Self Love still stronger as its Objects nigh, Reasons at distance, and in prospect lie; That sees immediate Good by present Sense, Reason the future, and the Conse

!,,

EPISTLE II.

I KNOW then thyself, prefume not God to scan,
The proper ftudy of Mankind is Man.

Plac'd on this ifthmus of a middle state,
A being darkly wife, and rudely great:
With too much knowledge for the Sceptic fide,
With too much weakness for the Stoic's pride,
He hangs between; in doubt to act, or reft;
In doubt to deem himself a God, or Beast;
In doubt his Mind or Body to prefer;
Born but to die, and reas'ning but to err;
Alike in ignorance, his reafon fuch,
Whether he thinks too little, or too much :
Chaos of Thought and Paffion, all confus'd;
Still by himself abus'd or disabus'd;
Created half to rife, and half to fall;
Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all;

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Sole judge of Truth, in endless Error hurl'd:

The glory, jeft, and riddle of the world!

Go, wond'rous creature! mount where Science guides, Go, measure earth, weigh air, and state the tides;

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VER. 2. The proper study, etc.] The poet having fhewn, in the firft epiftle, that the ways of God are too high for our comprehenGon, rightly draws this conclufion: and methodically makes it the fubject of his Introduction to the second, which treats of the Nature of Man.

VER. 2. Ed. ift.

VARIATION S.

The only science of Mankind is Man.
After ver. 18. in the MS.

For more perfection than this ftate can bear
In vain we figh, Heav n made us as we are.
As wifely fure a modest Ape might aim
To be like Man, whofe faculties and frame
He fees, he feels, as you or I to be
An Angel thing we neither know nor fee.

Inftru&t the planets in what orbs to run,
Correct old Time, and regulate the Sun;
Go, foar with Plato to th' empyreal sphere,
To the first good, first perfect, and first fair;
Or tread the mazy round his follow'rs trod,
And quitting fenfe call imitating God;
As Eastern priefts in giddy circles run,
And turn their heads to imitate the Sun.
Go, teach Eternal Wisdom how to rule—
Then drop into thyfelf, and be a fool!

Superior beings, when of late they saw
A mortal Man unfold all Nature's Law,
Admir'd fuch wisdom in an earthly shape,
And fhew'd a NEWTON as we fhew an Ape.
Could he, whofe rules the rapid Comet bind,
Describe or fix one movement of his Mind?

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VER. 22. Correct old Time,] This alludes to Sir Ifaac Newton's Grecian Chronology, which he reformed on those two fublime conceptions, the difference between the reigns of kings, and the generations of men; and the pofition of the colures of the equinoxes and folftices at the time of the Argonautic expedition.

VARIATION S.

Obferve how near he edges on our race;
What human tricks! how rifible of face!
It must be fo-why elfe have I the fenfe
Of more than monkey charms and excellence?
Why elfe 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 fet on end, and married to his mind.

Go, reafoning thing! affume the Doctor's chair,
As Plato deep, as Seneca.fevere:

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

VER. 21. Edit. 4th and 5th.

Shew by what rules the wand'ring planets stray,
Correct old Time, and teach the Sun his way.

VER. 35. Ed. first.

Could he, who taught each Planet where to roll,
Defcribe or fix one movement of the Soul?
Who mark'd their points to rife or to defcend
Explain his own beginning, or his end?

Who faw its fires here rife, and there defcend,
Explain his own beginning, or his end?
Alas what wonder! Man's fuperior part
Uncheck'd may rise, and climb from art to art;
But when his own great work is but begun,
What Reason weaves, by Paffion is undone.
Trace Science then, with Modefty thy guide;
First strip off all her equipage of Pride;
Deduct but what is Vanity or Dress,

Or Learning's Luxury, or Idlenefs;

Or tricks to fhew the stretch of human brain,
Mere curious pleasure, or ingenious pain;

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VER. 37. Who faw its fires bere rife, etc.] Sir Ifaac Newton, in calculating the velocity of a Comet's motion, and the course it defcribes, when it becomes vifible in its defcent to, and afcent from the Sun,, conjectured, with the highest appearance of truth, that Comets revolve perpetually round the Sun, in ellipfes vaftly eccentrical, and very nearly approaching to parabolas. In which he was greatly confirmed, in obferving between two Comets a coincidence in their perihelions, and a perfect agreement in their yelocities.

VER. 45-Vanity or Dress,] These are the first parts of what the Poet, in the preceding line, calls the scholar's equipage of Pride. By vanity, is meant that luxuriancy of thought and expreffion in which a writer indulges himself, to fhew the fruitfulness of his fancy or invention. By drefs, is to be understood a lower degree of that practice, in amplification of thought and ornamental expreffion, to give force to what the writer would convey: but even this, the poet, in a severe fearch after truth, condemns; and with great judgment. Concifeness of thought and fimplicity of expreffion, being as well as the beft inftruments, as the best vehicles of Truth.

VER. 46. Or Learning's Luxury, or Idleness;] The Luxury of Learning confifts in dreffing up and difguifing old notions in a new way, fo as to make them more fashionable and palatable; inftead of examining and fcrutinizing their truth. As this is often done for pomp and fhew, it is called luxury; as it is often done too to fave pains and labour, it is called idleness.

Ver. 47. Or tricks to fhew the ftretch of human brain,] Such as the mathematical demonftrations concerning the fmall quantity of matter, the endless divifibility of it, etc.

VER. 48. Mere curious pleasure, or ingenious pain ;] That is, when Admiration fets the mind on the rack