their end.
Say, where full Instinct is th' unerring guide,
Reason, however able, cool at best,
What pope or council can they need beside?

Cares not for service, or but serves when prest,
Stays till we call, and then not often near;
But honest Instinct comes a volunteer,
Sure never to o'ershoot, but just to hit;
While still too wide or short is human Wit;
Which heavier Reason labours at in vain.
Sure by quick Nature happiness to gain,
This too serves always, Reason never long:
One must go right, the other may go wrong.
See then the acting and comparing powers
One in their nature, which are two in ours!!

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90

[him!

What care to tend, to lodge, to cram, to treat
All this he knew; but not that 'twas to eat him.
As far as goose could judge, he reason'd right;
But as to man, mistook the matter quite.
After ver. 84, in the MS.

While man, with opening views of various ways,
Confounded by the aid of knowledge strays;
Too weak to chuse, yet chusing still in haste,
One moment gives the pleasure and distaste.

And Reason raise o'er Instinct as you can, In this 'tis God directs, in that 'tis map.

110

Who taught the nations of the field and wood To shun their poison, and to choose their food? 100 Prescient, the tides or tempests to withstand, Build on the wave, or arch beneath the sand? Who made the spider parallels design, Sure as De Moivre, without rule or line? Who bid the stork, Columbus-like, explore Heavens not his own, and worlds unknown before? Who calls the council, states the certain day? Who forms the phalanx, and who points the way? III. God, in the nature of each being, founds Its proper bliss, and sets its proper bounds: But as he fram'd a whole, the whole to bless, On mutual wants built mutual happiness: So from the first, eternal Order ran, And creature link'd to creature, man to man. Whate'er of life all-quickening ether keeps, Or breathes through air, or shoots beneath the deeps, Or pours profuse on earth, one Nature feeds The vital flame, and swells the genial seeds. Not man alone, but all that roam the wood, Or wing the sky, or roll along the flood, Each loves itself, but not itself alone, Each sex desires alike, till two are one. Nor ends the pleasure with the fierce embrace; They love theinselves, a third time, in their race. Thus beast and bird their common charge attend, The mothers nurse it, and the sires defend; The young dismiss'd to wander earth or air, There stops the Instinct, and there ends the care; The link dissolves, each seeks a fresh embrace, Another love su ceeds, another race. A longer care man's helpless kind demands; That longer care contracts more lasting bands: Reflection, Reason, still the ties improve, At once extend the interest, and the love: With choice we fix, with sympathy we burn; Each virtue in each passion takes its turn; And still new needs, new helps, new habits rise, That graft benevolence on charities. Still as one brood, and as another rose,

120

130

The Fury-passions from that blood began,
And turn'd on man, a fiercer savage, man.
See him from Nature rising slow to Art!
To copy Instinct then was Reason's part:
Thus then to man the voice of Nature spake-

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170

Go, from the creatures thy instructions take:
Learn from the birds what food the thickets yield;
Learn from the beasts the physic of the field;
Thy arts of building from the bee receive:
Learn of the mole to plough, the worm to weave;
Learn of the little Nautilus to sail,

Spread the thin oar, and catch the driving gale.
Here too all forms of social union find,

And hence let Reason, late, instruct mankind: 180
Here subterranean works and cities see;
There towns aëreal on the waving tree.
Learn each small people's genius, policies,
The ant's republic, and the realm of bees;
How those in common all their wealth bestow,
And anarchy without confusion know;
And these for ever, though a monarch reign,
Their separate cells and properties maintain.
Mark what unvary'd laws preserve each state,
Laws wise as Nature, and as fix'd as Fate.
In vain thy Reason finer webs shall draw,
Entangle Justice in her net of Law,
And right too rigid, harden into wrong;
Still for the strong too weak, the weak too strong.
Yet go! and thus o'er all the creatures sway,
Thus let the wiser make the rest obey:
And for those arts mere Instinct could afford,
Be crown'd as monarchs, or as gods ador'd."

190

200

V. Great Nature spoke; observant man obey'd
Cities were built, societies were made:
Here rose one little state; another near
Grew by like means, and join'd through love or fear
Did here the trees with ruddier burthens bend,
And there the streams in purer rills descend?
What War could ravish, Commerce could bestow;
And he return'd a friend, who came a foe.
Converse and Love mankind might strongly draw,
When Love was Liberty, and Nature Law.
Thus states were form'd; the name of king unknown,

These natural love maintain'd, habitual those: 140 Till common interest plac'd the sway in one.

150

The last, scarce ripen'd into perfect man,
Saw helpless him from whom their life began:
Memory and Forecast just returns engage,
That pointed back to youth, this on to age;
While Pleasure, Gratitude, and Hope, combin'd,
Still spread the interest, and preserve the kind.
IV. Nor think, in Nature's state they blindly
The state of Nature was the reign of God: [trod;
Self-love and social at her birth began,
Union the bond of all things, and of man.
Pride then was not; nor arts, that Pride to aid;
Man walk'd with beast, joint tenant of the shade;
The same his table, and the same his bed;
No murder cloth'd him, and no murder fed.
In the same temple, the resounding wood,
All vocal beings hymn'd their equal God:
The shrine with gore unstain'd, with gold undress'd,
Unbrib'd, unbloody, stood the blameless priest:
Heaven's attribute was universal care,
And man's perogative, to rule, but spare.
Ah! how unlike the man of times to come!
Of half that live the butcher and the tomb;
Who, foe to Nature, hears the general groan,
Murders their specics, and betrays his own.
But just disease to luxury succeeds,
And every death its own avenger breeds;

160

"Twas Virtue only, (or in arts or arms, Diffusing blessings, or averting harms) The same which in a sire the sons obey'd, A prince the father of a people made.

210

VI. Till then, by Nature crown'd, each patriarch King, priest, and parent, of his growing state: [sate, On him, their second Providence, they hung, Their law his eye, their oracle his tongue,

VARIATIONS.

Ver. 197, in the first editions,

Who for those arts they learn'd of brutes before,
As kings shall crown them, or as gods adore.
Ver. 201. Here rose one little state, &c.] In the
MS. thus.
[spot;

The neighbours leagu'd to guard their common
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 sun-shine or for shade?
And half the cause of contest was remov'd,
When Beauty could be kind to all who lov'd,

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