Submit.In this, or any other fphere,
Secure to be as bleft as thou canst bear:
Safe in the hand of one difpofing Pow'r,
Or in the natal, or the mortal hour.

All Nature is but Art, unknown to thee;

285

All Chance, Direction, which thou canst not fee; 290 All Discord, Harmony not understood;

All partial Evil, univerfal Good:

NOTES.

Evil; fhews, firft, its Ufe to the perfection of the Universe, by Analogy, from the ufe of phyfical Evil in this particular fyftem-Secondly, its ufe in this fyftem, where it is turned, providentially, from its natural bias to promote Virtue. Then goes on to vindicate Providence from the imputation of certain fuppofed natural Evils; as he had before justified it for the permiffion of real moral Evil, in fhewing that, though the atheist's complaint against Providence be on pretence of real moral Evil, yet the true cause is his impatience under imaginary natural Evil; the issue of a depraved appetite for fantaftical advantages, which, if obtained, would be useless or hurtful to Man, and deforming and destructive to the Universe, as breaking into that Order by which it is fupported.-He defcribes that Order, Harmony, and clofe connexion of the Parts; and by fhewing the intimate prefence of God to his whole creation, gives a reason for an Universe so amazingly beautiful and perfect. From all this he deduces his general Conclufion, That Nature being neither a blind chain of Caufes and Effects, nor yet the fortuitous refult of wandering atoms, but the wonderful Art and Direction of an all-wife, all-good, and free Being; WHATEVER IS, IS RIGHT, with regard to the Dif pofition of God, and its Ultimate Tendency; which once granted, all complaints against Providence are at an end.

2

And, spite of Pride, in erring Reason's spite,

One truth is clear, WHATEVER IS, IS RIGHT.

NOTES.

VER. 294. One truth is clear, whatever is, is right,] What are we to understand by thefe words? Did the poet mean right with regard to Man, or right with regard to God; right with regard to itself, or right with regard to its ultimate tendency? Surely wITH REGARD TO GOD; for he tells us his defign is to vindicate the ways of God to Man. Surely, with regard to its ULTIMATE TENDENCY; for he tells us again, all partial ill is univerfal good, ver. 291.

I.

EPISTLE II.

KNOW then thyfelf, presume not God to scan,
The proper ftudy of Mankind is Man.

Plac'd on this ifthmus of a middle ftate,
A Being darkly wife, and rudely great:

VER. 2. Ed. ift.

VARIATION'S.

The only science of Mankind is Man.

NOTES.

VER. 2. The proper fudy, &c.] The poet having fhewn, in the first epiftle, that the ways of God are too high for our comprehenfion, rightly draws this conclufion, and methodically makes it the fubject of his Introduction to the fecond, which treats of the Nature of Man.

VER. 3. Plac'd on this ifthmus, &c.] As the poet hath given us this defcription of Man for the very contrary purpose to which Sceptics are wont to employ fuch kind of paintings, namely, not to deter men from the fearch, but to excite them to the discovery of truth; he hath, with great judgment, represented Man as doubting and wavering between the right and wrong object; from which state there are great hopes he may be relieved by a careful and circumfpect use of Reason. On the contrary, had he supposed Man fo blind, as to be bufied in chufing, or doubtful in his choice, between two objects equally wrong, the cafe had appeared defperate, and all study of Man had been effectually discouraged.

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 reason fuch,
Whether he thinks too little, or too much;

NOTES.

5

ΙΟ

VER. 10. Born but to die, &c.] The author's meaning is, that, as we are born to die, and yet to enjoy some small portion of life; fo, though we reafon to err, yet we comprehend fome few truths. This is the weak ftate of Reafon, in which Error mixes itself with all its true conclufions concerning Man's Nature.

VER. 11. Alike in ignorance, &c.] i. e. The proper fphere of his Reason is so narrow, and the exercise of it fo nice, that the too immoderate use of it is attended with the fame ignorance that proceeds from the not ufing it at all. Yet, tho' in both these cafes, he is abused by himself, he has it ftill in his own power to disabuse himself, in making his paffions fubfervient to the means, and regulating his Reason by the end of Life.

VER. 12. Whether he thinks too little, or too much.] This is so true, that ignorance arifes as well from pushing our enquiries too far, as from not carrying them far enough, that we may obferve, when Speculations, even in Science, are carried beyond a certain point; that point, where use is reasonably fuppofed to end, and mere curiofity to begin; they conclude in the most extravagant and fenfelefs inferences; fuch as the unreality of matter; the reality of Space; the fervility of the will, &c. The reafon of this fudden fall out of full light into utter darkness appears not to refult from the natural condition of things, but to

D

Chaos of Thought and Paffion, all confus'd;
Stil by himself abus'd, or difabus'd;
Created half to rife, and half to fall;
Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all;
Sole judge of Truth, in endless Error hurl❜d:
The glory, jeft, and riddle of the world!

VARIATIONS.

After ver. 18. in the MS.

For more perfection than this flate can bear
In vain we figh, Heav'n made us as we are.
As wifely fure a modeft 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.
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 fo oft effay'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, reas'ning thing! affume the Doctor's chair,
As Plato deep, as Seneca fevere.

NOTES.

15

be the arbitrary decree of infinite wisdom and goodness, which imposed a barrier to the extravagances of its giddy lawless creature, always inclined to purfue truths of lefs importance too far, to the neglect of thofe more neceffary for his improvement in his station here.