Plate XIII

Vol facing p.13.

Boastful and rough your first Son is a Squire; The next a Tradesman meek, and much a Liar~; Tom struts a foldier, open, bold and Brave; Will sneak ferive ner, an exceeding Knave

EPISTLE I.

'ES, you defpife the man to books confin'd,

YES,

Who from his ftudy rails at human kind;
Tho' what he learns he speaks, and may advance
Some gen'ral maxims, or be right by chance.
The coxcomb bird, fo talkative and grave,

That from his cage cries Cuckold, Whore, and Knave, Tho' many a passenger he rightly call,

You hold him no Philofopher at all.

And yet the fate of all extremes is fuch,

Men may be read, as well as Books, too much. 10
To obfervations which ourselves we make,

We grow more partial for th' Obferver's fake;
To written Wisdom, as another's, lefs:

15

Maxims are drawn from Notions, thefe from Guefs.
There's fome Peculiar in each leaf and grain,
Some unmark'd fibre, or fome varying vein;
Shall only Man be taken in the grofs?
Grant but as many forts of Mind as Mofs.
That each from other differs, firft confefs;

Next, that he varies from himself no less;
Add Nature's, Cuftom's, Reafon's, Paffion's ftrife,
And all Opinion's colours caft on life.

Our depths who fathoms, or our fhallows finds,
Quick whirls, and fhifting eddies, of our minds?
On human actions reason tho' you can,

It

may

be Reason, but it is not Man :

His Principle of action once explore,

That inftant 'tis his Principle no more.

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25

VER. 26. It may be Reafon, but it is not Man:] i. e. The Philo fopher may invent a rational hypothefis that shall account for the appearances he would investigate; and yet that hypothefis be all the while very wide of truth and the nature of things.

Like following life thro' creatures you diffect,
You lofe it in the moment you detect.

Yet more; the diff'rence is as great between
The optics feeing, as the objects feen.
All Manners take a tincture from our own;
Or come difcolour'd thro' our Paffions shown.
Or Fancy's beam enlarges, multiplies,
Contracts, inverts, and gives ten thousand dyes.
Nor will Life's ftream for obfervation stay,

It hurries all too fast to mark their way:

In vain fedate reflections we would make,

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35

When half our knowledge we must snatch, not take. 40 Oft in the Paffion's wild rotation toft,

Our spring of action to ourselves is loft:
Tir'd, not determin'd, to the laft we yield,
And what comes then is mafter of the field.
As the laft image of that troubled heap,
When fenfe fubfides, and Fancy fports in fleep,
(Tho' paft the recollection of the thought)

45

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.

True, fome are open, and to all men known;

Others fo very close, they're hid from none:
(So darkness strikes the fenfe no less than light)
Thus gracious CHANDOS is belov'd at fight:
And ev'ry child hates Shylock, tho' his foul
Still fits at fquat, and peeps not from its hole.
At half mankind when gen'rous Manly raves,
All know 'tis Virtue, for he thinks them knaves:

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55

VER. 33. All Manners take a tincture from our own;-Or conne difcolour'd thro' our Paffions shown.] Thefe two lines are remarkable for the exactness and propriety of expreffion. The word tincture, which implies a weak colour given by degrees, well defcribes the influence of the Manners; and the word difcolour, which implies a quicker change by a deeper dye, denotes as well the operation of the Paljions.

When universal homage Umbra pays,

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 thefe plain Characters we rarely find:

бо

Tho' ftrong the bent, yet quick the turns of mind:
Or puzzling Contraries confound the whole;
Or Affectations quite reverse the foul.

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

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70

See the fame man, in vigour, in the gout;

Alone, in company; in place, or out;

Early at Bus'ness, and at Hazard late;

Mad at a Fox-chase, wife at a Debate;
Drunk at a Borough, civil at a Ball;
Friendly at Hackney, faithlefs at Whitehall.

75

Catius is ever moral, ever grave,

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

Who would not praise Patricio's high defert,
His hand unftain'd, his uncorrupted heart,
His comprehenfive head! all Int'rests weigh'd,
All Europe fav'd, yet Britain not betray'd.
He thanks you not, his Pride is in Picquette,
Newmarket-fame, and judgment at a Bett.

VER. 81. Patricio] Lord G--//

VARIATION S.

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.

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85

What made (fay Montagne, or more fage Charron!) Otho a warrior, Cromwell a buffoon?

A perjur'd Prince a leaden faint revere,
A godlefs Regent tremble at a Star?
The throne a Bigot keep, a Genius quit,
Faithlefs thro' Piety, and dup'd thro' Wit?
Europe a Woman, Child, or Dotard rule,
And just her wifeft monarch made a fool?

90

Know, GoD and NATURE only are the fame: 95 In Man, the judgment fhoots at flying game; A bird of paffage! gone as foon as found, Now in the moon perhaps, now under ground. In vain the fage, with retrofpective eye, Would from th' apparent What conclude the Why, Infer the Motive from the Deed, and fhew, That what we chanc'd was what we meant to do.

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

VER. 90. A godlefs Regent tremble at a Star?] Philip Duke of Orleans, Regent of France in the minority of Louis XV. fuperftitious in judicial aftrology, though an unbeliever in all religion.

VER. 91. The throne a Bigot keep, a Genius quit,] Philip V. of Spain, who after renouncing the throne for religion, refumed it to gratify his Queen; and Victor Amadeus II. King of Sardinia, who refigned the crown, and trying to reaffume it, was imprisoned till his death.

VER. 93. Europe a Woman, Child, or Dotard rule-And just her wifeft monarch made a fool?] The Czarina, the King of France, the Pope, and the abovementioned King of Sardinia.

VER. 95. Know God and Nature, etc.] By Nature is not here meant any imaginary substitute of God, called a Plaftic nature; but his moral latus: And this obfervation was inferted with great propriety and difcretion, in the conclufion of a long detail of the various characters of men: For, from this circumftance, Montagne and others have been boid enough to infinuate, that morality is founded more in custom and fashion than in the nature of things. The speaking therefore of a moral law of God as having all the conftancy and durability of his Effence, had an high expediency in this place.