That Virtue's ends from vanity can raise, Which feeks no int'reft, no reward but praise; 245 250 'Till one Man's weaknefs grows the ftrength of all. Wants, frailties, paffions, clofer ftill ally The common intʼrest or endear the tie. NOTES. VER. 249. Heav'n forming each on other to depend,] Hi, therto the Poet hath been employed in difcourfing of the ufe of the Paffions, with regard to Society at large, and in freeing his doctrine from objections: This is the first general divifion of the fubject of this epiftle. He comes now to fhew the ufe of thefe Paffions, with regard to the more confined circle of our Friends, Relations, and Acquaintance: and this is the fecond general divifion. VER. 253. Wants, frailties, paffions, clofer ftill ally, The common int'reft, &c.] As thefe lines have been mifunderstood, I fhall give the reader their plain and obvious meaning. "To thefe frailties (fays he) we owe all the endearments of private life; yet when we come to that age, which generally difpofes Men to think more seriously of the true value of things, and confequently of their provifion for a future ftate, the confideration, that the grounds of thofe joys, loves, and friendships, are wants, frailties, and paffions, proves the best expedient to wean us from the world; a difengagement fo friendly to that provifion we are now making for another." The obfervation is new To these we owe true friendship, love fincere, 255 Yet from the fame we learn, in its decline, 260 Whate'er the paffion, knowledge, fame, or pelf, Not one will change his neighbour with himself, NOTES. and would in any place be extremely beautiful, but has here an infinite grace and propriety, as it fo well confirms, by an inftance of great moment, the general thefis, that God makes Ill, at every step, productive of Good. VER. 261. Whate'er the Paffions, &c.] The poet having thus fhewn the ufe of the Paffions in Society, and in Domestic life, he comes, in the laft place, to fhew their use to the Individual, even in their illufions; the imaginary happiness they prefent, helping to make the real miferies of life lefs infupportable. And this is his third general divifion: - Opinion gilds with varying rays Those painted clouds that beautify our days, &c. Which must needs vaftly raise our idea of God's good- The learn'd is happy nature to explore, The fool is happy that he knows no more; The poor contents him with the care of Heav'n. The ftarving chemift in his golden views Hope travels thro', nor quits us when we die. NOTES. 265 270 into, and through their own fault; thereby depriving themselves of much happiness, and expofing themselves to equal mifery: But that ftill God (according to his univerfal way of working) gracioufly turns thefe follies fo far to the advantage of his miferable creatures, as to be the prefent folace and fupport of their diftreffes: " Tho' man's a fool, yet God is wise. VER. 270. the poet in bis Mufe.] The author having faid, that no one would change his profeffion or views for thofe of another, intended to carry his obfervation ftill further, and fhew that Men were unwilling to exchange their own acquirements even for thofe of the fame kind, confeffedly larger, and infinitely more eminent, in another. To this end he wrote, What partly pleafes, totally will fhock: I queftion much, if Toland would be Locke: but wanting another proper inftance of this truth when he published his last Edition of the Effay, he referved the lines above for fome following one. Behold the child, by nature's kindly law, Scarfs, garters, gold, amuse his riper stage, 275 And beads and pray'r-books are the toys of age: 280 NOTES. 285 VER. 280. And beads and pray'r-books are the toys of age:] A Satire on what is called in Popery the Opus operatum. As this is a description of the circle of human life returning into itself by a fecond childhood, the Poet has, with great elegance, concluded his description with the fame image with which he fet out. VER. 286. And each vacuity of sense by Pride:] An eminent Cafuift, Father Francis Garaffe, in his Somme Theologique, has drawn a very charitable conclufion from this principle. "Selon la juftice (fays this equitable Divine) tout travail honnête doit être recompenfé de louange ou "de fatisfaction. Quand les bons efprits font un ouvrage "excellent, ils font juftement recompenféz par les fuf frages du Public. Quand un pauvre efprit travaille "beaucoup, pour fair un mauvais ouvrage, il n'eft pas jufte, "ni raifonable, qu'il attende des louanges publiques, car "elles ne lui font pas duës. Mais afin que les travaux ne Thefe build as fast as knowledge can deftroy; In folly's cup ftill laughs the bubble, joy; Ev'n mean Self-love becomes, by force divine, NOTES. 290 " demeurent pas fans recompenfe, Dieu lui donne une fa"tisfaction perfonelle, que perfonne ne lui peut envier "fans un injuftice plus que barbare; tout ainfi que Dieu "qui eft jufte, donne de la fatisfaction aux Grenouilles de "leur chant. Autrement la blame public, joint à leur mecontentement, feroit fuffifant pour les réduire au defespoir." 66 |