Are Remembrance and reflection how allied! What thin partitions sense from thought divide! though middle natures how they long to join, 225 230 Yet never pass th' insuperable line! All matter quick, and bursting into birth. included that 235 240 Beast, bird, fish, insect, what no eye can see, which 237. Vast chain of being! comprehending natures ethereal, &c. In exclamatory sentences, like this, the noun, as chain, seems to be a nom. independent, in a different sense from that where an address is made; but we have no established rule for it, and therefore must under stand a verb. 239. What that which no glass can reach, viz. animalcules, which cannot be discovered even by the best magnifiers; extending from infinite to thee. Extending agrees with which, after being, in line 237. 250 Tenth, or ten thousandth, breaks the chain aiike. would be the 256 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, to mourn the tasks or pains 265 The great directing Mind of all ordains. 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 vile man that mourns, 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, 285 291 6. Which is as full. A hair may be considered as the inost 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. I. Know then thyself, presume not God to scan! The proper study of mankind is man. man Placed on this isthmus of a middle state, he is A being darkly wise, and rudely great: With too much knowledge for the skeptic's side, ought 6 Born but to die, and reasoning but to err; 10 Alike in ignorance, his reason such, noun wholly Whether he thinks too little, or too much : he Chaos of thought and passion, all confus'd, Still by himself abus'd, or disabus'd; ha Created half to rise, and half to fall: Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all; 15 created. 15 EPISTLE II. 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 reasoning, 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. ad Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurl'd; guides, mount where science 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, And quitting sense call imitating God; 21 30 Superior beings, when of late they saw perfect b A mortal man unfold all nature's law, they 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 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. 35–35. Could he (Newton,) after all his mighty dis |