250

Tenth, or ten thousandth, breaks the chain aiike.
And, if each system in gradation roll
Alike essential to the amazing whole,
The least confusion but in one, not all
That system only, but the whole must fall.
Let earth unbalanc'd from her orbit fly,
Planets and suns run lawless through the sky;
Let ruling angels from their spheres be hurl'd,
Being on being wreck'd, and world on world;
Heaven's whole foundations to their centre nod,
And nature trembles to the throne of God:

256

All this dread order break-For whom? for thee? Vile worm!-O madness! pride! impiety!

IX. What if the foot, ordained the dust to tread,

Or hand, to toil, aspired to be the head?

What if the head, the eye, or ear, repined

260

To serve mere engines to the ruling mind?
Just as absurd for any part to claim
To be another in this gen'ral frame;
Just as absurd, to mourn the tasks or pains

The great directing Mind of all ordains.

265

All are but parts of one stupendous whole, Whose body nature is, and God the soul; That, changed through all, and yet in all the same, Great in the earth, as in th' ethereal frame; Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze,

259. What-see note to ver. 173.

262. Engines is in the nom. c. after to serve.

270

269. That a rel. pro. referring to soul for its antecedent, and in the nom. case to warms.

Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees; Lives through all life, extends through all extent; Spreads undivided, operates unspent ;

Breathes in our soul, informs, our mortal part, 275
As full, as perfect, in a hair as heart,

As full, as perfect, in vile man that mourns,
As the rapt seraph that adores and burns:
To him no high, no low, no great, no small;
He fills, he bounds, connects, and equals all. 280
X. Cease, then, nor order imperfection name:
Our proper bliss depends on what we blame.
Know thy own point: This kind, this due degree
Of blindness, weakness, Heaven bestows on thee.
Submit. In this, or any other sphere,
Secure to be as blest as thou canst bear:
Safe in the hand of one disposing Power,
Or in the natal, or the mortal hour.

All nature is but art, unknown to thee;

All chance, direction, which thou canst not see; All discord, harmony not understood;

All partial evil, universal good.

And, spite of pride, in erring reason's spite,
One truth is clear, Whatever is, is right.

285

291

276. Which is as full. A hair may be considered as the most insignificant, and the heart as the noblest part of mortal man. The idea was probably suggested by this passage of scripture; Not a sparrow falleth to the ground without his notice, and the hairs of our head are all numbered.

281. Do not name or call order, imperfection.

EPISTLE II.

I. Know then thyself, presume not God to scan! The proper study of mankind is man.

Placed on this isthmus of a middle state,

A being darkly wise, and rudely great:
With too much knowledge for the skeptic's 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;

6

10

15

EPISTLE 11.

L. 1. Know thyself, was the favorite maxim of the ancients. It is here, perhaps, more confined in its meaning. Know thy weakness, presume not God to scan: for "who by searching can find out God?

5. The sceptic is one who professes to doubt all things. 6. The stoic pretends that our happiness should not in the least be affected by our outward circumstances.

10. Man is the only terrestrial being capable of reasonng, or of deducing remoter truths from those which are known and admitted; yet, by assuming false premises, or by improperly linking his ideas, he too frequently stumbles upon false conclusions But, i. e. only to err.

Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurl'd;
The glory, jest, and riddle of the world!

Go, wondrous creature! mount where science guides,

21

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 the 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!

25

30

Superior beings, when of late they saw A mortal man unfold all nature's law, Admired such wisdom in an earthly shape, And show'd a Newton as we show an ape. Could he, whose rules the rapid comet bind, 35

21. Instruct the planets as to the orbs in which they should run; or to point out to the planets the orbs in which they should run.

26. Call quitting sense, imitating God. These are substantive phrases, the latter in apposition with the former.

27-28. The poet here alludes to the practices of the eastern priests, viz.: turning round in giddy circles, tha with their heads they may imitate the course of the sun

34. And showed a Newton, &c. i. e. with the same admiration of his superiority over his kind, in imitating them, which we feel, on seeing a brute animal capable of showing, by his actions, so striking a resemblance to the human species.

35-38. Could he (Newton,) after all his mighty dis

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;
But when his own great work is but begun,
What reason weaves, by passion is undone.
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,

41

45

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 all :

55

coveries, describe or fix one movement of his own mind? Could he explain his own beginning, or his end?

50. Of all, which our vices have created or formed into

arts.

52. Which served the past, and must serve the times which are to come.

55. Nor do we call this (reason) a good principle; nor that (self-love) a bad principle.

56. Each works its end, which is, &c.; or the sub. phrase, to move or govern all, may be in apposition with cnd.