If Parts allure thee, think how Bacon fhin'd,
The wifeft, brighteft, meaneft of mankind:
Or ravish'd with the whistling of a Name,

See Cromwell, damn'd to everlasting fame!
If all, united, thy ambition call,

285

From ancient ftory learn to fcorn them all.
There, in the rich, the honour'd, fam'd, and great,
See the falfe fcale of Happinefs complete!

In hearts of Kings, or arms of Queens who lay,
How happy those to ruin, these betray.

290

He

VER. 281, 283. If parts allure thee,-Or ravif'd with the whiffling of a Name,] Thefe two inftances are chofen with great judgment; the world, perhaps, doth not afford two other fuch. Bacon difcovered and laid down thofe principles, by whofe affistance Newton was enabled to unfold the whole law of Nature. was no less eminent for the creative power of his imagination, the brightnefs of his conceptions, and the force of his expreffion: yet being legally convicted for bribery and corruption in the Adminiftration of Justice, while he prefided in the fupreme Court of Equity, he endeavoured to repair his ruined fortunes by the most profligate flattery to the Court: Which, from his very firtt entrance into it, he had accustomed himself to practife with a proftitution that disgraceth the very profeffion of letters.

Cromwell feemeth to be diftinguifhed in the most eminent manner, with regard to his abilities, from all other great and wicked men, who have overturned the Liberties of their Country. The times, in which others fucceeded in this attempt, were fuch as faw the fpirit of Liberty fupprefied and ftifled, by a general luxury and venality: Eut Cromwell fubdued his country, when this fpirit was at its height, by a fuccefsful firuggle against court-oppreffion; and while it was conducted and fupported by a fet of the greatest Geniuses for government the world ever faw embarked together in one common caufe.

VER. 283. Or ravish'd with the whiffling of a Name,] And even this fantastic glory fometimes fuffers a terrible reverfe.-Sacheverel, in his Voyage to Icoloml kill, defcribing the church there, tells us, that "In one corner is a peculiar inclofure, in which "were the monuments of the kings of many different nations, as "Scotland, Ireland, Norway, and the Isle of Man. THIS (faid the "perfon who fhewed me the place, pointing to a plain stone) was the "monument of the Great TEAGUE, king of Ireland. I had never "heard of him, and could not but reflect of how little value is Great

nefs, that has barely left a name fcandalous to a nation, and a grave "which the meaneft of mankind would never envy."

Mark by what wretched steps their glory grows,
From dirt and fea-weed as proud Venice rofe;
In each how guilt and greatness equal ran,
And all that rais'd the Hero, funk the Man:
Now Europe's laurels on their brows behold,
But ftain'd with blood, or ill exchang'd for gold:
Then fee them broke with toils, or funk in ease,
Or infamous for plunder'd provinces.

295

Oh wealth ill-fated! which no act of fame
E'er taught to fhine, or fanctify'd from fhame!
What greater blifs attends their clofe of life?
Some greedy minion, or imperious wife,
The trophy'd arches, ftory'd halls invade,
And haunt their flumbers in the pompous fhade.
Alas! not dazzled with their noon-tide ray,
Compute the morn and ev'ning to the day;
The whole amount of that enormous fame,
A Tale, that blends their glory with their shame!
Know then this truth (enough for Man to know)

"Virtue alone is Happiness below."

The only point where human bliss stands ftill,
And taftes the good without the fall to ill;
Where only Merit conftant pay receives,
Is bleft in what it takes, and what it gives;
The joy unequal'd, if its end it gain,
And if it lofe, attended with no pain:

VARIATION S.

After ver. 316. in the MS.

Ev'n while it seems unequal to difpofe,

And chequers all the good Man's joys with woes,
'Tis but to teach him to fupport each state,
With patience this, with moderation that;
And raise his base on that one folid joy,
Which confcience gives, and nothing can deftroy.

305

310

315

fuch a footh

Thefe lines are extremely finished. In which there ing sweetness in the melancholy harmony of the verfification, as if the poet was then in that tender office in which he was most officious, and in which all his Soul came out, the condoling with fome good man in affliction.

Without fatiety, tho' e'er fo blefs'd,

And but more relifh'd as the more diftrefs'd:

The broadeft mirth unfeeling Folly wears,

Lefs pleafing far than Virtue's very tears:

Good, from each object, from each place acquir'd,
For ever exercis'd, yet never tir’d;

Never elated, while one man's opprefs'd;

Never dejected, while another's blefs'd;
And where no wants, no wishes can remain,
Since but to wish more Virtue, is to gain.

320

325

See the fole blifs Heav'n could on all bestow! Which who but feels can tafte, but thinks can know : Yet poor with fortune, and with learning blind, The bad muft mifs, the good, untaught, will find; 330 Slave to no fect, who takes no private road, But looks through Nature, up to Nature's God: Purfues that Chain which links th'immen fe defign, Joins heav'n and earth, and mortal and divine; Sees, that no Being any blifs can know, But touches fome above, and fome below; Learns, from this union of the rifing Whole, The firft, laft purpose of the human foul; And knows where Faith, Law, Morals, all began, All end, in LoVE OF GOD, and LOVE OF Man. For him alone, Hope leads from goal to goal, And opens ftill, and opens on his foul;

335

340

VER. 31. For him alone Hope leads from goal to goal, etc.] PLATO, in his first book of a Republic, hath a remarkable par fage to this purpose. "He whofe confcience does not reproach him, has cheerful Hope for his companion, and the fupport and "comfort of his old age, according to Pindar. For this great poet, "O Socrates, very elegantly fays, that he who leads a juft and holy life has always amiable Hope for his companion, which fills his heart with joy, and is the fupport and comfort of his old age. Hope, the moft powerful of the Divinities, in governing the ever-changing and inconftant temper of mortal men." Τῷ δὲ μηδὲν ἑαυτῶ ἄδικον ξυνειδοτι ἡδεῖα ἐλπὶς αἰεὶ πάρεςι, καὶ ἀγαθὴ γαςιλείφω, ὡς καὶ πίνδαρον λέγει, Χαριέλως γές του, ὦ Σώκρατε

Till lengthen'd on to FAITH, and unconfin'd,
It pours the blifs that fills up all the mind.

He fees, why Nature plants in Man alone

345

Hope of known bliss, and Faith in bliss unknown: (Nature, whofe dictates to no other kind

Are giv'n in vain, but what they seek they find)
Wife is her prefent; the connects in this
His greatest Virtue with his greatest Blifs;
At once his own bright profpect to be blest,
And strongest motive to affift the rest.

Self-love thus pufh'd to focial, to divine,
Gives thee to make thy neighbour's bleffing thine.
Is this too little for the boundless heart?
Extend it, let thy enemies have part :

350

355

Grafp the whole worlds of Reason, Life, and Senfe,
In one close system of Benevolence :
Happier as kinder, in whate'er degree,

And height of Blifs but height of Charity.

360

God loves from Whole to Parts: but human foul Muft rife from Individual to the Whole.

Self-love but ferves the virtuous mind to wake,

365

As the small pebble stirs the peaceful lake ;
The centre mov'd, a circle ftrait fucceeds,
Another ftill, and ftill another spreads;
Friend, parent, neighbour, firft it will embrace;
His country next; and next all human race;

τῦτ' ἐκεῖν ἢ εἶπεν ὅτι ὃς ἂν δικαίως και ὁσίως τὸν βίον διαγάγη, γλυκειά οἱ καρδίαν ἀγάλλεσα γηροτρόφοι συναιρεῖ ἐλπὶς, ἃ μαλιςα αναλῶν πολύς οφον γνώμαν κυβέρνα. In the fame manner Euripides fpeaks in his Hercules furens :

Οὗτα δ' ἀνὴρ αριςΘ. ὅσις ἐλπίσιν

Πέποιθεν αἰεί, τὸ δ ̓ ἀπορεῖ, ἀνδρὸς κακά.

ver. 105.

"He is the good man in whofe breaft Hope Springs eternally: But te "be without Hope in the world is the portion of the wicked."

Wide and more wide, th' o'erflowings of the mind
Take ev'ry creature in, of ev'ry kind;

Earth fmiles around, with boundless bounty bleft,
And Heav'n beholds its image in his breast.

370

Come then, my Friend! my Genius! come along; Oh mafter of the poet, and the fong!

And while the Mufe now ftoops, or now afcends, 375 To man's low paffions, or their glorious ends,

VARIATION S.

VER. 373. Come then, my Friend! etc.] In the MS. thus,
And now transported o'er fo vaft a plain,

While the wing'd courfer flies with all her rein,
While heav'n-ward now her mounting wing the feels,
Now fcatter'd fools fly trembling from her heels,
Wilt thou, my St. John! keep her courfe in fight,
Confine her fury, and affift her flight?

NOTE S.

VER. 373. Come then, my Friend! etc.] This noble Apostrophe, by which the Poet concludes the Effay in an addrefs to his friend, will furnish a Critic with examples of every one of those five Species of Elocution, from which, as from its fources, Longinus deduceth the SUBLIME 2.

1. The first and chief is a Grandeur and Sublimity of Conceptions. Come then, my Friend! my Genius! come along;

Oh master of the Poet, and the Song !

And while the Mufe now ftoops, and now afcends,

To Man's low paffions, or their glorious ends.

2. The Second, that Pathetic Enthufiafm, which, at the fame time, melts and inflames:

Teach me, like thee, in various Nature wife,
To fall with dignity, with temper rife;
Form'd by thy converfe, happily to fteer'
From grave to gay, from lively to fevere;
Correct with fpirit, eloquent with cale,
Intent to reafon, or polite to pleafe.

πέντε πηγαί τινες εἰσιν τ' υψηγορίας 1. Πρῶτον μὲν καὶ κράτιςον τὸ περὶ τὰς νήσεις αδεεπήβολον. 2. Δεύτερον δὲ τὸ (ψιδρὸν καὶ ἐνθεσιαςικὸν πάθω. 3. Ποὶ τῶν Οχημάτων πλάσις. γενναία φράσις. 5. Πέμπτη δὲ μεγέθες αἰτίε, καὶ (υγκλείωσα τὰ πρὸ ἑαυτῆς ἀπαλα, ἡ ἐν ἀξιώματι καὶ διάρσει σύνθεσις,

4. H